Ne Me Quitte Pas

Ne Me Quitte Pas

Author: BBC Radio 4 June 11, 2022 Duration: 27:50

Ne Me Quitte Pas is a song about begging someone not to go - and of promising the world to them, if they'll only stay.

From Haiti to New York, Provence to Glasgow - in versions by Nina Simone, Dusty Springfield and Scott Walker - we hear stories of what Jacques Brel's song has meant to people around the world.

With contributions from France Brel, Johane Celestin, Alastair Campbell, Brendan McGeever, Peter Hawkins and Malaika Kegode.

Producer: Mair Bosworth

A BBC Audio production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in June 2022.


There’s a certain piece of music that, when you hear it, seems to stop time. It might be a melody from your childhood, a song that played at a pivotal moment, or a composition that simply reaches into your chest and grips your heart. Soul Music, from BBC Radio 4, is built around that very phenomenon. This isn’t a program about genres or charts; it’s an intimate exploration of why specific pieces of music carry such profound emotional weight. Each episode focuses on a single, iconic work-from classical adagios to folk ballads, from film scores to pop anthems. The podcast weaves together the voices of people whose lives have been indelibly marked by that music: listeners share personal, often moving stories of grief, joy, love, and remembrance, while composers and performers might shed light on the piece’s creation. You’ll hear the music itself, of course, but framed in a way that reveals its deeper resonance in human experience. It’s a quiet, thoughtful series that reminds us how soundtracks our inner lives. Tuning into this podcast feels like being part of a conversation about the invisible threads that connect us all through notes and rhythms, exploring how a sequence of sounds can become a vessel for collective memory and feeling.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Soul Music
Podcast Episodes
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"Your true colors...are beautiful, like a rainbow..."Billy Steinberg's lyrics were originally inspired by his mother but his song writing partner Tom Kelly recognised its universal appeal. With a slight re-write, it beca…
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Cerys Matthews' Soul Music Mixtape - Part One [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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Cerys Matthews delves into the archives to put together a specially curated mixtape of her favourite stories from across 25 series of the BBC Radio 4's Soul Music.Each episode of Soul Music takes a different piece of mus…
Cerys Matthews' Soul Music Mixtape - Part Two [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 56:38
Cerys Matthews delves into the archives to put together a specially curated mixtape of her favourite stories from across 25 series of the BBC Radio 4's Soul Music.Each episode of Soul Music takes a different piece of mus…
Cerys Matthews' Soul Music Mixtape - Part Three [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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Cerys Matthews delves into the archives to put together a specially curated mixtape of her favourite stories from across 25 series of the BBC Radio 4's Soul Music.Each episode of Soul Music takes a different piece of mus…
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Duration: 27:52
Boys Don't Cry by The Cure is, on the surface, a tribute to teenage angst and a slice of pop perfection. Lol Tolhurst, the band's drummer, wrote the song with his band mates in Robert Smith's parents' house extension.Poo…