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“Un autre monde” (Another World), released in 1984 by the French band Telephone, appeared in the group’s fifth and last album of the same title. It was sung by lead voice Jean-Louis Aubert and remained on the French charts for 25 weeks.

"The singer accepts reality and realizes that the world he wants is the world where he currently resides."

The lyrics target youthful listeners in need of an escape, describing an ideal world and a future of rebellion: “I was dreaming of another world/ Where the Earth would be round/ Where the moon would be blond/ And life would be fruitful.” Another line reads, “Je voulais tout foutre en l’air” (I wanted to screw everything up). The colloquial expression “foutre en l’air” (screw things up) expresses the singer’s anger, which also manifests itself when he condemns materialism and hopes for “une Terre moins terre à terre” (an Earth less down-to-Earth). Elsewhere, the song refers to a utopia, an imaginary Earth: “Je rêvais d’une autre terre” (I was dreaming about another Earth). The singer then suggests that he is looking for a real world, a project someone must still create: “Je rêvais réalité” (I was dreaming reality). But, finally, the utopia comes to an end: “Je rêvais de notre monde” (I was dreaming about our world). Telephone admits failure and resigns, telling listeners they must content themselves with this banal world, as if it were a fatality. The dream has become reality.

The chorus is repeated three times, with the first two repetitions being almost identical to each other. However, there are subtle discrepancies between them, and even the same words might have different meanings. The term “pieds” (feet) appears in “plus en pieds” (to see straight) and in “plus mes pieds” (to see one’s feet), while the word “fermé” (closed) is used to describe two different actions: “dormais à poings fermés” (to sleep deeply) and “marcher les yeux fermés” (to walk with eyes closed). There is also a play on words involving the terms “réalité” (reality) and “aliter” (to confine somebody to a bed), as if reality were a person confining people to certain places.

The third chorus is also the last couplet and the rhymes are unlike those of the first two choruses. The singer accepts reality – “Ce soir chantent et dansent les ombres du monde” (Tonight the shadows of the world are singing and dancing) – and realizes that the world he wants is the world where he currently resides.