“Foule sentimentale” is a song from Alain Souchon. It was released in 1993 and it won the “song of the year” award at the 1994 Victoires de la Musique ceremony (the French equivalent of the Grammys) and, in 2005, was chosen as the best “original song of the last twenty years.”
“Foule sentimentale” (Sentimental Crowd) is a song from French singer Alain Souchon. It was released in 1993 and it was the first song in Souchon’s 1993 album C'est déjà ça. It won the “song of the year” award at the 1994 Victoires de la Musique ceremony (the French equivalent of the Grammys) and, in 2005, it was chosen as the best “original song of the last twenty years.”
Souchon criticizes the superfluity of materialistic society, in which people own and consume “a lot of things” without a precise aim. The singer denounces the emptiness of lives filled with useless products: “dérisoires” (insignificant). The lyrics read, “On nous prend pour des cons” (We take ourselves for fools). We are dehumanized and become “lavé hors d’usage” (cleaned, out of use), like outdated things. Happiness becomes linked to possession, it becomes something we buy: “Le bonheur c'est d'avoir, de l'avoir plein nos armoires” (Happiness is to have it in our closet). The lyrics mark the lexical field of consumption society: “quantité de choses” (a lot of things), “autres choses” (other things), and “cartons d'emballage” (packages). The need to purchase does not make people happy, as proven by the words “affliger” (afflict) and “triste” (sad). Souchon tells us that we are being manipulated and that we have to refuse to be superfluous.
The song is made up of three verses and one chorus. Souchon is known for using puns and rhymes, and in “Foule sentimentale,” there are rhymes like “rose” (pink), “propose” (suggest), and “chose” (thing), and puns like “déconner/dès qu'on est né” (“fool/since we were born,” the pronunciations of both word and phrase being very similar). Meanwhile, the structure of the verse “On nous Claudia Schiffer/on nous Paul Lou Sulitzer” (we Claudia Schiffer us, we Paul Lou Sulitzer us), which lacks real verbs, suggests that these two personalities are only images that are sold to us. At the time, Claudia Schieffer was a top model who appeared in many magazines, while Paul Lou Sulitzer was a businessman who exhibited his wealth everywhere.
In the chorus, Souchon says that we are a “sentimental crowd” who have another ambition beyond just owning things, and who should dream again and be happy with simple things, like watching stars in the sky or believing in a more spiritual ideal. He describes another vision of society, and draws an opposition between a sentimental crowd based on humanism and moral values and an insatiable crowd in need of owning things.
Lyrics:
Oh la la la vie en rose Le rose qu'on nous propose D'avoir les quantités d'choses Qui donnent envie d'autre chose Aïe, on nous fait croire Que le bonheur c'est d'avoir De l'avoir plein nos armoires Dérisions de nous dérisoires car Foule sentimentale On a soif d'idéal Attirée par les étoiles, les voiles Que des choses pas commerciales Foule sentimentale Il faut voir comme on nous parleComme on nous parle Il se dégage De ces cartons d'emballage Des gens lavés, hors d'usage Et tristes et sans aucun avantage On nous inflige Des désirs qui nous affligent On nous prend faut pas déconner dès qu'on est né Pour des cons alors qu'on est Des Foules sentimentales Avec soif d'idéal Attirées par les étoiles, les voiles Que des choses pas commerciales Foule sentimentale Il faut voir comme on nous parle Comme on nous parle On nous Claudia Schieffer On nous Paul-Loup Sulitzer Oh le mal qu'on peut nous faire Et qui ravagea la moukère Du ciel dévale Un désir qui nous emballe Pour demain nos enfants pâles Un mieux, un rêve, un cheval Foule sentimentale On a soif d'idéal Attirée par les étoiles, les voiles Que des choses pas commerciales Foule sentimentale Il faut voir comme on nous parle Comme on nous parle.
