Immensely Popular Quebec Folk Song Laments Abortion and the Modern Culture of Sterility

LifeSiteNews.com ^ | Monday June 25, 2007 | Elizabeth O’Brien

[monomaniac]

Song is one of the most frequently downloaded iTunes in Canada

By Elizabeth O’Brien

MONTREAL, June 25, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – One of the most frequently downloaded iTunes in Canada, a French-language song entitled “Dégénerations,” vividly portrays a woman’s sorrow and pain after having an abortion.

Written by the Quebec folk-rock band, “Mes Aïeux” (My Ancestors), the song compares the simple, yet fruitful lifestyle of “ton arrière-arrière-grand-père” (or “your great-great-grandfather”) to the stress and sterility of modern day life. Mirroring this idea, the music starts with a simple drum beat that gradually accelerates to an almost frantic gallop.

Using specific examples, the song describes how life becomes empty and unnatural when it is severed from one’s land and heritage. Verse three, for example, shows the contrast between how, “Your great great grandmother, she had 14 kids,” whereas “Your mom didn’t want any, you were an accident.”

The song also relates how each generation is growing increasingly hostile to life. In verse four, it addresses the present generation and specifically refers to abortion as a traumatizing mistake for a woman.

The French lyrics run as follows:

“Et pis toi, ma p’tite fille, tu changes de partenaire tout l’temps Quand tu fais des conneries, tu t’en sauves en avortant.” “Mais y’a des matins, tu te réveilles en pleurant Quand tu rêves la nuit d’une grande table entourée d’enfants.”

Roughly translated into English, the words say:

“Now you, my little lady, change partners all the time When you screw up you save yourself by aborting But there are mornings when you awake crying When you dream in the night of a large table surrounded by little ones.”

The song title is a play on words that signifies not only the passing of generations, but the moral degeneration as well. Since the 1960’s, Quebec has been steadily moving away from its Catholic heritage, and the province’s birthrate is now one of the lowest in the Western world. As a consequence Quebec is predicted to experience a 50% decline in its GDP within the next decade.

Nevertheless, only last year 10,000 young Québecois Catholics—the “true army of 10,000 fervent Catholics” according to Journal de Québec—gathered in Quebec City to celebrate the 11th anniversary of Evangelization 2000. Such an indication of revival had not occurred in Quebec for over twenty years (see http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/may/06052606.html).

Another sign of increasing cultural awareness, Mes Aïeux’s album “En Famille” (With the Family), featuring “Dégénerations”, won a Félix Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album in 2005. By December of the next year, “En Famille” sold 200,000 copies and was certified double platinum.

See the “Dégénerations” song video on YouTube (English Subtitles):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKCRHhmHvjg

For an English translation of the lyrics:

http://durendal.wordpress.com/2007/03/22/mes-aieux-degeneration/

Visit Mes Aïeux website:

http://mesaieux.qc.ca/

See Related LifeSiteNews coverage:

Quiet Counter-Revolution in Coaticook, Quebec

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/mar/04030210.html

Quebec to Experience Most Rapid Demographic Decline of all Industrialized Countries

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/oct/05102501.html

[monomaniac]

Here is a loose translation for interested anglophones…

Your great-great grandfather cleared the earth
Your great-grandfather laboured on the earth
Your grandfather turned a profit from the earth
Then your father sold the earth to become a bureaucrat

Now you, my little man, you don’t know what to do
In your little 3 room apartment - too expensive and cold in the winter
You want something to call your own
And you dream at night of having your own little piece of earth.

Your great great grandmother, she had 14 kids
Your great grandmother had about as many
Then your grandmother had three, that was enough for her
Your mom didn’t want any, you were an accident

Now you, my little lady, change partners all the time
When you screw up you save yourself by aborting
But there are mornings you awake crying
When you dream in the night of a large table surrounded by little ones.

Your great great grandfather lived through incredible suffering
Your great grandfather collected used, dirty pennies
Then your grandfather became a millionaire
Your father inherited and put it into RRSPs

Now you, my little youth, owe your a$$ to the government
No way to get a loan from a financial institution
To aleviate your desire to hold up a bank
You read books about voluntary simplicity

Your great great grandparents knew how to celebrate
Your great grandparent dance the night away
Your grandparents lived through the Yé-Yé era
Your parents, it was discos, that’s where they met

Now you, my friend, what are you doing with your evening?
Turn off your TV, can’t stay locked inside
Happily, some things in life never change
Put on your best, we’re going out tonight dancing!

http://durendal.wordpress.com/2007/03/22/mes-aieux-degeneration/

[BigFinn]

French Canadians used to have large families. A family friend, who was a Catholic priest, was born into a family of 19 brothers and sisters. His mother was 4' 8" and lived to be 94.
Now they chew up their unborn and then write a lousy song about it to ease their guilt.

[SteveMcKing]

"the song describes how life becomes empty and unnatural when it is severed from one’s land and heritage."

Tribalism is 98% selective nostalgia and faux cultural customs, plus a touch of plain old racism.

People are so insecure and unimaginative that they must brand themselves with the past by displaying so-called "heritage".

To hell with that. We are not our ancestors.

[RobbyS]

We are not our ancestors.

I gather that you don't intend to be anyone else's ancestor. Vive extinction?

[goldstategop]

Les générations parties, les générations ont perdu, les générations pleurées. La Belle Province porte le deuil pour ses enfants, pour la promesse disparue de cela la grandeur. La famille, les enfants et la foi seule sauveront Québec!

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[goldstategop]

Only one sentence will do. All Quebecois remember the history of French Canada:

"Je me souviens"

Its a beginning - again.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[SaltyJoe]

This sounds like a problem only Jesus can fix.

[SteveMcKing]

What the hell are you talking about?

[RobbyS]

You have so little respect for the past that I doubt you have much concern about the future.

[neb52]

Very nice. Worth downloading.

[Humble Servant]

” People are so insecure and unimaginative that they must brand themselves with the past by displaying so-called “heritage”. “

Sounds like Mao’s Cultural Revolution to me. Of course we change as time goes on, as we are informed by the past, and make choices. When we allow social radicals to sever us from our traditions, we allow them to dictate our whole society and its values. This is about a four-hour conversation I don’t have time for, but your comment deeply, deeply disturbs me.

[SteveMcKing]

There are no Maoist elements within my comments. How “Irish” do you demand I be, for example?

Unless I dress like a green dwarf, get drunk, and bomb the British embassy every St. Patrick’s Day, you are doubtlessly unsatisfied.

.... An Italian who isn’t stuffing his fat face with his mother’s recipes out of a cookbook she got at Walmart that claims some Old-world heritage? Why that person must have a mental disorder!!!