Jaques Brel was not French, he was un "ket" a Belgian from Brussels. In Dutch, "een bordeel " is a brothel, and in the French dialect used in Brussels, a bordel is indeed a brothel or un caberdouche.( un cabinet douze) or simply un hoerenkot (a whorehouse). In Parisian French however, a brothel is "a maison close, or une maison de passe", and in Brel's time, brothels were no longer allowed in France, not a catogory 1, not a categorie douze, and not "ambulant".

Best regards,

Bruno