The first singer who sing the song was JAcques Brel 

the song was written by Jacques Brel

French version

English version

Ne me quitte pas Il faut oublier Tout peut s'oublier Qui s'enfuit déjà Oublier le temps Des malentendus Et le temps perdu A savoir comment Oublier ces heures Qui tuaient parfois A coups de pourquoi Le coeur du bonheur Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Moi je t'offrirai Des perles de pluie Venues de pays Où il ne pleut pas Je creuserai la terre Jusqu'apres ma mort Pour couvrir ton corps D'or et de lumière Je ferai un domaine Où l'amour sera roi Où l'amour sera loi Où tu seras reine Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Je t'inventerai Des mots insensés Que tu comprendras Je te parlerai De ces amants là Qui ont vu deux fois Leurs coeurs s'embraser Je te racont'rai L'histoire de ce roi Mort de n'avoir pas Pu te rencontrer Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas On a vu souvent Rejaillir le feu De l'ancien volcan Qu'on croyait trop vieux Il est paraît-il Des terres brûlées Donnant plus de blé Qu'un meilleur avril Et quand vient le soir Pour qu'un ciel flamboie Le rouge et le noir Ne s'épousent-ils pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Je ne vais plus pleurer Je ne vais plus parler Je me cacherai là A te regarder Danser et sourire Et à t'écouter Chanter et puis rire Laisse-moi devenir L'ombre de ton ombre L'ombre de ta main L'ombre de ton chien Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas

Don't go away If you can't forgive Believe, just to live You must forget Forget the times You misunderstand Let them slip through your hand With the sand of time Forget those hours When 'perhaps' has died At the hands of 'why' And our lack of faith Don't go away Don't go away Don't leave Me, I'll offer you pearls Made out of the rain That falls in a world Where rain never falls I'll ransack the earth By day and by night To cover your body With gold and with light I'll make a domain Where love will be king Love will be everything You'll be the queen Don't go away Dont' go away Don't leave Don't go away I'll invent for you Words just meant for you And you'll know what's meant And I'll tell you the truth About how other lovers Looked into each other And how they were moved Then I'll read to you The story of kings Who lived without meeting you Died without knowing you Don't go away Dont' go away Don't leave And just when you think The volcano's expired The craters turn pink And the ash turns to fire In a charred barren land You can still be surprised Wheat suddenly stands Like a dream of Julys When the sun sets In a brilliant sky The black and the red Never touch as they die Don't go away Dont' go away Don't leave Don't go away I won't cry anymore I won't talk anymore I'll crawl under the bed And I'll watch you from there As you smile and you dance And I'll listen to hear How you talk, when you laugh it's enough In the shadow of you shadow In the shadow of your hand The shadow of your man Don't go away Dont' go away Don't leave

The song in performance of Edith Piaf

The song was written to Suzanne Gabriello

The best performance in english   was sung by Nina Simone and Dusty Springfield





My favorite performance is by Maysa Matarazzo
Pedro Almodovar used this performance in his movie "Law of Desire"