In South Africa, England, and Quebec, popular musicians have expressed regret over the rejection of their traditional cultures by the destructive onward march of modernity. The hugely popular song ‘De La Rey’, sung in Afrikaans by Bok van Blerk I have already explored in greater depth in an article for Norumbega, but ‘Roots’ by England’s Show of Hands and ‘Dégénération’ by Québécois group Mes Aïeux are worthy of notice.
‘Roots’, as one would expect from the title, decries the severing of the English people from their lyrical musical tradition and lifestyle, being replaced by “Indian, Asian, Afro-Celt”, while the song’s refrain evokes images of a people adrift: “Haul away boys let them go/ Out in the wind and the rain and snow/ We’ve lost more than we’ll ever know/ On the rocky shores of England”. In one verse, the song taps into a particular pet peeve of mine, the complete invasion of pubs by the dreaded television screen:
There is no greater killer of good conversation than the massive influx of television screens into the pubs. Just the other evening I was down in our regular in Bronxville and from my vantage point alone I could see three television screens. The bright technicolor projection of baseball, soccer, football, and rugby into an otherwise dark space is too great a distraction for the eye. Bad enough sitting in a booth, it is even worse having dinner at the bar when you do not at least have the advantage of sitting opposite your drinking companion. How much more of a good time it would be without those dazzling displays, and without the obnoxiously loud music, either piped in from the jukebox or else some third-rate band singing third-rate cover songs of third-rate rock groups. Bleccch! It is those moments when one yearns to be ensconced by the fire in the Russell on the Scores in St Andrews, either accompanied solely by a book and a solid pint, or engaged in the usual joviality with the after-Rosary crowd.
The Québécois song, meanwhile, laments the decline of the family from large in size and from tied to the earth to solitary and confined in the city. The name of the band — Mes Aïeux — means “My Ancestors” and ‘Dégénération’ is a play on words, meaning ‘degeneration’ but also soundling like ‘des generations’ — ‘of the generations’. The song opens:
Et pi toé mon p’tit gars, tu sais pu c’que tu vas faire
Dans ton p’tit trois et d’mi ben trop cher, frète en hiver
Il te vient des envies de dev’nir propriétaire
Et tu rêves la nuit d’avoir ton petit lopin d’terre
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.
The next verse goes on about the maternal line of the family: the great-great grandmother “had fourteen kids”, the next generation “had about as many”, the next “had three, that was enough for her” but “Your mom didn’t want any, you were an accident”.
Now you, my little lady, change partners all the time
When you make a mistake you escape by aborting
But there are mornings you awake crying
When you dream in the night of a large table surrounded by little ones.
The song is one of the most popular downloads on iTunes Canada, and the band’s most recent album has gone double-platinum.
Music videos of ‘De La Rey’, ‘Roots’, and ‘Dégénération’ after the jump.
Sources Fides et Ardor: Sign of Hope – Mes Aïeux | Fides et Ardor: The People Speak (or sing…)
Previously: Breaking the Mold in Quebec | The Men Who Saved Quebec | Hitchcock in Quebec
‘De La Rey’, by Bok van Blerk (in Afrikaans, with English subtitles).
‘Roots’, by Show of Hands (in English).
‘Dégénération’, by Mes Aïeux (in Québécois French, with English subtitles).
C. S. Lewis’ prescient vision of the N.I.C.E. taking over and “sanitizing” England in That Hideous Strength is shown to be spot on. May all the “St-Anne’s-on-the-Hill” rebels, musicians, and worshipers keep faith, hope, and charity well and alive.
degeneration is a great song. I’m glad it’s being noticed outside of Quebec
A pub which installs televisions ceases to be a pub. ‘Tis then a bar, which is a different place entirely. I once read an essay by Michael Aeschliman entitled “The Cold Grey Glow.” It describes the decline of hospitality which followed the introduction of television into a small European village. The sterile buzz and glow of the machine soon replaced the art of conversation and the cozy light of the hearth fire.
Josef Pieper even goes so far as to suggest that “the greatest menace to our capacity for contemplation is the incessant fabrication of tawdry empty stimuli which kill the receptivity of the soul”
Simon, surely as a Jewish Communist you must object to the terribly Catholic reactionary thoughts expressed in such a song?
Then again, you are probably the only Jewish Communist who’s been to a Latin Mass!
I’m enormously grateful for you bringing Dégénération to my attention. It’s heartbreaking, but enormously encouraging that it seems to have struck a cord with my countrymen in Quebec.
I think the end of Degeneration is important too. Reactionaries all to often are portrayed as dour but the celebration of partying in the last stanza is closer to the truth. As a Southern Catholic, I have always been intrigued by the Quebecois.
Great stuff!
Your description of “Roots” is a little off. The singer isn’t lamenting that English culture/music is being replaced by Afro, Celtic and Asian music/culture.
Instead, he respects the fact that those groups still have some connection to their traditional culture and can “dance all night long” to their music, and why can’t the English have something like that.
Just thought I’d point that out. They’re all great songs.
Excellent choice of music. I appreciate the sentiment, would have never discovered them! Also congratultions on a very interesting site.
They’re ultimately two sides of the same coin, Dan.