Marc Lavoine this Wednesday evening in Toulouse: “Forget my childhood dreams, never!”

Two covers, two eras, separated by 45 years. On the cover of “Adult, never” (Virgin France), we discover an adolescent Marc Lavoine, shoulder-length hair, with a clear gaze on a future that is not yet clear. On the previous album, “Je reviens à toi”, it’s a mature man who stares at us without a word, leaving a few white hairs and two or three wrinkles to tell of the time that has passed. This Wednesday, Marc Lavoine will revisit a catalog, which will have continued to grow in thickness, to marry the natural evolution of a singer of variety – and quality – at the top of his art.

What was the young boy dreaming about on the cover of “Adult, never”?

I’m in my room, I’m 14 – the line in the middle is 14, on the side it’s 15! – I wear my Ajax Amsterdam jersey, because I was a fan of Cruyff and “total football”, when the matches seemed like Greek tragedies! My brother Francis takes the picture. We came from a modest family, but very interested in culture: we read poets, we watched films by Chabrol and Visconti together… I’m 14, I don’t think about fame yet, but I’m already writing , every day: about love, philosophy, politics, I film stuff in Super8…

What would Marc Lavoine say to him in the costume of “I’m coming back to you”, 45 years later?

It’s a photo by Satoshi Saikusa, an artist I admire. I think he looks at the kid and says to himself: “He hasn’t changed that much, the guy…” (laughs) He’s already passionate about great artists, like Pasolini. A little later, I write “Le Parking des Anges”, which talks about his assassination, a political crime that we wanted to disguise as a crime of passion.

The two photos and the songs speak to each other beyond the years: time has passed, but the love of poetry is intact.

This is very true, thank you for this observation. Time passes… but Apollinaire, Rimbaud, Prévert, Eluard help us create timelessness. We’re on a bridge, and the water is flowing under our feet… It’s a perpetual movement: we can’t hold back either the wind or the water. Every day is a new beginning.

How to read this title: “Adult, never”?

It’s a Pasolini slogan. To be a man, yes, to assume oneself as a mature and responsible man, yes, of course. But adult, imagine superior to others, forget my childhood dreams, never. I want to stay in my mom’s kitchen…

“I love Toulouse where my sister lives”

You declared in “La Dépêche du Midi”, that “the south-west has adopted you”…

I don’t want to alienate other regions: I love all regions of France and I’m happy to meet people wherever I go. I like going to people’s houses, seeing a lady cooking. I love kitchens, those always well-kept places where you prepare a little dish with a lot of love. The South-West, of course – the Lot, the Quercy – is a land that I adore, where I like to come and recharge my batteries. How I adore Toulouse – where my sister lives – and Claude Nougaro, a brilliant artist, no doubt underestimated.

It’s a city where you have a lot of friends…

Of course: Vincent Clerc, Walter Spanghero and so many others… Do you know the “Connected school bag”? It’s a school aid device that I helped to launch at the Purpan hospital – it is adopted everywhere in France but was born in Toulouse. He helps children who no longer even have the strength to join other sick children in a hospital ward to learn. I remember this nurse who asked me, on the steps of Purpan, if I could give a little of my time to go and meet the children who could no longer move around… How could I refuse such a request? How could I not have time for these children?

What will the show look like at the Casino-Barrière?

It will be very visual. I saw a concert by Dominique A recently, and I was amazed by the beauty of her show, from which I wanted to inspire myself. There will be a very nice light dressing by Didier Martin. I collected the songs that the public likes and which “entered” into the somewhat electro spirit that I wanted musically. And I have a few surprises in store for you…