My translation of the elusive Ne Me Quitte Pas

[tracingwind]

... is all about maintaining the same style of language, rawness of feeling and musical timing as the original while at the same time being as true as possible to the words and images he used, instead of a Hallmark card version of it. So here is the original and below it is my translation... You will find that if you tried to sing my translation in the same way that Brel sang his song, it will work. You can evoke his pauses and intonations, his syllable stressings and moments of emphasis with my words and it will work because that is what I was going for.

Ne Me Quitte Pas
-Jacques Brel

Ne me quitte pas
Il faut oublier
Tout peut s'oublier
Qui s'enfuit déjà
Oublier le temps
Des malentendus
Et le temps perdu
A savoir comment
Oublier ces heures
Qui tuaient parfois
A coups de pourquoi
Le coeur du bonheur
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas

Moi je t'offrirai
Des perles de pluie
Venues de pays
Où il ne pleut pas
Je creuserai la terre
Jusqu'après ma mort
Pour couvrir ton corps
D'or et de lumière
Je ferai un domaine
Où l'amour sera roi
Où l'amour sera loi
Où tu seras reine
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas

Ne me quitte pas
Je t'inventerai
Des mots insensés
Que tu comprendras
Je te parlerai
De ces amants là
Qui ont vu deux fois
Leurs coeurs s'embraser
Je te racont'rai
L'histoire de ce roi
Mort de n'avoir pas
Pu te rencontrer
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas

On a vu souvent
Rejaillir le feu
De l'ancien volcan
Qu'on croyait trop vieux
Il est paraît-il
Des terres brûlées
Donnant plus de blé
Qu'un meilleur avril
Et quand vient le soir
Pour qu'un ciel flamboie
Le rouge et le noir
Ne s'épousent-ils pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas

Ne me quitte pas
Je ne vais plus pleurer
Je ne vais plus parler
Je me cacherai là
À te regarder
Danser et sourire
Et à t'écouter
Chanter et puis rire
Laisse-moi devenir
L'ombre de ton ombre
L'ombre de ta main
L'ombre de ton chien
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas

Don't Leave Me Now
-Jacques Brel

Don't leave me now
We must forget
All can be forgotten
It escapes already
Forget the time
The misunderstandings
And the moments lost
We must know how
Forget those hours
Which killed at times
With each thrust of why
The heart of happiness
Don't leave me now
Don't leave me now
Don't leave me now
Don't leave me now

Me, I'll offer you
Pearls of rain
That come from a place
Where rain never falls
I would mine the earth
'Til after my death
To cover your body
With light and with gold
I'll make a kingdom
Where love shall be king
Where love shall be law
Where you shall be queen
Don't leave me now
Don't leave me now
Don't leave me now
Don't leave me now

Don't leave me now
I'll invent for you
Such nonsense words
That you'll understand
I'll speak to you
Of those lovers there
Who have seen two times
their hearts all ablaze
I'll recount for you
The story of that king
Dead for not having
the chance to meet you
Don't leave me now
Don't leave me now
Don't leave me now
Don't leave me now

We have often seen
Fire gush out
From an ancient volcano
We thought was too old
There are, it seems
Some scorched fields
That yield more wheat
Than the best of April
And when evening comes
So that the sky is ablaze
The black and the red
Do they not wed
Don't leave me now
Don't leave me now
Don't leave me now
Don't leave me now

Don't leave me now
I'll no longer cry
I'll no longer speak
I'll hide right there
Just to look at you
Watch you dance and smile
And listen to you
As you sing and laugh
Let me become
The shadow of your shadow
The shadow of your hand
The shadow of your hound
Don't leave me now
Don't leave me now
Don't leave me now
Don't leave me now