Georges Moustaki (1934-2013) was a singer-songwriter of Greek Jewish origin… Read Full Bio ↴Georges Moustaki (1934-2013) was a singer-songwriter of Greek Jewish origin.

Moustaki was born Yussef Mustacchi on the 3rd May 1934 in Alexandria, Egypt, of Sephardic Jewish parents who had moved there from Corfu, and who ran a bookshop in the city. The family spoke Italian at home, but Georges (then Yussef) spoke Arabic with his friends and attended a French school to which his Francophile parents sent him and his sisters. In 1951 he moved to Paris, where he was inspired by the young Georges Brassens, in honour of whom he changed his name to Georges Moustaki.

Moustaki wrote and sang in French, Italian, Greek, Spanish, English, Yiddish, and Arabic. Early influences included Edith Piaf, with whom Moustaki carried on a year-long romance. His pan-national approach to music made him a star in Europe in the late sixties and early seventies.

He died on the 23rd May 2013 in Nice, France.

Flamenco Des Flandres
Georges Moustaki Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Mille ans déjà que je suis là
Sur la terre des Flandres,
Soldat du roi, sans foi ni loi,
Sans plus rien attendre,
Soldat qui n'a que ses dix doigts
Pour jouer sur sa guitare
Le flamenco, dernier écho
D'un reste de mémoire.

Dans mon pays, là-bas très loin,
Entre la mer et la montagne,
Il y a la fille que j'aimais bien,
Qui devait être ma compagne.

Les filles d'ici sont bien jolies,
On en oublie la guerre.
Leurs yeux sont bleus et leurs cheveux
Plus blonds que la lumière.
Pour s'enivrer, au cabaret,
On s'offre du genièvre,
Mais rien n'y fait pour étouffer
L'air qui monte à mes lèvres.

Dans mon pays, là-bas très loin,
Entre la mer et la montagne,
Il y a la fille que j'aimais bien,
Qui devait être ma compagne.

Mais si je meurs au champ d'honneur,
Dites à mes camarades
Qu'ils ne fassent pas sonner le glas
Aux cloches de Grenade.

Pour demander l'éternité,
Suffit d'une guitare
Et quelque part une fille en noir
Qui me garde en mémoire.

En mi país ahi muy lejo

Mentre il mar e la montaña
Esta la niña que io quería.

Overall Meaning

The song Flamenco Des Flandres by Georges Moustaki is about a soldier from Flanders who has been present on earth for a thousand years without any faith or law. The soldier has only his ten fingers to play on his guitar, and the flamenco music is his last memory of his past life. He reminisces about his beloved girl in his homeland, who he had hoped to marry, but now he is surrounded by local girls with blue eyes and blond hair. He struggles to find solace in their company as he cannot forget his past.

The soldier is at a cabaret, and despite offering himself some juniper to get intoxicated, the air that rises to his lips cannot be suppressed. If he dies a hero's death, he urges his comrades not to toll the bells of Granada, instead tell them about a girl in black who keeps him in her memory. The song is both melancholic and romantic, it speaks of longing for home, memories, love, and the flamenco music that acts as a connection to his past.

Line by Line Meaning

Mille ans déjà que je suis là
I have been here for a thousand years already

Sur la terre des Flandres,
On the land of Flanders

Soldat du roi, sans foi ni loi,
Soldier of the king, without faith or law

Sans plus rien attendre,
Without anything else to expect

Soldat qui n'a que ses dix doigts
Soldier who has only his ten fingers

Pour jouer sur sa guitare
To play on his guitar

Le flamenco, dernier écho
The flamenco, last echo

D'un reste de mémoire.
Of a remnant of memory.

Dans mon pays, là-bas très loin,
In my country, far away over there,

Entre la mer et la montagne,
Between the sea and the mountain,

Il y a la fille que j'aimais bien,
There is the girl I loved,