Maybe the lyric in the chorus is a little simplistic, and over-bold: it's certainly the type of stuff that seems almost a normal part of cynical political discourse nowadays. I see memes online nearly everyday that basically contain this message, albeit not in reference of the French Revolution. But overall, I don't see the lyric as bad. It's a positive and hopeful message. It doesn't say the human heart can't be changed and it suggests that that is what is needed, and though that may be a pie-in-the-sky pipedream, it is nevertheless true. Pretty good. 3.4/5
La Bastille Combines "You say you want a revolution" with "All you need is love" (I'll get my coat) The addressee of the song seems to be a charismatic figure of some power, currently the recipient of adulation but knowing that fear is all that protects him from a violent death at the hands of a mob. A fate which befalls many dictators ... Brel always had a love-hate relationship with Les bourgeois - as arguably shown in the eponymous song. 3.5/5
La Bastille Despite the music being typical marching music I get the impression Brel wants to promote a non-violent revolution in the lyrics. To which revolution he may be referring, I don't know. But I like the song. I know that Quand On N'a Que L'Amour was seen as a protest song about (in favor of) the Hungarian Revolution in 1956. But that song, although released at the time of the uprising, was written long before those events. The first new song in 3 years, by the way... 3/5
La Bastille We took the Bastille and it didn't change a thing. The fall of the Bastille here is a symbol for the French Revolution. The Revolution changed a lot for many, many people. The ruling classes were largely beheaded, including the king and his queen. Religion was outlawed so priests and parsishioners were beheaded too. And slavery was abolished (for a while at least). But the Revolution also led pretty quickly to the rise of a warring dictator called Napoleon who is still revered and hated in equal mesure. So the miltary marching music is entirely appropriate. But ths song is against war and revolution. The call to arms is ironic, as is the French nationl anthem that begins All You Need Is Love (thanks spondres). Does the song work? Well I find it a bit wordy and the disitinction between revolutionaries and petty rebels is a bit hard to grasp. To me it weakens the end of the song. As we know, Brel himself was a bourgeois, so he always sees the two sides of the argument. That also can confuse the issue. All in all, an interesting but flawed attempt at writing a song for peace. 2.5/5
La Bastille Martial-tempoed songs have to be really special to appeal to me, and this one isn't. It's rather jarring. 2/5
La Bastille Brel will have much more interesting things to say about the bourgeois in a little while. There's something missing about some of these earlier recordings, did he need Francois Rauber to take his work to the next level? 2/5.
Rauber, Jouannest and greater confidence and boldness as a writer, I would say. I don't think it all really came together fully till 1959, despite a few flashes in the pan pre-1959. Like tomorrow's song. (Even though I like "La Bastille" more than most of you).
I agree. I didn't realise Jouannest had a hand in writing some of the songs too. I've actually read a biography of Brel and must still have it somewhere but I'd forgotten this.
Our average vote for La Bastille was 2.91 *takes in breath* Today’s song is Quand on n'a que l'amour (When We Have Only Love) Words and music by Brel Arranged by André Popp Recorded with André Popp and his orchestra on September 18th, 1956, Théâtre de l’Apollo They had previously recorded a rejected version on June 19th. It was released as the lead track on an EP “3”, released November 1956 (source: discogs) and apparently as a single (though in France at the time, the EP was the main format of choice). According to allmusic it got to number three in the French charts, but I can’t find the data to confirm that. (It would be good to have a resource of all Brel’s French chart placings, incidentally.) It made the French language charts in Belgium and Quebec at #7 and #10 respectively. It has been recorded by Sam Cooke (as “I Belong To Your Heart”), Johnny Mathis, Dion, Shirley Bassey, Olivia Newton-John, Dionne Warwick, Dame Vera Lynn, Barry Manilow, Celine Dion, Nancy Wilson, Gary Puckett, Johnny Halliday and countless others, including some singers who are more famous in their respective regions than some of the aforementioned stars. Naturally it also features in the English language Brel revue “Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris”.
A later version with François Rauber and his orchestra recorded on the 25th January 1960, Studio Blanqui It seems this was included on some Philips compilations and 12" versions of the second album from the early 60s. A third version appeared on his 1972 re-recordings album; I’ll be holding up that version separately when the time comes.
TV appearance Live, 1963 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCWmLg0kbKE (spoiler alert: the 1972 arrangement is already taking shape here)
Paroles Quand on n'a que l'amour À s'offrir en partage Au jour du grand voyage Qu'est notre grand amour Quand on n'a que l'amour Mon amour toi et moi Pour qu'éclatent de joie Chaque heure et chaque jour Quand on n'a que l'amour Pour vivre nos promesses Sans nulle autre richesse Que d'y croire toujours Quand on n'a que l'amour Pour meubler de merveilles Et couvrir de soleil La laideur des faubourgs Quand on n'a que l'amour Pour unique raison Pour unique chanson Et unique secours Quand on n'a que l'amour Pour habiller matin Pauvres et malandrins De manteaux de velours Quand on n'a que l'amour À offrir en prière Pour les maux de la terre En simple troubadour Quand on n'a que l'amour À offrir à ceux-là Dont l'unique combat Est de chercher le jour Quand on n'a que l'amour Pour tracer un chemin Et forcer le destin À chaque carrefour Quand on n'a que l'amour Pour parler aux canons Et rien qu'une chanson Pour convaincre un tambour Alors sans avoir rien Que la force d'aimer Nous aurons dans nos mains Amis le monde entier ©Universal MCA Music/Pouchenel
English Paraphrase (NB I found this in my old files, I can’t remember if it’s one I made or one I got from the internet somewhere. It looks too good to be one of mine.) When we have only love, to share between us on the day of the great journey that is our great love. To make us laugh with joy every hour, every day. To live out our promises, with no other bounty than to always believe in them. To decorate with marvels and cover with sunshine the ugliness of the suburbs. When we have love as our sole reason, our only song, and our only escape... When we have only love to dress each morning the poor and down-and-outs in velvet coats. Only love to offer as a prayer for evils of the world, a simple troubadour. Only love to offer to them for whom the struggle is to find the day. When we only have love to find our path, and decide our destiny at every crossroads. Only love to talk to the cannons, and only a song to win over the drum of war... Then, without having anything except the power to love, we will have in our hands, friends, the whole world.
Quand on n'a que l'amour This is one time where the 1960 version seems unnecessary as they got it so right the first time. It's fine but I slightly prefer the original. I have no dissenting view of this song, I always loved it. Catherine Sauvage may have mocked the lyric for implying that love would be any good as a weapon against cannons, but as with the criticism of “La Bastille”, I think that’s taking it all too literally. This song, for me and I think for most people, is the culmination of his idealistic early period. The melody seems to just flow perfectly as if nature always intended it this way. Weird side-issue: I have some Brel sheet music and the published chords for this song never seem to match what I hear on the record. (I once attended a concert where a specialist in chanson sung a version that sounded a bit different, so I guessed she was using the same sheet music I had. It might be that the chords are correct as written but the arrangement misleads my ear with implications of other chords.) 5/5 all versions.
Quand on n'a que l'amour A great Brel song, though there are many still greater ones to come imho. It may seem unreservedly optimistic, but if you *only* have love, that potentially leaves you exposed if and when things go pear shaped. Love may cover over or outshine les maux de la terre and la laideur des faubourgs, but can love really conquer all? The first version I ever heard of this, on an elderly LP borrowed in the early 80s from the Maison française in Oxford, was the 1960 remake, which I've always preferred, especially the background horn arrangement at the climax of the song. 4.5/5
Brel tried to record a version in Dutch, op April 12, 1961 in Brussels with François Rauber and his orchestra, but while the other Dutch versions of that sessions were released, this one remains in the vaults.
Quand on n'a que l'amour Excerpts from “Jacques Brel – The Definitieve Biografie; René Seghers (2012)” (by Google Translate...) In October 1955, Brel exchanged Michel Legrand and his orchestra for André Popp and his associates... Popp has a much better understanding of Brel and puts him on the right track. All this comes to fruition on May 14, 1956, when Popp and Brel recorded Quand on n'a que l'amour. Finally the loose ends come together... Unfortunately, Brel and Popp are the only witnesses to this memorable moment, because no one at Philips bothers to listen to the record. Canetti has had enough of Brel flops for a while, so Jacques adds the song to his stage repertoire. Later that summer Canetti visits one of Brel’s performances and hears the new song. Afterwards he asks Brel to record the song, who replies he has already done that. Canetti digs it up but doesn’t like the recording. It misses the magic from the live performance. He arranges a new session and Jacques records a second version on 19 June 1956. And then the recording disappears into a drawer again. On 23 July 1956 Brel meets pianist and conservatory student François Rauber for the first time in Grenoble. The duo immediately becomes friends. After the veteran Popp, the serious, classically trained Rauber is a revelation. Rauber inspires Brel and new songs suddenly come to him. On 18 September 1956 he records Quand on n'a que l'amour once again. [Rauber is present, but it's recorded with Popp (contractual obligation?)]. It is regrettable that those two early recordings remain unreleased, because only a comparison of the versions can clarify the extent to which the summer meeting with Rauber led to stylistic changes. This is important because the difference between the September version and everything Brel recorded up to then is very big. Vocals, melody and accompaniment are suddenly perfectly attuned to each other. Note: The Suivre L'Étoile box set (2013) contains another previously unreleased version in which Brel is accompanied by a brass orchestra. Recording date unknown. Quite different, but not better, imo. 5/5
And a curious one from 1961 in which Brel breaks his guitar (not Jimi Hendrix, Pete Townshend-style, mind)
What a great idea for a thread, unfortunately I only noticed it today.. First album of Jacques Brel. Recorded at Théâtre De L'Apollo on February 15, 1954. Album reissued in 1966 on a 12-inch LP Jacques Brel - N° 1, with a few additional tracks. Jacques Brel - And His Songs (1954) It is known that it was recorded in February 1954, but the date of publication is uncertain. Most databases report March of the same year, but reprints and biographies point to 1955. To posterity the arduous judgement. What is certain is that at the time it was not particularly successful and today it is considered a minor work, with a still immature Brel. Going against the current, I believe instead that the album deserves to be counted among his best. The history of pop music is, after all, full of records that are commonly described as immature and then turn out to be anything but. In this case, we have nine fast-paced melodies and nine refined lyrics, interpreted with an overwhelming theatrical flair in which we already find all the Brel that would make his fortune. The arrangements, by André Grassi, are each one different and make each track a gem, ranging from swing to flamenco, from ballroom to French folk tradition. The icing on the cake is the quality of the sound: clear and deep, it appears very modern when compared, just to give a random example, to Italian music of the same period. "La haine" shows a poetic talent that was already impeccable on a formal level: a few metaphors with the drunkard and the sailor, classic figures for poets everywhere, and the boredom of bourgeois love is painted with surgical coldness. In 'Grand Jacques', the tone is ruthless and highlights all the hypocrisies that the singer - who had grown up observing the oppressive Catholic values to the letter - was beginning to find difficult: 'It's too easy to enter a church, and pour out all one's filth, in the face of the priest who, in the grey light, closes his eyes to forgive us better. So shut up, big Jacques, what do you know of the Good Lord? A canticle, an image, you know nothing better'. On the ancient sound of a harpsichord moves 'Le fou du roi', which describes a court scene in which love and power are grotesquely intertwined: 'When the jester saw the queen, courted by a handsome count, he ran away, heartbroken, into a wood, weeping with shame. When three days had passed, he returned to the castle, to tell all, to the king up there in the tower. Hearing what he told him, the king laughed all day, had the count decorated, and the jester had him hanged'. The disc closes with 'Sur la place', one of Brel's most depressed moments, although he would prove to be anything but greedy on this front. After having spent the song describing, through the figure of a mysterious dancer, feelings such as love and charity, the artist
Quand on n'a que l'amour This song works in a way that the previous song didn't. Its message is universal and positive. Ugly cities, poverty and war are exist or have existed in every country, so it's logical that everyone, everywhere wants to reject them and can identify with the singer. The performance is strong and steadily builds to a great crescendo. Brel excels at this sort of thing and it will become one of his trademarks. I prefer the second version, but all versions are fine. 5/5 This song is still very popular today. Just before Christmas a Belgian singer called Sebastien Cools came to my town and sang with the local amateur orchestra (who are not so amateur as all that). Sebastien has been singing Brel for several years but I'd never heard of him before. The only song I've found from the concert is this one, so it seems appropraite to post it today. The concert was a huge success by the way. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1390504848251105
