The song L’Étranger tells the story of The Stranger by Albert Camus and also represents the themes alienation and the rejection of absolute systems in existentialism. In the song it tells the story of the book with a couple of references almost directly to the text. The references in this song to alienation and the general rejection of absolute systems are very clear and accurately represent the theme. This song lyrically tells a story and also represents a theme presented in many other creative works.
The song L’Étranger quite literally connects to the book The Stranger by Albert Camus in how the title of the song is the original title of the book, which is the stranger in French the language it was originally written in. To succinctly evaluate the meaning of the song a line or two from each verse will be taken. In the first verse the first two lines are “She died, she kissed me. Not sure I missed she.” These lines are references to the book in how on page one of The Stranger the first line is “Maman died today” so the she that died was the mother of the main character, Meursault. Then later the day after his mother died Meursault sees Marie, a young woman who used to work at his office, they end up going on a date and spending the night together which is the she who he kissed. Lines from the next verse that help tell the story are “Back on, daily grind.” And “Whys he know my name? Haven’t spoken much”. The first line is about when Meursault returns home after his mother’s funeral and is more concerned by the dampness of hand towels than the recent death of his mother, so he’s back, in his monotonous routine. The lines “Whys he know my name” and “Haven’t spoken much” are both talking about how one day Meursault gets home and a man, Raymond, who lives in his building that he hardly has ever talked to approaches him and treats him like an old friend which is strange behavior considering the so few amount of interactions they’ve had. From the third verse these two lines in particular help tell the story best, “I’ll give him a shot” and “I’ll decide what’s in store”. The line about giving him a shot is about a weekend trip Meursault takes with Raymond where they run into two Arab men whom are rivals of Raymond, they fight once, and then later Meursault shoots one of the men. Deciding what’s in store means he is deciding his fate by shooting this man he is deciding that he will go to jail that he will no longer be a free man. And lines from the last verse that specifically stand out are “Only wish to see a crowd. Eyes filled with anger now”. And “Fast as 1 2 3”. These lines are both very direct and literal references to the text, Meursault says on the last page of the book when thinking of his death “I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate” (123) which directly and pretty obviously connects to the lines “Only wish to see a crowd. Eyes filled with anger now.” And the fast as 1 2 3 is more of a literal reference as in the copy of the book that was studied from the last page number was 123, so this line is sort of an homage to that.
This song not only tells a stranger story than most, it tells of the themes of existentialism that are portrayed in the book. Granted, these themes are not portrayed as prominently as the story of Meursault and his untimely demise, but they are very much still there. Alienation is one of the 11 themes of existentialism and means that one is extremely alone, more than one thought, this is due to how no one can ever fully understand someone because people are inwardly infinite. Alienation is mainly represented by the second line in the first chorus which is “I’m so alone”. This line is repeated in the song and it is in the chorus which is what most people considered the main part of the song or the part that has the most emphasis put onto it because of the overarching meaning of it to the song as a whole. The idea behind this song is mainly that while Meursault was in prison he thought about his life and evaluated all of the times where something he said was taken the wrong way or the times he was misunderstood, since he was in prison for around a year or so he had plenty of time to reflect. The next theme is the general rejection of absolute systems, an absolute system is a code of law or code of conscience, it is in basic terms a set of rules for living. The first line of the first chorus is also more about the theme of the rejection of absolute systems it is “Don’t have a home”. In this line Meursault is not only talking about how he generally rejects absolute systems such as religion and family but he is reflecting on how he once had a home like he once loved his mother but with both, he doesn’t anymore. This song subtly depicts themes of existentialism while also telling the general story of an existentialist.
The song L’Étranger showcases the story of Meursault in a different medium, song, where mainly lines can mean nothing or one line could be an entire theme. The song, as previously discussed, tells the story of a man, a short period of his life, and his demise. It makes one wonder about how a medium typically filled with so much emotion, is about an emotionless man, who fell asleep at his own mother’s funeral, but some things work together, sometimes if only by a slight chance. It portrays themes of existentialism, which could also make one wonder on the same principle as the song, how could someone possibly remain nearly emotionless in a world so full of emotion. We must remind ourselves not to be like Meursault because it will eventually lead to our destruction and demise.
World Studies World Literature 