Mort Shuman

'[Paul Zollo] He knew translating a song isn’t the same as a normal translation. A song needs to sing. It needs to rhyme, to carry a tune. Shuman, of course, was a songwriter – already adept at the art and craft of matching word with melody. And so he very gradually began to achieve the miraculous: translating [Jacques] Brel’s genius to English without sacrificing any of the dark humor, sorrow or passion of the work.'