Ne Me Quitte Pas

A Song by Jacques Brel and Interpreted by Nina Simone and Others

Maya Angela Smith (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

152 Seiten

2025
Duke University Press (Verlag)
978-1-4780-3146-8 (ISBN)

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In 1959, Belgian singer-songwriter Jacques Brel wrote and performed “Ne me quitte pas” (Don’t leave me), a visceral and haunting plea for his lover to come back. As a teenager, Maya Angela Smith was so captivated by Nina Simone’s powerful 1965 cover of the song that it inspired her to be a French professor. In Ne me quitte pas, Smith follows the classic song’s long and varied journey, from Brel’s iconic 1966 performance on French television to Simone’s cover to Shirley Bassey’s English-language version (“If You Go Away”) to its contemporary manifestations in popular culture. Throughout, Smith shows that as the song travels across languages, geographies, genres, and generations, it accumulates shifting artistic and cultural significance as each listener creates their own meaning.

Maya Angela Smith is Professor of French in the French and Italian Studies Department at the University of Washington.

Introduction 1
1. “Ne me quitte pas”: Jacques Brel Composes the Ultimate Breakup Song
2. “Sorry about the Words, Y’all”: Nina Simone Covers Brel
3. “We’ll Sail on the Sun”: Rod McKuen and Shirley Bassey Translate Hope in a Song about Despair
4. From “Ne me quitte pas” to “If You Go Away”: Adapting Iconic Songs to Film and Stage
Outre
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Erscheinungsdatum	29.01.2025
Reihe/Serie	Singles
Verlagsort	North Carolina
Sprache	englisch
Gewicht	445 g
Themenwelt	Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Musik
	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Kulturgeschichte
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Ethnologie
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie
ISBN-10	1-4780-3146-8 / 1478031468
ISBN-13	978-1-4780-3146-8 / 9781478031468
Zustand	Neuware