Jacques Brel - what's it all about?

Subject: RE: Jacques Brel - what's it all about?
From: DonMeixner
Date: 20 Feb 04 - 12:06 AM

Right you are again Mc Grath, right you are. :-)

Don

Subject: RE: Jacques Brel - what's it all about?
From: GUEST,moocowpoo
Date: 20 Feb 04 - 09:33 PM

Why does everything have to be in ENGLISH??. The meaning of a song is not ONLY conveyed in its lyrical content. A tune is no accident, it is written to convey mood   (wheather it is written first or not). Tonal quality and expression in voice is also a factor in delivering meaning and feeling. Songs are not as one-dimensional as being primarily about 'the words'(they are very important, of course but not everything)   From these other elements In a song I have often guessed the emotion of a song and found i've been pretty close to it on perusal of the lyrics. My musical world would would be incomplete if it weren't for- le mystere des voix bulgares, Varttina, Muzikas, Yan tiersen They all have as much place in a folk-club as a sea shanty band, bush-music or diddle de de(all of these, I also like)

Subject: RE: Jacques Brel - what's it all about?
From: musicmick
Date: 21 Feb 04 - 01:56 AM

The "translations" in Jaques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris were by Mort Shuman and Eric Blau in conference, concurance and colaboration with Brel, himself. It is true that great liberties were taken with many selections. Carousels (valse de mille temps) tells a somewhat different story in translation but it retains the power and dizzying pace of the original. Marathon is much the same as Brel intended as is Timid Freda and If We Only Have Love (which Brel entitled the more optimistic When We Only Have Love). I had occasion to meet Blau and Stone at a recording session in the late 60's. They loved Brel's work and felt that no one could sell his songs as well as he could even though, at the time, Ellie Stone was the most noted interpreter of Brel's songs.
I am a Brel fan and I wonder why I have seen so little mention of my favorites like Madelaine or Jacky or that one word prescription for all our cares, NEXT!