Brussels, a favourite of Belgian and foreign singers
Our capital has inspired many singers, both Belgian and foreign. The songs of Jacques Brel, Marie Warnant, Dick Annegarn and most recently Angèle are well known, both for their lyrics and for their performers. Others less so, and some of them can be found below.
Manneken-Pis, sung in chorus by the members of the Ordre des Amis de Manneken-Pis since 1949; who remembers that it was Maurice Chevalier who wrote and performed the words of this homage to the "little guy from Brussels"? In 1990, enticed by our national dish, Eduardo Pisani, a Frenchman of Italian origin, sang "Les frites de Bruxelles". Stéphane Steeman, son of the writer Stanislas Steeman ("L'assassin habite au 21" [The Murderer Lives at Number 21]), and Marion are a famous comedy duo from the '60s and '70s. They took Dalida and Delon's "Paroles, paroles..." and transformed it into "Marolles, Marolles,..." singing about the popular district in the centre of the capital, where there is a daily flea market that can be found in the first pages of the "Secret da la Licorne" (The Secret of the Unicorn) by Hergé. And staying with the charming Dalida, let's remember her tribute to the great Jacques, who had sung "Il neige sur Liège", with the Italian beauty answering that "Il pleut sur Bruxelles" a song that echoes a couple of Brel's characters, namely Jefke and Mathilde.
Brussels has been the muse of more than one lyricist or songwriter in addition to those mentioned here.