Between the best and the worst | Edith Butler, between hope, love and heavy metal

“My new show, you have to see it, because it’s an 82-year-old woman who does it and it’s not soft, it’s rock,” promises Édith Butler while speaking about her visit to the Outremont Theater on Saturday . Always laughing, the author-composer revisits here the glorious and zany moments of one of the richest careers of the French-speaking world, the end of which is far from having been written. “I want to be the Acadian Janette Bertrand. I want to live at least to be 100 years old. »

The song you are most proud of

This is theHymn to hope [1978]. It’s a song that has held up for a long, long time. It has been translated into several languages, Arabic, Hebrew. The choirs sang it, the summer camps, too. I’m proud of it, because we need hope right now.

I have ups and downs when it comes to hope, with everything that’s happening with the climate, wars or culture. It’s as if for several years, we’ve been in a big storm and we’re waiting for it to pass. So there must be some hope left, because we are still here, waiting for the storm to end.

The song you wish you hadn’t recorded

It is Your dog ma’am [1985]. I never wanted to sing it, but back in the Party days [sa série d’albums festifs des années 1980]it was very much the producer who chose the repertoire. Et he chose well, because it made big, big hits.

On stage, people still scream Your dog ma’am and I answer: “Ah, your little dog, madame, he’s dead! » [Rires] I sang it a few weeks ago at Live from the universe for Sophie Prégent and I told her: I’ll sing it for you and then it’s over.

The song you can’t sing anymore

People often ask me: aren’t you tired of singing? Paquetville ? But no ! I’ve sung it thousands of times and it’s always new. Because I see people tapping their feet, singing with me. And because in Paquetville, I sing about my part of the country, I sing about my village, I sing about myself.

Your favorite little-known album

It is Madame Butlerfly [2003]an album that I made with Catherine Lara, who is a genius at orchestration. The guitars were played by Sylvain Luc [grand guitariste français]which we lost in March. I don’t know why it didn’t work.

Catherine Lara and I met in 1973, we had the same record company, we found ourselves on the same TV sets in France and here. We became friends and never let each other go. We always said we would do something together.

Then, at the beginning of the 2000s, Lise [Aubut, son imprésario] met Catherine in France and she told her that I was a little depressed. Catherine’s reaction was to ask her if I wanted to make an album with her. When Lise came home and told me that, I said yes, yes, yes, I want, I want, I want.

Your most memorable spectator

It’s the Premier of New Brunswick, Richard Hatfield. I was at the Mariposa festival [important évènement folk en banlieue de Toronto] In 1971 it was the era of the beatniks, everyone was sitting on the grass, smoking weed and eating granola. And suddenly, I see a man with a very chic outfit, patent leather shoes, come and sit right in the middle of the friends. I said to myself: who is this guy? After the show, he comes to see me. He was my prime minister! He remained my friend all his life. When he came to Montreal, we went out together to the song clubs.

I remember, once, we were in a hippie place in Old Montreal, we were sitting at a communal table and the young people around me started asking me: Is this your boyfriend? ? [Rires] I said: He’s not my boyfriend, he’s the Prime Minister of New Brunswick! The young people laughed, they didn’t believe me. It took Richard taking a piece of paper out of his wallet for them to believe him.

Your most catastrophic show

I went on tour in the United States and I included in the show a song that I created with Clémence DesRochers called The tank sellerwhich is almost heavy metal. [Rires] When I arrived in the United States with this in my show, which was otherwise quite folkloric, no one applauded. There was total silence in the room. It’s like I crushed the world. It was too heavy metal.

One of your most beautiful collaborations

It is Libre [1977]the album by Angèle Arsenault that I produced. There are five, six hits on there. I made the arrangements, played almost all the instruments. I was in a completely inspired state. I understood Angèle, because I had known her for a long time.

Your most significant professional meeting

I met Lise Aubut in 1973, precisely because she was Angèle’s agent. She also worked with Barbara, Serge Reggiani. She was the greatest impresario and there weren’t many of them at the time. She was first my agent, but she quickly became my friend. We’ve been working together for 51 years. She is an exceptional woman.

Not only did she make me grow in the profession, but she made me grow as a human. When I went to France, everyone told me: “You must not speak the way you speak, no one will understand you. » And Lise told me: “No, you have to speak your language. You have to be yourself, like in your kitchen, like in your living room. » She helped me understand the universe, to understand life.

The most Acadian thing you have

All, all, all. I always carry that with me. When I sing, it’s not me who sings, it’s my dad, my mom, my ancestors. When I walk in the forest, I am Acadian, when I cut wood, I am Acadian, when I breathe, I am Acadian. It’s my reason for living. I am the continuity of a people who have been so strong to have survived all the difficulties.

Your favorite President of the French Republic

I didn’t meet many of them, but it was Mitterrand that I liked the most. He came to see me at the Festival de Marne and he liked my talk. He told me: You speak the same as my mother. Afterwards, when he came to Canada, he always asked that I go sing for him. He also invited me to eat at the Élysée. I was told not to sing at the table, but we ended up singing our versions ofAt the clear fountain. On a eu ben du fun.

The song that moves you the most

It is A million times I love you. One day, I found a sheet of paper on which Lise had written that sentence. I went down to my piano and wrote the music in one go. I came back to see Lise with a cassette, on which I had recorded the music. I told him, “Listen to this and write me the rest of the song.” » It touches me so much, because I’m pretty sure she wrote that sentence for me. I hope so, anyway.

The phrase from one of your songs that best represents you

This is the title of the song I was a daughter of the wind and Acadia.

November 9 at the Outremont Theater, as part of Coup de cœur francophone

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