B-side "Mujer contra mujer" Format 7" vinyl
CD maxi Length 4:05 | Released 1990 Genre Pop ballad | |
Writer(s) José María Cano
Pierre Grosz | ||
"Une femme avec une femme" (Spanish: "Mujer contra Mujer") is a 1990 single by Spanish pop band Mecano.
Contents
Background and writing
This song is on their seventh album, released in 1988, Descanso dominical (track 3).
To obtain a hit in France, Mecano decided to collaborate with Pierre Grosz, a lyric writer, who had already written several songs for Elsa ("Quelque chose dans mon cœur", "Jour de neige"). Grosz accurately translated their song "Mujer contra mujer" to produce the French single "Une femme avec une femme". The music is composed by José Maria Cano. It was recorded in French ("Une femme avec une femme") and Italian ("Per Lei contro di Lei"), giving Mecano their first truly global hit.
Chart performance
The single entered the French Top 50 Singles Chart at number thirty-four (#34) in the September 9, 1990 chart edition. It climbed quickly and peaked at #1 for seven weeks, from October 11 to December 22, 1990. After having been #2 for three weeks, the single kept on dropping in the chart and left it on February 16, 1991 (22 weeks in the chart).
After a prestigious Iberian career, Mecano became the first Spanish group to reach first place in France's Singles Chart. The song was certified Gold disc in 1991 by the French certifier SNEP, for a minimum of 250,000 copies sold. According to the Infodisc Website, this single is the 601st best-selling single of all time in France, with 493,000 sales.
Music and lyrics
This song deals with lesbianism, seen through the eyes of a friend, who doesn't want to pass judgment on this relationship and prefers to be tolerant. At the time, the subject was taboo in France and had almost never been tackled in a song.
Music video
The videoclip is largely in black and white and features Ana Torroja singing in front of a white fence. There are also two women in love who arm wrestle, which represents their different point of view regarding whether or not to hide their homosexuality - one of them says hiding it is not good, the other says there is no choice.
Covers
American singer Laura Branigan covered the Spanish version ("Mujer Contra Mujer") in 1993 for her final studio album, Over My Heart.
In 2003, the song was covered by French-born artist Saya who peaked at number 9 on the French SNEP Singles Chart on March 29 and April 5, 2003 and remained on the chart for 17 weeks. It peaked at number 35 on the Swiss Singles Chart. The song is the second track on her album À la Vie, released in 2003. On June 6, 2003, the song was certified Silver disc (meaning over 100,000 copies were sold) four months after its release by SNEP, becoming Saya's greatest hit.