Une femme avec une femme

To obtain a hit in France, Mecano decided to collaborate with Pierre Grosz, a lyric writer, who had already written several songs for Elsa ("Quelque chose dans mon cœur", "Jour de neige"). Grosz accurately translated their song "Mujer contra mujer" to produce the French single "Une femme avec une femme".[1] The music is composed by José Maria Cano. It was recorded in French ("Une femme avec une femme") and Italian ("Per Lei contro di Lei"), giving Mecano their first truly global hit.

This song deals with lesbianism, seen through the eyes of a friend, who doesn't want to pass judgment on this relationship and prefers to be tolerant. At the time, the subject was taboo in France and had almost never been tackled in a song.[1]

The videoclip is largely in black and white and features Ana Torroja singing in front of a white fence. There are also two women in love who arm wrestle, which represents their different point of view regarding whether or not to hide their homosexuality – one of them says hiding it is not good, the other says there is no choice.

"Une femme avec une femme" entered the French Top 50 Singles Chart at number 34 in the chart edition of 9 September 1990, climbed quickly and peaked at number one for seven weeks, from its eighth to its 14th week. Then it was dislodged by François Feldman's "Petit Frank" and stayed at number two for three weeks, then it kept on dropping in the chart and left off the top 50 after 22 weeks of presence.[2] After a prestigious Iberian career, Mecano thus became the first Spanish group to reach first place in France's Singles Chart. The song was certified Gold disc in 1991 by the French certifier Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique, for a minimum of 250,000 copies sold.[3]

On the Eurochart Hot 100, it debuted at number 100 on 6 October 1990, climbed every week until peaking at number eight in its eighth week. It totalled five weeks in the top ten and 20 weeks in the top 100.

7" single Ariola

1. "Une femme avec une femme" - 4:05
2. "Mujer contra mujer" - 4:05

CD maxi

1. "Une femme avec une femme" - 4:05
2. "Mujer contra mujer" - 4:05
3. "Hijo de la luna" - 4:18

"Une femme avec une femme"
Single by Saya
from the album À la Vie
B-side	"Ils croyaient"
Released	2003
Genre	Pop, R&B
Length	3:40
Label	WEA, Warner Music France
Songwriter(s)	José María Cano Pierre Grosz
Producer(s)	Quentin Bachelet, Adamson Faye
Saya singles chronology
"Tourner des pages" (2002) "Une femme avec une femme" (2003) "De l'or entre les mains" (2003)

In 2003, "Une femme avec une femme" was covered by French-born artist Saya who peaked at number nine on the French SNEP Singles Chart on March 29 and April 5, 2003 and remained on the chart for 17 weeks. It peaked at number 35 on the Swiss Singles Chart. The song is the second track on her album À la Vie, released in 2003. On June 6, 2003, the song was certified Silver disc (meaning over 100,000 copies were sold) four months after its release by SNEP,[7] becoming Saya's greatest hit.

American singer Laura Branigan covered the Spanish version ("Mujer Contra Mujer") in 1993 for her final studio album, Over My Heart.

On August 19, 2010, American duo Ha*Ash participated in the album tribute for Mecano entitled, Tributo a Ana, José y Nacho, recording a new Spanish version of "Mujer Contra Mujer".[11]