Ne me quitte pas  was written in 1959 allegedly after Jacques' mistress "Zizou" broke up with him. Zizou was pregnant with Brel's child, but Jacques refused to acknowledge he fathered the child. Zizou then had the child aborted. Brel would later say in an interview that the song is not a love song, but rather about the cowardice of men. "Ne me quitte pas"  has been continuously covered by many artists including Nina Simone (1965), Frank Sinatra (1969), Ute Lemper (2002), and Barbra Streisand (2009).

There have also been translations and performances of "Ne me quitte pas" in more than twenty other languages including Arabic,. Croatian, Dutch, Finish, German, Hebrew, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish,and Yiddish. Pedro Almodóvar used the song in his film, Law of Desire (1987), in a memorable performance by Brazilian singer Maysa Matarazzo. Cirque du Soleil used it in their 2002 production Varekai  and Celine Dion performed the song during her 2011 Las Vegas gig. The continued popularity of Jacques' most famous song is a testament to the identification of shared experience of desperation in many lives at the end on a relationship, Many of of Jacques 's other songs - all written in French or Dutch -  have been covered by such diverse artists as David Bowie, Scott Walker and Judy Collins, Marc Almond,  Ray Charles, The Dresden Dolls, Dusty Springfield, Andy Williams, and Nirvana.

Also remembered as an actor and director, Jacques died in 1978 with a legacy of more than 25 million records sold worldwide,  including one that has achieved immortality. So we suggest celebrating  Brel's birthday by renting a DVD from Netflix of his long-running musical review, Jacques Brel in Alive and Well and Living in Paris which includes "Ne me quitte pas", while munching on the sweetest of confection treats based on his 1966 album Les Bonbons.
 

Cappuccino  Bon Bons