Thirty years ago today, a too-short lifetime of smoking caught up with Jacques Brel.
Probably his most famous song would be Ne Me Quitte Pas:
Brel briefing
Wikipedia
Belgian website
Last FM
Alastair Campbell - yes, really - on Brel
Buy
40 Chansons
Ne Me Quitte Pas
The Olympia 61 & 64
More Brel throughout the day
Les Vieux
Rosa
Amsterdam
The only good English translation is "Don't Leave" by Momus, when he went back to the source. "If You Go Away" is a travesty - I actually prefer Terry Jacks' version (his follow-up to *that* Brel-destroying monstrosity) to that by Scott Walker, because at least with Jacks you don't expect anything but schmaltz.
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