Acadian singer Cayouche left with his Harley-Davidson and will not return. This is the image that appeared in my head when I learned of his death, with instead of the handles on his handlebars, two small wings allowing him to go a little higher, instead of even lower. Left without much noise, no gas. But everyone knows that you can’t separate a outlaw of his motorcycle.
My friend from Moncton Carol Doucet reminds me that, for the filming of the documentary Cayouche. Time for a beer (Maurice André Aubin, 2009), the legendary motorcycle had even been moved as far as France. I’m digressing here, but even if Johnny Hallyday had been able to lend him one… “My iron horse is not yours”, and vice versa. A cowboy shares his songs, not his horse.
I continue to chat a little with Carol, whom I should present as the holy Mother of Moncton music, well before having the pretension of presenting her as a friend. This woman has hosted/encouraged/advised/introduced countless musicians from the East, in addition to certainly giving them lifts (because not everyone has a Harley, eh). In short, for me it has become a kind of bridge between New Brunswick and Quebec, and when I went to Moncton last fall, I discovered that its chum Luc is a chef (so I really had an interest in being his friend).
To return to Cayouche, one thing particularly attracts my attention in this end of theNew Acadia of June 4 that Carol sent me, regarding the celebration which will take place on Saturday at the Maisonnette parish hall:
Cayouche asks the most deprived not to make donations.
To others, please donate to those most in need.
***
I don’t feel equipped enough to portray Cayouche like Maurice Aubin was able to do, but I can tell you snippets of my meeting with him in 2015.
He was late for our meeting, but he finally showed up, and then I remember absolutely everything: his Harley-Davidson t-shirt, his accent, his smell, his outspokenness. To my first question: “How many shows do you do per year?” » He naturally exclaimed:
” Too much ! But it’s not the show which is difficult, it’s two showers on the same weekend! »
I burst out laughing. The table was set. Obviously, I had in front of me the one who could also have been the inspiration for Bad Blake in the film Crazy Heart (Scott Cooper, 2009), wonderfully played by the great Jeff Bridges. A country legend who has his flaws, despite the resistance of the red bandana he wears day after day.
I actually tied a knot on his head that evening, just before he went on stage at La P’tite Grenouille, and asked him: “Are you correct? »
To which he replied: “I don’t know! I don’t see anything! »
And there is for me in this answer as stupid as my question, part of the essence of country: it is not what we see that is important, it is what we feel.
***
Cayouche fans all have their favorite song(s): My tractor chain, Grandpa Jos, You flushed me, Drinking and driving…But that of Cayouche himself, which one was it?
The one about his father, who left when he was four. And I, a little awkwardly, pointed out to him that “it’s still interesting that his favorite song is about someone he didn’t know…” We’ll come back for liveliness this time .
My father died, I was young / But I still remember him
He said to me all the time My boy, hold on to the right end of the gun
My father’s portrait in the living room / It sits there with mom
It’s been hanging there for a long time / My father’s portrait in the living room
It seems to me that I can still see it / At the end of the kitchen table
Sometimes it makes my mother scream / With her big bottle of gin
Worked there all his life / To build us a good house
That’s why I can’t forget him / I hung his portrait in the living room
It’s the end of show for you too, Cayouche. You were right to love him picking on guitar in My father’s portrait, and to find the words “no worse”! Often, thanks to songs, we can better feel ourselves, or even feel the presence of someone who has left. Not to mention that music gives a voice to everyone, even the poor.