Get all 4 Collecting Brel releases available on Bandcamp and save 50%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Aria Of Stupidity - Single, The Good Lord (Le Bon Dieu) - Single, Collecting Brel - Vol. 1, and Collecting Brel - Vol. 2.
1. |
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One day, one day the Devil came to earth
One day the Devil came to earth to look over his interests
He heard everything, the Devil
He heard everything and he saw everything
And after the Devil had heard everything and seen everything
He went back to his home... down there
And down there they had a great feast
And at the end of the great feast the Devil rose form his position at the head of the table
And he gave this speech...
It's so good.
Their children all take guns to school
Their streets are all full of whores
It's so good
Their men amuse themselves like fools
With dangerous games like the war\
It's so good
Trains derail without a sound
Because their boys are full of ideals
They got tired of being pushed around
So they put bombs on the rails
It leads to deaths full of sin
When people die without confessing
It's so good
Nothing's sold and all is bought
Like love and honour and holiness
It's so good
Their criminals all run the courts
And their Government's stuck in it's own mess
It's so good
Their adults steal the dollars
Saved for children and their babies
And Europe's starting to play the miser
In the 21st century
It leads to deaths from starvation
The starvation of nations
It's so good
Men have all seen too much
They close their eyes on everything
It's so good
There are lovers out there who don't dare touch
And singers who're afraid to sing
It's so good
They treat their men like mules
And they worship stupidity
They read the papers full of fools
And Praise the bastards on TV
And yeah, it hursts the honest men
But who cares about them?
It's so good
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2. |
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To be a good lady patroness
You must remain vigilant
For as we see from history
The poor want to overthrow the nobility
And a stitch inside out
And a stitch the right side up
A stitch for St Joseph
A stitch for St Thomas
To be a good lady patroness
You must manage your own charity
The Duke Elbeuf knew it through and through
From the old, we must fashion the new
To be a good lady patroness
You must be very very careful
And when you let the peasants in your house
You must check them on their way out
To be a good lady patroness
You must be kind, but never weak
And so I had to cross of my list
A poor girl who was seeing a Socialist
To be a good lady patroness
Knit your donations in the colour of goose shit
And then at church you can survey all the pews
To see the peasants that belong to you
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3. |
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My childhood passed by
In grey silence
In false reverence
And a lack of fights
In winter I was held
In the belly of a big house
That had thrown down its anchors
In the weeds in the south
In spring half nude
But completely modest
I became a red Indian
Already completely certain
That my uncles had stolen
The far west from me
My childhood passed by
With women in the kitchen
Dreaming of china
Growing old on the side
Men at the table
Enveloped in smoke
Strong, wise and thoughtful
And they thought that I was a joke
Me who every night
Arpeggiated all my sorrow
Praying to a god I’d never know
At foot of a double bed
I wanted to go on an adventure
I haven’t been on yet
My childhood passed by
From maid to maid
I was always surprised
When they never stayed
I was surprised once again
To be part of this family
Strolling from death to death
Without having time to grieve
I was surprised and shocked
To be one of this flock
Being seen but never heard
Learning to cry myself to sleep
I had the eyes of the shepherd
But the heart of the sheep
Then my childhood blew up
Here was adolescence
And the wall of silence
One morning tumbled down
Here was the first flower
The first cheer
The first lover
The first fear
I was flying I swear
I swear I was flying
My heart was opening wide
I was no longer uncivilised
Then the war arrived
And here we are tonight
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4. |
The Apes (Les Singes)
04:06
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Before the hairless asses there was liberty,
Even the flower and the bird were free.
But now they’ve arrived all the plants have been put in pots
And the birds are all in cages if they’re not already shot.
Because they invented prison and the condemned,
Criminal records and innocent men.
They cut their own tongues to protect the nobility
Even though they claim to act with civility,
The apes, the apes, the apes of our society.
Oh, before them there were no problems:
Bananas could be eaten any time, including Lent.
But then they arrived with their intolerance
And the God-given will to stop other people’s intolerance.
For they’re the ones that started the Templar crusades,
The hunt for infidels and the purchasing of slaves.
And then those who don’t want to hunt are treated with hostility.
Because that’s what they call civilised society,
The apes, the apes, the apes of our society.
Before them man was a prince,
Woman was a princess and love was a province
But since they’ve arrived the province is in drought,
The prince is a tramp and the princess sells herself.
They invented love which is a sin.
Love which is a business, the business of virgins
Where a man’s worth is valued by his virility
And then they claim to act with civility!
The apes, the apes, the apes of our society.
Before them there was peace on Earth
For every ten elephants there was only one soldier
But then they arrived and the elephants have all been beaten
And the reason of the state chased away the real reasons.
They invented all the instruments of torture,
The electric chair, the Nazi gas chambers,
Bombs full of napalm and all other atrocities
And that’s since they’ve had that ‘civility’!
The apes, the apes, the apes of our society.
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5. |
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Take care, little one, be alert
In the fields below, making his way through the reeds
Between the sky and the dirt
A man is coming little one, and I don’t know him
Take care, little one, be alert
He could be a neighbour, or a traveler gone astray
A remnant of the war, an old gypsy selling lace
Or he might be a priest with some lies to embrace
Come to take up our lives
Or my brother who’s come to tell me it’s time
To leave our past behind
Or is it just the sky that’s reflected on the sand
That’s formed a mirage just to waste my time
Take care, little one, be alert
In the fields below, making his way through the reeds
Between the sky and the dirt
A man is coming little one, and I don’t know him
Take care, little one, be alert
I don’t think he’s a neighbour because his horse is too fine
And he can’t be a soldier - all of our soldiers have died
And he can’t be a priest because his horse is too poor
And he’s not a merchant as his horse is too light and his clothes are too white
And no traveler ever follow that path
Because no-one comes here, and no-one ever comes back
Take care, little one, be alert
In the fields below, making his way through the reeds
Between the sky and the dirt
A man is coming little one, and I don’t know him
Take care, little one, be alert
No it’s not my brother, because his horse would have turned
No it’s not my brother, he wouldn’t ever dare return
Because there’s nothing here for him - not even a shred
No it can’t be my brother, my brother is dead
That midday shadow would be more tormented - if it was him
So it must be the sky that’s reflected on the sand
That’s formed a mirage just to waste my time
Take care, little one, be alert
In the fields below, making his way through the reeds
Between the sky and the dirt
A man is leaving and we’ll never know him
Take care, little one, be alert
Dry your eyes little, little one, see him run
The man we’ll never know
You can lower your gun
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6. |
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They grow old in little steps
They turn from lions into little pets
The Bigoted
And they age even faster
Confusing love with holy water
Like all the bigoted
If I was the devil watching them
I think I’d have myself castrated
If I was god hearing them pray
I think I’d lose my faith
Because they’re bigoted
They progess in little steps
As they confess, and they confess
The bigoted
The gossip and they bitch
Until my ears begin to hiss
The bigoted
They dress in black just like the priest
Who’s too friendly with the bad kids
They’re bigots with lowered eyes
And they think that god hides behind the lids
Of the Bigoted
On weekday nights after work
We see the labourers return
But not the bigoted
Because they’re deep down inside their homes
Trying not to have fun
The bigoted
Yes they prefer to shrivel up
From church to church, to mass to mass
And they’re totally proud to keep their diamond up their ass
The bigoted
And they die in little steps
And slowly pile up into little heaps
The bigoted
And we carry then to the graveyard
In the early morning cold
The bigoted
And in the heavens that don’t exist
The angels create a paradise
And with a halo, and two small
In tiny steps they fly
The bigoted
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7. |
Childhood (L'Enfance)
03:20
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Childhood
Who can say when it's ended?
Who can say when it starts?
It was nothing if not intended
It wasn't just a work of art
Childhood
Who can stop us from living?
Living it forevermore.
All the clocks are unforgiving
And all our pages have been torn
Childhood
Will lead us to ageing
As it makes old children of us
Our hearts are full, our heads are nothing
When we're young and in love
Childhood, childhood...
Childhood
We were all once dreamers
And we'll dream again I'm sure
Though some of us are schemers
All of our riches make us poor
Childhood
Now you've gone time goes so fast
And Sunday never occurs
You'll make cowboys of the middle class
And all adults are deserters
Of childhood, childhood...
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8. |
The Gas (Le Gas)
03:15
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You live on Madonna Street
In a house that sways around
In a house that's wrinkled but it's sweet
Where the floorboards lay on solid ground
The spiral stairs are rather neat
It's not big but it has class
You live on Madonna Street
And me, I've come to read the gas
Your boudoir is full of buddhas
The candles dance in the candelabra
It smells good, there's no drama
The air it streams with taffeta
The room's filled up with photographs
Of you and your friends just having a laugh
You've got a boudoir full of buddhas
And I've only come to read the gas
You've got the divan of a king
A divan fit for a diva
A dresser that's piled up with rings
And bottles of expensive liquor
You've got a small dog and a big cat
Your record player's playing jazz
You've got the divan of a diva,
And I've come to read the gas
You have tits, tits like suns
Tits like fruit, tits like sugar
You've got tits just like melons,
Tits like fruit, like a trigger
You cover them up and it gets dark
But when I see them I feel like pegasus
You've got tits, just like suns
And me I've come to read the gas
In the waiting room, there's the plumber
Whose grinding up the coffee beans,
There's the waiter and a horny vicar,
A mailman wearing torn-up jeans
The mayor's pouring cheap vodka
Into the old, crippled soldier
There's the cops, and the hand of my sister
And they've all come to read the gas
So everyone come to Madonna Street,
Forget about the Sunday Mass
Come on down to Madonna Street
And say that you've come
To read the gas...
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