“Viens-t’en fêter à ma manière!” (“Come and Celebrate as One of Us!”), theme song of the Fêtes du Vieux Saint-Eustache

Music played a central role in the Fêtes du Vieux Saint-Eustache. Starting in 1978, the event even had its own theme song titled Viens t’en fêter à ma manière ! (Come and party our way!) Inspired by traditional Québec folk tunes, it was often heard all over the site. The lyrics were written by Louis Bricault, one of the organizers of the Fêtes, Lisette Gauthier-Huard wrote the music, and Fernand Houle, who lived in the Grande-Côte neighbourhood, performed it.

To allow the public to sing along with Fernand Houle, the words of the theme song, which was two minutes and fifteen seconds long, were printed in the program for the 1978 Fêtes, which is shown above. Here are the lyrics of Viens-t’en fêter à ma manière:

Note: Lyrics are notoriously difficult to translate, and a literal translation such as the one below can only provide a very general sense of the meaning and spirit of the original words.

Refrain:

Come and celebrate as one of us
My rivers are full of fiddles
Come and celebrate as one of us
All the harvests of yesterday… (repeat)

Verses:

(1) All along Grande Côte Road
Beside a river, beside a field (repeat)
I’ll sow my house in the wind
For that is what I do (refrain)

(2) I met my neighbours
My land lies sleeping beside a village (repeat)
I’m off to sow my words
Along the landscapes (refrain)

(3) Yesterday in the Du Chêne River
In the fire, in the war (repeat)
My brother died at my neighbour’s hand…
I’m off to sow the winter (refrain)

(4) Tomorrow I’m off to marry
My son to Chicot’s daughter (repeat)
With her dress in the wind on the water
That is his desire (refrain)

(5) Yesterday I met my neighbours
At the mill they call Moulin d’en-haut
There I met my fathers
Who were off to celebrate… (refrain)