Complainte pour Ste. Catherine
Complainte pour Ste. Catherine is a song written by Canadians Philippe Tatartcheff & Anna McGarrigle, first featured on Kate & Anna McGarrigle's eponymous debut album, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, released in 1976.
The original French version was covered by Kirsty MacColl as a bonus track on the CD edition of her 1989 album Kite.
With lyrics in Swedish by Ola Magnell as "Ingen kommer undan politiken" ("No-one escapes politics"), the song was recorded by Marie Bergman on the 1977 album Närma mej,[1] and by Marie Fredriksson in 2006 on the album Min bäste vän.[2]
| "Complainte pour Ste. Catherine" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| B-side | "None" |
The Marie Fredriksson version was also released as a digital single on 25 July 2006. It was the second single released from Marie Fredriksson's cover album Min bäste vän, in digital format only. A promotional single (0946 3707622 4) was also released. "I owned the record by Kate and Anna McGarrigle and I was blown away by the way they sang it", Marie says.[citation needed]
The Marie Fredriksson version was also released as a digital single on 25 July 2006.
Meaning
The lyrics are politically jokey, sung in the persona of a poor girl hanging around above the Côte-Sainte-Catherine metro station in Montreal, where in winter she and her buddies take advantage of the rising heat from the metro tunnel outlets, and in summer they continue the endless battle against mosquitoes.[4] The Piaf-style plangent tune and heartrending harmonies undercut the devil-may-care tone of the lyrics, giving the song a tone of acerbic sweetness.
Formats and track listings
Digital download
(July 25, 2006)
- "Ingen kommer undan politiken" - 3:44
Swedish promotional CD
(0946 3707622 4; July 25, 2006)
- "Ingen kommer undan politiken" - 3:44
Personnel
- Vocals: Marie Fredriksson.
- Keyboards and backing vocals: Mikael Bolyos.
- Guitar: Jokke Pettersson.
- Accordion: Bengan Jansson.
- Violin: Kalle Moraeus.
- Banjo: Edmund Benjamin.
- Drums: Per Lindvall.
- Bass: Sven Lindvall.
- Backing vocals: Vincent Pontare.
- Produced and arranged by: Mikael Bolyos.
- Recorded by: Mikael Bolyos at Studio Vinden, and Roger Krieg at Cosmos Studio.
- Mixed by: Roger Krieg at St:Eriksplan 1.
- Mastered by: Thomas Eberget at Cutting Room.
- Photo: Mattias Edwall.
- Artwork: Kjell Andersson & Pär Wickholm.
- Make-up: Petra Cabbe.