Début des temps

Song Meaning

Jean Leloup's "Concluded" isn't just a song; it's a primal scream echoing from the dawn of time. The lyrics paint a vivid, almost hallucinatory, picture of Earth's early days, a period before the familiar giants – giraffes and elephants – roamed. Leloup isn't simply recounting natural history; he's exploring the very roots of existence, probing at our connection to the primordial soup from which all life emerged. The repeated phrase "C'est le début des temps" (It's the beginning of time) acts as a mantra, grounding us in this ancient, almost alien landscape. The nonsense syllables ("Tchibliblix tchibliblix tchibliblix") further enhance this sense of otherworldliness, a language before language, a feeling before feeling. It’s a sonic immersion into the planet's infancy. But "Concluded" quickly transcends a mere scientific or historical exercise, delving into the intensely personal. The middle verses, describing the nascent struggles of early creatures—fish, insects, birds—mirror the human condition. The "oiseaux débutants chancelants" (beginner birds faltering) perfectly captures the awkward, uncertain steps we all take in our own lives, the constant negotiation between earth and sky, limitation and aspiration. The turtles losing their eggs speak to the fragility of life and the often-fruitless struggle for survival. These images aren’t just biological; they’re deeply existential. The song crescendos to its most poignant revelation: the narrator's unsettling discovery of a fossil resembling himself. This moment of recognition sparks an existential crisis, a profound sense of connection to the ancient past. Is he descended from these primordial beings? The question haunts him, leading to a bizarre, almost comical, yet deeply touching encounter with a stranded lobster. This "amour fou" (mad love) for the lobster, a creature from the depths, underscores the narrator's yearning for connection, a desire to return to the source, to the ocean from which all life springs. "Concluded," therefore, is not just about the beginning of time, but about the enduring echoes of that beginning within us all. It's a reminder that we are all, in a sense, ancient creatures, still carrying the weight and wonder of the Earth's earliest days.