First of all, don't care about the melody. The chorus sounds loosely like his single from 1983, "Au Bout De Mes Rêves".
Better read the lyrics. This is about the difference between 2 opposite people from different continents, Jean-Jacques and a girl whose name isn't mentioned.
The girl, to whom Jean-Jacques dedicates this song, doesn't come from Europe and isn't particularly attractive. She doesn't seem very lucky (the song title) and wouldn't have a chance to end up as the main attraction, "the queen of the ball". Also, she keeps on giving more than receiving and must face more defeat than victory. According to the narrator, she has no other solution than changing her situation to get what she wants, i.e. Nietzche's "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger". She must find her own way to prove herself more than lazy people do, so she would end up achieving her goal, which can be : becoming an European citizen.
Then, have a close look at the video, so you can understand it more.
The video tells the story of a girl who flees the storms from her native country, probably on the Indian coast, where she gets a guitar from an old man and some money from a family member, after doing some house chores. Then, she flies to America, precisely the East Coast, where she sings in the subway halls and later gets noticed by a jazz musician, who invites her to her club, where she becomes a musician too. Jean-Jacques, appearing in cartoon form as having a drink at the bar in the jazz club, notices the girl's talent before she prepares for her first recital as a singer. The video ends with the French singer-songwriter, for real this time, in black and white, singing the last chorus in front of his color TV.
IMO, this song is about the female singer who performs the duet "Là-Bas", on the same album.
Relate it to the video : Sirima was a musician and singer from Sri Lanka, who left her country to have her chance (the song title) in France. She played the guitar and sang in Paris' subway before being noticed by a French saxophonist, Philippe Delettrez. Then, thanks to him, Jean-Jacques heard a demo with the girl's voice and invited her to sing "Là-Bas". That duet was released as a single and so was this one.
But the video ends with the words "happy end ?" with a question mark, this time without any relation to the lyrics. Jean-Jacques had no idea, no thought about the future as of mid-1988. Relating it to Sirima's story again, she had the opportunity to release her only album in late 1989, one year later. The end wasn't happy for her at all because she got murdered by her boyfriend some weeks later.
First of all, don't care about the melody. The chorus sounds loosely like his single from 1983, "Au Bout De Mes Rêves".
Better read the lyrics. This is about the difference between 2 opposite people from different continents, Jean-Jacques and a girl whose name isn't mentioned.
The girl, to whom Jean-Jacques dedicates this song, doesn't come from Europe and isn't particularly attractive. She doesn't seem very lucky (the song title) and wouldn't have a chance to end up as the main attraction, "the queen of the ball". Also, she keeps on giving more than receiving and must face more defeat than victory. According to the narrator, she has no other solution than changing her situation to get what she wants, i.e. Nietzche's "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger". She must find her own way to prove herself more than lazy people do, so she would end up achieving her goal, which can be : becoming an European citizen.
Then, have a close look at the video, so you can understand it more.
The video tells the story of a girl who flees the storms from her native country, probably on the Indian coast, where she gets a guitar from an old man and some money from a family member, after doing some house chores. Then, she flies to America, precisely the East Coast, where she sings in the subway halls and later gets noticed by a jazz musician, who invites her to her club, where she becomes a musician too. Jean-Jacques, appearing in cartoon form as having a drink at the bar in the jazz club, notices the girl's talent before she prepares for her first recital as a singer. The video ends with the French singer-songwriter, for real this time, in black and white, singing the last chorus in front of his color TV.
IMO, this song is about the female singer who performs the duet "Là-Bas", on the same album.
Relate it to the video : Sirima was a musician and singer from Sri Lanka, who left her country to have her chance (the song title) in France. She played the guitar and sang in Paris' subway before being noticed by a French saxophonist, Philippe Delettrez. Then, thanks to him, Jean-Jacques heard a demo with the girl's voice and invited her to sing "Là-Bas". That duet was released as a single and so was this one.
But the video ends with the words "happy end ?" with a question mark, this time without any relation to the lyrics. Jean-Jacques had no idea, no thought about the future as of mid-1988. Relating it to Sirima's story again, she had the opportunity to release her only album in late 1989, one year later. The end wasn't happy for her at all because she got murdered by her boyfriend some weeks later.
Well written lyrics!