Biography
Discography
Lyrics
Last TF1 Interview
Discussion Forum
Photos
Biography
Mylène Farmer was born on septembre 12th 1961, in Pierrefonds, Quebec Canada, to parents from France; her family returned to France when she was eight. Her birth name is Mylène Gauthier, she chose her stage name in homage to Frances Farmer. As a child, Marie Helene, who was nicknamed Mylene, was very introverted and secretive. She had a passion for insects and there was constantly an aura of mystery around her.
The first impression you get of Mylène can be quite frightening. She's like the poster girl for New Age artists with a psychosexual death obsession.
She made her professional recording debut in 1984 with the song "Maman a tort," followed in 1986 by her first album, Cendres de Lune, which included the hit Libertine. She worked together extensively with Laurent Boutonnat, who not only wrote her music, but also directed the long videos for her songs and the 1994 movie Giorgino. The music videos directed by Boutonnat contributed to her popularity since they were made like short psychedelic movies.
Farmer gained fame with songs featuring ambiguous or shocking lyrics, and somewhat explicit videos. "Maman a tort" was about the love of a young girl for her female nurse in hospital."Pourvu qu'elles soient douces" was about a man with an obsession for the buttocks of his lover, with hints of sodomy; the video, set in the 18th century, featured a caning. "Libertine" is said to feature the first nude appearance by a singer on a major music video. "Que mon cœur lâche" was about love with condoms in the age of AIDS; the video for the song features a scene in which God tells Jesus he won't send him to Earth as the last time was a disaster.
In January 2006 she returned back on stage for 13 dates in Paris-Bercy with the final date being the 29th January. Mylène stated that she could not tour the country due to the complex structures which were built for the performances.
On the whole, Mylène Farmer remains as mysterious a figure as ever, very few interviews and media appearances. The singer has nevertheless built up an extensive following of fans and her albums and concerts continue to cause a huge stir on the French music scene.
Discography
 Avant que l'ombre (2005)
 Les mots (Best of) (2001)
 Mylenium Tour (Live) (2000)
 Innamoramento (1999)
 Live à Bercy (1997)
 Anamorphosée (1995)
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 Dance Remixes (1992)
 L'autre (1991)
 Mylène Farmer en concert (1989)
 Ainsi soit-je... (1988)
 Cendres de lune (1986)
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Lyrics
Je te rends ton amour (Le renoncement à Dieu)
Paroles et Musique: Mylène Farmer, Laurent Boutonnat 1999 "Innamoramento"
M'extraire du cadre, ma vie suspendue
Je rêvais mieux
Je voyais l'âtre tous ces inconnus
toi parmi eux
Toile, fibre qui suinte
Des meurtrissures
Tu voyais l'âme, mais j'ai vu ta main choisir Gauguin
Et je te rends ton amour, redeviens les contours
Je te rends ton amour, c'est mon dernier recours
Je te rends ton amour, au moins pour toujours
Redeviens les contours, "la femme nue debout"
M'extraire du cadre, la vie étriquée
D'une écorchée
J'ai cru la fable, d'un mortel aimé
Tu m'as trompé
Toi
Tu m'as laissé
Me compromettre
Je serai "l'Unique"
Pour des milliers d'yeux
Un nu de maître
Et je te rends ton amour, au moins pour toujours
Je te rends ton amour, le mien est trop lourd
Je te rends ton amour, c'est plus flagrant le jour
Ses couleurs se sont diluées
Et je reprends mon amour, redeviens les contours
De mon seul maître : Egon Schiele et...
[Interpretation 1]
[Interpretation 2]
[Interpretation 3]
[Interpretation 4]
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Innamoramento
Paroles et Musique: Mylène Farmer 1999 "Innamoramento"
Toi qui n'as pas su me reconnaître
Ignorant ma vie, ce monastère, j'ai
Devant moi une porte entrouverte
Sur un peut-être
Même s'il me faut tout recommencer
Toi qui n'as pas cru ma solitude
Ignorant ses cris, ses angles durs, j'ai
Dans le cœur un fil minuscule
Filament de lune
Qui soutient là, un diamant qui s'use
Mais qui aime
{Refrain}
J ' n'ai pas choisi de l'être
Mais c'est là, " l ' innamoramento "
L'amour, la mort, peut-être
Mais suspendre le temps pour un mot
Tout se dilate et cède à toi
Et c'est là, " l ' innamoramento "
Tout son être s'impose à moi
Trouver enfin peut-être un écho
Toi qui n'as pas vu l'autre coté, de
Ma mémoire aux portes condamnées, j'ai
Tout enfoui les trésors du passé
Les années blessées
Comprends-tu qu'il me faudra cesser
Moi qui n'ai plus regardé le ciel, j'ai
Devant moi cette porte entrouverte, mais
L'inconnu a meurtri plus d'un cœur
Et son âme sœur
On l'espère, on l'attend, on la fuit même
Mais on aime
{au Refrain, 3x}
Derrière les fenêtres
Paroles: Mylène Farmer. Musique: Laurent Boutonnat 2005 "Avant que l'ombre"
La lumière est invisible
A nos yeux"
C'est ce qu'ils disent en silence
Quand ils sont deux...
Hommes et femmes de pierre
Aux destins sans gloire
Mal étreints, trop fiers
J'entends...
L'absence d'eux...
Derrière les fenêtres
Des vies, longtemps, se perdent
Derrière les fenêtres
J'envie des mondes
Qui ressemblent aux songes
Derrière les carreaux
Tombent en lambeaux des êtres
Derrières les pâleurs, on sait qu'un
Coeur va naître ou disparaître
Silhouettes exquises
J'imaginais vos cernes
Des amants qui sont tranquilles
A leurs fenêtres
Hommes et femmes dignes
Je voudrais rencontrer vos ombres
Parler à vos âmes
Qui plongent
Et qui se signent
Rêver
Paroles: Mylène Farmer. Musique: Laurent Boutonnat 1995 "Anamorphosée"
D'avoir mis son âme dans tes mains
tu l'as froissé comme un chagrin
et d'avoir condamné vos différences
nous ne marcherons plus ensemble
Sa vie ne bat plus que d'une aile
dansent les flammes, les bras se lèvent
là où il va il fait un froid mortel
si l'homme ne change de ciel pourtant, j'ai rêvé
j'ai rêvé qu'on pouvait s'aimer
au souffle du vent
s'élevait l'âme, l'humanité
son manteau de sang
j'irai cracher sur vos tombeaux
n'est pas le vrai, n'est pas le beau
j'ai rêvé qu'on pouvait s'aimer
à quoi bon abattre des murs
pour y dresser des sépultures
à force d'ignorer la tolérance
nous ne marcherons plus ensemble
les anges sont las de nous veiller
nous laissent comme un monde avorté
suspendu pour l'éternité
le monde comme une pendule
qui s'est arrêtée
j'ai rêvé qu'on pouvait s'aimer
au souffle du vent
s'élevait l'âme, l'humanité
son manteau de sang
j'irai cracher sur vos tombeaux
n'est pas le vrai, n'est pas le beau
j'ai rêvé qu'on pouvait s'aimer
{Refrain x2}
j'ai rêvé qu'on pouvait s'aimer
j'avais rêvé du mot AIMER
Interview
"Sept à huit" 8 jan 2006 (TF1)
She loves angels but she has devlish beauty. For 20 years she's attracted the love of her fans, captivated their hearts, and fed their fantasies. She has a diva's aura, an iconic status, and her silence has made her a legend. Mylène Farmer is so rare that her words are precious. She doesn't like to say out loud what she sings in whispers. Let's listen to her; it may be the last time she speaks.
Thierry Demaizière: 10 years without hearing from you, no interviews, 6 years without hearing you sing, 6 years without seeing you onstage: do you like being away from the spotlight?!
Mylène Farmer: I have...it's a necessity, it's out of shyness, believe me...
Thierry: You almost have an intimidating shyness?
Mylène: That's what people have often said to me, yes, I know that being bothersome really bothers me as well, so I...I admit it's an extremely difficult task.
Thierry: Your shyness isn't the only explanation. Why do you hide for so long before reappearing?
Mylène: I don't know if it's my only explanation, I have trouble anyway...I think it goes beyond that, even, than talking about me...It's something that's almost insurmountable for me. I owe you a week and a half of insomnia, and a near ulcer.
Thierry: Excuse me!
Mylène: It's OK.
Thierry: That bad?
Mylène: Yes, really, yes. Is it because I don't feel interesting or important enough, or self-centered enough? Probably...probably...But it doesn't stop me from going onstage.
(Live à Bercy)
Bercy, the site of her excesses. She's rehearsing her next show there, in secret, like usual.
Thierry: You're going to begin on Friday the 13th, for 13 shows, there will be 13,000 people each night at Bercy, do you like the number 13?
Mylène: I like the number 13. I'm not superstitious.
Thierry: The seats have been sold for almost a year, they're all waiting like crazy, it looks like it's going to be huge, non-transportable...Can you tell us anything more about it, or is that also going to be a secret?
Mylène: Well, I'm going to keep the secretive aspect...and also tell you that I regret not being able to go elsewhere in France--this show is really not transportable. So I've asked the public to come to me, which might seem like a lack of humility, but it's really because of, I was going to say, I hope, of the grandeur of this show and its exceptional, extraordinary aspect.
Thierry: We know it's in the shape of a cross, we know that, and that there will be a wall of water...
Mylène: Yes, that too, those are the leaks on the Internet, right?
Thierry: Yes. And to appear so infrequently and so rarely, during these years you've disappeared, does the public miss you?
Mylène: Yes! We always have the...me in particular, because I think, deep down, nothing is for sure, you're always afraid of abandonment. I think the feeling of abandonment is something that haunts me.
Thierry: You could say like Barbara, "My most beautiful love story is you", to the public?
Mylène: Oh, I say it, yes, it's, yes yes, it's my confession.
Because she's been quiet for years at a time, Mylène Farmer has possibly risked displeasing her public. As if her silence ended up hurting her, provoking spite in certain fans and feeding the rumor.
Mylène: People say a lot of things about me, they say a lot of totally erroneous things, they invent, I imagine, my life, they invent my emotions. Now I know, I'm aware of it, I know the risk of silence. There are certainly some people who hold it against me because this silence, who think that it's of a haughy nature, when it's only discretion on my part, that I have a really hard time talking about myself.
Thierry: Some wonder if this isn't also a communication strategy? Just like Garbo kept quiet, the more you keep quiet, the more you attract mystery and the more mystery and the more people invent and invent and the more they want to know...which kind of provokes this type of devotion...
Mylène: I don't know about that, once again I'm aware of the nature of this mystery and what it can engender. Now is it a strategy, I'm going to tell you no, of course it's not, it's my inner nature. I don't belong to this system in this sense that it's true that I do very little TV, I hardly do any interviews. But once again, I retreat back to my inner nature, and when you don't belong to a system, the system tries to destroy you. Also, I'm lucky to have had people who have followed me for twenty years, who have...
Thierry: Who are faithful to you, but faithful almost in the religious sense of the term.
(Innamoramento extracts)
Thierry: You've brought about a sort of devotion and you almost have a diva's aura...There are lots of books coming out right now, a fan who waited for you for two years, well, it's almost incredible! Is this something violent...sometimes?
Mylène: It's not violent, it's disturbing, certainly. As long as these people don't waste their life for me, I'm at peace. But if I do indeed feel that they are missing out on something because I've become the absolutely essential element in their lives, that does disturb me a lot.
Thierry: There's even a fan, one of the most dramatic stories that's happened to you, who went and killed the receptionist from your record label, a few years ago. So, somewhere your absence pushes them to madness.
Mylène: I don't know...To talk about this person, maybe this person was disturbed even before going...It's always a little dangerous to...to have these kinds of intentions, and believe me, it's painful enough for me to experience these kinds of things.
Thierry: And do you understand today's trend of committing oneself to confession, where the stars no longer have much of a private life and like to talk about their childhood and their life story?
Mylène: I try not to judge. But it's true that I find it a bit of a pity this--to paraphrase you--this lack of mystery on the part of most of these artists. I don't want to know what they eat for dinner, I don't want to know with whom they...uh, I won't say the word (laughs). I believe you have to preserve yourself a little bit.
Thierry: I think right there we've just had a little bit of your mystery, actually, that you laugh! You've always been fixed in this slightly morbid image, where you only like nostalgia, melancholy, suffering...
Mylène: No, that's a part of me as well and it's a part of a lot of us. I'm saying you can be made of hopelessness, joy, I mean, many things that clash and contradict each other. So, I'm someone, I belong to these people that are indeed a little obsessed with death, the idea of death. Quite simply, the fact that we're mortal is something unbearable, so I have this burden with me; now, to say that I'm someone morbid, that I sleep in a coffin and I feed on spiders, NO! I like Tagada strawberries.
Thierry: And is it true, though, that your grandmother took you to visit cemeteries when you were little?
Mylène: That is actually one of the rare souvenirs that I have. They're places that aren't, for me, sorry, morbid at all. For me a cemetery is a place of peace, a place of rest. I'm able to completely reorient myself in a cemetery...
From the melancholy of cemeteries to the inaccessible dreams of androgyny, Mylène won't hesitate to stuff handkerchiefs in her pants to look, without imitation, like a boy.
Mylène: It's true, I had a person who often told me when I was little that "Mylène was really pretty for a boy," because in fact I had a rather deep voice, that I've forced to change with time.
Thierry: You've always had this dream of being a boy?
Mylène: No. (laughs).
Thierry: The other rumor is saying that you have a lot of mirrors in your house. So do you like mirrors or do you hate mirrors?
Mylène: Well I admit, I don't have a lot of mirrors in my house, in fact, I don't think I have any. Today, people feel the need to look at themselves constantly, but it's more out of worrying about not being pretty enough, not good enough, not ready...I think it's more of a fretful nature than inner narcissism.
Thierry: Could you say that the mirror is your worst enemy?
Mylène: I'll admit that it's not nice to me.
Thierry: I was told once that you had monkeys, I think you only have one monkey now?
Mylène: I have a monkey, yes, and I've lived with her for almost 20 years now...She's a little Capuchin monkey, she's pretty small, and she's an intelligent animal.
Thierry: Is she a friend for you?
Mylène: Oh she's a companion, yes. A little girl.
Thierry: So obviously, since you speak so little, people talk about you in your place. The biographies are numerous, but sometimes unbelievable...I'm going to take the most unbelievable one, the biography where the story is told of a skunk that urinated on you when you were little, and you were greatly tramautized by it, and in order to wash you of this humiliation, your mother put you in a tomato bath. Can you confirm this?
Mylène: Well, I've been told that this story was untrue, so I think it's a very nice story, a little dramatic, a little saucy, but it's not the truth, no.
Thierry: Do you suffer from all that or do you tell yourself, "It's the price I have to pay because I keep quiet"?
Mylène: The people who give themselves the authority to violate the territory of another person to obtain or to invent things, I think that's extremely uncalled-for. I think to do this profession you have to have guts, because there are mortal enemies out there.
Thierry: We know there are no big stars without big secrets. We've guessed that you're harboring a big secret. We know that Johnny Hallyday was abandoned as a child, we know that Barbara was raped as a child...Do you know your big secret? Do you know your mystery, your secret? You have the right not to tell it to us but do you know it?
Mylène: Yes, of course.
(Avant que l'ombre)
Thierry: If we had to use the lyrics to your songs as your only official biography, you say, "I'm afraid of the hour that takes me to dreams carried away, to worlds forgotten, to sleepless nights, to unfinished memories." It seems like this shadow is, well, death, that before dying, you're afraid that nightmares will come back, that these terrible memories will come back.
Mylène: Well, I'm trying more and more, and I admit it's not easy to step back from my life and forever, from the feeling...Now to tell you that we have burdens to carry, obviously, that these open wounds don't heal easily, yes; now to tell you the nature of my wounds...Sometimes they're precise in my mind, sometimes they're very hazy, I don't know. I think it's also the fact that I have very few memories of my childhood, and I admit it's troubling for me, not having sought to analyze it...
Thierry: So you're saying that from age 12, before the age of 12, you remember hardly anything?
Mylène: No, nothing, not even afterwards.
Thierry: Do you think that your memories will come back to you one day, that you're going to get back your past, your history?
Mylène: No, no, certainly not. I think the pages have been erased and once again, maybe I don't really need to know the why and how of it...let's leave that in the dark.
(Redonne-Moi)
Thierry: Because you haven't spoken for 10 years, what's happened in your life in the past 10 years that you can tell us? About your state of mind, about your openness to other cultures, about your health, about...?
Mylène: (laughs)...
Thierry: You're feeling better and better?
Mylène: Oh no, I don't think so. Still as much anger.
Thierry: From what?
Mylène: I don't know, I was born angry (laughs). I began with "I hate" and afterward, I learned to like.
Thierry: Would you say that you're now all grown up?
Mylène: No!!!
Thierry: Still a child?
Mylène: Heavens no. Yes.
Thierry: You still don't want to grow up?
Mylène: No, that doesn't interest me in the least. No.
Thierry: Really?
Mylène: Growing old, I accept, because it's fate, but growing up, no.
Thierry: You accept growing old?
Mylène: Yes, yes. I tell you it's painful, probably, but well, I don't have a choice.
(Mylenium tour)
Mylène Farmer's big flaws can't prevent a flawless work ethic. A great performer, a show-woman, a businesswoman, she needs to control everything onstage, from the lights to the slightest buttonhole.
Thierry: It comes down to an image, a photo that you don't like...You say, "It's my job, it's my image, I want to control it, it's my person."
Mylène: That's an even more painful area, it's true that when you don't like yourself or don't accept yourself, you're more critical of yourself, so there are things that you hate and when you hate, you're torn up.
(California)
Thierry: Do you prefer the word "sex" or the word "desire," or "pleasure"?
Mylène: "Desire" is a beautiful word.
Thierry: You could say it's one of your major themes.
Mylène: Yes, the desire to...
Thierry: To provoke?
Mylène: Desire? Yes, that too, of course. Of course.
Thierry: And from where does this incredible liberty that you have come to you, even from a sexual point of view, where you have no taboos, every desire is respectable, and...?
Mylène: Maybe from my reading, maybe I've read Sade a bit too much, maybe I devoured it, so there you go. There are some people who are going to tell you, tell you willingly, it's easier for me, maybe, to talk about sexual desires and outpourings...
Thierry: A few years ago you said that it would be mortifying for you to not realize all your fantasies. Have you realized them?
Mylène: Yes I have.
Thierry: Does one get bored afterward?
Mylène: One does get bored. (laughs). One will find other fantasies.
Thierry: What's wonderful and troubling in you is that you know how to be shy and daring at the same time...
Mylène: It's the paradox that I have to live with every day.
Thierry: Are you afraid of tedium?
Mylène: I hate tedium.
Thierry: Do you have the idea somwhere that everything is permissible, well, that everything is permissible to you at least?
Mylène: I don't prohibit myself from anything, if it's...I call on my memory...But I remember when I wrote "C'est une belle journée," in the refrain I had put "It's a beautiful day, I'm going to kill myself" instead of how it is now, "It's a beautiful day, I'm going to go to bed". And I think that could be a call to suicide for certain people who are a bit fragile, so I changed that expression for another one, because it might have been something too strong all of a sudden, something too decisive. I think anything is possible when, once again, you don't hurt anyone.
Thierry: Where did you get this liberty from? Your parents?
Mylène: I don't know.
Thierry: Were you a rebel all the time from the start?
Mylène: Yes, but more hidden, more in its autistic form--can you say that word? Yes? This profession has been my means of survival, I say that without any dramatic meaning, it's really been vital for me, otherwise, I wouldn't have any meaning to my life. The desire, once again, to give, and especially to receive as well.
Thierry: Since you used the word autistic, let me talk about it. You are fascinated and you often go see, off camera--it's a credit to you--sick children.
Mylène: Yes, it's true that I make a lot of hospital visits, to see sick children, but I especially, I'm going to maybe give you a little key into my life because in any case, it's a souvenir, something extremely significant in my life, I think I was about 11 years old, I was taking catechism courses, and every Sunday we would go to the Garches hospital, to go see quadriplegic children, and our task was to play with them, take care of them...It's unbearable. It's unbearable for someone who can walk, for someone who suffers, for someone who lives...There you go. Anyway, these things have been like an electroshock in my life, and it's quite difficult to bear this injustice afterward.
This world so tormented, created from erased memories, from crucifixion, from fishnets and guardian angels, is fascinating because it never stops singing its mystery without ever revealing its secret.
Thierry: Do you ever imagine from time to time that one day you're going to disappear completely, from the media and the stage, from singing?
Mylène: Well, I feel like this is going to be my last interview.
Thierry: This one here, right now?
Mylène: Yes, this one. But...
Thierry: Would it shock you if I said that being so sure of one's desire, doing what you feel like doing and leading your career like you do, not caring about the gossip, and doing what you want, is also borne out of an enormous pride?
Mylène: I don't think it's pride or being sure of oneself. I think it's actually an aversion to compromise. I've always said that I would never be governed by my own fears, because these fears can cause terrible things, but I've never given in to my fears.
Thierry: So you've overcome your fears?
Mylène: Yes, I've overcome my fears. Sometimes they come back in force, with a roar, but I'll never do anything that's guided by fear. Never.
Thierry: At the end of this interview we realize that people have fantasized about you, that they've imagined that all of that was calculated, these appearances, these disappearances, and that...Is this really just your own rhythm?
Mylène: Exactly.
Thierry: Do you like silence?
Mylène: Actually I think silence likes me.
Thierry: So maybe we'll leave each other in silence then?
Mylène: In silence then. Thank you.
Likes/Dislikes
Things she like:
Music, Reading, Movies, Drawing, Winter, Animals, Zoos, Casttles, Silence...
Things she dislike:
Happy-ends, Purple, Clubbing, Weekends
l'innamoramento live à Bercy
Je te rends ton amour live à Bercy
Je te rends ton amour live à Bercy
Je te rends ton amour live à Bercy
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W A L I D 9 7 . C O M