In 'All The Madmen', at the end he's supposed to say "Zane Zane Zane - Ouvre le Chien" Umm..but he pronounces it oddly.. Is he supposed to say that? (open the dog, lol)

He's being a madman... what do you expect him to say? "Open the door?" ;)

"That which seems too good to be true is."

Lol, I know that. What I was trying to say was... he pronounces 'ouvre le chien' very wrong...was it supposed to be like that? I mean did he intend that? I'm not home right now I can't listen to it but i think he says it like "oovay le chan".

Ohhhhhhhh.... I dunno.


"There are only two things that are for certain --
the universe and human stupidity...
and I'm not sure about the universe."
-- Albert Einstein

I do not speak French, so I know little about the correct pronounciation of these words. What I can say, is that his "made up Polish" in Warszawa was not a very good impression. And likewise, people have remarked on poor pronounciation in songs such as "Helden". My Indonesian friend laughed when she heard the Indonesian version of "Amlapura", although she considers his attempt at "Don't Let Me Down" much better.

Bowie does not have a good knowledge of French, so it would not surprise me if his pronounciation is not accurate. In 1997, he spoke English on French television and the interviewer translated for him.

The Music is Outside

And his Spanish in "Al Alba" is excruciating.

But despite the fact that he can't speak any of them to save his life, I respect his efforts. Too many people don't have any interest in or respect for other languages. I think it's terrific that Bowie does.

WW

You may not like the things we do
Only idiots ignore the truth.
It's easy to lie down and hide
Where's the warrior without his pride?

>> Bowie does not have a good knowledge of French, so it would not surprise me if his pronounciation is not accurate.

> Yeah but don't you think someone like him who is gunna release a song, should atleast find out how a simple little phrase is pronounced? Thats why I think he intended it to be mispronounced, because I don't think that he couldn't have found out how its exact pronunciation. ...Agree?


"MAKING LOVE WITH HIS EGO!!"

Perhaps his pronounciation sounded better, something like a ryhme. You say it sounds like "oovay le chan", that would place empasis on the "a" sound as in "zane". But I don't know speak French, so I am only guessing.

The Music is Outside

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Bowie does not have a good knowledge of French

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He doesn't? I thought that ouvre le chien meant "dog egg".



Face to face, toe to toe
Heart to heart as we hit the floor

Edited by ohramona on 03/03/02 10:39 AM (server time).

i always thought it was odd :)
but i guess being a mad man its not suppose to make sense or something :)
kirsty

You can see Here

"Suck, baby, suck, give me your head"

Speaking as a guy with five years of French studies behind him (hated those classes by the way, but the teacher loved me and gave me good grades anyway )...I think the way Bowie pronounces "zane zane zane, ouvre le chien" at the end of the Buddha of Suburbia song is correct, more or less. Sounds pretty good to me. I agree that his first attempt (Madmen) at pronouncing this line was "so so". It took him over 20 years, but he finally learned how to pronounce it. :)

I've wondered about bowies pronunciation and such as well. I took french in highschool and technically, I believe "Ouvre le chien" means " to open the dog". If he was giving a command like "Open the dog" it should be "Ouvrez le chien" (pronounced oovray le shee-en). Ouvrez would kind of rhyme with Zane, so perhaps thats what he meant. Or maybe he is just a madman. or we are for dissecting it :)

stranger in a strange land

zane zane zane, ouvre le chien...

Who is Zane, anyway?

its billy zane, the villain from the titanic movie.

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its billy zane, the villain from the titanic movie.

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We're nothing and nothing will help us
Maybe we're lying then you better not stay
But we could be safer just for one day

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and you guys are being happy and funny for a change!
I love the world! I will do a happy dance in a flowery meadow! All you need is love!

Ach, Jareth on a stick!

A possibility for the Ouvre le Chien lyric is "barking mad" or "mad dog". Then "open the dog" would mean let it all out, encouraging the insane asylum denizens to express themselves. Many therapists prescribe art to the mentally ill, as expressing themselves using art is regarded as therapeutic.

Explanation For "Zane"

Think sane, now a Z is like a lightening bolt, which ive heard Bowie uses to symbolise insanity (Alladin Sane), clever and "neat" especially as Z is like S back to front.

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A possibility for the Ouvre le Chien lyric is "barking mad" or "mad dog". Then "open the dog" would mean let it all out, encouraging the insane asylum denizens to express themselves. Many therapists prescribe art to the mentally ill, as expressing themselves using art is regarded as therapeutic.

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Yeah, maybe you’re onto something there. It occurs to me that “zane” rhymes with “cane”. Cane Hill was the name of the psychiatric hospital that David’s brother Terry was a patient at. It was also represented on the Mercury cartoon cover of the TMWSTW album.

BTW Billy Zane was the villain from Titanic but he was the hero (who took away Audrey Horne’s cherry) in Twin Peaks. He was also The Phantom. I like Billy Zane.

Stu
Friends of the truss. You’ve been a breath filled crowd tonight. You’ve been positively fly boys. We are surely on our way, upon that superhighway of information. As far as I’m concerned, you are all number one packet sniffers.

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In 1997, he spoke English on French television and the interviewer translated for him.

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i suppose you saw this from NPA (nulle part ailleurs)!

Yes Bowie does not speak French very well: Heroes in French sounds weird...but he tried to do it and that's a good thing!



And nothing has changed
Everything has changed

Yeah well I can understand the French version of "Heroes" might sound weird, but you know, French is not the easiest language (spoken and written). I speak French most of the time, and I can tell you the grammar can be very difficult (especially compared to English). But I guess you know that too.

Andrée-Anne

Someone to bruise and leave behind

yeah je comprends ça très très bien mais de nombreux passages m'echappent dans "Heroes", bien que je sois Français....weird isn't it?

By the way Andrée- Anne, you're Fench?

And nothing has changed
Everything has changed

Je suis pas française (dans le sens que je ne viens pas de France), mais je suis de Montréal. Le français est ma langue maternelle.

Andrée-Anne

Someone to bruise and leave behind

Edited by revidescent on 04/27/03 07:06 PM (server time).

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Yeah, maybe you’re onto something there. It occurs to me that “zane” rhymes with “cane”. Cane Hill was the name of the psychiatric hospital that David’s brother Terry was a patient at. It was also represented on the Mercury cartoon cover of the TMWSTW album.

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Not only that but when this was discussed a while back someone mentioned that Cane means dog in Italian so by saying open the dog, he could be saying to open the doors to the institution and let out his brother *and im not taking credit for coming up with that interpretation of the lyrics*

Drink Drink drain your glass raise your glass high

Also consider the name of the 83 tour Serious Moonlight. I always found this term strange (what is serious moonlight?). How about Sirius Moonlight? Sirius is a star, called the dog-star. Now the moon has always been associated with insanity above everything else.

"Serious moonlight" is a lyric in Let's dance, too.

Yes, i know...

"Let's sway, you could look into my eyes
Let's sway, under the moonlight, this serious moonlight"

about "ouvrez le chien", someone had asked Bowie once on a chat why he wanted to "open the dog" he answered that it was certainly something he had read in a text written by a French surrealist writer (he gave his name but I have to find the interview to check it now, I never remember names ) and used it for both songs, because it "sounded good". That's a technique Bowie used very much for Buddha Of Suburbia.

Laughing Gnoome, I've heard it could be because Nile Rodgers was saying "serious" all the time, and it would have stuck in Bowie's mind. It could have used "serious" to make a contrast with the apparent romantic aspect of the song, and of the word "moonlight" itself.... I like very much your explanation though.

I know that people think
That I'm a little crazy
Ohh, better sex is fun
I think I like fascination

c'est pareil pour moi en fait je comprend mieux quand il parle en anglais!!

It's rather odd though,how he uses the same phrase in two different contexts of two different songs,released in two different decades...
The repetition of the phrase, and probably the phrase itself,according to the narrator in both of the songs, symbolizes the loss of one's sanity.
Zane Zane Zane
Ouvre le chien
isn't supposed to make sense to the sadmen.




I'm pretty much over my affection for myself