"" ("A Wandering Canadian") is a song written in 1842 by Antoine Gérin-Lajoie after the Lower Canada Rebellion of 1837–1838. Some of the rebels were condemned to death, others forced into exile to the United States This version was included in his 1969 East German compilation album ; the album was released posthumously in the United States in 1977 as American Balladeer.
American audiences were introduced to the song in 1963 with French-language performances by Ian & Sylvia. They included "" on their debut 1962 album Ian & Sylvia. They gave it further prominence at the Newport Folk Festival as recorded on the 1996 album Ian & Sylvia Live at Newport.
In the 1969 film, My Side of the Mountain, the folk singer and musicologist Theodore Bikel sings the first part of "" and then plays a bit of it on a "homemade" reed flute. The melody refrains throughout the film.
Leonard Cohen recorded "" as "The Lost Canadian" on his 1979 Recent Songs album. His own song "The Faith", on his 2004 album Dear Heather, is based on the same melody.
American folk duo John & Mary included an arrangement by Mary Ramsey on their 1991 album Victory Gardens.
Canadian folk rock duo Whitehorse recorded "" and included it on their 2013 covers album The Road to Massey Hall. A version performed by the duo is featured on the soundtrack to One Week, a 2008 film starring Joshua Jackson.
The song also made an appearance as the location music for Canada in the Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego video game (1996), performed by Terry Gadsden and Frederik Kinck-Petersen.
History
Ernest Gagnon in (Quebec City 1865) says "the original tune was , of which the words of the variant are (somewhat altered) fragments." Gagnon's analysis is considered definitive.
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