Lyrics and Music
The title was inspired by a Salvador Dalí comment: "Picasso is Spanish, me too. Picasso is a genius, me too. Picasso is a communist, me neither". Gainsbourg claimed it was an "anti-fuck" song about the desperation and impossibility of physical love. The lyrics are written as a dialogue between two lovers during sex. Phrases include:
"Je vais et je viens, entre tes reins" ("I go and I come, between your kidneys")
"Tu es la vague, moi l'île nue" ("You are the wave, I the naked island")
"L'amour physique est sans issue" ("Physical love goes nowhere")
"Moi non plus" ("Me neither" or "Nor do I") as a response to "Je t'aime" is a joke some English-speaking listeners did not understand. It is sometimes translated as "I love you – me not anymore", for instance in The Pet Shop Boys' version. The lyrics are sung, spoken and whispered over a baroque organ and guitar track in C major, with a "languid, almost over-pretty, chocolate-box melody."
Read more about this topic: Je T'aime... Moi Non Plus
Famous quotes containing the words lyrics and/or music:
“Chad and I always look for deeper meanings; we can analyze Beastie Boys lyrics for hours.”
—Amy Stewart (b. 1975)
“Truly fertile Music, the only kind that will move us, that we shall truly appreciate, will be a Music conducive to Dream, which banishes all reason and analysis. One must not wish first to understand and then to feel. Art does not tolerate Reason.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)