Jacques Brel- Amsterdam (REACTION & REVIEW)

[@benoitrenaud519]

The greatest performer of classic French songs. And a great poet.

[@stevedotwood]

" Ne Me Quitte Pas" is a must. We're quite proud of him in Belgium. - Him and Toots Thielemans (2 Brussels' natives)

[@steevenfrost]

I love to listen to his singing this song, even though I cannot understand more than a few words. He is a great singer.

[@Eduardo-Ferreira1982]

Really? How can Toots be more important than dEUS (gOD)? Ahah

[@stevedotwood]

@@Eduardo-Ferreira1982 who? 😁me hiel aantwaarpe, nie met maaj

[@lachaise7096]

And An Pierlé, Stromae, Angèles ;)

[@1957PLATO]

And now Stromae

[@michaellaporte4951]

I was introduced to Brel through Bowie, who performed what I believed were his own translations of Brel's "Dans la port d'Amsterdam" and "Ma morte" in his Ziggy days, and I subsequently fell in love with his work. As both a poet and a performer, Brel is phenomenal. I've dipped into some of his peers like Brassens and Ferré, but so far Brel's the peak for me.

[@conorlynch4595]

I was introduced to Jacques Brel via Bowie also, his versions of Amsterdam and My Death are just superb. Jacques Brel is a legend both as a singer songwriter and his passion is catching, his performance is so intense, passionate and enthralling. I especially love "Une ille" and "L’ivrogne"

[@AZaz-pl9yh]

M. Brel is one of the great french singers ever.

[@maximeschoos4671]

@@AZaz-pl9yh BELGIUM BOYS NOT FRENCH

[@AZaz-pl9yh]

@@maximeschoos4671 He became french

[@Aralis21]

@@AZaz-pl9yh lived in France territory but never became french. I don't think I missed something but if you have a source I would like to be proved wrong

[@BrianR.]

In the French language, there are a lot of rolling R's. Brel enunciates amazingly well so that's how it comes out, as a trill like you described it.

[@WTFungus]

I used to listen to Jacques Brel back when I was in French class. I found that learning song lyrics was a good way to learn remember French.

[@EmmanuelPehau]

The song was translated in English by songwriter supreme Mort Schuman for his album and show Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. That's the version Scott Walker used. My favorite performer of this version is David Bowie, thought, especially the performance you can hear on Bowie at the Beeb.

[@galier2]

"La valse à mille temps" is my favourite Brel song. The crescendo is breathtaking, literally. I don't know how he managed to breath while singing.

[@Eduardo-Ferreira1982]

Valse will be my second choice to get... Stunned.

[@michevicus2987]

Fernand Is another incredible song.

[@EmmanuelPehau]

French citizen here. The man, the song, and that particular performance : all three are monuments for us. So : very curious about that reaction.

[@scatterkeir]

Next was indeed also a Jacques Brel song. I particulary recommend an incredible TV performance of Next by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band kzbin.info/www/bejne/Znabk3uaf56Sas0

[@martynlester9869]

No one that I have seen live, not even Jagger, could dominate a stage like Alex Harvey. To have Zal Cleminson dressed as a clown prancing around on stage next to you, playing mean lead guitar, and still hold every eye in the room requires a lot of charisma. Alex had it in spades. His rendition of Brel's Next was, as you say, superb. Also outstanding was Faith Healer from the same album.

[@Eduardo-Ferreira1982]

Wow, Justin. Brel is the greatest singer songwriter interpreter of all ages and all places. (this is my statement)

[@jeanleveau7904]

Le Grand Jacques !

[@KemAMP]

It's worth learning French just because of Jacques Brel.

[@silgen]

Amazingly charismatic performer and great songwriter. Bowie covered several of his songs, including this one and "My Death", which appeared on the Ziggy Stardust movie. Terry Jacks had a no 1 single with a cover of one of his songs "Seasons in the Sun" back in the 70's as well.

[@markspooner1224]

Jaques Brel was Belgian from Brussels, probably his best known song was 'Ne me quitte pas' covered a great many times (Nina Simone, Sting, Alison Moyet). Bowie also sang Amsterdam after hearing Scott Walker and in 1973 asked to meet Brel in Paris, Brel refused stating Bowie's sexuality. (I'm still a fan though).

[@stevedotwood]

That's a shame. Love them both. Of course Bowie was more my generation. Life on Mars always gives me goosebumps even after so many listens.

[@markspooner1224]

@@stevedotwood I love them both too, I haven't seen either live but I have seen Toots Thielemans (saw your comment), I live in Belgium too.

[@jimimurti]

Great performance about my hometown.

[@ganazby]

Sensational performance. A songwriting genius. Scott Walker does a great version in english, which is worth checking out.

[@broadsword6650]

So great, you don't have to understand a word to comprehend the passion and intensity, the earthy, dirty, oily reality. Brel inspired many performers, including the great English singer-songwriter, Jake Thackray, who is very well worth discovering for his wonderful wit and wordplay. Start with his song "Sister Josephine"

[@jpirard]

My Dad was a huge fan of this guy.

[@spoteach]

A few more songs from Brel you might know/should try: Ne Me Quitte Pas, Le Moribond (transformed into Seasons In The Sun by Terry Jacks), Le Plat Pays (about his love for Flanders) La Chanson de Jacques (also covered by Marc Almond), Les Bonbons, Au Suivant, La Chanson Des Vieux Amants, Mon Pere Disait, Vesoul, Marieke and my all time favourite: Jef.

[@stirbjoernwesterhever6223]

Even I don't understand Flemisch or French, I like Jacques Brel very much. There is a German actor who went on tour with his Jacques Brel show who is naturaly not as good as his idol, but it was great. We went to his concert in Berlin a few years back.

[@kevind4850]

When I think of Brel, the phrase "barely contained passion" comes to mind, even in his less intense songs. Trilling/rolling the tongue in singing was/is something you find in France, parts of Spain, some southeastern European music. Takes some practice, and extra breath that many singers these days don't possess. I wish I could do it consistently even speaking, let alone singing (not that it would improve my singing to the point of preventing mass rushes toward the exits).

[@rubentullenaar2934]

Fun fact, in the original lyrics Brel wrote, it was Antwerp (Dans le port D’anvers). But D’anvers did not fit with the melody of the song so he changed it to Amsterdam. Antwerp would have been more fitting since it was (still is) a much larger port with much more sailors on shore leave.

[@kenl2091]

Jacques Brel is a special kind of genius. He would certainly be in my forthcoming book 'The 100 Most Important Popular Music Figures of the 20th Century' (if it ever existed!) The passion and effort of his singing is evident in this video and I have previously recommended the video of 'Ne Me Quitte Pas' which is one of the most striking 'lost love' songs ever (you may know the English language version 'If You Go Away' which is good but not as 'lump-in-throat' making). I think you may have listened to The Sensational Alex Harvey' Band's version of 'Next' which is also superb (especially the OGWT version on video) and may surpass Brel's original 'Au Suivant'. You cannot go wrong with more Jacques Brel.

[@kenl2091]

One thing worth mentioning is that Brel was not the world's most handsome bloke but was a huge hit with the ladies because of, one imagines, his immense talent. Hope for us all!

[@jaybird4093]

A few years ago I was trying to learn French and was introduced to a lot of French music, through my nephew (who is a French citizen) and a distant cousin from Quebec. Jacque Brel was one of the artists on the CD’s that they made for me. 👍

[@Rowenband]

Strange that you go to this Belgian singer. David Bowie did a cover of that song. And another famous song, Seasons In The Sun by Terry Jacks is a cover version from another Brel song.

[@Jefferson_starkid]

What I love about him is the way he sings certain words and phrases to convey the feeling and the meaning of the words? I don't know what that is called but oh my god he does it flawlessly. like his voice seems to kind of 'rip open' when he sings about a rancid accordeon, or the way he sings 'des poissons ruisselants' which means 'dripping wet fish' in a kind of wriggling manner, as if he IS the fish.. idk I could talk about his performances forever.

[@sheldonhowells3083]

I too, only really know the music of Jacques Brel through the albums of Scott Walker. My favourite is probably, " If You Go Away ".

[@raeann63]

my favourite and a must-hear is "ne me quitte pas". it's heartbreakingly beautiful ❤

[@papaquonis]

He's fantastic. I have to recommend just a couple of songs of this genre; Charles Aznavour - La Bohème, which is just pure magic, and my favourite Jacques Brel song, Vesoul.

[@johnriopelle5718]

This is a great song by a great French composer and singer. There is a great cabaret English version of many of his songs available today. It’s called Jacques Brel is alive and well and living in Paris. Amsterdam is one of the songs on the recording translated into English. If you get a chance, listen to it.

[@rubentullenaar2934]

Jacques Brel is Belgian not French.

[@palantir135]

He belongs to the greatest. Dutch Liesbeth List sang many songs by Jacques Brel with great succes.

[@sicko_the_ew]

In bygone days (when Amsterdam was the "New York" of its time) it was a city you might get press-ganged (pressed is the proper term, I think - pressed into service) if you stayed too long in a tavern, and got too drunk. Party tonight, in the Dutch Navy tomorrow, good luck on seeing home again. (I have an English ancestor who got to serve in Admiral Nelson's fleet by staying too long in the pub after leaving the sheep at market that morning. Him and his brother both got volunteered. His brother lasted no longer than two years, and he was at sea for many years, and came home as a physical wreck. Harsh times. I just have the feeling it's something like this that the song is at least partly referring to.) The throat sound is just an exaggeration of the French (and Dutch - sometimes, and German - sometimes) "R". You hear Edith Piaf singing like that, too (but not to that extent). I think it's some kind of tradition.

[@simonlaleman8635]

The song was supposed to be Antwerp. But he needed 3 syllables.

[@sicko_the_ew]

@@simonlaleman8635 Well once Antwerp was the Amsterdam of its times ... 🙂 I think it has a fairly similar history, but maybe Phillip of Spain didn't have press gangs? Or they didn't trust Flemish Dutch sailors in the ships of the Empire? He could've just called it Antwerpen, too? I met a Belgian girl long, long ago who told me they were taught in their schools that Flemish is the mother of Afrikaans (and it was a point of pride). It's reasonably possible. Flemish Protestant refugees would've been having a hard enough time surviving in Amsterdam to be good candidates for signing up for a job in a remote part of the world that settled Amsterdamers might've turned their noses up at, so. So there's at least that Belgian-Dutch "post war" connection (90 Year War, I mean). It was all one country for a little while, even.

[@fastnbulbouss]

Shanghaied was another way of saying press ganged... force (someone) to join a ship lacking a full crew by drugging them or using other underhanded means. "they specialized in drugging and robbing sailors, sometimes arranging for them to be shanghaied aboard tramp boats"

[@christianguerin9460]

did you know that David Bowie did a cover in english of this song. Not sure when exactly but surely in the 70's.

[@kotoal]

Brel ❤️❤️❤️ You could play any of his songs, all are masterpieces

[@gregoryparisot6374]

The greatest performer ever.

[@Eduardo-Ferreira1982]

Now you must see his interpretation of "Ces gens-la" (something like "Those guys")

[@galier2]

There's also a cover of that song by the progressive band Ange. Very different but also good.

[@alnitak208]

Jacques Brel is probably the most famous male singer of "chanson française", everyone knows him in french speaking countries. May I suggest "Les Marquises" (studio version)? He was an actor, too.

[@mrbrad4566]

David Bowie covered Amsterdam well. Next is Brel cover of Au Suivant, (also covered by Alex Harvey) about a travelling whorehouse for the comfort of Belgian soldiers at the battle front. "Ne me quitte pas" (Covered by Nina Simone) is beautiful and an amazing performance by Brel. If you've ever heard "Seasons in the sun" by Terry Jacks, that's also a Brel cover but Brels version is comedic. Hugely influential and an amazing performer.

[@CristinaMarshal]

Perhaps one would be most interested in the Bowie version of this, during the Ziggy times if I recall.

[@jimimurti]

The port of Amsterdam

[@CristinaMarshal]

@@jimimurti Lost in translation my good one, Tis the very song as Brel did and as we hear here. And thank you, I may have forgotten the very exact title.

[@axelanas9537]

Timeless classic and performance.... you'd probably like more french exploring :) After doing Iinvisible t ouch, We can't dance and else of course ! :)

[@gaiaeternal5131]

Evening Justin. The Old Man's Back Again! (but it's Uncle Dave from London, and not Uncle Joe), Love this performance of a song that I know from Scott Walker's version. Yes, Next is also a Brel song. Probably his most covered is Ne Me Quitte Pas (If You Go Away) - As well as Scott, Dusty Springfield covers it on her classic album Dusty in Memphis. Have been to Amsterdam a few times over the years, the latest visit being to see the brilliant singer Anouk in concert (check out her song For Bitter Or Worse) - still an edgy city. P.S. my song ref The Old Man's Back Again is from Scott 4.

[@micade2518]

It's a shame you didn't watch a subtitled (in English) version as the lyrics are as important as his singing/acting performance. Jacques Brel was a hugely talented Belgian song writer-singer. He also made an important acting career.

[@MinorCirrus]

Man, Jacques Brel was an incredible performer, but also an unparalleled French-language songwriter. Ne me quitte pas Quand on n'a que l'amour La Valse à Mille Temps Ces gens-là So many masterpieces.

[@Eduardo-Ferreira1982]

I would add Les Bourgeois Les bonbons Marieke (partly in dutch - check it out for that rrrroling tongue you friends are saying) Madeleine... (so many more...) His sixties phase - Until his last concert, in 66, I guess, is full of classics. And - sorry all of you - no one can surpass Brel. I'll insist on "Ces gens-la" to understand why his actor or theatrical side is inseparable from his performance abilities.

[@kalikarma7025]

Brel forever !!!!!!

[@vallara1974]

Hi JP, I was first introduced to Brel's songs by an Austrian singer called Michael Heltau many many years ago. Now I understand that there were a lot of covers over the years to translate the lyrics and bring them to people all around the world. I still love Heltau`s version, but I do consider the Brel original to be the strongest and most deep felt of all of them. :)

[@BrendanAshton]

This is one of the first songs I performed live, playing the accordion in a duo I am in called Bright Trees. I was so stressed and carried away I almost fell over and I didn’t face the audience who were older and were quite shocked by our performance and lyrics. Bowie did a fine version

[@Eric5M]

Bowie has done a version on one of his early album

[@pamstuckey8349]

There was a show on Broadway - Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris - on Broadway and there is of course an album of these songs. I highly recommend. In English

[@LetsChillPage]

Hello *JustJP,* You also understand why the intensity goes crescendo when you understand the lyrics. Thus, therefore, this interpretation, full of flights, perfectly describes the course of the night of these sailors in stopover who, as the night progresses, get drunk again and again and continually become more enterprising with the women who come to meet them to slum it, mix with the riffraff. But, above all, it's the point of view of this character who observes the scene with a certain contempt for these women because he sees in them the one who deceived him, perhaps just as outrageously. Because, we only understand at the very end that this song is ultimately a love song, but the song of a trampled love ("And they piss, like I, I cry about unfaithful women"). And, therein lies all the genius of *Brel.* The most spectacular for me (from the point of view of the interpretation on stage by *Jacques Brel*, how he invests each member of this family that he describes with so much hatred and wounded irony) which is simply masterful, so inhabited! This song is: *"jacques brel - [1966] - ces gens là - [English subtitles on screen]"* on *Petrus de Courtrai*'s YT channel. However, my favorite is *"Mathilde"* or how a man who felt betrayed by a woman who abandoned him, after cursing her, swearing to himself not to be caught in it again, barely is she back, denies, without any restraint, is once more ready to sacrifice everything for her, ready to kneel, forgetting all oaths, all promises and ready to abandon his friends, those with whom he had nevertheless found a little comfort. It's so pathetic, but so true, so well seen on human nature. *"Mathilde" Mr Jacques Brel - 1964"* on *Jaouad Saber Official* YT channel (but no subtitles here, so you have to find a good translation) Jacques Brel was a genius.

[@ragnarmyhr7238]

David Bowie has his own version of this song.

[@richardlawrence6619]

Great performer. Got to know him from the alex harvey band cover of Next - "au saivant". Worth listening to both versions

[@tarquinmidwinter2056]

'Next' is a Jacques Brel song. Check out the English version by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band.

[@pianocovers4227]

Hi Justin ! ... just go on the Bowie version in the Ziggy Tour + My Death also from Brel ! 😉

[@feralmario310]

Je l'ai vu chanter He was a great performer !

[@martinpaterson6535]

Great reaction as usual, and another excuse for me to recommend Kevin Coyne (again, I know but I'll keep on until...) - a similar intensity of passion in his voice in songs such as Karate King and Good Boy from his Marjorie Razorblade album...

[@bessonnet]

I love "Vesoul" song from him

[@Pointillax]

This one is my favortie Brel song. He is an amazing performer, but for me it's the raw poetry of the story he is telling combined with the intensity of how he is telling it that gives me endless chills. If you're not a french speaker, I deeply recommend you check the lyrics, the song hits a second time when you understand how he sings about the most simple and vulgar sailors from Amsterdam as a way to express why he loves this city so much

[@sylvaindupuis5595]

I heard that before each presentation, he had to puke. He was really afraid of performing and rejection. That is the reason that he quit singing in public after a while. There is also an excellent version of that song by David Bowie on the CD version of Pin Ups as bonus track (it was originally on a B side of a single.

[@annesmith2259]

Bowie does an amazing version of this

[@OriginalLuffe]

Brells song has been the most important song for me, because my dead father recorded it for me in his last mixed tape in 1984, one year before he passed 🥰

[@JustJP]

Thats very very touching OL, thank you for sharing that :)

[@benoitrenaud519]

You would probably like Gilles Vigneault. Québec’s most important poet and another great performer from the 1960’s onwards.

[@Eduardo-Ferreira1982]

Merci, mon ami. Je ne le connais pas. À découvrir.

[@sebastienlola]

hello, Bowie sang this song , and other english language artists

[@1957PLATO]

Immensely talented are the word you use. He said talent doesn’t exist, just hard work.

[@pamstuckey8349]

The English version sang on Broadway in NYC is slightly different in terms of the meaning conveyed in the words

[@twilightpole8634]

Since You liked the Serú Girán song last week, i think you'll also enjoy the first song and title track of their previous album La Grasa de las Capitales (The grease of the capitals). It has the immediacy of a pop song, but packs a lot of changes in structure and details, it's always moving. Plus the performances from all the members of the band are stelar and kinda jazzy. . While Bicycle is an album with great songs but quite opaque production, the general consensus is that Grease is the best album by the band.

[@sebastienlola]

magnifique analyse , je trouve ( :

[@construct3]

What you're hearing is a trilled R. In spoken French, R is an uvular fricative or trill, but many French singers, like Brel, use an alveolar trill instead. And yeah, the translation was pretty bad, but it caught the images, though not the tone, well enough, I guess.

[@benoitrenaud519]

You have to get the translation of those brilliant lyrics!

[@ioiniipiailiaitinii559]

Suggestion: Jacques Higelin - Champagne

[@a.k.1740]

👍with Bernard Paganotti (from Magma and Weidorje) on fretless bass 😉

[@Mark-ry4fy]

Hi Justin. Loving your reactions. Just want to let you know that Bowie did a cover of Amsterdam in English. Check it out, its brilliant. :) Edit... Ok, someone told you a year ago. Oh well...

[@andrewgibson395]

You are probably familiar with Brel's songs through Rod McKuen's very sanitised English translations covered by many other artists, most of his songs are about sex/death so proper translations would be unlikely to get much radio airplay in the UK or US.

[@michaelcapewell4811]

Such a magnetic, passionate performer. No legions of dancers required. That vocal effect is a Gallic thing. You don’t need to know the words. Scott Walker and Bowie do this well, but Brel is unsurpassable

[@cellevangiel5973]

That is Brel, the singer and songwriter, one and only . And he sings with the rolling Parisian R, like Piaf. One of his songs, Ne me quite pas; is translated and they ruined it. If you go away, there is no IF. It is unconditional,: Don't go away. He wrote more love songs, and the all end wrong. Amsterdam is a song, sharp as a knife.

[@benoitdesmarais2948]

I loved your caroussel!

[@tarquinmidwinter2056]

Brel was definitely not PC. He wrote a lot of stuff that no-one would get away with today.

[@alba1878]

Je vous remercie de ne pas avoir interrompu la chanson pour placer vos réactions. Ça m'est painfull quand une chanson si intense et si belle et coupée. Même si je comprends le concept de réagir et donc de ne pas vouloir risquer d'oublier des commentaires laissant la chanson aller jusqu'à la fin.

[@randyrandelman1878]

first time hearing this version, very fond of Dave Van Ronk's version and this is very different

[@ericdupont1326]

hello Justin ; you could try Claude Nougaro with the song " A Bout De Souffle " or the song " Nougayork "

[@MisterWondrous]

No drum solo? Sans blague! I once used "Jock Braille" as my musical moniker. He didn't seem to mind, at least I never heard from him.

[@vinniamsterdam700]

"Intensity"

[@mcasualjacques]

covers: John Denver, David Bowie, Edith Piaf, Lara Fabian Isabelle Boulay

[@robertjaget5742]

il y a un spectacle en anglais avec les chanson de brel.. Brel live in paris

[@meddark3795]

Hearing brel's music without comprehending the text in frensh is missing half of the experience.

[@maruad7577]

Edith Piaf next?

[@kevind4850]

She also covered this - and that is just the sort of gritty scene she would have known as a girl. A tiny woman whose huge voice almost destroyed the microphone in the recording I know.

[@GuyWets-zy5yt]

David Bowie sung Amsterdam in 70ies

[@ladyvanda]

This is the only song I know that’s so passionate about stinky sailors farting, pissing and groping women for a dime. Brel would probably be riveting just reading the phone book. Edith Piaf did a great version too.

[@jackiejo3812]

Marc Almond gives good Brel

[@benoitrenaud519]

Bowie did an English version

[@robertjaget5742]

faut voir Amsterdam chante par David bowie

[@michaelcapewell4811]

Try Michel Polnareff next. Perhaps Les Bal das Laze 👍

[@steveconnor746]

Sounds a bit like Greensleeves.

[@jfergs.3302]

it did indeed

[@stevegibbons8941]

Brel makes David Bowies cover look completely irrelevant, which it was not because it drew us to Brel. Jacque Brel was, a writer and performer, that David aspired to be in spite , of his huge success would never achieve Brel's. Bowie would never be able to over shadow Brel's stage Presence

[@pentagrammaton6793]

Yeeeeeessssss......hmmm....no.

[@benoitarriaux]

2:50 Bouffer des robins, si quelqu'un sait de quoi il s'agit. Je suis Belge

[@fabcamilla5770]

@@benoitarriaux 🎶 À bouffer des haubans 🎶 Ce sont les câbles tendus pour maintenir un mât de bateau verticalement. Du costaud

[@benoitarriaux]

@@fabcamilla5770 haubans prononcés robins ? Pour la grosse de Montalent ce pourrait être une déformation de Mont à Leux un quartier de Mouscron, il arrrivait à Brel de tordre des mots pour la rime Pour moi un robin reste un homme de lois, un magistrat

[@fabcamilla5770]

@@benoitarriaux haubans, prononcé Haubans. A aucun moment il ne dit Rrrrrrobin ( vous avez remarqué qu'il rrrroule outrageusement les R dans cette interprétation ?) Et haubans ça rime avec "rotant" alors que Robin ça rime avec...rien

[@benoitarriaux]

@@fabcamilla5770 Effectivement mais bouffer des haubans ? si ça existe c'est rare comme expression

[@fabcamilla5770]

@@benoitarriaux C'est une image saisissante de Brel

[@deniswilson3805]

Eh ...... David Bowie... Pinups 1973.

[@kevind4850]

Bowie covered "Amsterdam" for a B-side (the 45 single of his cover of "Sorrow") in 73, but it wasn't included on _Pin_ _Ups_ - at least not on the album I had back then. Was it used on a later pressing?

[@deniswilson3805]

@@kevind4850 I stand corrected.

[@pentagrammaton6793]

I'm not trying to be Anglo-centrist in my musical preferences as I like plenty of foreign rock and pop music, but this kind of ultra-continental singing style with the rolling of the 'r's really pisses me off. I almost expect to see some SS officers stroll in and order some lagers, lol.

[@Eduardo-Ferreira1982]

Ahahah!

[@jfergs.3302]

The melody's ok (very greensleeves actually), but the singing... 'oh the humanity'. Well I say singing, more screaming with a lot of 'R' rolling. I've heard of this guy, but if he's always like this then I'll leave it here, that was more than enough for me That sort of histrionics I can well do without.

[@jpirard]

Are you familiar with the French language?

[@jfergs.3302]

@@jpirard Non.

[@maruad7577]

Not much for drama in your music?

[@jfergs.3302]

@@maruad7577 There's drama, and there's drama! I'm not sure what this was, other than way OTT that is. Re Belgium (lovely place, I've been a few times), I think i'll stick to their beer, waffles, and frites with mayonnaise instead 🙂

[@Eduardo-Ferreira1982]

I understand what you're saying, but I would say that you only receive if you give. Give it / him a try. 😊