Charel Janssens
These two odd songs come from the Belgian compilation "Een Zwanspartij Met", released by Polydor Special in, I'm guessing, the early 70's. I fell in love with the cover of this record when a roommate brought it home from his travels abroad. I eventually aquired it as trade in exchange for capturing swarms of flies in the alley with a net to feed to his praying mantis.
The Charel Janssens tracks starkly stand out on this mostly bland compilation. It's a wet fart polka, embelished with dissonant accents for comic effect and Charel's whiny milquetoast voice hemming and hawing in some overwrought vaudeville routine.
I can't find a goddamn thing about Charel Janssens except for one vague reference on a poorly translated webpage. I like to imagine that that's Charel Janssens on the cover, with the pretty ladies fawning all over him. Click on image for complete cover.
Charel Janssens - Choe Zedde Nie Goe (mp3)
Charel Janssens - Waar Is De Goeie Ouwen Tijd (mp3)
If anyone has any information on Mr. Janssens or if you know what the hell he is yammering about, please respond.
posted by Gregory Jacobsen at 7:03 AM
6 Comments:
Can I just do the titles and leave it at that, it's really not worth much more ?
Choe etc - "You're no good", more like "You're out of your mind".
Waar = where are the good old times.
Arghhh!!! May one day hostile foriegn crowds surround a US embassy and blast this for hours though a high powered soundsystem! 30 seconds in it is just bad. after the minute and a half mark it is demented. Too bad the songs dont go on for ten minutes!
I think this the same Charel Janssens:
http://imdb.com/name/nm0418212/
Here's an article in dutch about him: http://www.destrangers.com/text/meer_antwerps/charel_janssens.htm
It says he's most famous for playing the 'always frustrated little man'. He started acting when he was six, he played in 40 movies including 22 leading roles and Orson Welles called him 'a great actor'. He quit the theatre after 17 years to become a revue-artist. He really likes animals, before the war his house was almost a zoo but now he doesn't own any because he becomes really sentimental when they die. The article was written in 1980 and he was still working at the time after a career of 68 years. He hopes to die like his father who died after a day of hard work and drinking.
wow, thank you rens and luuc.
I did find an IMDB entry for him, but it was a younger guy with just one entry...I didn't think to use Charles.
His singing evokes exactly what the article says. I have to search down some of those films.
Purely on spec after reading your post, I bought a Charel Janssens LP entitled "De Gouden Plaat" from a Belgian website. The Belgians wrapped it in a single layer of paper, and it arrived without an inner sleeve, but it plays surprisingly well.
Six very jolly songs, and seven comedy sketches, all in Dutch. I could digitise the former and scan the cover, if you are interested. Email me at Alfred (at) oddbooks (dot) com.
What IS this Dutch event with the funny hats and noses? I, too, have a record of this nature. It is Muzikale Brudsuikers, een grote potopurri van vrolijke feestnummers, a Philips 10" sing-along jobber complete with lyrics. Going to have to question fabulous Nederlanders Marco of WeirdoMusic and WM Recordings and Jan the Splogman of 52 Weeks and Splusp.
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