Bénabar’s “A La Campagne” is a cheeky postcard from rural France, listing everything a city dweller dreams of when escaping the concrete jungle: hunting mushrooms, chopping wood, spotting hedgehogs, and wandering past centuries-old castles. With humor and a touch of nostalgia, the singer piles on scene after scene of rustic charm - crackling fireplaces, mismatched board games, mysterious night-time creaks, and sturdy tractors driven by even sturdier grandpas - painting the countryside as a place where time, schedules, and cellphone reception happily disappear.
Yet the song is no simple ode to nature; it’s a playful satire of urban fantasies. The narrator craves “authenticity,” talks terroir, and imagines himself as a mustachioed, taciturn patriarch… but only until Sunday evening when traffic back to Paris looms. By exaggerating every cliché, Bénabar shows the gap between postcard-perfect dreams and real rural life, inviting listeners to laugh at their own weekend-warrior escapades while still savoring the irresistible lure of green fields and fresh air.