“If you go away
On this summer day
Then you might as well
Take the sun away
All the birds that flew
In the summer sky
When our love was new
And our hearts were high
And the day was young
And the night was long
And the moon stood still
For the night bird’s song…” 

Sang Jacques Brel on “No M Quite Pa”, can anything be fuller of despair? The French-adopted, born Belgian singer was pioneering the introduction of drama and controversial lyrics into his performances on dirty French cafes, night clubs, cabarets and music halls, accompanied just by his guitar first, with a plan like a guerrilla warrior infiltrating the mainstream, then backed by an orchestra when he became French leading singer songwriter, giving that country a cultural figure that could easily rival with USA´s Bob Dylan, or Elvis Presley.

The legend of Brel and his tortured dramas spread quick and he became a celebrity among the French, powerful and emotive poetry set to music, a powerful, expressive and dark voice made him one of the most influential musicians ever, although success was limited to Europe (mainly because he refused to sing in English, thus giving chance to people like Bob Dyaln exist, otherwise, Dylan´s career may have lived overshadowed by Brel), his influence on people like Bob Dylan, Nina Simone, Scott Walker, David Bowie, Lou Reed, Leonard Cohen, Iggy Pop, Mark Almond, Nick Cave, to name just a few, is immense, music would be very different if it wasn’t for this man, who submerged all of us into infinite darkness.

Without a doubt it was Brel´s dark lyrics about life and death and honest as hell, the ones that brought most of the attention, as normal listeners weren’t accustomed to such dramatic and complex lyrics, those giving a chance to Brel to revolutionize pop music and change the role of the singer songwriter forever, making his music, Chanson, as French call it, not only appreciated by adults, but by teens-soon to be rockers, something unconceivable by then.

On his sixth record Brell appears in full command of his art, whether taking risky subjects like on the creepy “Au Suivant” (Scott Walker edited a great cover named “Next”, about the abusive training on the army, the tragic tale put to music named “Jef”, the black humor of “Tango Funebre”, or the powerful and joyous “Mathilde”, coming from a man who paid his dues in nightclubs for years, and emerged via his first record as a fully formed artist, Brel´s records showed enormous progress with each recoding, arriving to complete perfection on this one.

“All the naked and the dead
Should hold each other’s hands
As they watch me scream at night
In a dream no one understands
Next, next

And when I am not screaming
In a voice grown dry and hollow
I stand on endless naked lines
Of the following and the followed
Next, next

One day I’ll cut my legs off
Or burn myself alive
Anything, I’ll do anything
To get out of line to survive
Never to be next
Never to be next.”

It´s cool when you think that some people claim that Brel went to some little known Pacific Island where he supposedly died, by complications contracted by his chain smoking affection some say he is still alive, singing and writing in the wilderness, perhaps playing along Elvis and Mr Mojo Risin, who knows?