"If You Go Away" vs. "Ne me quitte pas"

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Do you think the Rod McKuen translation (and such renditions as Scott Walker's, Dusty Springfield's, etc.) of this Jacques Brel song does the original justice?

I think it rather changes the tone of the song quite a bit, from the desperate "Don't leave me" to the rather pathetic "If you go away." Or am I just being a purist?

― Amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 30 December 2002 07:29 (twenty-one years ago) link

For reference, lyrics to "Ne me quitte pas":

Ne me quitte pas
Il faut oublier
Tout peut s'oublier
Qui s'enfuit déjà
Oublier le temps
Des malentendus
Et le temps perdu
A savoir comment
Oublier ces heures
Qui tuaient parfois
A coups de pourquoi
Le coeur du bonheur
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas

Moi je t'offrirai
Des perles de pluie
Venues de pays
Où il ne pleut pas
Je creuserai la terre
Jusqu'après ma mort
Pour couvrir ton corps
D'or et de lumière
Je ferai un domaine
Où l'amour sera roi
Où l'amour sera loi
Où tu seras reine
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas

Ne me quitte pas
Je t'inventerai
Des mots insensés
Que tu comprendras
Je te parlerai
De ces amants-là
Qui ont vue deux fois
Leurs coeurs s'embraser
Je te raconterai
L'histoire de ce roi
Mort de n'avoir pas
Pu te rencontrer
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas

On a vu souvent
Rejaillir le feu
De l'ancien volcan
Qu'on croyait trop vieux
Il est paraît-il
Des terres brûlées
Donnant plus de blé
Qu'un meilleur avril
Et quand vient le soir
Pour qu'un ciel flamboie
Le rouge et le noir
Ne s'épousent-ils pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas

Ne me quitte pas
Je ne vais plus pleurer
Je ne vais plus parler
Je me cacherai là
A te regarder
Danser et sourire
Et à t'écouter
Chanter et puis rire
Laisse-moi devenir
L'ombre de ton ombre
L'ombre de ta main
L'ombre de ton chien
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas

― Amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 30 December 2002 07:30 (twenty-one years ago) link

Actually, I've never read them side by side before. Now I did, and although my French is not all that, it is at least clear to me just how little they have in common!

This has been noticed before, of course -- notably by some bloke who recorded a version with his own translation nearly 20 years ago...

― OleM (OleM), Monday, 30 December 2002 10:28 (twenty-one years ago) link

shadow of the shadow of a dog

― Queen G (Queeng), Monday, 30 December 2002 13:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

I hadn't known about Momus's version before -- thanks! Does he sing it straight?

― Amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 30 December 2002 14:21 (twenty-one years ago) link

Mort Shuman's Brel translations are closer to the mark (he does a very nice job with "My Death," especially the near-untranslatable last verses).

― Amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 30 December 2002 14:24 (twenty-one years ago) link

Scott Walker's version = awful!
one of the reasons why Scott 3 is NOT better than Scott 4
despite the presence of "Big Louise" and "It's Raining Today"

― Paul (scifisoul), Friday, 3 January 2003 02:05 (twenty-one years ago) link

What do you dislike about Scott's version?

― Amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 3 January 2003 02:14 (twenty-one years ago) link

too mawkish. and drab by comparison with, for example, his version of "Make It Easy On Yourself". Walker's usually on the mark in his Brel covers (though his way off mock-Brel "The Girls From The Streets" is hilariously good), but perhaps "Ne Me Quitte Pas" lends itself to a lighter touch. see also his moping vibrato-of-death on "Windows Of The World", another failed cover.

gimme "Angels Of Ashes" and Cocteau Twin fave "World's Strongest Man" any day. gotta plug "I Can See It Now", too.

― Paul (scifisoul), Saturday, 4 January 2003 19:20 (twenty-one years ago) link

Terry Jack's version was the first i heard back in dem days
...allowed my 17-year-old self wallow in copious misery anyway
...fortunately, a copy of Rainbow's Long Live Rock And Roll was near at hand

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Saturday, 4 January 2003 19:43 (twenty-one years ago) link

one year passes...

For reference, lyrics to "Ne me quitte pas" translated directly in English:

Don't leave me.
We must forget
all that can be forgotten,
that already has passed away.
Forget the times
of misunderstandings,
and the times lost
trying to know how
Forget those hours
which sometimes killed
in attacks of "whys"
the heart of happiness.
Don't leave me.
Don't leave me.
Don't leave me.
Don't leave me.
I'll cover you
with pearls of rain
from countries
where it never rains.
I will dig the earth
until my death
to cover your body
with gold and lights.
I will make a land,
where love will be king,
where love will be law,
and you my queen.
Don't leave me.
Don't leave me.
Don't leave me.
Don't leave me.

Do not leave me.
I'll make up
crazy words
that you'll understand.
I'll tell you
about the lovers
who have twice seen
their hearts catch fire.
I'll tell you
the story of this king
who died from not
being able to meet you.
Don't leave me.
Don't leave me.
Don't leave me.
Don't leave me.

We often see
the fire erupt
from the ancient volcano
we once thought too old
It is shown that
lands that were burned
gave more wheat
than the best April.
And when the evening comes
with the sky blazing
-- the red and the black --
which doesn't blend.
Don't leave me.
Don't leave me.
Don't leave me.
Don't leave me.

Don't leave me.
I won't cry anymore
I won't talk anymore
I will hide there.
To watch you
dance and smile
and to hear you
sing and then laugh.
Let me become
the shadow of your shadow,
the shadow of your hand,
the shadow of your dog.
Don't leave me.
Don't leave me.
Don't leave me.
Don't leave me.

Much more powerful than McKuen's lyrics...

― KB, Sunday, 23 May 2004 19:24 (nineteen years ago) link

for serious!

― amateur!st (amateurist), Monday, 24 May 2004 04:05 (nineteen years ago) link

I knew that.

― Momus (Momus), Monday, 24 May 2004 10:50 (nineteen years ago) link

two years pass...

hi to all

i am m.murtaza from afghanistan i like to listen to ne me quitte pas.
i love this song,if u send me completely by media player, i will be so happy

― sahim murtaza, Wednesday, 24 May 2006 19:09 (seventeen years ago) link

its prob my favourite scott walker song, i kw fuck-all scott tho so my "if you go away" prob is pathetic. to me it's about someone dyimg.

― danny invincible (michael w.), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 19:42 (seventeen years ago) link

five years pass...

hi sahim from afghanistan five years ago. here you go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2wmKcBm4Ik

also:

We often see 
the fire erupt
 from the ancient volcano
 we once thought too old
 It is shown that
 lands that were burned 
gave more wheat 
than the best April. 

damn that's good. you win, jacques brel, you win.

― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Thursday, 8 September 2011 07:16 (twelve years ago) link

i like momus's translation but unfortunately the man cannot sing.

― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Thursday, 8 September 2011 07:20 (twelve years ago) link

French version is so much more emotive.

― It was a Thursday night. I was working late... (dog latin), Thursday, 8 September 2011 08:38 (twelve years ago) link

don't know if i've heard the walker version - what album's it on?

― It was a Thursday night. I was working late... (dog latin), Thursday, 8 September 2011 08:39 (twelve years ago) link

A better poll would be "Le Moribond" vs "Seasons In The Sun"

― It was a Thursday night. I was working late... (dog latin), Thursday, 8 September 2011 08:41 (twelve years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Jl-R2NhUiI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd_Fdly3rX8

― It was a Thursday night. I was working late... (dog latin), Thursday, 8 September 2011 08:42 (twelve years ago) link

don't know if i've heard the walker version - what album's it on?

"3". It's probably his worst version of a Brel song.

― Euripides Trousers (Tom D.), Thursday, 8 September 2011 08:44 (twelve years ago) link

i've definitely got 3. It's 2 I'm missing. Yeah, his Brel covers are hit and miss - I prefer his version of "Amsterdam" to the Brel one for example.

― It was a Thursday night. I was working late... (dog latin), Thursday, 8 September 2011 08:48 (twelve years ago) link

I like all of them except, uh, "If You Go Away" really!

― Euripides Trousers (Tom D.), Thursday, 8 September 2011 08:50 (twelve years ago) link

hi to all
i am m.murtaza from afghanistan i like to listen to ne me quitte pas.
i love this song,if u send me completely by media player, i will be so happy
― sahim murtaza, Wednesday, 24 May 2006 19:09 (5 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Ah, the gentle pleasures of unregistered posters. A byegone age...

― Mark G, Thursday, 8 September 2011 09:36 (twelve years ago) link

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