Song View

The song, written in 1842, describes the pain of exile in which many Canadians had to live after being deported abroad (to the USA and Australia) in the years following the Lower Canada Rebellion. There are different accounts of the origin of the melody. Elements from the folk song “Par derrière chez ma tante”, “J'ai fait une maîtresse” and its variation “Si tu te mets anguille” seem to have been fused together. The song was released in 1844 in the newspaper “Charivari canadien” under the title “Le procrit” and here again the children's song “Au bord d'un clair ruisseau” was given as the original melody, but no match can be found. The original text was written in Acadian French, which is mainly spoken in the region of Quebec, which was then known as Lower Canada.