Putain putain

"Putain Putain" (literally "Whore whore" in French, though also a common curse word) is a 1983 song by Belgian rock group TC Matic. It was written by Arno Hintjens (known by the mononym Arno) and Jean-Marie Aerts.[1] Released on the band's album Choco (1983), it was released as a single, with "Living On My Instinct" as the B-side.[2] At the time, "Putain Putain" was a minor club hit in Belgium and France. It remains one of the band's biggest hits.[3]

"Putain Putain"
Single by TC Matic
from the album Choco
B-side"Living On My Instinct"
Released1983
GenrePop, Rock, Dance
Songwriter(s)Arno Hintjens, Jean-Marie Aerts

Lyrics

"Putain Putain" is a trilingual song, mostly sang in French, but with phrases in the dialect of Ostend (a type of West Flemish,[4] his mother tongue) and English. The lyrics are mostly a series of non-connected, silly observations. The singer claims he is not a communist, cyclist, Catholic or a "footballiste" (association football player). He mentions he likes women and boys and "like I already said: I like dicks.". Singing in the Ostend dialect he makes observations about the length and girth of penises, concluding:

"E korte dikn

Stuukt olles in stikn

E lange dinn

Doet deugd vanbinn

'k Hén e klintsje, mo 't sjhiet vérre"

(A short thick one - shoot everything to pieces - a long thin one - feels good inside - I have a small one, but it shoots far.") [5][6] Returning to the French language, the singer then claims that some people talk a lot, but do little, while there are people starving from hunger. In the final verses he invites a jolly girl to take his hand, because "Saturday Night the entire world will take a bath", concluding with lines in English: The rich may be rich, the poor may be poor. They all beat the shit out of each other.".

The refrain of "Putain Putain" loosely translates to: "Damn, damn, it's darn O.K., we're all Europeans after all.". As a joke, a female singer (Julia Lo'ko [1]) hums Marc-Antoine Charpentier's composition "Te Deum", best known as the theme song of the Eurovision Song Contest. Interviewed by Ray Cokes in 1986, Arno explained that he feels European, because in daily life he speaks several languages. He talks French with his girlfriend and Flemish, French, English and a little German with his friends.[7]

In 2021, Arno recorded a new version of "Putain Putain" on his solo album Vivre.[8]

Covers

"Putain Putain" has been covered by:

  • Stephan Eicher
  • Band Nouvelle Vague covered it in their 2010 album Couleurs sur Paris.
  • Stromae interpreted the song alongside Arno during De Eregalerij 2021 in Belgium and also during Les Victoires de la musique 2021 in France. A recorded version was included in Arno's compilation album Le Coffret Essentiel released on 19 May 2014, credited as Arno featuring Stromae.

Sources
  1. "WWW.MUZIEKARCHIEF.BE | Putain putain". Muziekarchief.be. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  2. "T.C. Matic - Putain Putain / Living On My Instinct". Discogs.com. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  3. "De 20 Onmisbaarste van Arno". Humo.be. 16 January 2007. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  4. Desnerck, Roland (2022). Oostends Woordenboek (in Dutch). ISBN 9789082938951.
  5. "Songteksten.net - Songtekst: T.C. Matic - Putain Putain". Songteksten.net. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  6. Raes, Tom (18 January 2021). "Dit zijn de beste vuilgebekte songs uit de schunnigste hoeken van de belpop". Humo.be. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  7. "Arno décode son hymne "Putain Putain"". Rtbf.be. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  8. "Arno Hintjens omhelst het leven op het album Vivre". Popmusicandrock.com. 8 June 2021. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
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