“Life gives no gifts, And by God, Orly is sad on Sundays, With or without Bécaud.” Jacques Brel wrote these heartbreaking words for Orly, a song which belongs to his last album released in 1977. For the 45th anniversary of his death, on October 9, 1979, a new acoustic version comes out of the drawers for the greatest pleasure of his admirers.
This recording from Orly, unpublished, in acoustic version, was made at the time of the release of the Belgian poet’s last LP, which he had titled Les Marquises, named after the Pacific islands where he had decided to finish his great journey at the helm of the Askoy II.
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Orly by and by Jacques Brel in 1977, unpublished version
Brel’s verses, which tell of a romantic separation, form a counterpoint to Gilbert Bécaud’s song Dimanche à Orly, written by Pierre Delanoë, which evoked a being who goes to the south of Paris to see night owls. “I’m going to Orly on Sunday, At the airport, we see planes taking off, Planes for all countries, All afternoon, there’s something to dream about, I feel ants in my thoughts , When I go home after dark…”
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A sad song, composed two years before Brel’s death, Orly suggests a love that is dying and perhaps also the despair of a man, who knew he was doomed by cancer. And with this new, new and acoustic version, the legend of the cantor of the Flat Country continues to live on, now almost half a century after his last journey.
