hey friend, say friend ...

for expo 67, the sun life assurance company of canada held an international competition for a theme song. they received 2200 entries from 35 countries, and lucky for us the winner was stephane venne who wrote the music and collaborated with marcel stellman on the lyrics for "un jour, un jour"(for some reason, the english version was called: hey friend, say friend). the song was recorded by donald lautrec and released as a 7" that i'm assuming was sold at the fair. i would imagine it was also blasting from speakers someplace near the entrance.

on the 7" cover, lautrec looks a bit like françois truffaut, and i'm wondering if paul weller might have seen this photo when he started the style council... the song is certainly sounding a lot like an arrangement of jacques brel via scott walker(with a bit of a mod/ska madness beat deep down under)... the song is a gem, as well as incredibly catchy. i've posted the french because the repetitive chorus in english is just too hard to shake.

click here to listen to "hey friend, say friend".