Je te rends ton amour

Single infobox |
Name = Je te rends ton amour


Artist = Mylène Farmer
from Album = Innamoramento
Released = June 8, 1999
Format = CD single
CD maxi
12" maxi
Digital download (since 2005)
Recorded = 1999, France
Genre = Pop
Length = 5:05 (single version)
5:12 (album version)
Label = Polydor
Writer = Text : Mylène Farmer
Music : Laurent Boutonnat
Producer = Laurent Boutonnat
Certification =
Chronology = Mylène Farmer singles
Last single = "L'Âme-stram-gram"
(1999)
This single = "Je te rends ton amour"
(1999)
Next single = "Souviens-toi du jour"
(1999)Extra album cover
Upper caption = Alternate cover
Background = khaki


Lower caption = CD maxiExtra tracklisting
Album = Innamoramento
Type = studio
prev_track = "Dessine-moi un mouton"
prev_no = 3
this_track = "Je te rends ton amour"
track_no = 5
next_track = "Méfie-toi"
next_no = 4Extra tracklisting
Album = Mylenium Tour
Type = live
prev_track = "Pas le temps de vivre"
prev_no = 5
this_track = "Je te rends ton amour"
track_no = 6
next_track = "Souviens-toi du jour"
next_no = 7Extra tracklisting
Album = Music Videos III
Type = Video
prev_track = "L'Âme-stram-gram"
prev_no = 1
this_track = "Je te rends ton amour"
track_no = 2
next_track = "Souviens-toi du jour"
next_no = 3Extra tracklisting
Album = Music Videos II & III
Type = Video
prev_track = "L'Âme-stram-gram"
prev_no = 6
this_track = "Je te rends ton amour"
track_no = 7
next_track = "Souviens-toi du jour"
next_no = 8Extra tracklisting
Album = Les Mots
Type = compilation
prev_track = "L'Âme-stram-gram"
prev_no = 8
this_track = "Je te rends ton amour"
track_no = 9
next_track = "Effets secondaires"
next_no = 10

"Je te rends ton amour" is a 1999 song recorded by the French artist Mylène Farmer. Second single from her fifth studio album "Innamoramento", it was released on June 8, 1999. Although the song was not a great success in terms of sales and chartings, it got itself much talked about at the time because of his music video, which was censored on several television channels.

Background and writing

After the release of "L'Âme-stram-gram", rumours announced "Dessine-moi un mouton" as second single from "Innamoramento", with a video inspired by Antoine de Saint Exupery's "Le Petit Prince", featuring the crash of an airplane. However, Farmer decided to release her favorite song of the album, "Je te rends ton amour", instead of "Dessine-moi un mouton". This song, whose music was composed by Laurent Boutonnat primarily for Nathalie Cardone, ["L'Intégrale Mylene Farmer", Erwan Chuberre, 2007, City Ed., p. 175-176 (ISBN 978-2-35288-108-7)] enabled the album to remain in the top of the charts during the 1999 summer."Je te rends ton amour", chronology [http://www.mylene.net/modules/index.php?r=76 Mylene.net] (Retrieved January 7, 2008)] "Je te rends ton amour", L'histoire de la chanson : un renoncement à Dieu et un clip scandale [http://www.mylenefarmeriscalled.net/jtrtaglob.html Mylenefarmeriscalled.net] (Retrieved January 7, 2008)]

The single was released in various media offering an unpublished song, "Effets secondaires", as well as two remixes produced by Perky Park.

"Je te rends ton amour" is available in its studio version on "Innamoramento" and "Les Mots" and on its live version on "Mylenium Tour". The song was selected for inclusion in the track listing of 2006 concerts "Avant que l'ombre... à Bercy" ; it had even been sung during the rehearsals, but was finally rejected.

Lyrics and music

The lyrics contain several references about the painting, including Egon Schiele (referenced by name in the refrain), an Austrian painter born in 1890. The French painter Paul Gauguin is also cited in the lyrics, as well as the lexical field of painting. ["Mylène Farmer Influences", Benoît Cachin, 2006, Mascara Ed., p. 44,45 (ISBN 978-2351440261)] In the song, Farmer evokes a Schiele's painting, "La Femme nue debout", and personifies the model painted. She also uses the typography of Schiele's signature to write the song's title on the cover of the CD and vinyl."Le Dictionnaire des Chansons de Mylène Farmer", Benoît Cachin, 2006, Tournon Ed., p. 141-145]

Music video

For the first time in Farmer's career, the video was directed by François Hanss. Shot for two days in the abbey of Mériel (Val-d'Oise, France), this Requiem Publishing and Stuffed Monkey production cost about 100,000 euros. The screenplay was written by Mylène Farmer. ["Je te rends ton amour", videoclip [http://www.mylenefarmeriscalled.net/jtrtaclip.html Mylenefarmeriscalled.net] (Retrieved January 7, 2008)]

At the beginning of the video, we see a blind woman, Farmer, wearing a pink dress, with a Bible in her hand. She goes out of a tunnel and walks in a forest, touching trees to locate. She comes in a church, and then enters the confessional, followed by the Devil, in the form of a man dressed in a black robe. She opens her Bible written in Braille and starts to read it with her fingers ; then she withdraws her alliance and places her ring on the Bible. The Devil, meanwhile, plunges his fingers with long nails in the holy water stoup, extinguishes the candles and knocks down chairs, then moves to the other side of the confessional. His eyes are similar to those of a snake. Gargoyles and statues of Christ are shown on several occasions. Blood starts to flow along the woman's hands and legs. The Devil then knocks over the Bible and grabs the woman by the neck. She tries first to resist, but soon she is caught hold of by the Devil who smears blood all over her naked body. Gagged and tied, she is then shown in a crucifixion position on the beams of the nave. The video then shows the woman crouching on a pool of blood in manner of a still-unborn fetus in the womb. Having had a bath in it, she leaves her alliance ring suggestively in the same pool of blood, and finally she exits the church in a black dress and with her vision restored. ["Je te rends ton amour", videoclip [http://www.sans-logique.com/mylene-farmer/clips/clip.php?clip=je-te-rends-ton-amour Sans-logique.com] (Retrieved January 7, 2008)]

In France, the video, which shows several scenes of nudity and blood, and criticizes Christianity and the Church, triggered a wave of shock. It was considered as being "too daring". ["Mylène Farmer, miss censure", "France Soir", August 27, 1999 [http://www.devant-soi.com/Monde-de-Myl%E8ne/presse/articles-presse/1999/france_soir_27081999.jpgDevant-soi.com] (Retrieved May 15, 2008)] The Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel has indeed forbidden to broadcast it during the day to not shock children. ["Jukebox", No. 179, June 2002 [http://www.devant-soi.com/Monde-de-Myl%E8ne/presse/articles-presse/2002/Jukebox_magazine_179_062002_1.jpgDevant-soi.com] (Retrieved March 22, 2008)] M6 had therefore aired a short two-minute version that stopped when the demon wildly caught Farmer, at the second chorus. ["Instant-Mag", No. 6, 2001, p. 10] In response to this censorship, Farmer decided to release the video in its full version as a VHS with a booklet of unpublished photos. All the funds collected tanks to the 70,000 sales of the tape was returned to Sidaction, an association fighting against AIDS. In 2000, in an interview on MCM, the singer said about this censorship: "This has no interest to want to offend at all costs in order to talk about you. I deal with subjects that might be a little tricky taboo. The censorship, and especially in France, is a bit harsh and attacking everything and anything, and what I find really regrettable". [Interviews of Mylène Farmer [http://www.webzinemaker.com/admi/m6/page.php3?num_web=9323&rubr=3&id=48422 Webzinemaker.com] (Retrieved January 7, 2008)]

According to some, "Je te rends ton amour" is one of Farmer's music videos which uses a lot of symbolisms, "bringing together aestheticism, shock images and deep themes". Several interpretations are possible.

One contextual interpretation of the music video can be given keeping in mind that the song appears in the album "Innamoramento" which in Italian means "The Birth of Love". The smearing of the woman's body in blood perhaps symbolizes that she is being baptized in blood by the Devil, so in a way she is 'reborn' (in Christian concept, to be baptized symbolically means to be reborn). This view is also reinforced by the woman's 'fetus' pose in the video, and also that after the experience she goes out of the church completely renewed, gifted with sight, and possibly liberated from religious strictures.

The fact that the woman in the video initially wanted to place her ring on the Bible, but ended up placing it in the blood pool suggests that Farmer is 'married' to her liberator (the Devil) and wishes to live her new life without any religious inhibitions. She "refuses any dogmatic system" (the Church and/or the Bible), preferring a "freer world". ["Mylène Farmer - La part d'ombre", Caroline Bee, Antoine Bioy & Benjamin Thiry, 2005, Archipel Ed., p. 350-356]

In the magazine "Voici", Joseph Messinger, a French psychoanalyst, did a surprising analysis of this video. ["Je te rends ton amour", analysis by a psychoanalyst [http://www.mylene.net/img_data/voici21061999%281b%29.jpgMylene.net] (Retrieved January 8, 2008)] The blood represents successively holiness, the loss of virginity, the defilement. Little by little in the video, Farmer loses her original purity. The stigmata refer to the idea of pain ensuing from the human condition. The Bible, a symbol of dogmatic thinking, evokes the notion of forbidden. When Farmer wants to decrypt it with her fingers, she is punished for trying to accede to a knowledge reserved for an elite (this image refers to Eve and the serpent). Another analysis establishes a link with Georges Bataille's novel, "Story of the Eye". ["Mylène Farmer, le culte - L'envers du décor", Sophie Khairallah, 2007, Why Not Ed., p. 143-149]

TV performances

Mylène Farmer sang "Je te rends ton amour" in two TV shows :

First, in "La Fureur du parc" (in playback), on June 19. The show was broadcast in the Parc des Princes, in Paris. Farmer accepted to perform her song provided to sing at the lead of the program. She appeared suddenly from the ground, standing on a platform that rose in the airs. ["Je te rends ton amour" performed in "La Fureur du parc" [http://www.mylene.net/modules/index.php?r=83 Mylene.net] (Retrieved January 8, 2008)]

Then, in "50 Ans de tubes", on July 30, in which the singer performed the song in a works gallery of the French sculptor Caesar, in Provence. ["Sans logique", TV performances [http://www.sans-logique.com/mylene-farmer/discographie/repertoire-des-chansons.php?chanson=je-te-rends-ton-amour Sans-logique.com] (Retrieved January 7, 2008)]

At these occasions, Farmer wore the same dress as for the video. This dress was made by the British fashion designer John Galliano. As Farmer wasn't allowed to wear it again for her 2000 tour, she did make a similar dress.

Chart performances

Sales of the single were lukewarm. In France, it debuted at #10, its highest position, on June 12, which was at the time the 17th Top 10 of Farmer. However, the single fell sharply the following week and then stayed in lower positions. It stayed for 12 weeks in the Top 50 and 20 weeks in the Top 100."Je te rends ton amour", French SNEP Singles Chart [http://lescharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Myl%E8ne+Farmer&titel=Je+te+rends+ton+amour&cat=s Lescharts.com] (Retrieved December 24, 2007)] It was the 78th best-selling single of 1999 in France, but the second least-selling single from "Innamoramento".1999 French Singles Chart [http://www.ifop.com/europe/sondages/discannu/single99.stm Ifop.com] (Retrieved December 24, 2007)]

In Belgium, the single featured in the Ultratop 40 on June 19 and reached its peak position the following week, jumping from #30 to #18. However, the weeks after, it fell almost continuously, although it won a few positions."Je te rends ton amour", Belgian (Wallonia) Ultratop 40 Singles Chart [http://www.ultratop.be/fr/showitem.asp?key=62687&cat=s Ultratop.be] (Retrieved January 3, 2007)] It remained on the chart for a total of 10 weeks and was ranked number 92 in Belgian Annual Chart.1999 Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart [http://www.ultratop.be/fr/annual.asp?year=1999 Ultratop.be] (Retrieved December 24, 2007)]

Cover versions

In 2005, the song was covered by the band Lo-Fi.

Formats and track listings

; CD single
# "Je te rends ton amour" (single version) — 5:05
# "Effets secondaires" — 3:30

; CD maxi - Digipack
# "Je te rends ton amour" (single version) — 5:05
# "Je te rends ton amour" (redemption Perky Park club mix) — 6:35
# "Je te rends ton amour" (illumination Perky Park dub mix) — 6:32
# "Effets secondaires" — 3:30

; 12" maxiA-side :
# "Je te rends ton amour" (redempion Perky Park club mix) — 6:35 B-side :
# "Je te rends ton amour" (single version) — 5:05
# "Je te rends ton amour" (illumination Perky Park dub mix) — 6:32

; Digital download
# "Je te rends ton amour" (album version) — 5:12
# "Je te rends ton amour" (live version) — 5:14; CD single - Promo
# "Je te rends ton amour" (single version) — 4:52

; CD single - Promo - Luxurious crucifix
# "Je te rends ton amour" (single version) — 4:52

; 12" maxi - Picture disc - Limited edition (3,000)A-side :
# "Je te rends ton amour" (redempion Perky Park club mix) — 6:35 B-side :
# "Je te rends ton amour" (single version) — 5:05
# "Je te rends ton amour" (illumination Perky Park dub mix) — 6:32

; VHS
# "Je te rends ton amour" (video)

; VHS - Promo
# "Je te rends ton amour" (video)

Versions

; Official versions

References