Sixty Seven

 

Time flies, and once again a year has gone by far too quickly. Looking back, I have to say that the past year has given me far more wonderful moments than I could ever have hoped for. At 67, I continue to look forward to the years ahead with confidence and am eager to see what lies in store for me.

Charles Aznavour would have turned 102 today. He was an Armenian-French chansonnier, lyricist, composer and film actor, and I’ve always had a soft spot for his songs, which often featured poignant lyrics and made a real impact thanks to his distinctive voice.

On their third album, the Hamburg punk band Abwärts took a more laid-back approach and delivered a superb cover of Aznavour’s song.

German Post Punk Revisted

Abwärts were one of the first punk bands formed in the late years of German punk revolution. Their first album AmokKoma is one of the classic records that stamped German punk and was on heavy rotation on my turntable in the late 70's. After their masterpiece they released several albums that wasn't that successful at all. Their self-titled third album is less punk-influenced and Gothic than the ones before and they tried to sing sometimes in English. For me it is an album that is very underrated because it is manifold to the ones before. One of the reasons was that they covered Hotlegs' (10 CC's) first chart appearance as well as a chanson by Charles Aznavour. Great stuff from my very younger days - even for you all.

Abwärts - Neandertal Man
Abwärts - Alkohol

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