...In men's life the mother represents an
authentic sense of protection, the life that strengthtens. In the second
verse, there is that fight and this idea, "I'd like to pretend that
my father was wrong. But you don't want to lie, not to the
young"...the father represents this idea of a war forever fought.
Then there is the marriage, which develops from a romantic idea, which we
can't make last forever, to a human responsibility towards children, an
ineluctable responsibility, even if these very children will move away.
Then the verse, "Now I look for her always…" is in fact, and
concerning my case, about a songwriter's work. Here there is this vision
of the woman, neither the mother nor the wife, but another feminine
presence that touches all the others and is responsible for the
songs. "I lie in her arms, she says, When I'm gone, I'll be yours,
yours for a song." It's the feminine Muse. The last verse deals with
the street, with "going back to the world," with friends. I like
this passage, "Yes, and here's to the few who forgive what you do,
and the fewer who don't even care!" But obviously this cannot protect
us from the idea of what has been lost and will never be back. So the
singer is trying to come back his way but the mother, by saying to him
again and again, "Go back, go back to the world," keeps him
alive.
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Read the original lyrics of the song
Interview
1985 (french magazine "Paroles et Musique")