After many years of futile attempts, I was finally able to find a good quality cd of Jacque Brel is alive.....and so on. It remains glorious after all these years. The production is a rare treat.
August 1975, somewhere in a remote village of Kabylie (Northern Algeria). I was 11 years old. My mum and I tooke my 5 year-old brother to the medical dispensary for his daily medication. We walked back home on foot in the blazing sun. As we got home, my brother had asked for a glass of cold water. Our mom went to fetch it for him. By the time she came back, he had already died in my arms. To us, my brother A. remained a child till this very day, 50 years later. He loved fresh raw tomatoes so much....
RIP Elly 😭😭😭 her music was a huge part of my life since middle school. I'm 20 nowadays and her music is still a part of my life... I just wanna cry now. She died on June 11th and I had no idea she died until today. I can hear the grief and sadness in her voice especially in songs like Marieke, Song Of Old Lovers, and Old Folks...
I saw her in Jacques Brel is Alive and Well on Broadway. I also saw her twice at Carnegie Hall. She did then as she does in this Video, (which is from the film version of Jacques Brel is Alive ) at the climax of the song, she opened her arms wide and sang with an intensity that filled Carnegie Hall. In a live setting, her voice was amazing and had to be heard to be appreciated. For several years in the 1970's, I told everyone I knew that she was my favorite Singer. Alas, she only made four albums - The Original Cast Album of Jacques Brel is Alive, The Soundtrack to the Film Version and her two solo albums (the self-titled Columbia Album and The New Legend of the Ancient Mariner or the Spirit of '76 and Other Tales). What a title! Oh, and I also saw her after Brel in the off-Broadway Musical Comedy, The Cockeyed Tiger, in January 1977. That one did not last long, but I still have the Program. Besides songs written by Eric Blau (her husband) it had several tunes by Kalmar and Ruby, which were originally written for Groucho Marx!
I saw the performance in Greenwich when I was around 14 so that would be 1968. I have always love Brel's music and I think that this is one of the most beautiful love songs written ever... pure genious. Cabaret is always over the top and Brel brought that out better than anyone else..
I thought that perhaps this about her lost childhood. The same child plays this as in My Childhood earlier in the movie. Because at the end of this song she does reconcile with her past when she finds the child on the road and they leave together. We can't escape our past.
In 1975 my mentor introduced me to this song and to the album. Believe me - JBIWAAALIP is really worth it to find - it will stay with you. A simple red wine blend (burgundy/tawny port) accompanied listening to the album. Occasionally we both enjoyed philosophizing after work with our feet up on our desks. Some of Brel's words have been built into my creed - even if it's not my language.
sent shivers down me - maybe having a lost a daughter too... have never taken much to brel before. my husband loves brel's recordings but i find them too bombastic, and feel much more moved by elly stone's tremulousness. each to his or her own, i guess.
I watched the performance in Greenwich Village in the summer of 1969. I too, fell in love with all of it. I have since listened to Brel perform it, but, and it may be my poor French, but I feel he overacts it. The poetry and the power of the music is so great, it requires a kind of distance. This is what Elly said about the way she performs, "The Old Folks." She uses a kind of lyrical voice, with sharp and cold tones which is consistent with the attitude of Cabaret singing, usually spiced with irony. But the must is absolutely unique and like no other.
Saw her in concert and fell in love with her voice and delivery and that was before I knew she starred in "Jacque Brel....". Saw her many times after that including in "Jacque Brel..." Stopped singing and became a director or so I read years ago.
I know you people have never heard of Phil Marcus Esser, but this american put on the best musical production of " Jaques Brel is alive and living in Paris" for the average citizen who didn't know they could be entertained for 3 hrs by some "French" guy. Thankfully Phil was a local guy, with a great ensemble, great compositions, great cast and most of all "a great idea", in Detroit, at Mercy College, in dinner theatre format. Phil was an original proponent of the heart of this city.
@EveSimone I am working on it! Just added Wilhelmina Cord, so search for Wilhelmina Cord Elly Stone and you'll find it. I will add more as I get them done. I love that album, have had it for many years and it is about time I got the songs off into digital form.
Wish someone would download onto youtube Elly Stone's beautiful songs: Mea Culpa, Baby, The Pointillist, Carousel, Port of New York, Old Folks, Wilhelmina cord, Something Wicked, Alexander's Song, My Childhood, Song for old lovers....
I loved the movie, but in all fairness that song is a love song about Flanders. Brel had written and sang a song called "Les Flamandes" which was considered an insult. Brel and Jouannest wrote "Marieke." They were hoping that the people of Flanders would like Brel again.
I guess that's what makes horseraces. I have seen many performances of Brel, going back to the original cast in NYC. Nobody can do Brel like Elly Stone.
This is not from the Broadway cast album. Elly Stone's performance there is superb. When I saw this in NY, Rita Gardner player the Elly Stone part and she was wonderful. She had big tears rolling down her cheeks when she sang "The Old Folks."
While I love Ely Stone's voice, her interpretation is not what the song is about. It's about man's lost love, not a daughter who died. The translation is all off. It's beautiful and wrenching on its own, but this isn't the story Brel was telling.
Don't find this particularly powerful, just depressing. Her child has drowned and she's upset. Now so am I, thanks for that. The problem is that none of that story comes through the lyrics. They are a fairly dull list of plaintive cliches. Brel's original contains the involving geography and biography of a powerful story: a lost, romantic, love. He is taunted by the physical and metaphysical worlds and eventually commits, or at least contemplates, suicide (From Bruges to Ghent all of the ponds open their arms to me...). At least that's my reading of it.
I don't know...I like this song but it's nothing like the original. In the original version there is almost a kind of psychic fear of being traped forever between Bourg and Ghent. Does love-past loves lead to more life across the barren field of remose in front of us or does it trap us? And there is the correlation of the Dutch chorus to French lyric-the Flemish chorus seems to almost threaten and challenge the French. Not the same song
After many years of futile attempts, I was finally able to find a good quality cd of Jacque Brel is alive.....and so on. It remains glorious after all these years. The production is a rare treat.
August 1975, somewhere in a remote village of Kabylie (Northern Algeria). I was 11 years old. My mum and I tooke my 5 year-old brother to the medical dispensary for his daily medication. We walked back home on foot in the blazing sun. As we got home, my brother had asked for a glass of cold water. Our mom went to fetch it for him. By the time she came back, he had already died in my arms. To us, my brother A. remained a child till this very day, 50 years later. He loved fresh raw tomatoes so much....
RIP Elly 😭😭😭 her music was a huge part of my life since middle school. I'm 20 nowadays and her music is still a part of my life... I just wanna cry now. She died on June 11th and I had no idea she died until today. I can hear the grief and sadness in her voice especially in songs like Marieke, Song Of Old Lovers, and Old Folks...
❤❤❤
I saw her in Jacques Brel is Alive and Well on Broadway. I also saw her twice at Carnegie Hall. She did then as she does in this Video, (which is from the film version of Jacques Brel is Alive ) at the climax of the song, she opened her arms wide and sang with an intensity that filled Carnegie Hall. In a live setting, her voice was amazing and had to be heard to be appreciated. For several years in the 1970's, I told everyone I knew that she was my favorite Singer. Alas, she only made four albums - The Original Cast Album of Jacques Brel is Alive, The Soundtrack to the Film Version and her two solo albums (the self-titled Columbia Album and The New Legend of the Ancient Mariner or the Spirit of '76 and Other Tales). What a title! Oh, and I also saw her after Brel in the off-Broadway Musical Comedy, The Cockeyed Tiger, in January 1977. That one did not last long, but I still have the Program. Besides songs written by Eric Blau (her husband) it had several tunes by Kalmar and Ruby, which were originally written for Groucho Marx!
I saw the performance in Greenwich when I was around 14 so that would be 1968. I have always love Brel's music and I think that this is one of the most beautiful love songs written ever... pure genious. Cabaret is always over the top and Brel brought that out better than anyone else..
Brel is a genius . Elly you sung this well.
Beautiful version..i saw Jacques Brel is Alive and Well in Chicago several times in the 60's...never forget the songs and the tremendous cast
I thought that perhaps this about her lost childhood. The same child plays this as in My Childhood earlier in the movie. Because at the end of this song she does reconcile with her past when she finds the child on the road and they leave together. We can't escape our past.
In 1975 my mentor introduced me to this song and to the album. Believe me - JBIWAAALIP is really worth it to find - it will stay with you. A simple red wine blend (burgundy/tawny port) accompanied listening to the album. Occasionally we both enjoyed philosophizing after work with our feet up on our desks. Some of Brel's words have been built into my creed - even if it's not my language.
RIP Ms Stone. What a wonderful career! Strongly recommend her obit in today's NYT.
sent shivers down me - maybe having a lost a daughter too... have never taken much to brel before. my husband loves brel's recordings but i find them too bombastic, and feel much more moved by elly stone's tremulousness. each to his or her own, i guess.
Such a beautiful rendition of Marieke!
Les amitiés Brel. SHUMAN, ça donne de bons résultats !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! c'est la première fois que je l'entends !!!!!!!!!!!c'est super !!!!!!!!
RIP the wonderful Elly Stone. Such moving and poignant songs.
Astounding. Beautiful. Elly Stone sings with such strength, yet she's ethereal too. This is an amazing song. Thanks for posting!
RIP Elly, Such a voice!
I watched the performance in Greenwich Village in the summer of 1969. I too, fell in love with all of it. I have since listened to Brel perform it, but, and it may be my poor French, but I feel he overacts it. The poetry and the power of the music is so great, it requires a kind of distance. This is what Elly said about the way she performs, "The Old Folks." She uses a kind of lyrical voice, with sharp and cold tones which is consistent with the attitude of Cabaret singing, usually spiced with irony. But the must is absolutely unique and like no other.
b kerr kerr I was there in 1969z
Saw her in concert and fell in love with her voice and delivery and that was before I knew she starred in "Jacque Brel....". Saw her many times after that including in "Jacque Brel..." Stopped singing and became a director or so I read years ago.
I know you people have never heard of Phil Marcus Esser, but this american put on the best musical production of " Jaques Brel is alive and living in Paris" for the average citizen who didn't know they could be entertained for 3 hrs by some "French" guy. Thankfully Phil was a local guy, with a great ensemble, great compositions, great cast and most of all "a great idea", in Detroit, at Mercy College, in dinner theatre format. Phil was an original proponent of the heart of this city.
@EveSimone I am working on it! Just added Wilhelmina Cord, so search for Wilhelmina Cord Elly Stone and you'll find it. I will add more as I get them done. I love that album, have had it for many years and it is about time I got the songs off into digital form.
FINALLY, I found it, searching for 'Marieke' NOT EllyStone.... Fantastic!
I have a quite a few Elly Stone albums, all vinyl, I'll see if it's on one of them.
Wish someone would download onto youtube Elly Stone's beautiful songs: Mea Culpa, Baby, The Pointillist, Carousel, Port of New York, Old Folks, Wilhelmina cord, Something Wicked, Alexander's Song, My Childhood, Song for old lovers....
I loved the movie, but in all fairness that song is a love song about Flanders. Brel had written and sang a song called "Les Flamandes" which was considered an insult. Brel and Jouannest wrote "Marieke." They were hoping that the people of Flanders would like Brel again.
I guess that's what makes horseraces. I have seen many performances of Brel, going back to the original cast in NYC. Nobody can do Brel like Elly Stone.
This is not from the Broadway cast album. Elly Stone's
performance there is superb. When I saw this in NY, Rita Gardner player the Elly Stone part and she was wonderful. She had big tears rolling down her cheeks when she sang "The Old Folks."
Elly Stone is the gold standard. I wonder if anyone has any video of her performing Brel on stage?
@Hillels2 We need more of her on youtube!!!
While I love Ely Stone's voice, her interpretation is not what the song is about. It's about man's lost love, not a daughter who died. The translation is all off. It's beautiful and wrenching on its own, but this isn't the story Brel was telling.
me encanta que hay una cancion de mi nombre
It's a terrible video but a tinglingly gorgeous interpretation of a beautiful song
Don't find this particularly powerful, just depressing. Her child has drowned and she's upset. Now so am I, thanks for that.
The problem is that none of that story comes through the lyrics. They are a fairly dull list of plaintive cliches.
Brel's original contains the involving geography and biography of a powerful story: a lost, romantic, love. He is taunted by the physical and metaphysical worlds and eventually commits, or at least contemplates, suicide (From Bruges to Ghent all of the ponds open their arms to me...). At least that's my reading of it.
Will you please upload the songs "Marathon" and "Madeleine"?
She mispronounced "licht" and "schuurt" :O But I love her nonetheless
I don't know...I like this song but it's nothing like the original. In the original version there is almost a kind of psychic fear of being traped forever between Bourg and Ghent. Does love-past loves lead to more life across the barren field of remose in front of us or does it trap us? And there is the correlation of the Dutch chorus to French lyric-the Flemish chorus seems to almost threaten and challenge the French. Not the same song
That's a good analysis...
I find this pretty bad....Give me the real Brel , she doesn't seem to know what she's singing about
awful accent... truly awful