In 1959 the 27 year old Belgian singer Jacques Brel, who had only known modest succes uptil then, recorded the song 'Ne me quitte pas', which would go on to become his best known composition.

The song is often interpreted as a love ballad, a plea of one lover to the other not to leave him or her.
Brel's own vision of the song was distinctly less romantic, he called it his epic of cowardice.
In the final phrases the narrator begs for the partner not to leave him, even going as far as saying 'let me be the shadow of your shadow, the shadow of your hands, the shadow of your dog, but don't leave me'.
Brel stated that the narrator was not really madly in love with the person whom he's speaking to, but rather afraid to move ahead into a new live-situation. Rather than affront these changes and to fight to reshape his life for the better, the narrator would wish to be able to continue his current life, even if that means diminishing his entire personality to 'the shadow of a dog'.

In an interview a couple of years later he said "For a guy who's leaving Vilvoorde (a suburb from Brussels) to go to Hong Kong, it's not going to Hong Kong that it is the difficult part. It's closing the door in Vilvoorde."

"Ne me quitte pas" and other songs recorded around the same time also mark a change in Brel's style.
Up to that point, most of his songs pimarily featured him on accustic guitar, occasionally with some orchestral backing. It was conductor Francois Rauber who convinced him to give up the accustic guitar as he felt that he was limiting himself to it. He wasn't a very remarkable guitar player either - very, very, very close to the boys sitting around the campfire during a scouts-holliday. From 1959 onwards Brel would leave the acustic guitar behind for the vast majority of his recordings.

You can listen to the original 1959 version here:


In the late 60s Brel did an album for his new label on which he sang a number of his earliest succeses with new arrangements. This version of 'Ne me quitte pas' is the one that you will hear most often nowadays.


A remarkable live version WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES - one of my all-time favourite music video's


The song has been interpreted by a very long list of artists and it probably ranks among the most covered French compositions of all time.

Popular french singer Johnny Halliday doing a somewhat over the top version of it - including a dedication to 'he who will always be the greatest'


Here you have Sting trying to plow through it in French - I can't say I like this
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/v/DXQkplGz05c[/youtube]

Nina Simons tried to work her way through the French version as well


As did Spanish balladeer Julio Iglesias:


The text was translated in English, I believe by one Rod McKuen, as 'If you go away'.
It should be said that the English translation is a lot less powerful as the French original.
The original version is a very engaged plea, it's almost begging.
In the English version the narrator has already more or less accepted the inevitable end of the relation and his words are little more than cheap talk to make the passing less painful.

The first big star to sing it in English was probably Frank Sinatra, but I can't seem to find a video containig his rendition. During an interview in the late 60s Brel was asked how he felt about the fact that Ol' Blue Eye had covered one of his songs. He replied: "Ooh it's wonderful, in that crooner style, you can't beat him. But I don't get up in the middle of the night to hear it on the radio or anything."

Other people who sang it in English include:

Dusty Springfield, here a quite beautiful 1967 live version:


Shirley Bassey


Thomas Woodward:


And here's a German version by Marlène Dietrich - the lyrics in German beat the English version:

Almost forgot, the greatest Belgian jazz player, harmonica-player Tootse Thielemans:

Another one I've always like, Yuri Buenaventura & Band - who's said some drama can't be danceable? Salsa!

This is my favourite version in English.

I'm often not certain whether Marlene Dietrich is murdering the song, or delivering a very distinctive interpretation.

I was looking to see if anyone did this song in Russian.

Instead, I found out that most new Russian songs from the '80s and '90s are called "Ne Me Quitte Pas."