Lyrics/paroles Quand je serai vieux, je serai insupportable Sauf pour mon lit et mon maigre passé Mon chien sera mort, ma barbe sera minable Toutes mes morues m'auront laissé tomber J'habiterai une quelconque Belgique Qui m'insultera tout autant que maintenant Quand je lui chanterai "Vive la République!" Vive les Belgiens, merde, pour les flamingants La la la Je serai fui comme un vieil hôpital Par tous les ventres d'haute société Je boirai donc seul, ma pension de cigale Il faut bien être lorsque l'on a été Je ne serai reçu qu'par les chats du quartier A leur festin pour qu'ils ne soient pas treize Mais j'y chanterai sur une simple chaise J'y chanterai après le rat crevé Messieurs, dans le lit de la Marquise C'était moi, les quatre-vingts chasseurs La la la Quand viendra l'heure imbécile et fatale Où il paraît que quelqu'un nous appelle J'insulterai le flic sacerdotal Penché vers moi comme un larbin du ciel Et j'mourirai, cerné de rigolos En me disant qu'il était chouette, Voltaire Et qu'si y en a des, qui ont une plume au chapeau Y en a des, qui ont une plume dans le derrière La la la Quand je serai vieux, je serai insupportable Sauf pour mon lit et mon maigre passé Mon chien sera mort, ma barbe sera minable Toutes mes morues m'auront laissé tomber
English paraphrase by spondres When I'm old, I will be insufferable Apart from my bed and my meagre past My dog will be dead, my beard will be scraggly And all my whores will have dropped me I'll live in some mediocre place in Belgium Which will insult me just as much as now When I sing to it "Long live the Republic" Long live the Belgians, bollocks to the Flamingants La, la, la I will be as abandoned as an old hospital By all the fat cats of high society So I'll drink my grasshopper-sized pension alone You have to feel good when you did once I will only be welcomed by the neighbourhood cats For their banquet so that there are not thirteen of them But there I will sing on a simple chair There I will sing after the dead rat Gentlemen, in the bed of her ladyship, It was me, the eighty huntsmen La la la And when the imbecilic and fatal hour arrives Where it seems that we are being called by someone I will insult the priestly cop Leaning forwards like a flunkey of heaven And I'll die, surrounded by jokers/clowns Telling me how great Voltaire was And that if there are some who have a feather in their cap There are also some who have a feather in their a****. La la la When I'm old, I will be insufferable Apart from my bed and my meagre past My dog will be dead, my beard will be scraggly And all my whores will have dropped me
La la la No need to wait until you're old to be insufferable, Jacques. This song sucks. and I look forward to being convinced otherwise. The lyric is entertaining but I need listenable music before I'll consider listening to a lyric. 1/5 Thanks! But "La la la" is the song I was asking baout.
It seems to me that Brel deliberately wrote 'La La La' as a provocation. 'Les Flamandes' unexpectedly provoked so much backlash earlier. Whereas this time he deliberately wants to rile up the Flamingants. Pretending to being drunk is a good excuse, because the truth comes out of the mouths of children and fools.
Hi Vagabone, I have relistened to "La la la" a few times since yesterday, but unfortunately I have no idea. It certainly doesn't remind me of any traditional song from my (French-speaking) part of the country.
Thanks both of you for the replies. I was afraid I was missing the whole point of the song, but it seems not.
La la la It's a vituperative over-the-top re-hash of other 'my future death' songs like Le tango funèbre. It won't be the last to use flamingants to describe those Flemings that Brel doesn't like. 2/5
Kind of have to look at it like Joe Strummer singing "Junco Partner"-- deliberately over-the-top drunken vocal; only here, it's an original and he's trying to irritate and enflame listners. That's pretty punk rock. A rehash, but meant for humor and there's an undercurrent of anger that I actually think is interesting. 4/5
Our average score for "La la la" was 2. Today's song is track five of Jacques Brel 67: Les cœurs tendres (Tender Hearts) Words and music by Jacques Brel Arranged by François Rauber Recorded on the 18th January 1967 at the Barclay-Hoche studios, Paris with François Rauber and his orchestra It was also on the "La chanson de vieux amants" EP and was a single A-side. It was also featured in the film Un idiot à Paris (An Idiot in Paris) (1967).
Lyrics/paroles Y en a qui ont le cœur si large Qu'on y entre sans frapper Y en a qui ont le cœur si large Qu'on en voit que la moitié Y en a qui ont le cœur si frêle Qu'on le briserait du doigt Y en qui ont le cœur trop frêle Pour vivre comme toi et moi Z'ont plein d'fleurs dans les yeux Les yeux à fleur de peur De peur de manquer l'heure Qui conduit à Paris Y en a qui ont le cœur si tendre Qu'y reposent les mésanges Y en qui ont le cœur trop tendre Moitié hommes et moitié anges Y en a qui ont le cœur si vaste Qu'ils sont toujours en voyage Y en a qui ont le cœur trop vaste Pour se priver de mirages Z'ont plein d'fleurs dans les yeux Les yeux à fleur de peur De peur de manquer l'heure Qui conduit à Paris Y en a qui ont le cœur dehors Et ne peuvent que l'offrir Le cœur tellement dehors Qu'ils sont tous à s'en servir Celui-là a le cœur dehors Et si frèle et si tendre Que maudits soient les arbres morts Qui ne pourraient point l'entendre A plein d'fleurs dans les yeux Les yeux à fleur de peur De peur de manquer l'heure Qui conduit à Paris
English paraphrase by spondres Here are those who have such a broad heart That you can go in without knocking There are those that have such a broad heart That you can only see half of it There are those who such a fragile heart That you would break it with your finger There are those whose heart is too fragile To live like you and me They have masses of flowers in their eyes Their eyes with flowers of fear Of fear of missing the hour Which takes you to Paris There are those who have such a tender heart That blue tits rest there There are those who have a too tender heart Half man, half angel. There are those heart is so vast That they're always on the move There are those whose heart is too vast To do without mirages There are those whose heart is outside And can only offer Their heart so openly That everyone can help themselves to it That one has his heart outside And so fragile and tender That cursèd be the dead trees Which would not be able to hear him* With masses of flowers in his eyes His eyes with flowers of fear Of fear of missing the hour Which leads to Paris *him (celui-là) or it (le coeur) -spondres
Les cœurs tendres This sounds good coming after "La la la", but anything would. It just feels like "another day in office" for Team Brel to me. Like most songs on this thread I find the tune firmly lodged in my brain days after I listened to it. I wonder, if he had lived to read this thread, Brel would have been more pleased to get the 1/5 scores than too many 3/5 ones. If his goal was provoke a strong reaction, which I think it was. 3/5
Les coeurs tendres An archetypal, almost stereotypical chanson. You can imagine almost any crooner taking it on. It's dreamy and catchy, but doesn't really reach any peaks on the way. Update to my footnote on the translation - I think the le (him/it) probably refers to the heart rather than the person, at least based on the other verses. 3/5
And "mourirai" is improper french (on purpose) ==> "Je mourrai" Already used by Serge Gainsbourg a few years earlier in "En Relisant Ta Lettre", about a breakup letter left by a female lover who has spelling/grammar difficulties. Boyfriend reads the letter, raising every mistake " 'j'en mourirai' n'est pas français "
Absolutely. I guess he sings it that way because it matches the rhythm of the other lines better - also reducing je to j' before a consonant for the only time in the song.
Schedule 29 April Fils de… 30 April Les Bonbons 67 01 May La chanson des vieux amants 02 May À jeun 03 May Le gaz 04 May Jacques Brel 67 album Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris (Revue) Brel en scenes posthumous live album Olympia '66 posthumous live album 1967 US compilation album 05 May Les moutons 06 May Je suis bien (Juliette Gréco) 07 May Hé m’man (Martine Baujoud) 08 May We start the "J’arrive"album, starting with J’arrive 09 May Vesoul 10 May L’Ostendaise 11 May Je suis un soir d'été 12 May Regarde bien, petit 13 May Comment tuer l'amant de sa femme quand on a été élevé comme moi dans la tradition 14 May L'éclusier 15 May Un enfant 16 May La bière 17 May "J’arrive" album La bande à bonnot soundtrack music 18 May L'homme de la Mancha (title song) 19 May La quête 19 May L'homme de la Mancha album 20 May Songs from Tintin et le temple du soleil: Ode à la nuit and Chanson de Zorrino 21 May We start the "Ne me quitte pas" re-recordings album, starting with Ne me quitte pas 22 May Marieke 23 May On n’oublie rien 24 May Les Flamandes 25 May Les prénoms de Paris 26 May Quand on n'a que l'amour 27 May Les biches 28 May Le prochain amour 29 May Le moribond 30 May La valse à mille temps 31 May Je ne sais pas 01 June "Ne me quitte pas" album Franz soundtrack L'emmerdeur soundtrack 02 June La chanson de Van Horst 03 June L'enfance 04 June We start the "Brel" album, starting with Jaurès 05 June La ville s'endormait 06 June Vieillir 07 June Le Bon Dieu 08 June Les F... 09 June Orly 10 June Les remparts de Varsovie 11 June Voir un ami pleurer 12 June Knokke-le-Zoute Tango 13 June Jojo 14 June Le lion 15 June Les Marquises 16 June The "Brel" album 17 June Sans exigences 18 June Avec élégance 19 June Mai 40 20 June L'amour est mort 21 June La cathédrale Le docteur After that we may or may not go back and look at the 14 early songs that only appear on the 1953 radio recordings or private recordings.
Just to say that while I've been terrible at contributing to this thread I really appreciate the work going into it and am looking forward to spending more time with it in the future!
Les cœurs tendres Back to something pleasant, with Brel singing nicely alongside light strumming that brings to mind the musical track of "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head". This one has additional orchestration that bears a Parisian atmosphere. I like it. 4/5
You can't reduce je to j' before a consonant. This is the lyric writer's decision but it's meaningless. The pronunciation is exactly the same. Also, how do we know that Brel sang mourirai with an intentional mistake? Maybe he just got it wrong.
Speaking from experience as a singer who sometimes attempts to sing Brel songs, it's a helpful convention, when you get a line like, say, "Quand c'est qu'on me mettra dans le trou", to have indications which vowel sounds are given their own note and which ones are ignored. If you enunciated that properly it would be nine syllables/notes but you have to manage with seven.
