Jacques Brel: Difference between revisions

 

Brel came from a Flemish bourgeoisie family. He had a dull youth in the shadow of the Catholic Church and narrow minded civilians. His early work was rather naive and preachy and in Paris people ridiculed his Belgian accent. Brel then changed his style by switching over to more mature subject matter and a standard French pronunciation. This made him a success both in his own country and soon in the entire world. Despite often referring to his fatherland Brel's music is both timeless and universal. He is probably the closest Belgium ever came to a masterful lyricist of international stature à la [[Bob Dylan]]. His native French tongue made his songs a bit more difficult to understand for other languages, but luckily his work has been [[Covered Up]] by artists as varied as [[Frank Sinatra]], [[Nina Simone]], [[Scott Walker]] and [[David Bowie]]. Most music fans in the English speaking world will known him from [[Terry Jacks]]' [[Translated Cover Version]] ''"Seasons in the Sun"'', which is a sappy English cover of Brel's powerful ''"Le Moribond"''.

Despite his wide acclaim the singer is still frowned upon in certain circles. He frequently used women, the Church, Flemings and the Bourgeoisie as [[Acceptable Targets]]. So people may either [[Love It or Hate It]].

 

* [[Age Progression Song]]: ''"Zangra", "Mon Enfance", "Au Suivant", "Les Vieux", "Vieillir", "Les Bourgeois", "Rosa, Rosa, Rosa"'',...

* [[Anti-Love Song]]: In some of Brel's songs (''"Madeleine","Les Bonbons", "Mathilde"'',...) women are dangerous seducers or just ruthlessly take advantage of men. He cherished male friendships more than romances with females in his songs, even telling his depressed friend Jef in ''"Jef"'' to cheer up and go to a brothel with him, where new girls have just arrived.

[[Category:Jacques Brel]]

[[Category:Music]]