In the spring of 2020, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, I felt the need to put into words what I was seeing, hearing, and feeling.
The idea came to me while listening to DISTURBED's version, which I find incredibly inspiring, as I was following horrifying news around the clock in March, watching the pandemic unfold here with a mix of shock and outrage.
It deeply affected me to hear the horrifying stories of people dying of thirst here in Quebec. I found it disgusting, and it revolted me.
I wanted to put into words the feelings that were tearing me up inside, sending a message to the world to wake up.
We got it wrong, everyone.
Long-term care homes, under this model, don't work.
We need to wake up and take action for OUR death.
Not being a musician myself, I set out to entirely rewrite the lyrics of "The Sound of Silence" so they would fit the original melody. This work took me more than a month, just to get the words, syllables, and rhythm to line up.
This video was recorded very simply with my cellphone, at the chalet, with no studio, no effects, and no pretension.
Here is this creation, exactly as it was made in June 2020.
The lyrics remain in their original French below. They were written syllable by syllable to fit the melody of "The Sound of Silence" — a translation would lose that fit entirely, so none is offered here.
Nous vivions dans l'insouciance
Confortable dans l'ignorance
On nous l'a promis On y a cru
Tous ensemble c'est ce qu'on a voulu
Sans souffrance la mort délivrée sur ordonnance
comme récompense
Dans un Manoir
Du silence
Mais soudain c'est arrivé
la peur nous a confiné
isolés on s'est cru en sureté
mais plus fort que notre volonté
il était petit mais soufflant
tel un ouragan
En dévoilant
Les défaillances
du silence
Et soudain nous avons vu
Au moins mille p-e plus
tous ils suppliaient que la mort
pour l'éternité les prennent à bord
pour les libérez
des sou-ffrances de l'absence
des êtres aimés
dans les allées
du silence
mais ne di - t-on pas déjà
(que) par les cra ques la lumière va
mais com-bien d'â-mes cela prendra
combien de larmes l'on comptera
leurs criiis doivent déchirer l'ignorance
pour à jamais dénoncer
le silence
mais ne vo-yez vous donc pas
le men-son-ge du tré-pas
Loin de la récompense promise
a ja-mais vos mé-moi-r' dans l'oubli
soyons maudit si
leur cris n'éveillent
en nous le désir
du souvenir
et du repentir
pour les avoir laissé mourir
en silence
Your friend of the night.
The Dancer.