Marieke by Jacques Brel

that is absolutely correct. Nonetheless that Brel disliked his bourgeois background and his father, who wanted Brel to follow him up in the same profession as himself, he was truely fond of "mijn Vlaanderland";
Brel on the other hand was not permitted for a long time to perform in l'Olympe, the famous chanson-temple of French music in Paris as they considered his
French to be "ugly" and "not well articulated"
Hahahaha! Brel became so famous they had to give in !
Vive la musique de Brel!
Brel is best at it himself though interpreters of his music are abundant such as David Bowie (English) Tommy Körberg (Swedish), Susanna Haavisto (Finnish), and many others

not to forget his incredible versions- both in French and in Flemish of" Amsterdam "and "Les Bourgeois" Check them out!

Brel recorded several of his songs in Flemish (Dutch) versions. Those truly excellent translations that did justice to Brel's poetry were the work of the Dutch poet/writer/song and playwright/translator Ernst van Altena, who was also a friend of Brel. Van Altena translated all Brel's chansons in Dutch. Brel appreciated vA's work very much because (according to himself) his Flemish was not strong enough to produce such complex poetic lyrics. The ones that I can remember that were recorded by Brel in Dutch were "Ne me quitte pas" (Laat me niet alleen), "Le plat pays (Mijn vlakke land)" "Rosa" (id), "Marieke" (id), Le port d'Amsterdam" (De stad Amsterdam), "Les Bourgeois" (De burgerij). He may have recorded more in Dutch, I don't know.
I just read on Wikipedia (for whatever it is worth) that Brel liked vA's work so much that he assigned him the copyrights to all Dutch translations made of his work, including translations done by others than vA. There have been other Dutch translators of Brel and I don't have the faintest idea how such an assignment could/can work legally.

Van Altena also translated chansons from such well known greats as Brassens, Be'caud, Aznavour and others.

Brel's Dutch is very clear and understandable for the general Dutch speaker but with a strong French accent rather than a Flemish dialect. If you want to hear how beautiful Dutch can sound with a Flemish lilt (from Gent), listen to Micheline van Hautem's gorgeous rendition of "Marieke" (with Bruno Brel).

Originally Posted by bandolero

Brel recorded several of his songs in Flemish (Dutch) versions. Those truly excellent translations that did justice to Brel's poetry were the work of the Dutch poet/writer/song and playwright/translator Ernst van Altena, who was also a friend of Brel. Van Altena translated all Brel's chansons in Dutch. Brel appreciated vA's work very much because (according to himself) his Flemish was not strong enough to produce such complex poetic lyrics.

So, according to Brel, translation is better than his original lyrics - which is very rare to happen!

Originally Posted by bandolero

He may have recorded more in Dutch, I don't know.

He sang "De nuttelozen van de nacht". Great song!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mC7kjlzU5A

Originally Posted by bandolero

I just read on Wikipedia (for whatever it is worth) that Brel liked vA's work so much that he assigned him the copyrights to all Dutch translations made of his work, including translations done by others than vA.

A generous gesture from Brel!

Originally Posted by bandolero

Van Altena also translated chansons from such well known greats as Brassens, Be'caud, Aznavour and others.

Thanx for that info! I've searched the net and found that he translated Becaud's "Et maintenant" (Er rest mij niets),
"Je t'attends" (Waar ben jij).

List of songs van Altena translated:
http://www.secondhandsongs.com/artist/3363

Hold on one second!! I didn't say, or mean to make it sound as if Brel thought van Altena's translations into Dutch were better than his own original poetry in French. I have no idea if that was the case, and I apologize to present readers and the memory of both artists if I caused a misunderstanding.

Thanks for the tip about "De nuttelozen van de nacht"

Hello, all fellow Brellow fans! Indeed many of his songs he also performs in Flamish (which is close to Dutch, just softer and with some French influences)

"Ces gens là" was mentioned which he sings excellently in Flamish, just as "Les Bourgeois" (de burgerij); Brel detested the bourgeois more than anything, which was due to his father and mother who wanted him to take over the factory from his father when grown up
"Rosa rosa rosae" is also great. Memories of school.
In "les bigottes" (Hypocrytes) and "Les Bonbons" his words are full of irony.
Oh boy, you got me going there Have fun!

Of course Brel is excellently performed in different languages by such artists as David Bowie (English), Thomas Körrberg (Swedish) Susanna Haavisto (Finnish), Elisabeth List (Dutch) , Herman van Veen (Dutch) de Gregori (Italian), Battiato (Italian) and sure there are more!
Nonetheless: Brel is Brel: always passionate with an overdose of energy which would make many of us jealous anytime and sang without saving himself,
one of the reasons he was reported to be always a total wreck after performing on stage.

If you're interested , have a listen at these ones:

"Ik hou van jou" (Chanson des Vieux Amants) sang by Herman van Veen
"Amsterdam" (David Bowie) and "Vid En Kaj i Amsterdam (Thomas Körrberg)

Battiato: Chanson des Vieux Amants in Italian

in German: Hildegard Knef

Originally Posted by bandolero

Hold on one second!! I didn't say, or mean to make it sound as if Brel thought van Altena's translations into Dutch were better than his own original poetry in French. I have no idea if that was the case, and I apologize to present readers and the memory of both artists if I caused a misunderstanding.

OK, that's my interpretation of Brel's words. Brel admits:

Originally Posted by bandolero

his Flemish was not strong enough to produce such complex poetic lyrics.

...and he (Brel)

Originally Posted by bandolero

liked vA's work so much that he assigned him the copyrights to all Dutch translations made of his work, including translations done by others than vA.

So, it's like Brel told van Altena: "OK, your translation are superb, I couldn't done it better myself in Flemish because my Flemish is not strong enough to produce such complex poetic lyrics and I give you copyrights of all my songs that you translated because you deserve it for such marvelous job."

Maybe it would be better to say that the original (French) lyrics and Flemish translations are equally great?

When I compared lyrics of Flemish and Dutch version (with a help of English translations which were posted here),
I've felt that Flemish lyrics are - stronger and more suitable to the theme of the song (theme being: Marieke, time passing, and - Vlaanderland):

Originally Posted by birdman

Ai Marieke, Marieke
Time passes quickly
Between the towers
Of Bruges and Ghent

Originally Posted by amaryn

Nonetheless: Brel is Brel: always passionate with an overdose of energy which would make many of us jealous anytime and sang without saving himself, one of the reasons he was reported to be always a total wreck after performing on stage.

Well said!
Original is the best - and the covers just don't have that energy or passion.

Let's see few details in the song...
How does the song start? It starts with a girl's name - well, to be accurate, it starts with SIGH - and then girl's name follows, repeated TWICE:

Originally Posted by birdman

Ai, Marieke, Marieke...

So, we have pure emotion in first line of the song, expressed by two words (sigh /ai/, girl's name).

What is next?
I lovED you.
(Notice the PAST tense.)
So, we learned about the time (somewhere in the past) and the place (location): between the towers of Bruges & Ghent (Vlaanderland).

Next:
Without love, warm love...

As we saw in the beginning of the song, love is mentioned in past tense. Love was warm but it ended (we don't know why - was she unfaithful...?)
After that, we have a landscape: the sea, sand, wind... with a marvelous line that goes:
Lijdt het licht het donkere licht...
(The light suffers, the dark light...)

Flemish skies, remembrance of "good old times" ("our youth"), yearning:

Originally Posted by birdman

Ai Marieke, Marieke
Give me back that time
Of our love
In Bruges and Ghent

And, finally, in the end, Brel "shouts": "Bruges and Ghent, Bruges and Ghent..." - because these two towns are still there, in Flanders. Marieke left, love ceased to be and he stayed with what always was there, where he had
"die mooie tijd" (wonderful time with Marieke), once, in the past.

Brel sang in various songs about a love that was lost or didnot come true at all: remember "Madeleine" where he waits in vain for a girl all night
to go with her to the cinema
Sounds familiar?

Originally Posted by amaryn

Brel sang in various songs about a love that was lost or didnot come true at all: remember "Madeleine" where he waits in vain for a girl all night
to go with her to the cinema
Sounds familiar?

I think the song has more in it than mentioned.

Well, I would say that "Madeleine" is a song in which we have a "conflict" between illusions and reality. So, young man waits for Madeleine, he bought flowers, has everything planned (illusions): she'll come, they'll go to the cinema, they'll eat fries, they'll take tram 33 etc. And what happens in reality? Young man waits in vain for her, get's soaked wet, night falls, last tram leaves... and she never shows up. He's aware that she's too good for him - and despite the fact that she doesn't want him, after a short period of disappointment (he throws away lilacs that he bought), he plans again to repeat the same procedure.

Here Brel performs - with flowers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRCBpMmhrgg

While here he performs as a - madman:
(Comment on Youtube: "Madeleine made him mad!")
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEIHIsIhx6o

It is the same song - but two very different performances and meanings!

So we can ask ourselves: is this song - or is this character in the song - just naive young man who doesn't see that Madeleine doesn't want him (first performance) - or is he a stalker, obsessed with the girl more than it is normal, wacko, madman, unrational...?

Originally Posted by amaryn

Sounds familiar?

Well, I have "Boîte à Bonbons" (Box of Candies) (16 albums) on my disk, with three performances of "Madeleine", so...

Great! Brel leaves space for interpretation, because otherwise he wouldnot be Brel! Thus, Madeleine may sound differently, depending even on the
way of performance. I love it that way!
I have some Grand Old VHS videos(!!) with live performances of Brel and he keeps surprising me.

Flemish sounds good to me any time. It is not hard to follow Brels'accent, not even when he sings very fast. Great artist!