Anthony's Analysis of the song Hey! Amigo

[Zack -Alizee Lover-]

Asking permission!
thanks garco.

This is a personal analysis for the website “Alizée’s nest”. Please do not take this and put it on your sites.

This analysis is only a personal point of view, we will not in any case support arguments that this version is better than another one. However, we hope that you will find here what you wish to find.

Introduction: In this text, Alizée tells the story of the prostitute of Barcelona, her fall, her hopes, her mystery… without talking about them specifically. This story is not referring to a particular person but instead to the group of the “flowers on the boardwalk” represented by a person that Alizée is citing. The objective of this text is to destroy prejudices against the world’s oldest profession without glorifying it. It offers above all the hope of a new life to anyone interested.

"Déambule,
Déhanche-toi plus
Elle déambule,
Dans tes avenues, tes rues," : Alizée calls upon the listener the nature of the text. She tells him/her that the person in question is not far from him, that she is maybe at his house, doing her job [prostitution]. Large cities (avenues) or little villages (roads) she can be anywhere. Put aside the stereotype of the almost nude and full-of-makeup prostitute, the one Alizée is talking about is discreet but effective.

" "Mets les hommes" ...
A ses pieds si tendres," : playing down the importance of the person, the adjective « tender » speaks of its importance to the prostitute, it humanises her, it releases her from the level of “laughingstock” attributed by society and religion during these last centuries. We could even add that a “feminist” Alizée makes the role of the prostitute that dominates the man even more superior, himself deserted by his sexual impulses.

"Barcelone, fais lui bien comprendre :
Qu'elle se trompe
Quel qu'en soit l'émoi
Elle se trompe," : Barcelona, a prostitution hot spot (but that is the case with all big cities in the world right now), is personified and finds itself charged with a mission, to help, find their new niche, away from the claws of the messed up procurer [person who manages prostitutes]. In fact, the personification of “Barcelona” is all of us, to help us rid ourselves of the prejudice, to help us help the other person to succeed just like one would wish for her help in a difficult time of our life. It’s almost the word of a preacher.

"Car elle est comme toi, un chat
Qui ondule
Qui fait le dos rond
Elle manipule, celui qui dit non" : Alizée, who personnified the highest city in the couplet, talks to it, and compares it to a cat. This one (a principally nocturnal animal, independent, discreet, charming…) is a completely appropriate animal to choose to compare with a city. And the prostitute resembles this city that lives by night, that puts on its coat of light that shimmers like a thousand flames. Let’s remember that this city is charged with a mission, to aid the prostitutes that are “forced” to succeed. Alizée therefore finds common ground between the personification of the city of Barcelona (in fact ourselves, the listening audience) and the prostitute, in order to break down the barriers, the differences that separate us.

"Hey ! Amigo !
Elle veut du haut, elle veut ta peau
Et sur son dos, un tatouage.
Hey ! Amigo !
Mi amigo, elle veut du beau
Et d'un amour, sans maquillage." : The refrain breaks the rhythms describing the personnification of the city (and at the same time the listener). She talks directly to us “Hey! Amigo” (Hey, friend). The message is clear: “She wants the best, she wants your skin” > she doesn’t want just any clientele, so if you feel like you deserve this prostitute, be clean, classy, and gentlemanly.
“And on his skin a tattoo” > At the time, criminals (robbers, prostitutes…) were seared by hot irons. So, this permanent mark left moral and physical scars noticeable by society that can then ridicule that person. The tattoo reminds us of that permanent physical and moral mark that the Barcelona prostitute will never be able to erase.
“She wants some beauty, and a love without makeup”: Always this notion of “gentlemanly client” and at the same time the great feeling of finding “THE” client that will take her out of the circle of prostitution, that will offer her a real love (without makeup).

"Déambule,
Déhanche-toi plus
Elle déambule,
Dans tes avenues, tes rues." : see first couplet

" "Mets les voiles" ...
A son doux visage
Barcelona, prends-la en otage" : Alizée urges her to go away (put on sails) before the huge city devours her forever in this job of prostitution. In addition, “put on the sails” follows “to her soft face” that one can understand in a continuity of separation (the shawl of grieving, of forgetting) or paradoxically to makeup (ex: a colored base-sail) that relates the fact that she is getting more beautiful. This is one of the rare passages where the duality of Alizée’s personality is put in front, because this double-edged sentence places the singer on the middle fence, between flavor and the enemy.

"Elle se donne
Quel qu'en soit le poids
Oui, elle se donne," : despite the psychological weight of her job, she does not complain about her work. She pulls out all the stops to satisfy the needs of the neighborhood John Q. Public. She gives everything because she is a whole personality who does not precisely formulate her ways. She gives everything but wants everything in return too, and the placement of the listener helps us to follow her train of thought. We owe her respect.

"Car elle est comme toi, un chat
Qui minaude ...
Qui feint, et salue l'homme
Elle se sauve d'un bond
Comme elle s'envole !" : we see again the comparison to the cat. This time, Alizée uses the verbs « to demure », « to seem like », « to wave at », and “to save oneself” to amplify the comparison. These verbs all signify something in the life of the prostitute. “Who simpers around…” refers to the recruitment of the client. The cat walks around the man when she looks for affection, the prostitute walks around the man when she looks for a client! “Who seems like”: the simulated cat defends herself (the hairs that stand on end), the prostitute simulates an orgasm! “Who waves”: the cat is paying close attention to the man while caressing his legs. The prostitute is paying attention (in fact this relates to the verb to seem like; her paying attention is also simulated) to the man while talking to him on the street.

Hey ! Amigo !
Elle veut du haut, elle veut ta peau
Et sur son dos, un tatouage.
Hasta luego,
Mi amigo, elle veut du beau
Et d'un amour sans maquillage. : refer to the first refrain. Only difference between this and the first refrain, « hasta luego » replaces the second « Hey ! Amigo!”, literally “see you soon”. It represents becoming faithful, the prostitute waves to her client to make him feel important, and to see him come back too when she feels the need. In another more optimistic view, we can consider the “hasta luego” as a “thank you” to the city of Barcelona, the prostitute is saved by the mission that the city had undertaken, more specifically taking her out of the job.