Jacques Brel: Top 3
| 1. | Ne me quitte pas |
| 2. | Amsterdam (Dans le port d'Amsterdam) |
| 3. | Quand on n'a que l'amour |
Jadis
Tue, 05/11/2019 - 17:25
About "Chauffe Marcel", he was not addressing his drummer, but his accordeonist, Marcel Azzola, who died in 2019.
And the "French volume of poetry" (Les Fleurs du Mal) is due to Charles Baudelaire, a major French poet. The book was censored when it came out. Here Brel probably refers to prostitutes.
The other notes seem OK to me.
Razq
Wed, 22/01/2025 - 10:22
It would be useful if someone adds a bit of information about "Hortense". The current notes can be seen at https://lyricstranslate.com/en/vesoul-vesoul.html
Jadis
Thu, 23/01/2025 - 07:24
I couldn't find any special information about 'Hortense', it's a (rather seldom, or old-fashioned) female first name in French, I guess Brel used it mainly because it rhymes with 'Byzance'. It seems to be the name of someone in (his girls friend's?) family, and she probably is not so charming as he first thought, since he says 'De ce que je sais d′Hortense / J′irai plus dans le Cantal'. But I don't think one has to dig to deep here, Brel used the words that came to his mind, although the song has a general meaning.
Merci pour les références, SaintMark.