Amsterdam (chanson)
| Amsterdam | |
|---|---|
| Jacques Brel | |
| publication | 1964 |
| length | 3:16 |
| Genre (s) | Chanson |
| Author (s) | Jacques Brel |
| Publisher (s) | Polygram |
| album | Enregistrement Public à l´Olympia 1964 |
Amsterdam is a chanson by the Belgian singer Jacques Brel . In the form of a crescendo , it describes the sometimes desolate hustle and bustle of the sailors on shore leave in the red light district of the Dutch capital Amsterdam .
Emergence
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The melody of Amsterdam is remotely based on the English folk tune Greensleeves . Jacques Brel himself did not record the chanson in a studio version because, according to his arranger François Rauber, he did not really like it. The only recording from Brel is on his live album Enregistrement Public à l´Olympia 1964 from the Paris Olympia - nevertheless the chanson became one of the most popular compositions of the chansonier.
Selection of known interpretations
Amsterdam was one of the songs that Mort Shuman for his 1968 in New York listed Musical Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris rendered into English. Numerous musicians then reinterpreted it again and again and translated Amsterdam into other languages.
- 1967: Scott Walker (Scott)
- 1970: John Denver (on the LP Take Me to Tomorrow)
- 1973: David Bowie (b-side of the single Sorrow )
- 1975: Michael Heltau (Heltau sings Brel) , German transmission: Werner Schneyder
- 1986: Hildegard Knef (Live 1986) , German transmission: Werner Schneyder
- 1987: David Bowie (Spider Tour Conversation)
- 1989: Klaus Hoffmann (I want song, want play and dance) , German translation: Heinz Riedel; since 1997 (Klaus Hoffmann sings Brel) he has been using his own transmission, which is very different from Riedel's.
- 1989: Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie (Good Deeds and Dirty Rags)
- 2001: Romy Haag (ballads for whores & angels) (French)
- 2002: Ute Lemper (But One Day ...)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Greensleeves at WhoSampled.com (accessed November 7, 2011)
- ↑ lefigaro.fr ( Memento of January 7, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (French; accessed November 7, 2011)
- ↑ last.fm (accessed November 7, 2011)