"Gens du pays" has been called the unofficial "national" anthem of

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

. Written by poet, songwriter, and avowed

Quebec nationalist Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirteen p ...

Gilles Vigneault Gilles Vigneault (; born 27 October 1928) is a Canadian poet, publisher, singer-songwriter, and Quebec nationalist and sovereigntist. Two of his songs are considered by many to be Quebec's unofficial anthems: " Mon pays" and " Gens du pays", ...

(with music co-written by Gaston Rochon), it was first performed by Vigneault on June 24, 1975 during a concert on

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

Mount Royal Mount Royal (french: link=no, Mont Royal, ) is a large intrusive rock hill or small mountain in the city of Montreal, immediately west of Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The best-known hypothesis for the origin of the name Montreal is the ...

at that year's Fête nationale du Québec ceremony. It quickly became a folk classic, and it has been played frequently at Fête nationale ceremonies since then. The chorus is by far the most famous part of the song: ''Gens du pays, c'est votre tour / De vous laisser parler d'amour'', which, translated, says, "Folks of the land, it is your turn to let you speak of love." The song is also associated with the

Quebec sovereignty movement The Quebec sovereignty movement (french: Mouvement souverainiste du Québec) is a political movement whose objective is to achieve the sovereignty of Quebec, a province of Canada since 1867, including in all matters related to any provision o ...

and the sovereigntist

Parti Québécois The Parti Québécois (; ; PQ) is a sovereignist and social democratic provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates national sovereignty for Quebec involving independence of the province of Quebec from Canada and establis ...

, which use it as a sort of anthem. A famous instance of this took place at

René Lévesque René Lévesque (; August 24, 1922 – November 1, 1987) was a Québécois politician and journalist who served as the 23rd premier of Quebec from 1976 to 1985. He was the first Québécois political leader since Confederation to attemp ...

's concession speech after the citizens of the province rejected independence in the

1980 Quebec referendum The 1980 Quebec independence referendum was the first referendum in Quebec on the place of Quebec within Canada and whether Quebec should pursue a path toward sovereignty. The referendum was called by Quebec's Parti Québécois (PQ) government, whi ...

. At the end of Lévesque's speech, the crowd assembled to hear him speak stood up at the end of the speech and sang "Gens du pays", which Lévesque called "the most beautiful Québécois song in the minds of all Quebecers."

Birthday adaptation

In Quebec, a modified version of the chorus is often sung to celebrate a person, for example on a birthday (in the specific case of the birthday, the idea was explicitly introduced by Gilles Vigneault,

Yvon Deschamps Yvon Deschamps (born July 31, 1935, in Montreal, Quebec) is a Quebec author, actor, comedian and producer best known for his monologues. His social-commentary-tinged humour propelled him to prominence in Quebec popular culture in the 1970s and 1 ...

and Louise Forestier at the song's 1975 introduction): :''Mon cher ami'' (or ''Ma chère amie'')'', c'est à ton tour'' :''De te laisser parler d'amour.'' ("My dear friend, it's your turn / To let yourself be lovingly spoken to.") Alternatively, "ami(e)" (friend) is replaced with the name of the person being celebrated. For instance, at

's funeral, mourners outside the church broke out singing "Mon cher René, c'est à ton tour, de te laisser parler d'amour." The birthday adaptation uses the familiar, informal and singular "tu" form

French personal pronouns French personal pronouns (analogous to English personal pronouns, English ''I'', ''you, he/she, we'', and ''they'') reflect the grammatical person, person and grammatical number, number of their referent, and in the case of the third person, its g ...

, in contrast with the original which uses "vous" pronouns which are either singular but formal, or plural (as with other Latin languages such as Spanish).

References

1975 songs Quebecois patriotic songs Songs about birthdays Gilles Vigneault songs Songs written by Gilles Vigneault Parti Québécois Political party songs Canadian anthems Regional songs {{1970s-song-stub

Birthday adaptation

See also

References