this song always kills me. i mean rips my heart from my soul. it is killer.
to me, the best thing about this song is the title - it is impossible to translate appropriately. it generally reads as "if you leave" - but as a mediocre french speaker, i've always read it as, "don't quit me" - which is so much more heart-achy and meaningful because i think almost all of us have felt that way.
one of my closest friends has never had her heart broken. she is 30. she could never sing a song like this. it requires pain. you have to know what it is, to have your heart smashed in, to feel it in your gut - to feel heart ache.
i remember thinking i knew what it was to be heartbroken when i was fifteen, sixteen. unreciprocated love, right? but the worst is something you have and cherish that leaves. this is much worse. a love you mourn for, something that has perished. something that lived that no longer does. thats what i feel in this song - remorse for something that was that is passing that you can't have anymore.
it sounds like a threat made by someone who knows better - someone who would under any other circumstances scoff at pleading or begging, but whom realizes the consequences but just wants an opportunity to plead his or her case.
in any case, its one of the most beautiful songs i know, here, by three of my favorite artists, in order of when they came to my attention
the first, nina simone.
the second, by jacques brel.
and finally, shirley bassey, who is so theatric and wonderful its hard not to love her translated version.
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