Tall As The Pines, Neither Heroes Not Clowns
My Favorite Song, Not A Love Song But A Song About Love: Happy Valentine's Day
I wanted to post something on the theme of love, as it’s Valentine’s Day.
I’m jet-lagged and the day is almost over.
I settled on a Brel song I love so much. I hadn’t seen this performance of it. I was four when my mother began playing “Jacques Brel Is Alive And Singing In Paris” over and over on the sunken record player. I asked her to please tell me what he was singing about.
He was so full of love this guy, it was on another level altogether.
The lyric of this song deserve special mention. Here they are in both French:
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
Here’s an interpretation by a Pastor:
“The lyrics of “If We Only Have Love” by Jacques Brel, from his play, “Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris,” speak to me of the essence of the transforming power of the Eucharist:
“If we only have love, then tomorrow will dawn, And the days of our years will rise on that morn...
If we only have love to embrace without fears,
We will kiss with our eyes; we will sleep without tears...
If we only have love, with our arms open wide, The young and the old will stand at our side...
If we only have love, love that’s falling like rain
Then the parched desert earth will grow green again...
If we only have love for the hymn that we shout,
For the song that we sing, then we’ll have a way out...
If we only have love, we can reach those in pain,
We can heal all our wounds; we can use our own names...
If we only have love, we can melt all the guns,
And then give the new world to our daughters and sons...
If we only have love, then Jerusalem stands,
And then death has no shadows; there are no foreign lands...
If we only have love, we will never bow down,
We’ll be tall as the pines, neither heroes nor clowns...
If we only have love, then we’ll only be men
And we’ll drink from the grail to be born once again...
Then with nothing at all, but the little we are
We’ll have conquered all time, all space, the sun and the stars.”
And here’s Dionne Warwick’s recording of the song.
Maybe WE should translate the song? Much closer to the French. I have always wondered what might happen if one tried, not to say Mort Schuman and Elly Stone didn't do a good job but I’ve always wondered if it would be possible to achieve something closer to the original.
Happy Valentine’s Day everybody.
The two different versions don't strike me as the same song at all. Different images and emotions evoked. Entirely different musical impact.
I did love the Brel version. Never heard it before. I'll have to listen again in the morning and consider the French meaning.
Gracias, merci! The version by Isabelle Aubret is also beautiful. L'amour is what we are, we are miracles.....and the greatest power of all is L'amour, el amor, t'is the base of being hue-man hence t'is always that which is being twisted on as many levels as possible, so the medicine you ask? Easy, L'amour, El amor, make only beautiful things, DISCERN, and steer clear of ugliness and that which is vile, Look at it to shine the light on it and then walk away. It's obvious a child can see it, so here we go into L'amour, entra el amor gracias a Dios! Todo bien para usted, sorry for having left out the 'accents egu et grave, thanks for reminding me of this song. You may also like the artist : Isabelle Boulay , coucouroucoucou Paloma. Julio Iglesias brought the song to my attention first.