Jacques Brel wrote this song in 1963 for the soundtrack of a crime "thriller" about a serial killer in a small snowy village around Christmas time who kills nine apparently for no other reason than he was bored. The movie title comes from a quote from Pascal that a king without diversions is miserable. Brel asks, with all the lovely and pleasant things in this too short life, why must it be that men are bored? Thanks once again to philipchek of YouTube and Paris for going over every word of this translation and offering corrections and information.