Jacque Brel's Ne me quitte pas is the latest track examined in the excellent Singles series from Duke University Press.
The Belgian singer-songwriter wrote and performed the song ('Don’t leave me' in English), a visceral and haunting plea for his lover to come back, in 1959. As a teenager, Maya Angela Smith was so captivated by Nina Simone’s powerful 1965 cover of the song that it inspired her to follow an academic career – today she is Professor of French in the French and Italian Studies Department at the University of Washington.
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.
Duke University Press Books, 152pp, 17.8cm x 17.8cm, paperback, 2025