Ces gens-là (song)

"Ces gens-là" is a French language song by the late Belgian singer Jacques Brel, published in 1966 by the Éditions Pouchenel of Brussels, about the despair of a hopeless love. The title, meaning "those people", or, "those folks", has also been translated as "that lot there".

In it the singer is talking to another man (a certain "Monsieur" (Sir, or Mister)), where he starts by depicting each member of a given family in a very harsh manner, as in gossip, but with the exception of the last person, the beautiful daughter Frieda, with whom he is madly in love, and whose love is mutual, but whose family does not approve of her marriage to the narrator, for they deem him insufficient, possibly explaining his hatred for them. In addition: "But let me tell you, Mister, that in that family, you don't leave, Mister, you don't leave."

The music is a slow 3/4 time signature of a repetitive theme, of a somber, depressed mood.

The song has since been covered by French popular music bands such as Ange, Oxmo Puccino and Noir Désir, although Ange may have missed the point of the song by excluding the part about Frida; on the Cimetière des Arlequins album cover, is mentioned: "To Jacques Brel, we didn't dare take Frida from you".

External links

• Lyrics at Lyricwiki
• Lyrics translated by Anne Marie de Grazia
• List of multi-lingual covers of the song at Second Hand Songs
• Video of live performance, with (very good) English subtitles
• Another live performance video, with better sound, but no subtitle
• Lyrics of People Such As These by The Walkabouts