Jacques Brel: Difference between revisions

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Jacques Brel (1929-1978) was Belgium's most famous and influential singer. Together with [[Georges Brassens (Music)|Georges Brassens]] and Léo Ferré he is considered to be one of the Big Three of the French music genre [[Chanson]]. He is widely admired for his deeply human, passionate but also cynical and satirical songs. Several of his songs have been become classics: ''"Ne Me Quitte Pas", "Le Plat Pays", "Les Bourgeois", "Le Moribond", "Marieke", "Les Flamandes", "Le Chanson de Jacky", "La Valse A Mille Temps",...''
 
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"''.
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* [[Grief Song]]: ''"Fernand", "Jojo"''
* [[Growing Up Sucks]]: Songs like ''"Mon Enfance", "Rosa"'' and ''"Il Neige Sur Liège"'' mourn over the end of all the dreams and illusions the protagonist once had as a kid.
* [[Grow Old Withwith Me]]: ''"Le Chanson des Vieux Amants"''
* [[Karmic Transformation]]: The three students in ''"Les Bourgeois"'' sing how they hate the bourgeoisie, but near the end of the song they have grown old and became part of the bourgeoisie themselves. In a case of [[Hypocritical Humour]] they now complain themselves that they are ridiculed by sassy college students.
* [[Large Ham]]: If you thought that the only good edible things coming from Belgium were chocolates, beer and waffles, think again because Brel could ham it up magnificently whenever he wanted to. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMzAmrNS164 Like in this rendition of ''"Amsterdam"''.]
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** In ''"Voir Un Ami Pleurer"'' Brel sings that he cannot stand the sight of a friend crying.
** In ''"Les F..."'' Brel lies about being Flemish with tears between his teeth.
* [[Not Even Bothering Withwith the Accent]]: At the start of his career Brel was ridiculed for his Brussels accent by other Frenchmen. He took diction lessons until he spoke very clear standard French. Yet Brel never mastered the Dutch language and even when he recorded a few Dutch cover versions of his original French language songs his French accent is very clear. Brel was assisted by Dutch speech coach and translator Ernst Van Altena, but struggled so much thru certain Dutch words that he simply gave up.
* [[Patter Song]]: The conclusion of the studio version of ''"Une Valse à Mille Temps"'', which has to be heard to be believed. Even during concerts he was unable to match the speed of this studio delivery.
* [[Protest Song]]: Several, often a case of [[Take That]] !
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