Un Canadien errant

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"Un Canadien errant" ("a wandering Canadian") is a song written in 1842 by Antoine Gérin-Lajoie after the Lower Canada Rebellion of 1837-1838, in which some convicted rebels were condemned to death or exiled to the United States. (See, e.g., Joseph Schull, Rebellion: the rising in French Canada, 1837, Toronto: McMillan Canada, 1996; and Margaret Bellasis, “Rise Canadians!”, London: Hollis & Carter, 1955; see also, The Encyclopedia of Music in Canada, online at http://thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=U1ARTU0000596).

The melody is from the French Canadian 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.

Leonard Cohen recorded "Un Canadien errant" as "The Lost Canadian" on his 1979 Recent Songs album. His own song "The Faith", on his 2004 album Dear Heather, is based on the same melody.

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

[edit] Original lyrics

These are the 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, dis à mes amis

Que je me souviens d'eux.

"O jours si pleins d'appas

Vous êtes disparus,

Et ma patrie, hélas!

Je ne la verrai plus!

"Non, mais en expirant,

O mon cher Canada!

Mon regard languissant

Vers toi se portera . . ."

English Translation:

An errant ‘Canadien’

Banished from his homeland

Weeping, he travels on

Wandering through foreign lands

One sad and pensive day

Sat on the river’s bank

To the evasive current,

Did he address these words:

“If you should see my home

My sad unhappy land

Go, say to all my friends

That I remember them

"O days once so full of charm

You are all gone away

And my homeland, alas!

I'll not see her again

"No, but with my last breath

O my dear Canada!

My languid glance toward home

Shall carry me to you"

[edit] English Version

This is the 1927 English version by John Murray Gibbon. It follows the same ABAB rhyme scheme of the original French and is singable, but it arguably sacrifices some accuracy and 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."