Discover the story of the song > La Valse à mille temps – Jacques Brel

- La Valse à mille temps is a song by Jacques Brel.
- It is the first title of the album of the same name, and was published in 1959.
- It is characterized by the "Brel crescendo" (a dramatic progression in writing and interpretation), and is considered a classic of Jacques Brel.
- The song begins with the first notes of the melody of Juventino Rosas "Sobre las olas".
- It begins slowly, then gradually accelerates, driven by the "whirlwind" of the accordion and the intonations of Jacques Brel, evoking a waltz in four beats, then in twenty beats, then in a hundred beats, and finally in a thousand beats.
- It was recorded on a single in 1959, with "La Tendresse", "Ne me quitte pas" and "La Dame patronnesse" on the B side. It was also released on an LP.
- It was also released on an LP in 1959.
- The crescendo was taken up by the Italian singer Giorgio Gaber in his song "Com'è bella la città" in 1969.
- Jean Poiret made a parody of La Valse à mille temps, entitled La Vache à mille francs, which Brel himself performed in a nod to the original at the Olympia in 1961.