Kate & Anna McGarrigle : Complainte Pour St Catherine (1977)

[Funkyme4]

this version is so close to the album version great!!!!

[61kingsize]

it,s music straight from the heart!

[61kingsize]

i am very sorry that Kate is dead!! they are both wonderfull women!

[jagtone]

Check the other live versions of this on Youtube--this one, while not terrible, is by far the weakest, with a dragging tempo, no Anna-piana, and a sloppy rhythm section. There is one from 1976 with just the sisters on camera (although the band is playing--maybe synched?) that is wonderful. I love the nonsense lyric. With all the Mendocino/Heart Like a Wheel/I Eat Dinner seriousness of so many of their songs, the humor and sheer fun of things like this and Love Over and Over are just levitating.

[stenbergbro]

This is not cajun but inspired by Quebec folk

[stenbergbro]

@61kingsize , Cajuns were not deported from Quebec but from l'Acadie, i.e. what is today New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. 'Cajun' is a word derived from 'Acadien'.

[psirou]

Cajun reaggae...

[screenpunk]

rockpalast! .. this a fine occasion

[vanillemukhi]

I was 15 years old ... and I'm still singing this song very often ... so special to me :-)

[daffonfire]

just reminds me of when my daughter was born in 1976

[rikacy]

love this song brings so many memories

[Aristotelezz]

Great song!

[labora4best]

"Ya longtemps kon fet dla politique"...mais en Belgiiiique tujours pas de gouvernemeeeent! 21/09/2010

Bernard

[labora4best]

Ya longtemps qu'on fait dla politique..mais ya toujors rien cont les moustik!

Bernard

[Bobjb999]

I played a cassette of this song to my Quebecois girlfriend on a car stereo on a camping trip&asked her what the lyrics meant.She claimed she couldn't understand them!Was she pranking me,pulling my leg?Did the stereo lack clarity ?10+ years later,I have lyrics sites&google lang.translation&on seeing a supposed English translation,I STILL don't get much of the song! It's puzzling:Lousy trans.? Or is the song intentionally eccentric&hard to fathom? Chorus:..."20 yrs. of war against mosquitoes"!?

[oneliferocks]

A man like me ,cries when he hears this again after all these years.

I can't help it ,I am that way : the drive rocks ,the soul is soft and tender.

It makes you misunderstood in the face of too many others...and myself I am unsure and all these things.

But I go "rather well" ,and anyway, I am alive.

[oneliferocks]

Jesus: remember that when I was 20!

"Ya longtemps qu'on fait de la politique , mais il y toujours rien contre les moustiques..."

[Nefarioso]

Anna singing, Kate on accordian, yes?

[JANKOBUSSEN]

dank voor prachtige muziek, repose en paix

[parresia]

Rest in peace Kate, thank you for your wonderful music.

[anco61]

@parresia

Kate will enjoy the version from Leoni Jansen with Astrid Seriese, Izaline Calister, Sarine Voorn in the theatre tour "she got game" in the Netherlands, its heaven!!

[catweasel28]

Adieu, ma chère Kate!

[jockottawa]

repose en paix kate! merci pour les belles chansons

[shivanet]

adieu.

[catgilfillen]

Merci, Kate. Adieu.

[verbod]

that song is terible

[jasparstraat]

dank voor dit mooie nummer en rust zacht

[llachow]

Bon soir et merci, Kate.

[guasapa]

Merci Kate.

[alkalain]

Rest in Peace Kate... Our hearts are with you X0

[dkjohnt]

Great music.... thanks

[doens402]

Jo Lemaire a fait un cover de ce chanson mais je ne sais pas le trouver. Est-ce qu'il y a quelqu'un qui pourrait m'aider?

[Nefarioso]

This video deserves more viewings. I love their French Record.

[rukeyser]

K&A have always included french songs & released an entire french album...

[psirou]

From what I read some time back, this song celebrates some aspects of french canadian-ism (or quebec -ism).

But what's really peculiar is that the McGarrigle sisers are actually known to be more of the english speaking community.

Great example of tolerance, especially back in the days where (i think) tension was present...

[adrienm]

their mother is french-canadian... even though they do predominatly sing in english and are oviously more enlish-speaking

[johnmarshallmn]

Thank you for the words in English.

I knew from the melody some of the meaning, but now know it with the words.

Thanks!!

[tjibbe72]

part 2:

We've been in politics for a long time

Twenty years of war against mosquitos

Don't think that I'm an fool

Because I don't drive a convertible

The glory is fairly useless

At the price of gas (petrol) it's too distressing

[Bobjb999]

@tjibbe72 I must say your translation makes a whole lot more sense than the one I get from google language tools translation! ...Just as the glory of driving a convertible is "fairly useless", so is google's translation software, I'm afraid - at least for this song! Thanks. I've wondered for years what this song was about.

[johnmarshallmn]

Does anyone know the translation from French to English?

I like this song, but would like to know what it means.

Thanks!!!

[tjibbe72]

part 1:

Me, I walk along Ste Catherine

Getting the warmth from the Métro

I don't look through shop windows

When it's thirty below zero We've been in politics for a long time

Twenty years of war against mosquitos

I don't feel intrepid

When it snows I don't go skiing

I don't have a motel in the Laurentians

Sunday night is hockey night*