Ces gens-là (song)

"Ces gens-là" is a French language song by the late Belgian singer Jacques Brel, produced by Barclay and published in 1966 by Editions Pouchenel of Brussels , whose theme is the despair of an impossible love. It's a very dark song, with a slow repetitive theme and a provocative text.

The narrator talks to a third party (a " Mister ") and he describes the different members of a family , whose existence is particularly mediocre and desperate. He criticizes in particular their immobility.

The list ends with the daughter, the beautiful Frida who he loves passionately, and whose love is reciprocal, but the family does not allow the marriage, believing that the suitor is not worthy, which perhaps explains why he hates them so much.

The subjectivity of the narrator, which could taint his trial, has also been confirmed by Brel, who called it "faux témoin" (false witness) in an interview with Dominique Arban, without rejecting the truth of his criticism of the petty bourgeoisie . On the other hand, although he denounces this environment throughout the song, the narrator concludes, taking leave of the caller and telling him that he must go home, which can be interpreted as an admission of the fact he himself belongs to the middle class, or at least is close to .

From the perspective of voice, tension is growing moderately but steadily, and eventually explodes when the narrator evokes Frida, reflecting his passion for her, which contrasts with the almost inaudible volume of the phase of resignation immediately following, on which the song ends .

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

• Alfred de Grazia: Archived 2008-01-14 at the Wayback Machine
• List of multi-lingual covers of the song at Second Hand Songs
• Video of live performance, with (very good) English subtitles