Momus sings Brel: Don't Leave Me

Momus in rehearsal in London, October 2009, for the Barbican production Carousel: The Songs of Jacques Brel, under the musical direction of David Coulter and Mike Smith. The three songs performed by Momus featured his own translations from Brel's original French.

Don't Leave Me (Ne Me Quitte Pas)

Don't leave me now
If you can't forgive
Believe that just to live
You must forget
Forget the times we misunderstand
Let them slip through your hand
With the sand of time
And forget those hours
When perhapses die
At the hands of why
And our lack of faith
Don't leave me now
Don't leave me
Don't leave

Me, I'll offer you pearls
Made out of the rain
That falls in a world
Where rain never falls
I'll ransack the earth
By day and by night
To cover your body
With gold and with light
I'll make a domain
Where love will be king
Love will be everything
And you'll be the queen
Don't leave me now
Don't leave me
Don't leave

Don't leave me now
I'll invent for you
Words just meant for you
And you'll know what's meant
And I'll tell you the truth
About how other lovers
Looked into each other
And how they were moved
Then I'll read to you
The story of kings
Who lived without meeting you
Died without knowing you
Don't leave me now
Don't leave me
Don't leave

And just when you think
The volcano's expired
The craters turn pink
And the ash turns to fire
In a charred, barren land
You can still be surprised
Wheat suddenly stands
Like a dream of Julys
And when the sun sets
In a brilliant sky
The black and the red
Never touch as they die
Don't leave me now
Don't leave me
Don't leave

Don't leave me now
I won't cry any more
I won't talk any more
I'll crawl under the bed
And I'll watch you from there
As you smile and you dance
And I'll listen to hear
How you talk and you laugh
For me it's enough
Being the shadow of your shadow
The shadow of your hand
The shadow of your other man
But don't leave me now
Don't leave me
Don't leave

Category:

Music

Tags:

• momus
• brel
• david coulter
• barbican
• carousel

[GiorniVenibato]

OMG, that is stunning. its my fave song by momus.

[borisjohnson2008]

@sbsteven56 Good idea for a doctoral thesis

[borisjohnson2008]

Why oh why oh why oh why did I not go to the Barbican Brel concert (weeps, gnashes teeth) if I got my hands on a working time machine it is in my top ten of things I would do

[erinmerle]

This translation is the best I've heard. Is it your own?

[sbsteven56]

well i wonder what momus thinks about Eurythmics ?

[sbsteven56]

such a charismatic person . everything he does is simply great . even rehearsals

[mucde]

Unfortunately, I can't help you with any news about a Barbican recording. Momus has been a fan of Brel for many years. His second solo single, Nicky (in 1986), was of covers of three Brel tracks, Nicky (La chanson de Jacky), Don't Leave (Ne me quitte pas) & See A Friend In Tears (Voir un ami pleurer).

That 12" single is not so easy to find now, but the tracks were added to the CD release of his first solo album Circus Maximus, and is also available for download from iTunes, Amazon, etc.

[henryajstanley]

Beautiful.

Is there any possibility of finding a production recording of the Barbican concert this was played at? It seems sad that such a wonderful Brel rendition is forever doomed to played as a low-res YouTube video...