jacques brel is alive and well. oh, and he wants his damn song back.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfm-17pu6SQcanadian terry jacks had his one and only hit with seasons in the sun, a song adapted from french treasure jacques brel’s song le moribond (in english, the moribund.) (is it me, or does he have a chia pet growing on his head?) while jack’s sanitized version doesn’t feature little facts like the wife’s infidelity (or even the existence of the priest), it certainly jerks enough tears out of anyone within earshot. is he singing to his wife? his daughter? his bank manager? who knows.
the beach boys covered this lovely ditty but, probably in a moment of sanity, never released it. that freed our friend terry, who sang on the beach boys version, to release his version with his soon-to-be-ex-wife susan in 1974. (earlier, the two had been part of a group the poppy family. a group with an equally awful song that became a hit, which way you goin’, billy. however, as the song is from 1969, we can’t officially include it. but rest assured: it, too, bites.)
of course, it can, and does, get worse. witness nirvana singing this timeless classic. my secret boyfriend, dave grohl, is being tortured singing, to use the word loosely:
see, it’s an evil song. it disintegrates with every additional cover of it.
yep, jacques brel may be alive and well. but thanks to seasons in the sun, i bet he’s also mad as hell.
I have heard the Terry Jacks version aplenty; AJS likes him some perky songs about suicide, although with closer analysis, he may just be aware that he’s terminal and telling his pals not to despair. I have NEVER heard the French version, which is even perkier! Who knew but the French? You’re totally right about the disintegrating. Nirvana loses the perky entirely, which takes the irony right out.
This was my absolute favourite song when I was five, apparently…only I’m told I used to sing “seize ’ems in the sun”. Not sure that those lyrics make any less sense than the original ones.
Of course I had no idea what the song was about…
heh. i like the idea of seizures in the sun.
I have to stop reading your blog this month as I now cannot get these horrible songs out of my head!
Always liked this one. I took it as someone who is terminal, not suicidal. Consider these songs just 70s extensions of the 60s teen death songs which were so popular back then (Teen Angel, Leader of the Pack, etc.). This is yet another song I just listened to a couple weeks ago – I can’t figure out if it was from random linking off of the songs you are posting or if someone else is sending me there and that bothers me more than some of the songs you are posting!
Woof, another awful one. Yesterday, I heard “Life is a Rock, But The Radio Rolled Me” on the radio and thought you needed to add it to the BBSM list.
a local mall once made life is a rock (but the radio rolled me) into a commercial. drove me insane for years.
Oh gawd……….
I bet this is still on WOBM’s playlist…probably in heavy rotation.
gah, yes. the World’s Outrageously Boring Music station, listened to only when there was possibility of a snow day.