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| Thus, nearly all French language references interpret the title as "Sibérie m'était contéee" (Amazon.fr, album reviews, etc). However the official Manu Chao website manuchao.net gives the title as "Siberie m'etait contéee" (without accents on ''Sibérie'' or ''m'était'') even though ''Sibérie'' appears elsewhere on the same webpage with the accent. It is not known if this dropping of accents in ''Sibérie'' and ''m'était'' actually reflects the singer's intentions or was merely done by the site's webmaster. | Thus, nearly all French language references interpret the title as "Sibérie m'était contéee" (Amazon.fr, album reviews, etc). However the official Manu Chao website manuchao.net gives the title as "Siberie m'etait contéee" (without accents on ''Sibérie'' or ''m'était'') even though ''Sibérie'' appears elsewhere on the same webpage with the accent. It is not known if this dropping of accents in ''Sibérie'' and ''m'était'' actually reflects the singer's intentions or was merely done by the site's webmaster. | ||
| ==Puns== | ==Puns and wordplay== | ||
| The title is a ] or ]. There are many books or articles in French with the title ''"Si X m'était conté"'' or ''"Si le X m'était conté"'' (for ] nouns X) or ''"Si X m'était contée"'' or ''"Si la X m'était contée"'' (for ] nouns X). These translate literally as "If X was told to me" or figuratively as "What X is all about" or "An introduction to X". Thus in ''Sibérie m'était contée'' the first syllable of ''Sibérie'' (Siberia) could be interpreted, in wordplay, as the word ''si'' (if): "If ''<nowiki>'</nowiki>bérie<nowiki>'</nowiki>'' was told to me" (whatever ''"bérie"'' might be). | The title is a ] or ]. There are many books or articles in French with the title ''"Si X m'était conté"'' or ''"Si le X m'était conté"'' (for ] nouns X) or ''"Si X m'était contée"'' or ''"Si la X m'était contée"'' (for ] nouns X). These translate literally as "If X was told to me" or figuratively as "What X is all about" or "An introduction to X". Thus in ''Sibérie m'était contée'' the first syllable of ''Sibérie'' (Siberia) could be interpreted, in wordplay, as the word ''si'' (if): "If ''<nowiki>'</nowiki>bérie<nowiki>'</nowiki>'' was told to me" (whatever ''"bérie"'' might be). | ||
Revision as of 00:30, 11 August 2005
Sibérie m'était contéee or Siberie m'etait contéee ("Siberia was told/recited to me") is the first French language-only album by Manu Chao, released in 2004. This album features, along with a CD, an illustrated book by Jacek Wozniak. Hit singles include Petite blonde du boulevard brune ("Little blonde from brunette street").
Spelling of the title
Note that the title incorporates an intentional misspelling (contéee instead of contée). It may or may not incorporate an intentional dropping of acute accents in Sibérie/Siberie and m'était/m'etait.
The grammatically correct title would be "Sibérie m'était contée". The title as written in capital letters on the album cover is SIBERIE M'ETAIT CONTÉEE . To interpret this, it is necessary to understand that the French language usually drops accents (diacritics) on capital letters, but nevertheless very often retains the accent for capital É (E with acute accent) when it occurs in a word-final or near word-final position, because in this position it could be mistaken for silent "e" and the word could be mistaken for another word: eg, conté (told ), conte (tale).
Thus, nearly all French language references interpret the title as "Sibérie m'était contéee" (Amazon.fr, album reviews, etc). However the official Manu Chao website manuchao.net gives the title as "Siberie m'etait contéee" (without accents on Sibérie or m'était) even though Sibérie appears elsewhere on the same webpage with the accent. It is not known if this dropping of accents in Sibérie and m'était actually reflects the singer's intentions or was merely done by the site's webmaster.
Puns and wordplay
The title is a pun or wordplay. There are many books or articles in French with the title "Si X m'était conté" or "Si le X m'était conté" (for masculine nouns X) or "Si X m'était contée" or "Si la X m'était contée" (for feminine nouns X). These translate literally as "If X was told to me" or figuratively as "What X is all about" or "An introduction to X". Thus in Sibérie m'était contée the first syllable of Sibérie (Siberia) could be interpreted, in wordplay, as the word si (if): "If 'bérie' was told to me" (whatever "bérie" might be).
Note also a 1974 album by Melina Mercouri with the title Si Melina m'était contée.
The album cover also includes the words (in capital letters): "…A TOUS LES PECHEURS DU FLEUVE AMOUR…", which is also a pun. It can be understood as either "to all those who fish the Amur river" (a river in Siberia), or as "to all the sinners of the river Love". The French words pécheur (sinner) and pêcheur (fisherman/fisher) are spelled the same way when the accent is dropped in capital letters.
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