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GIRL IN AN ARMCHAIR (“L'Ostendaise”)
I first heard this song in a rare production of a theatre piece called ENCORE BREL, back in 1980. I was struck by its tenderness and the gentle, evocative pictures Brel painted. A total movie for the ears.
EARLY MORNING HANGERS ON (“Les Paumes Du Petit Matin”)
This song, too, I heard in ENCORE BREL. I loved the smoke and sex and sarcasm. It reminds me of my favorite cabaret ballad, “All The Sad Young Men”, only with a sneer instead of a tear.
SONG FOR OLD LOVERS (“La Chanson Des Vieux Amants”)
One of my favorite melodies in the world! When I finally found this translation….well…I have been in a very long term relationship, and he wrote our life.
I LOVED (“Je T’Aime”)
This song is the first Brel song I ever performed, in the musical “Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well And Living in Paris”. It’s so FRENCH!
MY DEATH (“La Mort”)
Could there be a more seductive song?
CAROUSEL (“La Valse A Mille Temps”)
I have sung this song at least a thousand times in at least a hundred settings and I always relish it. Mouth aerobics par excellence. And so appropriate for the world we live in, n’est pas?
NE ME QUITTE PAS (1959)
What a glorious act of songwriting! I could never find a translation in English that spoke to me. (Brel is not saying “If You Go Away”. He is saying “Don’t leave me!” Big difference!), so I chose to sing it the way he wrote it.
YOU DON’T FORGET THE PAST( “On N’Oublie Rien “)
I found this one a breath of huge breath of honest, fresh, hilarious air. And it requires some major breath to sing it!
NO LOVE (“Jef” )
This is another song that has been in my heart for a very long time. I am finally old enough to understand it.
CA VA (“Le Diable”)
One of his earliest songs, written in 1953. Turn on your TV today. Could it be more timely?
IF WE ONLY HAVE LOVE (“Quand On N’A Que L’Amour”)
This one is tattooed on my soul. I think maybe the seed of “The Rose” was planted here.
MARIEKE
For every one who remembers that lost love who lives in the corner of your heart forever. |
