L'Histoire d'une fée, c'est...

This is a good article. Click here for more information.
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

"L'Histoire d'une fée, c'est..."
Polydor
Songwriter(s)Lyrics: Mylène Farmer
Music: Laurent Boutonnat
Producer(s)Laurent Boutonnat
Mylène Farmer singles chronology
"Dessine-moi un mouton"
(2000) 		"L'Histoire d'une fée, c'est..."
(2001) 		"Les Mots"
(2001)

"L'Histoire d'une fée, c'est..." (English: "The Story of a Fairy Is...") is a 2001 song recorded by French singer-songwriter

Mélusine with "childish" lyrics that contrast with double entendres and puns referring to sexual practices. Although the single had no music video nor airplay promotion, it received generally positive reviews from critics and reached top-ten charts in France and Belgium
.

Background and writing

Rugrats in Paris: The Movie was the second in a trilogy of films based on the children's animated television series

TLC member Tionne Watkins, the 1990s boys band 2Be3, Sinéad O'Connor, Cyndi Lauper and Mylène Farmer.[1] Persistent but unconfirmed rumours claimed that Madonna, as the founder of the Maverick company producing the soundtrack, had expressly asked Farmer to participate in the album.[2] Farmer accepted, but preferred to produce a new song instead of licensing the rights to one of her old compositions. The recording label Maverick signed a contract for an unreleased song,[3] with lyrics written by Farmer and music composed by her songwriting partner Laurent Boutonnat. This was the first time that the singer had recorded a song especially for a movie.[2] An English version was canceled in favour of a French version,[4] and eventually the song only played for about 15 seconds in the movie.[5] The first title chosen, "Attrapez-moi", was also quickly abandoned as it was too similar to the Pokémon's cry of "Attrapez-les tous".[6][7][clarification needed
]

Music and lyrics

"L'Histoire d'une fée, c'est..." is a

magic, baffling several of Farmer's fans as the lyrics seem to be closer to the themes found in songs by young singers such as Alizée.[6] The lyrics also contain several double entendres and puns which refer to sexual practices. The song's title itself is ambiguous and can be deemed sexually suggestive as it contains a pun in French alluding to spanking: in French, the title "L'Histoire d'une fée, c'est..." could be phonetically understand as meaning "L'Histoire d'une fessée..." (translation: "The Story of a Spanking").[9]

Release

In Europe the soundtrack release was postponed until 7 February 2001 because Farmer had bought the song's royalties and finally decided to release it as a single, 14 days later. It was only released as a digipack CD single, in which the song's lyrics are written inside, and there was no promotional format. For the second time in the singer's career – after the song "XXL" – the single cover does not show her, but a drawing of a fairy from the film by Tom Madrid.[6] The song began circulating online a month before the soundtrack's release and was well received by many fans who felt that it could be a hit.[7] The song did not receive much radio airplay, with only Europe 2 playing it regularly. "L'Histoire d'une fée, c'est..." was also released on the soundtrack of the film in a longer version than the CD single version, and was later included on Mylène Farmer's greatest hits album Les Mots. It was also released as the third track on the European CD maxi "Les Mots", released in the Switzerland on 4 September 2002.

Critical reception

The song was generally well received by critics, who particularly noted the puns. According to author Erwan Chuberre, the lyrics are "as funny as disillusioned" and Farmer uses puns that "highlight her immoderate pleasure for impolite pleasures", with a music he deemed "effective".[10] Author Thierry Desaules said that the song appears to be a childish fairly tale, but is actually structured in a perverse enough way to address the adult public, as the allusions to the spanking can be seen as references to sadomasochism.[11] Journalist Benoît Cachin wrote that her puns are "of the funniest" and that the singer included in the lyrics "some very personal thoughts", including sadness; he added that Farmer appears to be "fun, dynamic and delightfully mischievous" on this song.[2]

Chart performance

On 3 March 2001, the single debuted at a peak of number nine on the

Ultratop 50 after 13 weeks.[14] On the 2001 Belgian singles year-end chart, "L'Histoire d'une fée, c'est..." ranked at number 89.[15]

Formats and track listings

These are the formats and track listings of single releases of "L'Histoire d'une fée, c'est...":

No.TitleLength
1."L'Histoire d'une fée, c'est..." (single version)4:44
2."L'Histoire d'une fée, c'est..." (instrumental)5:00

Official versions

Version Length Album Year Note[8]
Film soundtrack version 5:10 Rugrats in Paris: The Movie 2000 See the previous sections
Album version 5:00 Les Mots 2001 See the previous sections
Single version 4:44 — 2001 The music at the end of the song is shortened.
Instrumental version 5:00 — 2001 All the lyrics are deleted.

Credits and personnel

These are the credits and the personnel as they appear on the back of the single:

  • Mylène Farmer – lyrics
  • Laurent Boutonnat – music, producer
  • John Eng – artistic director
  • Gena Kornyshev – stylist
  • Tom Madrid – drawings
  • Requiem Publishing – editions
  • Polydor – recording company
  • Henry Neu – design
  • Bertrand Chatenet – mixing

Charts

Release history

Region Date Format
France, Belgium 21 February 2001 CD single[18]

References

  1. ISBN 2-9518832-0-X
    .
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-2-32400-364-6
    .
  3. ISBN 978-2-35287-139-2
    .
  4. ISBN 978-2-35288-108-7
    .
  5. ISBN 2-35019-009-9
    .
  6. ^
    ISBN 978-2-35636-096-0
    .
  7. ^ a b "Mylène Farmer, Ame-Stram-Gram". Jukebox (in French). 179. June 2002.
  8. ^
    ISBN 2-35144-000-5
    .
  9. ISBN 2-290-34916-X
    .
  10. ISBN 978-2-35288-176-6
    .
  11. ISBN 978-2-7538-0477-7
    .
  12. ^ a b "Mylène Farmer – "L'Histoire d'une fée, c'est...", French SNEP Singles Chart" (in French). Lescharts. Retrieved 23 December 2007.
  13. ^ Bee, Caroline; Brunet, Océane; Thiry, Benjamin; Parpette, Jennifer (2001). "Il y a (encore) une pince à linge dans les gâteaux apéritifs". Instant-Mag (in French). 7. Pantin: Tear Prod: 8.
  14. ^ a b "Mylène Farmer – "L'Histoire d'une fée, c'est...", Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart" (in French). Ultratop. Retrieved 3 January 2007.
  15. ^ a b "Rapports annuels 2001 – Singles" (in French). Ultratop. Retrieved 2 May 2011.
  16. Polydor. 2001. 587 642-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link
    )
  17. ISBN 978-2-35287-139-2
    .
  18. ^ ""L'Histoire d'une fée, c'est..." (Extrait du film "Les Razmoket A Paris") [CD single]" (in French). Amazon. Retrieved 4 June 2011.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=L%27Histoire_d%27une_fée,_c%27est...&oldid=1135218381"