Jacques Brel was a popular singer-songwriter of Belgian heritage. He wrote dozens of marvelous songs which have been recorded by others and also arranged into revues and stage productions. When it comes time to select a single Brel song to perform, the rule seems to be that you look them all over, consider each and every one…
…and then you sing "Madeleine." It ain't a bad song and it certainly isn't his worst…but it's the one everyone picks, especially for a group. Here's a rather typical arrangement of it as staged on the 1969 TV series, What's It All About, World? The singers are Eve Arden, Lorene Yarnell (of Shields & Yarnell) and Kathy Gale.
What's It All About, World? was an odd program. At the time, Laugh-In and The Smothers Brothers were two big hits. Today, the politics of those shows seem about as radical as a "Make Love, Not War" bumper sticker on a Prius, and large chunks of what they aired seem like clown acts. But in '69, with the Vietnam War raging and everything else that was going on in this country, there were those who denounced the knock-knock jokes on those shows as Communist, Marxist, Stalinist and inarguably destructive to the American way of life. I'm sure glad no one hurls those labels at their political foes these days.
Among those who felt that way were a couple of men who owned ABC-affiliated stations. They practically demanded that the network give them a variety show that would celebrate their idea of American Values. The network responded with What's It All About, World? and there's a reason most of you don't remember it. It was because of this show that I formulated my occasionally-quoted axiom that trying to do comedy from a Conservative point-of-view is like trying to write a Marx Brothers movie and make Margaret Dumont the funny one. It ain't impossible but it sure doesn't come naturally.
This number isn't political or anything. It's just odd…and indicative of the legacy of Jacques Brel. That legacy, as I said, is that people neglect his vast repertoire of work and only sing "Madeleine." Here are three ladies only singing "Madeleine"…