I never liked playing with dolls at the dinette. About the period of her adolescence, Farmer said: "I was half-man, half woman, it was quite strange. To create even more doubt, she confessed she "put a handkerchief in her trousers", as it is said in the song's lyrics. Indeed, in interviews, Farmer often explained that when she was younger, a lot of people thought she was a boy because of her androgynous look (she had short hair). The song's lyrics seem to be autobiographical. The song was a hit in nightclubs but did not sell very well as it was released as a vinyl record only.ġ8th century transvestite Chevalier d'Eon is mentioned in the lyrics of the song. In September 2003, the song was released as a remixed version produced by J.C.A., becoming the first single from the album RemixeS. The song quickly became very popular in France and also became one of the singer's best known songs. On Farmer's advice, Bertrand Le Page made numerous approaches to the NRJ radio station for it to broadcast the song twice as often, which contributed to its success. Finally, the song was chosen to be the lead single from Farmer's second album, Ainsi soit je., and its title became "Sans contrefaçon, je suis un garçon". These photos were shot in Paris by Elsa Trillat. In the French magazine Elle, she spotted a checkered and striped suit and asked Bertrand Le Page to wear it for the sleeve covers that illustrated the various single formats.
Farmer decided to change her dress style to match the song theme. Laurent Boutonnat came that same day to the large Provençal-styled villa where both women were and immediately wrote the music which would accompany the lyrics. Photographer Elsa Trillat explained that the lyrics were written very quickly (taking somewhere between thirty minutes and two hours) by poolside, using a thesaurus.
Written by Farmer in 1987, the theme of "Sans contrefaçon" was inspired by two other songs, " Comme un garçon" by Sylvie Vartan and "3è Sexe" by the band Indochine.