Jacques Brel La Ville S'Endormait English subtitles

A track from his final album, Les Marquises, recorded in 1977 which has much to do with death and dying as Jacques was himself suffering from cancer. Yet Jacques Brel being the great artist he was , was able to redeem this difficult experience with some of his finest songs. La Ville S'Endormait might take place on the sleepy island of Hiva Oa where he lived near the cemetary that housed the remains of Gaugin. The simple metronomic two note music in the background and the repetition of the refrain make this dark mood awesome and dramatic. He struggles with fatigue, witnesses hatred and abuse, the sea disenchants, he's angry at women. The darkness only breaks at the end when a near naked young woman passes, but this stanza is open to interpretation. In Mark Almond's translation, she "passed" means she died. Most others think the sudden appearance of feminine beauty brought life back to him. Thanks once again to philipchek of Paris and YouTube for his reflections on this song and his patient corrections of my translation