Ne Me Quitte Pas, by Jacques Brel

This is a very old French song which was translated into English and popularised as the song If You Go Away, by Frank Sinatra. I much prefer the poetry in the original French version. The original meaning was also lost in translation. I decided to translate the original for readers.

Don't leave me
Let us forget
All can be forgotten
That has passed
Forget the times of misunderstanding
Forget the time spent in asking how come
Forget those hours which murdered
Using repeated blows of Why
The fragile heart of wellbeing.

Don't leave me
Don't leave me
Don't leave me

Me, I will gift to you
Pearls of rain
From desert countries
I will dig the earth till after I die
To smother your body with gold and light
I will make a land where Love is king
Where Love is the law
Where you will be Queen.

Don't leave me.
Don't leave me.
Don't leave me.
Don't leave me.
Don't leave me.

I will invent nonsense words
That only you will understand
I will talk to you of lovers
Whose hearts caught fire
A second time for each other.
I will tell you the story
Of this king who died because he
Could not meet you.

People have often seen
The revival of flames within an ancient volcano
Thought to be too old
It appears too that there are
Burnt lands which produce more abundant harvests
Than a better spring
And when comes dusk
In order for the sky to burst into brilliance
The burnished red sunlight and the black of night
Must marry.

Don't leave me.
Don't leave me.
Don't leave me.
Don't leave me.

I will no more cry
I will no more speak
I will just hide there
To look at you
Dance
And smile
To hear you
Sing
And then laugh

Let me become the shadow of your shadow
The shadow of your hand
The shadow of your beloved pet

The song implies a relationship dying away into embers. The song brings forth the hope of a renewed and better relationship (e.g., a revived volcano, and burnt soil that is more productive than a better spring) fed by the purest treasures of the world (e.g. pearls of rain from desert countries). The song recalls shared moments from the past that ensures the understanding of made up nonsense words. The song erases past pain and misunderstandings. The song makes clear that the man has arrived in the world and is successful in every way, but whose only vulnerability is that he cannot live without his love (king died because he could not meet her).

Every single argument that a man can bring to bear, in order to keep a fed up wife from leaving is written into this song. It would be impossible to leave anyone who sings this song. Jacques Brel was not just a song writer. He was a poet.

The English version is herein below. It is pretty too, but the meaning has completely changed. The English version is a lot more shallow, I feel.

The lyrics are HERE.