Jacques Brel

From time to time I'm in sentimental mood and I listen to some old singers/songwriters singing their chansons in French. In former times I was fascinatet by singers like Jacques Brel and Charles Aznamvour which made fantastic songs that they mostly arranged by themselfs. Jacques Brel is on that I often listened because of his smooth voice and the his catchy tunes. I am far away to understand the meaning of the chansons so I could focus just the singer and the song. Nowadays it's easy to get a translation of this songs and my respect to the artist grows more and more when I listen to songs I used to play and understandig the meaning of this songs.

Jacques Brel was a Belgian singer/songwriter who had a great influence in modern chansons. Although he recorded his songs in French, he became a major influence in English-speaking songwirters like David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Marc Almond and Alex Harvey. Translations of his songs were performed by Ray Charles, Nina Simone and Frank Sinatra. This song is recorded live during a show in Paris in the early 1960s. I never heard warmer words of the land he loves.

Enjoy and have good days

With its cathedrals as a single mountain,
With black spiers equal to climbing poles.
Stone on which depend the devil clouds
With the sequence of days as the only movement
Because as the only country with a rainy evening greeting
With its northeasterly winds. Hear him as he desires it
The flat land that's mine.

Jaques Brel - Le plat pays