Ne me quitte pas was written in 1959 allegedly after
Jacques' mistress "Zizou" broke up with
him. Zizou was pregnant with Brel's child, but Jacques refused to acknowledge
he fathered the child. Zizou then had the child aborted. Brel would later
say in an interview that the song is not a love song, but rather about the
cowardice of men. "Ne me quitte pas" has been continuously
covered by many artists including Nina Simone (1965), Frank Sinatra (1969),
Ute Lemper (2002), and Barbra Streisand (2009).
There have also been translations and performances of "Ne me quitte pas"
in more than twenty other languages including Arabic,. Croatian, Dutch,
Finish, German, Hebrew, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish,
Turkish,and Yiddish. Pedro Almodóvar used the song in his film, Law of
Desire (1987), in a memorable performance by Brazilian singer Maysa
Matarazzo. Cirque du Soleil used it in their 2002 production
Varekai and Celine Dion performed the song during her 2011 Las
Vegas gig. The continued popularity of Jacques' most famous song is a
testament to the identification of shared experience of desperation in
many lives at the end on a relationship, Many of of Jacques 's other songs - all
written in French or Dutch - have been covered by such diverse artists
as David Bowie, Scott Walker and Judy Collins, Marc Almond, Ray
Charles, The Dresden Dolls, Dusty Springfield, Andy Williams, and
Nirvana.
Also remembered as an actor and director, Jacques died in 1978 with a legacy of
more than 25 million records sold worldwide, including one that
has achieved immortality. So we
suggest celebrating Brel's birthday by renting a DVD from Netflix of
his long-running musical review, Jacques Brel in
Alive and Well and Living in Paris which includes
"Ne me quitte pas", while munching on the
sweetest of confection treats based on his 1966 album
Les Bonbons.
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