Ne me quitte pas

Jacques Brel wrote and first recorded "Ne me quitte pas" on September 11, 1959 on Philips, for the album La Valse a mille temps, 3:52. He wrote it after his mistress ended the relationship, and in a 1966 interview called it a hymn to the cowardice of men. Simone's version, 3:34, is the third track on I Put a Spell on You, and the liner notes say the song is about a couple whose relationship is threatened by a serious betrayal. She sang it in accented French. A University of Washington podcast on October 10, 2023 discusses a December 1971 Paris performance, in which she stopped early, and says the song has about 1,600 covers and adaptations. A live album titled Ne me quitte pas (1972) exists, and Maya Angela Smith's 2025 book studies Brel's song and Simone's version.

Covers include Hallyday live in November 1984, Brel's own Dutch version "Laat me niet alleen" in 1961 and the English "If You Go Away", by Rod McKuen, recorded by Ray Charles and others. Our upload is titled with both this song and "I Put a Spell on You", so it may be the two tracks together or a live pairing, and which one it is has not been determined. Simone's "I Put a Spell on You", the album's opening track at 2:34, covers Screamin' Jay Hawkins's song, and reached 23 on the R&B chart, 120 on the pop chart and 49 in the UK in 1965; Pitchfork called it a string-laden, melodramatic cover, her biggest single since her debut.