"Mon pays" ("My Country", or "My Homeland", in English) is a song composed by

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, 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 ...

singer-songwriter

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", ...

in 1964.Suzanne Thomas, Stephen C. Willis and Hélène Plouffe
"Mon Pays"
''

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available f ...

'', November 20, 2011. The song was written for the NFB film '' The Snow Has Melted on the Manicouagan (La Neige a fondu sur la Manicouagan)'', directed by Arthur Lamothe. The song consists of six stanzas of lyrics about winds, cold, snow, and ice, of the solitude of wide open spaces and of the ideal of brotherhood. Its theme, "'Mon pays ce n'est pas un pays, c'est l'hiver", is well-known throughout the province. As well as expressing the natural beauty and praising the special characteristics of the composer's Quebec homeland, the song is seen by many people as declaring the free spirit of the province; Vigneault has denied that this was ever his intention; however, he has been firm that "mon pays" refers to Quebec and should not be associated with Canada as a whole. Vigneault won the Prix Félix-Leclerc at the 1965

Festival du disque de Montréal A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...

for the song. Later that same year, Monique Leyrac performed it at the International Song Festival in

Sopot Sopot is a seaside resort city in Pomerelia on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland, with a population of approximately 40,000. It is located in Pomeranian Voivodeship, and has the status of the county, being the smallest c ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

, taking first prize with it. In 1977, the melody from "Mon Pays" was reworked into the disco song "From New York to L.A." recorded by

Patsy Gallant Patricia Gallant (born August 15, 1948, in Campbellton, New Brunswick) is a Canadian pop singer and musical theatre actress. Of Acadian ancestry, she has recorded and performed in both English and French. Early life Patsy Gallant was one of ...

. This song with English lyrics by Gene Williams unrelated to the original French, was an international hit for Gallant - Canada/ #6 Pop, #1 Adult Contemporary,/ the UK/ #6, Ireland/ #5, Australia/ #10, the Netherlands/ #15, Norway/ #7, South Africa/ #5, Sweden/ #17, - and in 1995 reached #5 in Austria via a remake credited to N.Y.L.A. featuring Stephanie McKay.

References

External links

''Mon Pays'' in the Canadian Encyclopedia
{{authority control Songs about Canada 1964 songs Quebecois patriotic songs Gilles Vigneault songs Songs written by Gilles Vigneault Songs written for films