Yes, spondres, I understand your position. And these lyric transcribers conveniently forget that there exists something called punctuation which would make our job easier at times. As it is, I think for your meaning to be clear Brel would probably have sung : Je m'étonnais surtout D'être de ce troupeau Qui m'apprenait à pleurer Et que je connaissais trop
To be fair, the official lyrics in the CD booklet are also largely devoid of punctuation. (In the case of "Mon enfance", there is a single full stop at the end). Perhaps if Brel didn't himself properly punctuate his lyrics the publishers didn't want to do it on his behalf and risk misrepresenting what he meant.
General thread guide Grand Jacques/Quand on n'a que l'amour albums, etc. (1953-57) Au printemps/La valse à mille temps albums etc. (1957-59) Marieke/Les bourgeois albums etc. (1960-1962) Les bigotes album etc. (1962-1963) Mathilde album etc. (1964) Jacky album etc. (1965) Brel associates and Brel "bingo cards" 1967 Jacques Brel 67 album intro/Marcel Azzola Mon enfance Le cheval Selected song index: Amsterdam Au printemps Au suivant (Next) Les biches Les bigotes Les bonbons Les bourgeois (The Middle Class) Bruxelles (Brussels) Ces gens-là Le dernier repas (The Last Supper) La Fanette Les Flamandes (Marathon) Jacky (Jackie) Je ne sais pas Jef (You're Not Alone) Madeleine Marieke Mathilde Mon enfance Le moribond (Seasons in the Sun) La mort (My Death) Ne me quitte pas (If You Go Away) On n’oublie rien Les paumés du petit matin Le plat pays Quand on n'a que l'amour (If We Only Have Love) Rosa Le tango funèbre (Funeral Tango) La valse à mille temps (Carousel) Les vieux (Old Folks) Ongoing spotify playlist of highest-rated songs
I'm not criticising you or spondres. I'm criticising those official lyrics. Sorry I didn't make this clear.
Oh, I didn't think you were blaming us, I thought you were blaming whoever uploaded the lyrics to the internet.
Le cheval Another one that sounds like a production number in the midst of a musical to advance the narrative. It's fine for what it is, but it's nothing special. 3/5
Le cheval Interesting idea that this is Brel saying he's fed up with doing live shows. It reminds me of Lennon when he said 'I'm an artist not a f**ing racehorse'. Though, funnily enough, Brel is saying he'd prefer to be a horse than the tango-dancing, show-bizz woman-hater he's turned into. It's fun but the conceit is a bit complicated and by the end I'm not sure exactly what he's saying overall. 3/5 * Je n'étais qu'un cheval, oui, oui, mais tu en as abusé = I was only a horse, yes indeed, but you exploited me * tu es partie radicale avec un zèbre 'radicale' here is the woman who has become 'radicalised' So I propose : And then and then, you went all extreme I think there's also a possible pun with the 'parti radical' (a political party founded in 1901 but still active when Brel wrote this song). * for the ending I also thought about 'bi*ch' but it sounded too harsh. I even think we could tone down 'cow' and make her a 'silly cow'.
I spotted the punning reference to 'parti radical' but decided it was just gratuitous wordplay. The idea that she somehow becomes a Yokoesque muse to the John Lennon-style zebra is quite attractive, though. Also, we could go full Alf Garnett and refer to her as a 'silly moo'!
We all awarded "Le cheval" 3 Today's song is track three of Jacques Brel 67: Mon père disait (My Father Used To Say) Words and music by Jacques Brel Arranged by François Rauber Recorded on the 3rd January 1967 at the Barclay-Hoche studios, Paris with François Rauber and his orchestra It was also the b-side of the "Les cœurs tendres" single.
Lyrics/paroles Mon père disait : "C'est le vent du nord Qui fait craquer les digues À Scheveningen À Scheveningen, petit Tellement fort Qu'on n'sait plus qui navigue La mer du Nord Ou bien les digues C'est le vent du nord Qui transperce les yeux Des hommes du nord Jeunes ou vieux Pour faire chanter Des carillons de bleus Venus du nord Au fond d'leurs yeux" Mon père disait : "C'est le vent du nord Qui fait tourner la Terre Autour de Bruges Autour de Bruges, petit C'est le vent du nord Qu'a raboté la terre Autour des tours Des tours de Bruges Et qui fait qu'nos filles Ont le regard tranquille Des vieilles villes Des vieilles villes Qui fait qu'nos belles Ont le cheveu fragile De nos dentelles De nos dentelles" Mon père disait : "C'est le vent du nord Qui a fait craquer la terre Entre Zeebruges Entre Zeebruges, petit C'est le vent du nord Qu'a fait craquer la terre Entre Zeebruges et l'Angleterre Et Londres n'est plus Comme avant le déluge Le point de Bruges Narguant la mer Londres n'est plus Que le faubourg de Bruges Perdu en mer Perdu en mer" Mais mon père disait : "C'est le vent du nord Qui portera en terre Mon corps sans âme Et sans colère C'est le vent du nord Qui portera en terre Mon corps sans âme Face à la mer C'est le vent du nord Qui me fera capitaine D'un brise-lames Ou d'une baleine C'est le vent du nord Qui me fera capitaine D'un brise-larmes Pour ceux que j'aime"
English paraphrase by spondres My father used to say It’s the north wind The makes the dykes split/creak At Scheveningen At Schevneingen, boy So strong That we don’t know who is sailing on The North Sea Or indeed the dykes It’s the north wind Which transfixes/pierces the eyes Of the men of the North Young or old To make sing Blue chimes Come from the North In the depths of their eyes. My father used to say It’s the north wind That makes the world revolve Around Bruges Around Bruges, boy. It’s the north wind That has planed/sanded down the earth Around the towers The towers of Bruges And which gives our girls The calm look Of old towns Of old towns Which our beautiful women The fragile hair Of our lacework Of our lacework My father used to say It’s the north wind That made the earth split Between Zeebrugge Between Zeebrugge, boy It’s the north wind That made the earth split Between Zeebrugge and England And London is no longer Like before the Flood The fist of Bruges Scorning the sea London is no longer Just the suburb of Bruges Lost at sea Lost at sea But my father used to say It’s the north wind Which will carry back to the earth. My body without soul or anger It’s the north wind Which will carry back to the earth My body without soul Facing the sea. It’s the north wind That will make me captain Of a breakwater Or of a whale It’s the north wind That will make me captain Of a breakwater For those I love
Mon père disait This is probably my least played of the Brel albums in my box set (not including L'homme de la Mancha or the bonus disc of early material) so we're getting into fairly unfamiliar territory here. It's nice that the (seemingly) autobiographical theme is continued here from "Mon enfance" and I like the lyric generally. It reminds me a little of the Jean de Bruges suite. But musically it's so repetitive. A grudging 3/5
Mon père disait An atmospheric performance, but a little too much son of Le plat pays for me, also repurposing lyrical material from L'Ouragan (Jean de Bruges). 3/5
Mon père disait A bit of a relief after the last track, but yes, certainly, 'son of Le Plat Pays'. And suffers in comparison. 3.5/5 * Pour faire chanter des carillons de bleus venus du nord au fond de leurs yeux Difficult line ! I propose: To ring chimes of blue, come from the north, in the depths of their eyes * Le point de Bruges fist = poing So, maybe : the tip of Bruges scorning the sea
Mon père disait So far I like the way Brel's vocals are more integrated into the musical accompaniment on this album. Everything feels like a singular piece to this point, rather than Brel singing on top of the orchestration. There's nice ebb and flow to this song, creating some effective drama. It ends rather suddenly, though. 4/5
Thanks to this thread I now know that I actually own Brel '67 on vinyl ! Only when I bought it, its name had changed to : 'Jacques Brel 2 La Chanson des Vieux Amants'. As it happens I'm going to be away from my computer for a week or two so I don't know how much I'll be able to comment for a while. Since I know the songs, here are my ratings : La La La - 2 Les coeurs tendres - 4 Fils de ... - 3.5 Les bonbons 67 - 3 La chanson des vieux amants - 3 A jeun - 4 Le gaz - 4 Overall : The album starts with the best song but doesn't live up to its promise. 3/5
Although at the time only a few burghers and some music professors at the Paris conservatoire would have heard "L'ouragan". Another way of look at it is that maybe both pieces repurpose material that was local/family tradition. Maybe this really is what Romain Brel used to say. While I'm here, can I ask @Calico and @peerke or anyone else who might know if tomorrow's song "La la la" is based on a traditional Flemish/Belgian song? I always assumed it was: it sounds like a piss-take of a national anthem or something, but I can't find anything about this anywhere in my research.
Interesting. The internet text I was working off had poing there and it makes a lot of sense, but other texts, including the Oeuvres complètes book, have point. And they are exact homophones to boot [pwε̃] !
My record sleeve has the lyrics and, for what it's worth, it says 'point'. In this context I'd have expected 'pointe' since we're near the sea. Near me is La pointe du Hoc for example. But I thought maybe the Belgians used 'point'. Then again the Belgian coastline doesn't seem to have any point or pointe anyway, so poing could well be right.
Just thought I'd rate Mon Enfance, since it's a 8/5 for me. IMO, his greatest accomplishment with "Jacky" and "Amsterdam". Voilà.
Our average score for "Mon père disait" was 3.3 Today's song is track four of Jacques Brel 67: La la la AKA "La, la, la," "La…la…la…" etc. (The The The) (only kidding!) Words and music by Jacques Brel Arranged by François Rauber Recorded on the 30th December 1966 at the Barclay-Hoche studios, Paris with François Rauber and his orchestra Brel is known to have recorded a version of this as early as October 1965, accompanied just with piano, probably as a demo. It was also a single a-side. Lyrically, this initiates Brel's feud with the Flamingant movement Flamingant - Wikipedia , agitators against the imposition of the French language on the Flemish people, who politically were associated with the Flemish right wing. Brel commented that it was strange that the line "merde pour les flamingants" got all the attention and everyone ignored the line "Vive la République!" As Belgium is a monarchy, not a republic, this is a republican sentiment.
