In 1983, Francis Cabrel published a little-known title, Said and Mohamedthen popularized by the singer Diam’s in 2005. In this politically engaged song, the singer from Lot-et-Garonne looked back on the rise of the National Front, under the aegis of Jean-Marie Le Pen. This little son of Italian immigrants, fiercely rejecting the evolution of his country, painted the portrait in this song of a cleaning lady of Algerian origin, whom he had met in a hotel in Marseille, where he was staying between two concerts. He then established deep bonds of friendship with the latter, who confided in the difficult life she led, and the difficulties she encountered in raising her two children alone, who gave their first names to the title of the song Francis Cabrel.
A song, which, forty after its release, resonates as essential given the divide that France is experiencing, faced with the rise in power of extreme parties. The sixty-year-old singer, interviewed by Mouloud Achour on Click for Canal+, returned to this song, and what it still conveys today. “When you listen to the text, it is incredibly topical, you say: Anyway, no one likes you when your name is Saïd or Mohamed. Then you write: The bad Frenchman, the Muslim. And then again: Before his eyelids explode, and he overdoses on that gray. We inevitably think of a lot of images that we have seen recently, where people have overdosed on this gray, because of being unloved.” recalls the journalist and interviewer.
Faced with so many tragedies and misunderstandings, Cabrel “optimizes”
And what the interpreter of Bullfighting and of I love him to death replied, not without emotion: “Unfortunately, a song that is still relevant today… written in the years 82-83, but it is a song that, indeed, still today, must resonate, resonate. What went wrong was that either we explained ourselves badly or we misunderstood each other. ; it takes time. I remain someone who optimizes, and I believe that this will inevitably end up happening.” estimated the singer, before pointing the finger at those “who refuse to give up their place” to those who need itand who knock on our doors, in the hope of being welcomed…