Grégoire: Toi + Moi
Take a look at this. Yes it’s in French, but there’s not a lot of words, and what I really like about this song is the sentiment and the video. Some quick google translating and my awesome GCSE French tells me what this song is about, and I really like it. If you want to read it yourself, find the lyrics and throw them into google translator, and you can get the gist of it, minus the horrible grammar.
I love what Grégoire is saying in this song: you and me and anyone who wants to, anyone who’s alone – come and join the dance and be carefree. It’s a bit of a celebration of humanity, and a great sentiment. Later on he sings “I know my song is naive, even a little silly. But its harmless, and even if it doesn’t change the world, it invites you to join the discussion.” It’s the kind of community spirit that I long for.
It kind of reminds me of some of the people I’ve met in Montreuil, a Parisian suburb where my uncle lives – particularly the people I met at his wedding this summer. They have this lovely, welcoming manner, and what strikes me the most about them that is different from us Brits, is that they’re not afraid to be silly, they seem to throw themselves in to life a little more than we do, speaking very generally of course. There’s much more of a community feel than I’m used to here in Coventry – for the wedding reception, they opened my uncle’s house and the courtyard outside, set up a little stage at the side and there was Salsa and Celtic music all evening. As people came and went, I saw how easygoing and welcoming they were, especially as the small party of us from Britain were feeling a little outcast, (language and cultural barriers), and they were just like the people in this video.
It’s a lovely song and a lovely video to accompany it. It’s not heart-wrenchingly beautiful, nor is it a call to change the world, it just reminds us to enjoy life, and to notice and love those around us. I’d love to have a mentality a little more similar to that of those in Montreuil, in this way – to stop taking myself so seriously and just enjoy what I have and who I have. Sounds like a plan to me.
Thanks for reading,
This song in particular is important to me because it’s the first actual complete song that’s entirely my own. Before now I’ve written music for other people’s lyrics, or done arrangements or covers of other people’s stuff, but this is 100% mine. I do find words hard and this definitely isn’t lyrical genius, I’ll be the first to admit that (and to anybody that is actually any good at this stuff I apologise for my destruction of rhyme), but at least it’s more than just fragments, so I’m proud of it none the less 