"Un Canadien errant" is a song written in 1842 by Antoine Gérin-Lajoie

Antoine Gérin-Lajoie

Antoine Gérin-Lajoie was a Québécois Canadian poet and novelist. He was the author of the famous poem Un Canadien Errant . He was the father of the sociologist Leon Gérin.- External links :*...

 after the Lower Canada Rebellion

Lower Canada Rebellion

The Lower Canada Rebellion , commonly referred to as the Patriots' War by Quebeckers, is the name given to the armed conflict between the rebels of Lower Canada and the British colonial power of that province...

 of 1837-1838. Some of the rebels were condemned to death

Capital punishment

Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...

, others exiled

Exile

Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...

 to the United States . Gérin-Lajoie wrote the song, about the pain of exile, while taking his classical exams at the Séminaire de Nicolet. The song has become a patriotic anthem for certain groups of Canadians

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 who have at a point in their history experienced the pain of exile. In addition to those exiled following the Lower Canada Rebellion, it has come to hold particular importance for the rebels of the Upper Canada Rebellion

Upper Canada Rebellion

The Upper Canada Rebellion was, along with the Lower Canada Rebellion in Lower Canada, a rebellion against the British colonial government in 1837 and 1838. Collectively they are also known as the Rebellions of 1837.-Issues:...

, and for the Acadiens, who suffered mass deportation from their homeland in the Great Upheaval

Great Upheaval

The Expulsion of the Acadians was the forced removal by the British of the Acadian people from present day Canadian Maritime provinces: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island...

 between 1755-1763. The Acadien version is known as "Un Acadien errant."

Origins

There are several accounts of the song's origins, most affected by sentimentality. In Souvenirs de collège, Antoine Gérin-Lajoie writes that he based his verse on an existing folk tune: "I wrote it in 1842 when I was taking my classical exams at Nicolet. I did it one night in bed at the request of my friend Cyp Pinard, who wanted a song to the tune of 'Par derrière chez ma tante'... It was published in 1844 in the Charivari canadien with my initials (A.G.L.)." In that publication the song was titled "Le Proscrit" and the tune said to be "Au bord d'un clair ruisseau."

The melody is from the French Canadian

French Canadian

French Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...

 folk tune "J'ai fait une maîtresse" (of which "Si tu te mets anguille" is also a variation). The musical form is "AABB" or double-binary, with the A phrase repeated before moving to the B phrase, which is also repeated. The musical form is reflected in the lyrics as follows:

'A' phrase, with repeat:

Un Canadien errant,

Banni de ses foyers,

Un Canadien errant,

Banni de ses foyers,

'B' phrase, with repeat:

Parcourait en pleurant

Des pays étrangers.

Parcourait en pleurant

Des pays étrangers.

The rise in the tune on the first line of the B phrase is inverted on the repeat (at the point of "en pleurant"), to make the phrase period, and thus provide closure to the AABB form.

American audiences were introduced to the song in 1963 with French-language performances by Ian & Sylvia. They included "Un Canadien Errant" on their debut album with Vanguard, Ian & Sylvia, and gave it further prominence at the Newport Folk Festival, Ian & Sylvia Live at Newport. Both are available in CD versions as of 2008. American folk duo John & Mary

John & Mary

John & Mary is a U.S. based folk music duo featuring John Lombardo and Mary Ramsey who have had a long-time close association with alternative rock band 10,000 Maniacs.-1989-1993:...

 included an arrangement by Mary Ramsey

Mary Ramsey

Mary Ramsey , currently a resident of Buffalo, NY is a member of folk duo John & Mary and lead singer for alternative rock band 10,000 Maniacs.- Biography :...

 on their 1991 album Victory Gardens

Victory Gardens

Victory Gardens is the debut album from John & Mary, recorded in 1990 just six months after the two met in December 1989 and immediately following their signing with Rykodisc. John Lombardo, former member of 10,000 Maniacs and responsible for much of their early music, brought elements of the...

.

In the 1969 film, My Side of the Mountain

My Side of the Mountain (film)

My Side of the Mountain is a 1969 film adaption of the novel by Jean Craighead George. A family movie by Paramount Pictures, the story revolves around thirteen-year old Sam Gribley , a devotee of Thoreau, as many were back in the 1960s...

, folk singer / musicologist, Theodore Bikel sang the first part of "Un Canadien Errant" and then played a bit of it on a "homemade" reed flute. The melody refrained throughout the film.

Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen

Leonard Norman Cohen, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality and interpersonal relationships...

 recorded "Un Canadien errant" as "The Lost Canadian" on his 1979 Recent Songs

Recent Songs

Recent Songs was the sixth studio album by Leonard Cohen, released in 1979. Produced by Henry Lewy and the artist himself, the album was a return to Cohen's acoustic folk music after the Phil Spector experimentation of Death of a Ladies' Man, but now with many jazz and Oriental influences.The album...

album. His own song "The Faith", on his 2004 album Dear Heather

Dear Heather

Dear Heather is Leonard Cohen's eleventh studio album, released in 2004.It shows a further departure from Ten New Songs, with more female lead singing and a marked increase in read poetry over sung lyrics, two of these being poems by other writers....

, is based on the same melody.

The song also made an appearance as the location music for Canada in the Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego video game.

History

Ernest Gagnon in Chansons populaires du Canada (Quebec City 1865) says "the original tune was "J'ai fait une maîtresse," of which the words of the variant "Si tu te mets anguille" are (somewhat altered) fragments.' Gagnon's analysis is considered definitive.

An Acadian variation appeared in 1844 as "Un Acadien Errant", sung to the Gregorian tune "Ave Maris Stella". Otherwise, to a few (and especially to expatriate Canadians), the original song remains a patriotic

Patriotism

Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...

 song; and to all, it is a poignant recollection of French Canadian history.

Original lyrics

Original French lyrics:

Un Canadien errant,

Banni de ses foyers,

Parcourait en pleurant

Des pays étrangers.

Un jour, triste et pensif,

Assis au bord des flots,

Au courant fugitif

Il adressa ces mots:

"Si tu vois mon pays,

Mon pays malheureux,

Va dire à mes amis

Que je me souviens d'eux.

"Ô jours si pleins d'appas

Vous êtes disparus,

Et ma patrie, hélas!

Je ne la verrai plus!

"Non, mais en expirant,

Ô mon cher Canada!

Mon regard languissant

Vers toi se portera..."

Literal English Translation:

A wandering Canadian,

Banished from his hearths,

Traveled through[,] while weeping[,]

foreign countries.

One day, sad and pensive,

Seated at the edge of the floods,

To the fugitive current,

He addressed these words:

“If you see my country,

My unhappy country,

Go say to my friends

That I remember them.

"O days so full of charm[s]

You have disappeared,

And my fatherland, alas!

I will see it no longer!

"No, but while expiring,

O my dear Canada!

My longing look

toward you will go..."

English Version

This is the 1927 English version by John Murray Gibbon

John Murray Gibbon

John Murray Gibbon was a Scottish Canadian writer and cultural promoter. He was born in Ceylon and educated at Aberdeen, Oxford and Göttingen universities. Gibbon emigrated to Canada in 1913 to work for the Canadian Pacific Railway...

. Only the first verse preserves the true ABAB rhyme pattern of the original French; thereafter it varies. It is singable but sacrifices much accuracy and arguably emotional depth in the translation. For example, the song was not written about a lad but a fully grown man, albeit a young one.

Once a Canadian lad,

Exiled from hearth and home,

Wandered, alone and sad,

Through alien lands unknown.

Down by a rushing stream,

Thoughtful and sad one day,

He watched the water pass

And to it he did say:

"If you should reach my land,

My most unhappy land,

Please speak to all my friends

So they will understand.

Tell them how much I wish

That I could be once more

In my beloved land

That I will see no more.

"My own beloved land

I'll not forget till death,

And I will speak of her

With my last dying breath.

My own beloved land

I'll not forget till death,

And I will speak of her

With my last dying breath."

Below is the 2011 English version by Brian C. Puckett. This version preserves the original ABAB rhyme pattern throughout, and also adheres as closely as possible to the original meaning of the lines. Where such close translation was not practical, this version attempts to maintain the style and sense of the original lines.

A Canadian wandering afar,

Banished from hearth and home,

Would gaze at the northern star

And weep in the strange lands he roamed.

One day, with thoughts full of woe,

He sat by the river’s edge.

To the fugitive current below,

These are the words that he said:

If you see my country some day,

My country in sorrow’s thrall,

Go tell my friends faraway

That I remember them all.

O days of charm you have passed,

You vanished like summer rain.

And my fatherland, alas!

I never will see you again.

No, but on my dying day

These eyes will be filled with tears

As my longing look turns your way,

O Canada, ever so dear.