Personnel
Originally composed for the National Film Board as the theme song for a film (Arthur Lamothe's La Neige a fondu sur la Manicouagan), "Mon Pays" quickly established itself as a Québécois anthem with its themes of "nationalism, solidarity and connection to the northern landscape" (as identified in The Canadian Encyclopedia).
"Mon Pays" may be the most important song in the history of Québéc, as much for its place in the sovereignty movement as for its artistic merits. It is included in many anthologies of song and poetry (including Roger Chamberland and André Gaulin's La Chanson Québécoise), has been covered by many artists (including in a disco re-write by Patsy Gallant), was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, won the Prix Félix-Leclerc at the Montréal Festival du disque and the grand prize at the International Song Festival in 1965, and placed 88th in Bob Mersereau's The Top 100 Canadian Singles and 30th in CBC's 50 Tracks: The Canadian Edition.
| Hometown: | Natashquan, Quebec |
| Canadian Content: | the song is a virtual anthem of Québéc starting with the opening line, ""Mon pays, ce n'est pas un pays, c'est l'hiver" ("My country is not a country, it is winter") |
| Release Date: | 1965 |
| Composer: | Gilles Vigneault |
| Album: | À la Comédie-Canadienne (1965), Mon Pays (1966), Les grands succès de Gilles Vigneault (1971) |
| Style: | Pop |
| Mar*Star 125: | did not rank |
| Mar*Star 150: | 9 |
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Personnel