Sons of jacques brel meaning

Analysis

‘Les Bigotes’ or ‘The Bigots’, which I have translated here, is a striking composition which contains one of the first examples of a musical drone in pop music – a feature that would be used to great effect years later by bands such as the Velvet Underground.

The drone in this case appears to be performed on the accordion.

The lyrics of ‘Les Bigotes’ deal with religious conservative culture and are a scathing criticisms, particularly of Catholic women in the same vein as the earlier single ‘Les Flamandes’.

The first verse depicts the ‘bigots’ taking primitive little steps towards confession, describing how their faith has sapped all of the joys of living from them. Brel describes the ‘bigots’ as obedient little dogs who have confused love with ‘holy water’.

In the first pre-chorus, Brel puts himself in the position of both the devil and god as he watches the believers; singing tha