Il Neige sur Liège (''It snows on

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

'') is a 1963 song written and performed by

Jacques Brel Jacques Romain Georges Brel (; 8 April 1929 – 9 October 1978) was a Belgian singer and actor who composed and performed theatrical songs. He generated a large, devoted following—initially in Belgium and France, but later throughout the world ...

Lyrics

The

melancholic Melancholia or melancholy (from ',Burton, Bk. I, p. 147 meaning black bile) is a concept found throughout ancient, medieval, and premodern medicine in Europe that describes a condition characterized by markedly depressed mood, bodily complain ...

song describes how

snow Snow consists of individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water througho ...

is falling on

, while the protagonist in the song observes the effect the weather has on the people in the city, "while the

Meuse The Meuse or Maas is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a total length of . History From 1301, the upper ...

river pierces through the city." As the snow falls on Liège the singer wonders "or is it Liège snowing on the sky?" Eventually he concludes that it "snows on Liège and on his dreams, while the river pierces through the city."

Cover versions

''Il neige sur Liège'' was covered in French by Danièle Pascale, Vadim Piankov and also by Anne Peko. The song was covered in

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

by Herman van den Berg and in Dutch by Douwe Heeringa & Compagnie.

Rod McKuen Rodney Marvin McKuen ( ; ; April 29, 1933 – January 29, 2015) was an American poet, singer-songwriter, and composer. He was one of the best-selling poets in the United States during the late 1960s. Throughout his career, McKuen produced a wide ...

covered it in English as "To You".

Sources

External links

* Analysis of the lyrics (in French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Neige sur Liège, Il Liège 1963 songs Songs about cities Songs about weather Songs about Belgium Songs about dreams Jacques Brel songs Songs in French Songs written by Jacques Brel