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Kathleen Taylor's avatar

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.

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Desiree Flores's avatar

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.

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MrsSmithSaysSo's avatar

Five stars. Holds up in the English translation.

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Nancy Lynn's avatar

Celia…we love you 💕💕💕💕

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Graham Seibert's avatar

Some of the greatest works just don't translate well. Though he was Belgian, Jacques Brel is to me the soul of France.

Because the two were so similar, I mistakenly attributed more of Piaf's great songs to him than he had written. The spirit is the same though the songwriters were not.

Here's a bit of trivia. I learn that those two more or less pioneered "chanson" style in the mid 20th century. Interesting because the word chanson simply means song. In their case, songs rich with emotion that tell a story.

The chanson style has been incorporated into Ukrainian and Russian popular music. We hear шансон - a simple transliteration of the French - all the time on the radio.

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Christy Stadelmaier's avatar

You sent me on a memory-filled binge listen to Brel songs. Thanks Celia.

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letoiledelamaison01's avatar

Not Roberta Flack. The incomparable Dionne Warwick.

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Celia Farber's avatar

Thank you.I'm so jet lagged I should prolly not post for a while;

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INGRID C DURDEN's avatar

If we only have love

To offer to share

On the day of the great journey

how great is our love

when we only have love

My love you and me

So that we burst with joy

Every hour and every day

when we only have love

To live our promises

Without any other wealth

Than to always believe in it

when we only have love

To furnish with wonders

And cover with sun

The ugliness of the suburbs

when we only have love

For one reason

For a single song

our only help

when we only have love

To dress in the morning

the poor and suffering

with velvet coats

when we only have love

To offer in prayer

For the evils of the earth

As a simple troubadour

when we only have love

To offer to those

Whose only fight

Is to seek the day

when we only have love

To trace a path

And force destiny

At every crossroads

when we only have love

To talk to the cannons

And just a song

To convince a drum

So without having anything else

butthe strength to love

We will have in our hands

Friends all over the world

That pastor obviously does not know French LOL. I started with a google translation and adjusted a few sentences to make them more palatable. Yes Brel was one of the prides of our country... now I am american and he has been gone for many years. Thankfully we have his recordings.

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Celia Farber's avatar

Beautiful Ingrid, Thank you so much!

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Kathleen Taylor's avatar

Well done, Ingrid!

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Lumpygravy's avatar

After having read it, I had decided to share it, simply by fwd, addressed to myself, and Bcc's therein ..

Expect the unexpected, was the subject, that rolled in. It was from one, just as unexpected, nonetheless. or like the expectation what suddenly came into the picture, the pitcher, so I tossed my hat in,

'What better segue could one imagine, if one were to imagine, a fly ball slightly out, but coming into focus, the glove, is that my hand? The pocket just now, safely holds it, over there, that looks like the pitcher, he looks as if he's expecting, so I guess I better throw it.

When the channel you're watching becomes the channel you're in.

Thanks Celia. '

Now there were several bounces, from folks whose addresses, were generally longstanding, and it was hard not to wonder, what the state of the states, their conditions, were in...

and now, for the next segue, if on a roll I were in, my reply to the friendly answer and query that was the first to come in..

I'll leave it there, but wherever you're standing or seated, every plant and every person is seeded, so on that front, depending upon how you read it, you've read it. Sometimes there's breadcrumbs, sometimes there's pins.

"Spare me the analogs of bowling" someone might be thinking, I mean, now that I've said it, but like Randy and Woody, we gotta get Amish, what a great movie..

'n Thursday, February 15th, 2024 at 12:19 AM, somebody wrote:

hey del. hope you are good .'

I was debating taking myself to the emergency room just over an hour ago....

It was feeling like a toothache.. but it was coming through in waves right behind my eyes..

I haven't experienced that kind of pain ever.. never once had a migraine, but I think I can better understand the levels of what that is..

It's passed now.. on and off it was all through the day but nearing round 10 man o man!

Like I said, contingencies were recent thoughts well in process, so no need to worry, but I think the solar waves have just landed, could be more landing, within the next days.

Get some jerry cans and long storage groceries.. because guys?

The fun is about to begin

Del

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James Greene's avatar

I got it in my head a little earlier today to find Jethro Tull Velvet Green on youtube. Just a memory of threnody that persists from the '70s, going for a walk or a horse ride off to some woods as some girl's honorable company was maybe something more real for Ian Anderson. Michael Egnor at evolution news org has a piece where he asks the question whether memories aren't 'stored in the brain,' and it not, whare? They seem to come through amid all the games and distractions of living wherever you're at, so that you'd come to realize John Lennon and Yoko Ono as they were are still out there for some of us, for whatever reason.

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Dale Peterson's avatar

Clowns are the opposite of heroes? :-)

You’re liable to get stepped on by a bunch of big shoes for that!!

Sending love to you on this high holy day.

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Kavita's avatar

Thank you, Celia.

"Tall As The Pines, Neither Heroes Not Clowns"

This is our true nature as humans ... before the anti-human consciousness shrouded things here on earth. Love is the most powerful presence in this universe, and as humans remember our inherent goodness and greatness we are emerging anew. The non-human consciousness cannot withstand love. It is withering as we speak. Will take awhile. But it is unfolding each moment.

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Larry Inn's avatar

Matters of the Heart:

On the feast of Saint Valentine, may you elevate the ones you love & cherish or find the love that you seek. Either way, a true love should always come from the Heart.

Every moral deed and every physical action in human life is connected in the human heart. Only when we truly learn to understand the configuration of the heart will we find the true fusion of these two parallel and independent phenomena: Moral events and Physical events. (Rudolf Steiner).

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From the Beach...🌞🇧🇷🏖️🌊🐬🌎😎's avatar

Well received, Celia.

Take some Melatonin for the jet lag.

The Eucharist is love.

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Ennis Greene's avatar

Check out the Leon Bibb version. He was part of a Vancouver Arts Club production of Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living In Paris. Very powerful.

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Hesperado's avatar

James Taylor wrote a wickedly cynical song called Valentine's Day, which closes with:

I lost my teeth, I lost my hair, I lost my mind -- you don't care,

all is fair, love is war --

on Valentine's Day...

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