Piaf vs Brel - the poll

[Baron Samedi]

Who's the best ?

State you case - no sitting on the fence.

 

[sojourner]

Crap poll

They're both brilliant

 

[Baron Samedi]

Not crap - that was my third option ( but I decided against it )- but no sitting on the fence - make a choice goddamit.

 

[sojourner]

Shan't


Can't

 

[Baron Samedi]

Shan't


Can't

I know they're both brilliant - but this poll's going to fall flat on its arse if everyone was like you

The worst poll ever with only one person voting

I was hoping for a big discuusion

 

[maes]

Piaf is amazing but a bit cheeesy imo. Brel is cheesy too but he has so much unknown stuff that it makes up for it.

 

[sojourner]

I know they're both brilliant - but this poll's going to fall flat on its arse if everyone was like you

The worst poll ever with only one person voting

I was hoping for a big discuusion

Sorry

 

[sojourner]

Piaf is amazing but a bit cheeesy imo. Brel is cheesy too but he has so much unknown stuff that it makes up for it.

But - Piaf has loads of unknown stuff too

to people that don't know it


I embarassed myself somewhat last week by waltzing round a bar in Basel on my own at 3am, pissed off my face, to je ne regrette rien. Everyone just stood and stared cos they didn't know it, and the one person who did, wouldn't waltz with me

 

[trashpony]

Brel of course. He is Belgian

I would've waltzed with you sojourner

 

[maes]

I would've waltzed with you sojourner

Me too

 

[sojourner]

I would've waltzed with you sojourner

Thank you darling. And I bet you wouldn't have minded if I'd stumbled just a little bit either

 

[sojourner]

Me too

Right - all back to Basel!!

 

[guinnessdrinker]

Piaf just had a most wonderful voice.

 

[Spion]

Piaf just had a most wonderful voice.

Probably sounds like Tom Waits to a Frenchy, but his voice is pretty wonderful too



Great subtitles in this one - "In the thick heat of oceanic langours". As an unexpected bonus Jacques manages to look uncannily like Sir Les Patterson

 

[Baron Samedi]

OK here's my reasoning

Piaf was first
Dressed in black
She led a rock and roll lifestyle,drugs, affairs, etc
A small frail looking woman with a huge voice.

Allez the little sparrow

Brel
Voice not as good
As passionate as Piaf
Wrote his songs ( including the wonderful Port of Amsterdam )
Stole Piafs moves ( black one spotlight on stage )

OK he was Belgian/Flemish - which is a big plus in my book - but not too relevant to the singing ( unless anyone wants to compare France to Belgium and get their arses spanked )

So Piaf edges it

 

[Dubversion]

Nah, Piaf's a bit too shrill for me, and Brel is a lot more 'modern', whatever that means. And Brel has left a fantastic songbook which many of my favourite artists have dipped into. Piaf tended to the overly distraught, Brel could be wry and funny and debauched, as well as moving

It's Brel by an absurdly wide margin.

 

[XerxesVargas]

Brel every time. Not keen of Piaf. And of course if you don't like Brels voice then you can listen to Scott Walker do some covers of his tunes and they are amazing.

 

[Ron Merlin]

Like choosing between cheese and Marxism - no comparison IMHO

However, Brel's the only one who can make me dance round the room laughing, crying and singing, so it's got to be Grand Jacques for me.

 

[sojourner]

Nah, Piaf's a bit too shrill for me

Not sure I'd use 'shrill' to describe her voice

I'll give you overly distraught, mind

 

[Dubversion]

ok, well i don't much like it whatever it's called

 

[Baron Samedi]

ok, well i don't much like it whatever it's called

It's the French trill and rolling of the words.

But not shrill - however Brel sounds like he's spitting over the audience - Jamie Oliver style

 

[Reno]

Brel all the way. I never liked Piaf's tortured warbling and overdramatic delivery.

 

[Brockway]

OK here's my reasoning

Piaf was first
Dressed in black
She led a rock and roll lifestyle,drugs, affairs, etc
A small frail looking woman with a huge voice.

Allez the little sparrow

Brel
Voice not as good
As passionate as Piaf
Wrote his songs ( including the wonderful Port of Amsterdam )
Stole Piafs moves ( black one spotlight on stage )

OK he was Belgian/Flemish - which is a big plus in my book - but not too relevant to the singing ( unless anyone wants to compare France to Belgium and get their arses spanked )

So Piaf edges it

Brel's a God. Nobody does melodrama quite like him - it ought to be embarrassing the way he carries on but somehow it works, because he's sincere I suppose. And he writes great tunes. So it's Brel for me.

I like Piaf too but her cutlery-rattling voice is more of an acquired taste. She didn't write her own material either. What I think is interesting about her is the way she is so strongly identified with place (Paris). Also love her relationship with the boxer Marcel Cerdan.

You should check out Ferrer and Brassens too if you like Brel. Brassens was bigger than Brel in France and he did his first ever gig outside France in Cardiff (at the Sherman). Think it was called Live in Great Britain.

D. last time I tried your Private Messages box it wasn't working mun. I did know about YMG at Hay and Stuart Moxham still hasn't answered my questions. Bastard.

 

[Dubversion]

i love some of Brassens stuff that i've heard. Ashamed to say it was through an interview with Alex Kapranos that i came across him

 

[guinnessdrinker]

definitely Brassens over everybody else (I don't know much about Leo Ferre, the Ferrer mentioned above, I assume). the King as far as I am concerned.
he was a bit of an anarchist in his own way and on one occasion, De Gaulle thought he had called for general insurrection

 

[Reno]

i love some of Brassens stuff that i've heard. Ashamed to say it was through an interview with Alex Kapranos that i came across him

Yes, he's great. I got into him because of Jake Thackray who was influenced by him and covered a few of his songs.

 

[el-ahrairah]

both are very good, but theres something about jacques that floats my boat.

 

[Brockway]

Yes, he's great. I got into him because of Jake Thackrey who was influenced by him and covered a few of his songs.

I may be mistaken but I think Thackray was the support act when Brassens played in Cardiff. He's an interesting feller too.

 

[Baron Samedi]

Brel's a God. Nobody does melodrama quite like him - it ought to be embarrassing the way he carries on but somehow it works, because he's sincere I suppose. And he writes great tunes. So it's Brel for me.

I like Piaf too but her cutlery-rattling voice is more of an acquired taste. She didn't write her own material either. What I think is interesting about her is the way she is so strongly identified with place (Paris). Also love her relationship with the boxer Marcel Cerdan.

You should check out Ferrer and Brassens too if you like Brel. Brassens was bigger than Brel in France and he did his first ever gig outside France in Cardiff (at the Sherman). Think it was called Live in Great Britain.

D. last time I tried your Private Messages box it wasn't working mun. I did know about YMG at Hay and Stuart Moxham still hasn't answered my questions. Bastard.

voice that was once described by her friend, the poet Jean Cocteau, as like "being swept away on a wave of black velvet".

She also had the drink/morhpine/doomed love aspect

 

[guinnessdrinker]

voice that was once described by her friend, the poet Jean Cocteau, as like "being swept away on a wave of black velvet".

She also had the drink/morhpine/doomed love aspect

I believe they died within hours of each other. as for the drink, she was a raving alcoholic and would become violent or something after a few.