Madeleine is a song by singer-songwriter Jacques Brel. Brel co-composed the song with musicians Gérard Jouannest and Jean Corti. The song was created in 1961, at The Olympia. The song was first recorded on the 1962 live album Olympia 1961, the last album Brel recorded with the Philips Records. When Brel moved to Barclay Records he released a studio version of the song in 1962 on the album Les Bourgeois, and as a Super 45rpm (The live version with Philips was also released on a 45rpm). It became a classic, and Brel closed his tours at the Olympia with Madeleine in 1964 and 1966.
Marie-Madeleine Lison, a florist in Brussels of whom Brel was a client, was convinced she was the inspiration for the song. She was a model when she was younger, and was photographed by celebrity photographer Verhassel made a series of portraits of her, one of which featured her surrounded by lilacs. Brel would have been inspired by this photo, as it hung in her florist shop.[1]
A more likely theory is that the song is based on a good friend of Brel's, who he was introduced to through Georges Brassens. Madeleine Zeffa Biver was the daughter of a communist father and a Jewish mother[2] She "escaped the Nazis in 44 then an abusive husband a few years later. When she was twenty, she often visited the poets, musicians, and artists of Saint-Germain-des-Prés while she worked as a model for hairdressers in Paris.[3] She once stood up Brel on a date, hence the subject matter of the song: "Ce soir, j'attends Madeleine ; j'ai apporté des lilas ; j'en apporte toutes les semaines…" ("Tonight, I'm waiting for Madeleine, I brought lilacs, I bring them every week...")[4]
1962:
1964:
1966:
1973:
In 2003, Madeleine appeared in the compilation album Infiniment[16]
The song has been covered by Quebecois singer Michel Rivard on the album Maudit bonheur in 1998, and by Pierre Bachelet in 2003 on the album Tu ne nous quittes pas
An English translation by Eric Blau and Mort Shuman was included in the revue, Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, and on the album released in 1968.[17]