The French Connection 6/28/26 Jacques Brel
By Mike Stevenson
Beginning in 1953, Belgian singer/songwriter Jacques Brel wrote and performed poignant and passionate songs that brought him a devoted following in France. By the 1960s, Brel had become a major influence on counterculture performers such as Judy Collins, Leonard Cohen and David Bowie. Translations of Brel’s songs have been recorded by a wide range of singers from Nina Simone to Frank Sinatra.
Audio is available for 2 weeks after original air date. The French Connection airs live Sundays at 5 pm
Open / Soul of the Poet
– Anna Bel “Canicule”(Bel) Place Mt. Royal, 2026
– Noel Harrison “L’ame des Poetes”(C. Trenet)Live at McCabes, 2006
“Some went to war. Some never came home”
– Jacques Brel “Quand on na que L’amour” (“If We Only Have Love”)1956
– Rod McKuen “Seasons In the Sun” (“Le Moribund”) Sold Out at Carnegie Hall 1969
– David Bowie “Amsterdam” (B-side to 1973 single “Sorrow”)
– Judy Collins “Sons of” Whales and Nightingales 1970
Two weeks after the Paris and Saint-Denis attacks, France paid a "solemn national tribute" with this performance of Jacques Brel's "Quand on na que L'amour"("If We Only Have Love"). 130 people were killed and the approximately 350 injured in these jihadist attacks. It is the worst terrorist attack ever in France. “You might as well take the sun away”
– Barbara “Il ne Fait Regarder” Barbara a R’ecluse 1959
– Jacques Brel “La Vase a Mile Tempts”
– Nina Simone “Ne Me Quitte Pas” Ne Me Quitte Pas, 1967
– Juliette Greco “Ca Va” (Le Diable) Juliette Greco – N°6 – 10 Ans De Chansons, 1959
from Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris 1968 *
– Elly Stone “I Loved” (J’amais)
– Elly Stone “Marieke”
Close / “Why did they kill Jaurès?”
– Jacques Brel “Jaures” Les Marquises, 1977
– Noel Harrison “Le Prenoms de Paris” Adieu, Jacques 2002
– Black Box Recorder “Seasons in the Sun” England Made Me, 1988
– Anna Bel “Epilogue” (Bel) Place Mt. Royal, 2026
NOTES:
- Two weeks after the 2015 Paris and Saint-Denis attacks, France paid a “solemn national tribute” which included an exquisite a capella performance of Jacques Brel’s “Quand on na que L’amour” (see lyrics translation) by Camélia Jordana, Nolwenn Leroy, and Yaël Naïm.
130 people were killed and the approximately 350 injured in these jihadist attacks, the worst terrorist attack ever in France. - Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris was a musical revue featuring the songs of Brel, with English translations by Eric Blau and Mort Shuman, who also created the show’s structure. It’s a non-narrative revue that uses Brel’s passionate, poetic songs about love, war, and life to explore universal themes, originally opening Off-Broadway in 1968 and running for over four years. There was a 1975 film adaptation.
- Brel’s song “Jaurès” is both a tribute to the working class and a bitter lament over the assassination of the French socialist leader Jean Jaurès in 1914. It captures Brel’s signature despair regarding war, inequality, and organized religion.
- Jacque Brel died of a pulmonary embolism on October 9, 1978, at the age of 49 in Bobigny, France. He had been privately battling lung cancer for several years after his initial diagnosis in 1973.