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"La chanson des vieux amants" (Gérard Jouannest [1933 – 2018] Jacques Brel [1929 – 1978]) was recorded in 1967. It was dedicated to Brel's wife Thérèse née Michielsen (1926-2020) he'd met 20 years earlier.
LA CHANSON DES VIEUX AMANTS (French)
© Gérard Jouannest / Jacques Brel

Bien sûr nous eûmes des orages
Vingt ans d’amour c’est l’amour fol
Mille fois tu pris ton bagage,
Mille fois je pris mon envol
Et chaque meuble se souvient
Dans cette chambre sans berceau
Des éclats de vieilles tempêtes
Plus rien ne ressemblait à rien,
Tu avais perdu le goût de l’eau
Et, moi, celui de la conquête.

Mais, mon amour, mon doux, mon tendre,
Mon merveilleux amour,
De l’aube claire jusqu’à la fin du jour
Je t’aime encore, tu sais, je t’aime.

Moi, je sais tous tes sortilèges
Tu sais tous mes envoutements
Tu m’as gardé de pièges en pièges
Je t’ai perdue de temps en temps.
Bien sûr tu pris quelques amants,
Il fallait bien passer le temps
Il faut bien que le corps exulte
Finalement, finalement,
Il nous fallut bien du talent
Pour être vieux sans être adultes !

Oh, mon amour, mon doux, mon tendre,
Mon merveilleux amour,
De l’aube claire jusqu’à la fin du jour
Je t’aime encore, tu sais, je t’aime.

Et plus le temps nous fait cortège,
Et plus le temps nous fait tourment,
Mais n’est-ce pas le pire piège
Que vivre en paix pour des amants ?
Bien sûr tu pleures un peu moins tôt,
Je me déchire un peu plus tard
Nous protégeons moins nos mystères
On laisse moins faire le hasard,
On se méfie du fil de l’eau
Mais c’est toujours la tendre guerre

Oh mon amour, mon doux, mon tendre,
Mon merveilleux amour,
De l’aube claire jusqu’à la fin du jour
Je t’aime encore, tu sais, je t’aime.
THE SONG OF THE OLD LOVERS


Of course we had storms,
Twenty years of love, it's crazy love
A thousand times, you packed your bags
A thousand times, I took flight
And every piece of furniture remembers,
In this bedroom without a cradle,
The outbursts of old tempests.
Nothing was itself any more,
You had lost the taste for water
And I, the one of conquest.

But my love, my sweet, my tender
My marvelous love
From the clear dawn until the end of the day
I love you still, you know, I love you

I, I know all your spells
You know all my bewitchments
You kept me from trap to trap
I have lost you from time to time
Of course you took some lovers
The time had to be spent
The body well has to exult
But finally, finally
It required us quite a lot of talent
To be old without being adult

Oh my love, my sweet, my tender
My marvelous love
From the clear dawn until the end of the day
I love you still, you know, I love you

And the more time escorts us
And the more time gives us torment
But isn't it the worst trap
To live in peace for lovers?
Of course you cry a bit less early
I tear myself up a bit later
We protect our mysteries less
We are less confident in luck
We are wary of the current
But it's still the tender war

Oh my love, my sweet, my tender
My marvelous love
From the clear dawn until the end of the day
I love you still, you know, I love you
Translation borrowed from this blog -I made some changes.

Recording by Jacques Brel
Recording by Judy :Collins
Sheet music (©)

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