Ne Me Quitte Pas.

I had intended for the English song 'If You Go Away' to be familiarised and its lyrics to be remembered well. Did it linger in your head for the past few days?

How do you feel about the song? Any emotional outbursts?
What about the lyrics?
Did you find your life revolving around it?
Were you melancholic?

Well ... Since you have the right feelings of that song in English;
Get a feel of the FRENCH version!

The YouTube video shows Jacques Brel singing his song.
Yes ... HIS song.



Ne Me Quitte Pas
by Jacques Brel

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
Oþ 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
Oþ l'amour sera roi
Oþ l'amour sera loi
Oþ 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 vu 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 para¡±t-il
Des terres brulées
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

That's an old video and the sound does not come out right.

I prefer to listen to a female voice, hence, here's Nina Simone's version of Ne Me Quitte Pas ...



Recognise the music? Remember the English lyrics?
Here's the translation of the French lyrics.

We must forget
All we can forget all we did till now
Let’s forget the cost of the breath
We’ve spent saying words unmeant
And the times we’ve lost hours that must destroy
Never knowing why everything must die at the heart of joy

Don’t leave me
Don’t leave me
Don’t leave me
Don’t leave me

I’ll bring back to you the pearls of rain
From a distant domain where rain never fell
And though I grow old I’ll keep mining the ground
To deck you around in gold and light
I’ll build you a domain where love’s everything
Where love is king and you are queen

Don’t leave me
Don’t leave me
Don’t leave me
Don’t leave me

For you I’ll invent
Words and what they meant only you will know
Tales of lovers who fell apart and then fell in love again
There’s a story too that I can confide
Of that king who died from not meeting you

Don’t leave me
Don’t leave me
Don’t leave me
Don’t leave me

And often it’s true that flames spill anew
From ancient volcano’s we thought were too old
When all’s said and done scorched fields of defeat
Could give us more wheat than the fine April sun
And when evening is nigh with flames overhead
The black and the red aren’t they joined in the sky

Don’t leave me
Don’t leave me
Don’t leave me
Don’t leave me

Don’t leave me
I will cry no more
I will talk no more hide myself
To look at you and see you dance and smile
And hear you sing and laugh
Let me be for you 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

Subhanallah!

The French lyrics is more romantic and I tend to identify with the poet.

'For you I’ll invent
Words and what they meant only you will know
Tales of lovers who fell apart and then fell in love again
There’s a story too that I can confide
Of that king who died from not meeting you'

hmmm .... This scenario is familiar :-/

'Let me be for you the shadow of your shadow
The shadow of your hand the shadow of your dog'

Oh how deep his feelings are for this person!

Like the previous post, I dedicate these videos to
'the great pretender'
who has been secretly reading my blog.
I thank you, honestly!
;-)

By the way, today is the 2nd of March and that means, it is the 4th year that I get to know NFD, my Light of Joy.

She is no longer the NFD I knew years ago
but I still love her.

To her I'd love to say 'Ne Me Quitte Pas'
in my usual Scottish accent ... hehehe

* mmmmmuackz *
;-)

If You go Away.

How many of you remember this song?

Let me rephrase my question ... How many of you KNOW this song? :-)

It's an evergreen and has been around since my childhood days when I was running around the kampung bushes looking for spider Kang or spider Boon.

This is not a history lesson on spiders, so go figure what I meant ... hehehe ;-)

This song has its impact on me and I would like to share this with the one person who thinks that I do not know that she reads my blog.

As Fred Toke would say, "We are all great pretenders."

Read the lyrics and imagine that your loved one is going away and you are trying to make him stay. You will frantically find excuses for him to at least delay his departure and if he has to go, you want something from him that will make him be with you, to hold in your hand.

Isn't it so romantic?
How I wish someone would sing this to me.
(Any french gal would suffice) ... hehehe

The lyrics itself is like a love poem. It speaks of the seasons. It speaks about the birds and the trees, the sun and the moon, the night and the day. A typical classic love poem. The final plea for her to be with him is that she would be 'the shadow of his shadow.'

Will you not stay if someone uses such metaphors? My heart missed a beat and somehow I can hear the girl's heart breaking as she begs.

It hurts :-(

But the song has a twist ... listen to the French verse and it's soooo beautiful.

Anyway, enjoy the song sung by Dusty Springfield ...





If you go away
On this summer day
Then you might as well
Take the sun away
All the birds that flew
In the summer sky
When our love was new
And our hearts were high
And the day was young
And the nights were long
And the moon stood still
For the night bird's song

If you go away
If you go away
If you go away

But if you stay
I'll make you a day
Like no day has been
Or will be again
We'll sail on the sun
We'll ride on the rain
We'll talk to the trees
And worship the wind

Then if you go
I'll understand
Leave me just enough love
To hold in my hand

If you go away
If you go away
If you go away

If you go away
As I know you will
You must tell the world
To stop turning
'til you return again
If you ever do
For what good is love
Without loving you?
Can I tell you now
As you turn to go
I'll be dying slowly
'til the next hello

If you go away
If you go away
If you go away

But if you stay
I'll make you a night
Like no night has been
Or will be again
I'll sail on your smile
I'll ride on your touch
I'll talk to your eyes
That I love so much

But if you go
I won't cry
Though the good is gone
From the word goodbye

If you go away
If you go away
If you go away

If you go away
As I know you must
There'll be nothing left
In this world to trust
Just an empty room
Full of empty space
Like the empty look
I see on your face

Oh I'd been the shadow
Of your shadow
If you might have kept me
By your side

If you go away
If you go away
If you go away

If you go away
If you go away