Song, by Toad

This week’s disaster theme came from a conversation I had with Blueback Birthday Boy Dylan last night, but for the life of me I can’t remember how we got onto the subject of total cock-ups.  I was DJing later though, so maybe that had something to do with it.

Actually, I know I’ve had an uneasy relationship with DJing in the past, but last night’s effort was brilliant fun.  It’s all rather dependent on the occasion with me – too much of a dancefloor and it doesn’t suit the general miserablism I’m into, whereas if it’s supposed to be background music then my stuff can be a bit weird at times as well.  Last night was spot on though.

The event was a Oxfam night at Born to Be Wide in the Speakeasy at the Voodoo Rooms.  The basic premise was that the DJs (myself, Jane from the Bowery and Jamie from the Oxfam music shop in Stockbridge) would go into Oxfam, pick out a pile of vinyl, and then if people liked what they heard they could buy it on the spot.  We did really well, too, I think – certainly I saw about twenty or thirty records get sold, which is good going if you ask me.

The benefit of that kind of charity shop DJing is straightforward: your choice is really restricted.  So I went through the old jazz stuff and picked out a load of that, from the really early stuff to the likes of Piaf and Billie Holiday through to big band swing.  I did look for some blues actually, after Craig’s sterling efforts on last week’s podcast, but there was absolutely none.  Really, none at all, not even nasty eighties blues, which was sort of odd.  Presumably people don’t find their old blues records as disposable as their old jazz ones.

Anyway, I went from a couple of swing versions of Crazy ‘Bout My Baby (classic!) and I Want to Be Like You into Goldfinger by Shirley Bassey, then some Johnny Cash.  That brought on a bit of a country spell, with Willie Nelson and something of a childhood classic of mine: Me and Bobby McGee by Kris Kristofferson.  My dad would have been so proud.

Anyway, then it was Michelle Shocked, Cat Stevens, Bennie & the Jets by Elton John and then into the likes of Squeeze, The Jam and Ian Dury.  I finished it off with Modern Love by Bowie and a spin of A Few Kind Words by Meursault, at which point some hammered fellow came staggering over saying ‘Oh this is brilliant, I’m having this, I love this one, it’s..  it’s…   ah, it’s by I don’t know.. it’s…  but it’s fucking brilliant.’  Weird.  But fun.

I like that kind of DJing because you’re so restricted that the eclecticism becomes a real positive, you can play whatever the hell you like, and it just makes it better; you can play swing, Willie Nelson, Elton and Half Man Half Biscuit as part of the same set without anyone batting an eyelid.  And Jane, it has to be said, was just as bad: the theme to Flash Gordon, Laurie Anderson, Jerry Lee Lewis, moog versions of pop hits, Donna Summer.  All in all a splendid night – good work Olaf!

1. Worst DIY disaster.
2. Stupidest thing you’ve said on a first date.
3. Total cooking failure.
4. Stupidest thing you’ve said to your boss.
5. Comedy falling down moment.

Jacques Brel – L’age Idiot

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Grandaddy – Broken Household Appliance National Forest

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Frank Sinatra – Somethin’ Stupid (With Nancy Sinatra)

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Andrew Bird – Natural Disaster

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Tom Waits – Falling Down

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I assume you all know Jacques Brel, one of very, very few songwriters to write in a language other than English to actually be able to penetrate Western cultural awareness. In fact, I read here that Mojo magazine conducted a poll of British and American songwriters in 2000 and apparently Brel’s Ne Me Quitte Pas was the only non-English song to make the resulting list of the Greatest Songs of All Time.

Jacques Brel – Ne Me Quitte Pas

Given the fact that his songs have made such an impact on their own merit, and given that apart from writing some songs in Flemish, he never strayed from French, it seems a little odd to me that absolutely everyone who covers Jacques Brel seems to do so in English. Only such luminaries as Nina Simone and, erm, Sting have actually sung his songs in French, which seems amazing.

Nina Simone – Ne Me Quitte Pas

Artists are snobbish bastards so I am a little surprised that so few people have managed to eschew the grand pretension of covering someone so enormously credible in his native tongue – and not just any native tongue, the eminent cultural bastion that is French, no less. Is that too cynical? I really doubt it.

Secondly, respect for the integrity of art is quite important to people, in particular other artists, so I am a little surprised that people have been so quick to accept such a cavalier attitude. Mind you, most Brel translations are actually contemporary with his own work, and people seemed to be a little less precious about that sort of thing back then (in the music industry at least – don’t say that to a modern film-maker). Perhaps their age gives them a peculiar sheen of credibility, something I imagine they’d lack if done today.

The most popular translations are the Blau-Shuman ones, but Scott Walker seems to use those of Rod McKuen in his own many Brel covers – brought together brilliantly in Scott Walker Sings Jacques Brel. A superficial glance at the actual work makes them look a little flimsy though.

Scott Walker – Mathilde

Wikipedia cites this McKuen example, which is pretty awful:

“Moi, je t’offrirai / Des perles de pluie / Venues de pays / Où il ne pleut pas” [As for me, I'll offer you pearls of rain that come from a country where rain never falls].
Translates as:
“But if you stay / I’ll make you a day / Like no day has been / or will be again.”

Woeful.

Brel is famous for his lyrics, too. Evocative and sharp, bitter and cynical at times, and an absolutely integral part of his work. I keep thinking of the Asterix books and how the translation managed to remain so inspirationally true to the original humour. Never mind the books themselves, the actual translations were a serious master work in their own right. It’s sad, as much as anything, that despite large numbers of covers of his songs, almost no-one seems to have taken the time to actually put the work into the lyrics as well as the music. And as I said, this is not an industry that lacks for monumental acts of self-aggrandising pretension artistic ambition.

I can understand, grudgingly, why people insist on singing translations – there’s no point singing songs by someone famed for his acerbic wit if your audience can’t understand a word – but why people are paying so little attention to which translation they use and why is a little disappointing.

Professor Arnold Jonhston is the only man who has translated his stuff to a standard acceptable to Brel’s widow, and has recorded an album of these translations. I can’t find it anywhere, but I have to say I am as dubious about a musical work by an academic as I am about a literary translation by a musician, although if anyone wants to mention Toms Stoppard and Lehrer here they should feel free. I’d like to hear that album though, if anyone has any suggestions.

Other than that, I’m not really sure where I’m going with this. It was all started by Richard Godwin sending his music through to me for a listen. He has a lovely style that is somewhat similar to Jacques Brel, and he covers Brel himself. It’s not the same translation as Scott Walker used though, and I don’t think I recognise it at all. Anyhow, I started listening to some other Brel songs and it all snowballed from there really.

Right. I’m off to the pub. Have a good weekend, Toadlings.

Richard Godwin – Next! (Brel cover)
Jacques Brel – Au Suivant
Dusty Springfield – If You Go Away
Jacques Brel – Les Bourgeois
David Bowie – Amsterdam

Jacques Brel on Amazon