Anthony's Analysis of the song A contre-courant

[garçoncanadien]

Source: www.nidalizee.com.

Introduction:

“A contre-courant”, one of the flagship songs of Alizée’s second album, “Mes Courants Electriques”, 3rd single, is without doubt the most textually rich song in the album. The principal themes that Mylène Farmer offers Alizée here are: the passion of new love and the sadness that inevitably follows. The abundance of electrical vocabulary in this song is the reason for the title “Courants Electriques”.

1st couplet:

“Our universes
Against the current”: Alizée is talking to whom she loves or has loved, she talks about an incompatibility between the two people due to their opposing universes.

“All upside down…
But not for long!” : She knows how to solve this slowdown in their relationship, she calls the shots and makes him understand that it is just a question of time.

“When you are on Earth
Keep me informed
That I imagine
Our fusions.”: In order that Alizée can restart this relationship that has become somewhat boring, she needs her significant other to give her a wave when time permits. So, she will be able to think about new ways to restart her couple.

“We desire each other
Under high voltage”: To convince her lover, she must increase the amount of flattering as a metaphor of passionate love that linked them in the past.

“But no takes…
Of nerfs, I re…
…concile your laughs
And my electrons”: She also promises him an end to all arguments, it’s she who will pull all the weight, and even if so much revolves around Alizée, it won’t stop her from loving him.

“A dance of life
Dance of balloons”: Here, the dance is a metaphor of the path of life, the balloons are moments of joy. So, Alizée promises a great many moments of happiness to her significant other.

2nd couplet:

“Nothing ordinary
Nothing but good times”: As always in her flattery and promises, Alizée dares to shun a routine life and prepares to offer him everything.

“Head upside down…
Not too long.”: She will get him excited, but not all the time, she will know how to be quiet when her man asks it of her.

“When you are on Earth
Keep me informed
That I guess…
The intentions.”: Always looking for news from him, Alizée wishes to see in him what he actually desires, a futile relationship, purely sexual, or some pre-construed idea?

“We electrify each other
Maximal voltage
The body circuits (short circuits)…
Of two lovers (lovers)”: A little comeback of their old relationship, she relates their diverse incidents that are the consequences of two characters, of two opposed lives.

“We illuminate each other
Carnal light
The school of the e
Electro lovers.”: but to bounce back to a sweet memory, she also explains the beauty of their past love, which is different from the others, and one can learn (like at school) how to manage it.

Refrain:

“Find meaning again
Of life, I think
Pass by boredom
When you, you are gone,”: It is hard for Alizée to control her life without her man, boredom comes out and causes all sorts of moral problems.

“Find meaning again
Moments that get insolent
Of precessions of fingers
Of my hunger for you.”: Missing the other is very hard, that she loses herself in the twists and turns of masturbation in order to find once again the tender past moments with her man.

“When the current passes, the menace too, of time that blocks itself, of time that separates us”: Here it is a clear appeal, she tells him that it is necessary to take advantage of the present situation (when the current passes between them) and to not allow time to separate or weary them.

“And the current passes, I’ve got the audacity, of the magnetic field, and that is magnificent!”: She musters up the courage to convince him to come back to her while telling herself that in the bottom of her heart this passionate love is still there, and that while talking to him, she can once again light the old flame that is sleeping in her old lover’s heart.

3rd couplet:

“Our universes
Against the current”: An incompatibility between the two beings due to their opposing universes.

“Come back to Earth
and for good”: In crescendo in the song, Alizée is no longer implying it, but she clearly asks her lover to come back close to her.

“When you wish me
Keep me informed
That I predict
A rebellion”: The rebellion that Alizée proposes is definitely not against her old lover, because her objective throughout the whole song is to get him back, in fact it’s her way of showing him that their lives will change completely if they come back together.

“We make each other motionless
When I tell him no
Not more than six
Short words”: As an aside in the text, Alizée addresses the listener, like a complaint of their incompatibility, again, of life. A single “no” will stop all discussion.

“He makes me panic
Of electrocution
My insulator
It is passion”: Like something that breaks the hope in the text, Alizée cuddles up in her imaginary world of an ideal love, she does not see reality in the face of this impossible love and of the panic that faces her, she prefers to believe in the utopic “passion” of new love.

[SupaKrupa]

Thank you. I've always known it was of two lovers but this helps exemplify it. Ta.

[Ernest]

Thanks for your time to make this pretty cool analysis . . . you did it well . . .

[CFHollister]

Of the analyses I've read, this is the one that has left me the most underwhelmed. Somehow this interpretation just doesn't ring true with me. Perhaps it is how alot of the language of the song seems to imply a fairly strong metaphor for passion, yet the interpretation seems devoid of passion on strikes me as quite superficial. Not knowing French, I can't really make a coherent counter argument/interpretation but think there is more to this song.

[Deepwaters]

I absolutely agree, this doesn't do it.

I don't get where Anthony is seeing this as a relationship going downhill that Alizée is trying to piece back together. That's not stated in the lyrics anywhere, and my sense is that Anthony is just reading that meaning into them.

What I sense instead is that the two lovers are separated by space and time: "Quand tu es sur terre," and all the references to both space and time keeping them apart. She has to imagine their coming together. She must divine his intentions. They desire each other under high tension, but there are no power outlets -- no way of actually making physical connection.

Everything is done from a distance, a spark of electric current, or an electromagnet.

There simply isn't enough sadness or anger in this song to merit Anthony's interpretation IMO.

Watch the video for this song. There's always a distance between Alizée and that gymnast. They come close together several times, but never touch.

Edit: Also, right from the first line -- "univers" is singular, not plural. It's not "our universes," it's "our universe."

[Joey_adore_Jung]

wow that is pretty cool i really enjoyed the analysm.

[heyamigo]

DUH guys...obviously, this song is about a relationship she's having with an extra terrestrial (ET). she probably was abducted by aliens into UFO and was brainwashed to be the ET's lover. this song is about her breaking out of the brainwashing and she's still not 100% because she seems sorta confused still.

[paintballpdh19]

nice analysis

[Silencio]

Has anyone seen the movie "Upside Down" ?

Does it remind you of this song?