We could count on one hand the number of artists in the last century who pioneered a new genre. Félix Leclerc is one of them. A Québécois folk singer known for literary songwriting — marked by lyrics, themes, and characters that linger long like classic literature. Names in this influential group also include: Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and John Prine.
In Chansonniers du Québec, Christian Larsen wrote:
“Félix Leclerc is to the Canadian chanson what Trenet was to the French chanson: a revolutionary, a turning point, and a leader. Because of him, fortune-hunters, poets and shopkeepers set out in search of a new Klondike … although he did not create the Canadian chanson, Leclerc produced its public and its market and to some extent was responsible for the present generation of young chansonniers.”
Leclerc was a trailblazer as a chansonnier — a writer and singer of poetic, lyric-driven French songs. He began writing his first song, “Notre Sentier,” in his late teens while studying at the University of Ottawa. Due to his unique style that featured literary devices such as allegory, irony, and pathos, he influenced many in his generation and future generations — artists like Richard Séguin and Sylvain Lelièvre in Quebec and Brel, Brassens, or Béart on the other side of the Atlantic.
Leclerc was also a poet, novelist, activist, and actor. He passed away in 1988 in Sainte-Pierre-de-Île-d’Orléans, just outside of Quebec City, leaving a catalogue of more than 146 original compositions. In 2003, Leclerc was posthumously inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. And in 2014 — on the 100th anniversary of his birth — the Québec government designated him a “historical figure.” His body of work over a 60-year career helped shape the collective identity of the Québécois.
Today, his legacy lives on and is preserved — not just for Quebecers, but for all Canadians and fans worldwide — via the Félix Leclerc Foundation. This past June, the Foundation, with the blessing of Leclerc’s daughter Nathalie, released a 50th anniversary edition of his influential 1973 album, L’alouette en colère. The record marked the folk singer’s shift from pastoral writing to political. The anniversary edition includes six previously unreleased demos, recorded in 1971.
Prior to writing the 11 songs on L’alouette en colère, Leclerc had already released dozens of chart-topping records. He was Canada’s first international superstar — touring Europe and selling out concerts in France, Belgium, and Switzerland regularly, starting in the 1950s. On his previous records, the chansonnier was more interested in writing poetic odes and ruminating pieces with themes of an omnipresent nature that featured tragic human characters.
“When I was a child, my mother played me Leclerc’s music,” says historian Jean-Pierre Sévigny. “I thought (at first) it was traditional music because he speaks about where he comes from … he is basically an ‘educated peasant’ as he comes from a family of farmers and his father also owned a lumberjack operation. There is a story I love of the elders trying to get Félix to help out with the chores on the farm and he was not really contributing much, so instead they told the young man to go inside and write about what they do, but don’t try to do it with us!”
The FLQ and the October Crisis in 1970 was the tipping point for Leclerc to turn from writing about rural life to speaking up for his people. When the FLQ kidnapped the British Trade Commissioner from his Montreal home, it set off a series of escalating demands from both sides that culminated in the Canadian liberal government (led by Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau) sending in 1,000 soldiers to Montreal.
Using caustic irony, L’alouette en colère is a direct retort to the disgust and anger Leclerc felt towards the gradual efforts by governments to erode the Québécois culture within Canada. He could no longer sit on the sidelines. From this point on, his songwriting became more political and was laced with his fervent nationalism. One day, Leclerc, who lived on Île d’Orléans, was heading across the bridge when an Anglo Canadian officer stopped him and asked to see “his papers.” The songwriter was incensed. He returned home and wrote the title track “L’alouette en colère” in less than 24 hours sitting at his kitchen table. The song became a successful single and still resonates today.
“This was a departure because he had never written protest songs before,” explains historian Jean-Pierre Sévigny, who sits on the steering committee for the Felix Leclerc Foundation. “Before that he was more of an ecological poet; he sang about nature, the environment, animals and country folk. There was some patriotism in his plays and songs, but it was not on the forefront. With L’alouette en colère, patriotism became the main theme in his work. He jumped into the political arena and became a militant for Quebec sovereignty.”
For Leclerc’s audience, this departure came as a shock. Even the songwriter wondered what his devotees might think with these new lyrics, and he told the venue owners when he debuted these songs for the first time to prepare for boos. Instead, Sévigny reveals that Leclerc received eight encores.
“They were ready for these messages,” he says.
In a Billboard feature titled “Quebec Talent Goes International” in the October 29, 1977 issue, the writer wrote of Leclerc’s nationalism and patriotic influence on this next generation of French-Canadian stars:
“Félix Leclerc, who for years was the only one to carry the Quebec flag abroad.”
During the 1970s, unemployment reached unprecedented levels, topping 30 per cent in Quebec. Leclerc tackled this issue on L’alouette en colère; again, with his wit and caustic irony. Songs like “My Neighbour is Rich” and “Les 100,000 façons to tuer un homme” (translation: 100,000 ways to kill a man) spoke to the wage gap and the misconception that those without jobs liked it that way and were just lazy.
“I saw a photo of a march from this time in the archives with a worker carrying a poster that read: ‘We don’t want unemployment insurance, we want a job!’” says Sévigny. “That is the feeling Leclerc speaks to in this song.”
“Race du Monde” is one of Sévigny’s favorite songs from this seminal record.
“It speaks to the fact that there are all kinds of people in this world and the worst are the big shots that want to control everything,” he concludes. “Leclerc’s message is that the earth belongs to everybody and he belongs to that race. Like Woody Guthrie’s ‘This Land is Your Land,’ it reminds people that we all have rights, not just the wealthy.”
Learn more about Félix Leclerc’s life, career and legacy.
RECORD FAST FACTS
Album: L’alouette en colère
Artist: Félix Leclerc
Label: Mercury Music Group/Gala Records
Recorded: Spring 1972
Released: 1973
Studio: Studio des Dames, Paris, France
Engineer: Henri Loustau
Producer: Jean-Pierre Hebrard
Track Listing:
1. L’alouette en colère
2. Viendra-t-elle aujourd’hui
3. My Neighbour is Rich
4. La légende du petit ours gris
5. Un soir de février
6. Batelier, batelier
7. Les 100,000 façons de tuer un homme
8. Races de monde
9. La mouche à feu (La luciole)
10. Pour bâtir une maison
11. Tu t’en iras demain
Bonus Tracks:
12. Viendra-t-elle aujourd’hui (Demo 1971)
13. Races de monde (Demo 1971)
14. L’alouette en colère (Demo 1971)
15. Les 100,000 façons de tuer un homme (Demo 1971, Prise 1)
16. Les 100,000 façons de tuer un homme (Demo 1971, Prise 2)
17. Un soir de février (Demo 1971)
