La tendresse d’en haut
"A friend in need is a friend indeed"
- (Linus) Charles Shultz
Lyrics
LA TENDRESSE D’EN HAUT
words & music: Mike Ford 2017
Mille-neuf-cent-trente-trois I left my town
In the hard nickel belt
One too many mouths to stick around
To the open road I was dealt
Down to the big city
Like the others I did go
Et je prie pour un peu de la tendresse d'en haut
Partout, partout, y'avait des hommes comme moi
Stranded in the streets of Toronto
Bien peu d'amis, et pas de l'emploi
Only frozen stares, slush and snow
Down into the valley
Like the others I did go
Et je prie pour un peu de la tendresse d'en haut....
UN PEU DE LA TENDRESSE
QUE JE PUISSE CROIRE
QUE JE PUISSE CROIRE EN CES LUMIÈRES EN HAUT
QUE JE PUISSE CROIRE EN LA TENDRESSE D'EN HAUT
Dans la vallée dans les caves pour se chauffer
A dark oasis in the trees
Et la douce voix d'un cœur tendre qui descendait
One of my few pleasant memories
Down into the valley
Her basket overflows
Et je chante un peu de la tendresse d'en haut
Background
In Woody Guthrie's autobiography Bound for Glory, he talks about moving from town to town during the depression, looking for any kind of work - and about times he was so hungry he'd just knock on the door of a house and see if there were any chores he could do for a bite of food. He vividly describes a woman quickly grabbing some home-fried potatoes off the stove and giving them to him in a brown paper bag and shoeing him away...and how years later he could still see and small that grease-soaked paper bag in his memory, and could still feel the gratitude.
During the depression, many itinerant workers came down to Toronto from northern Ontario, among other places, looking for work. They had nowhere to stay, so many camped out in the Don Valley. When winter came, they were able to avoid freezing in an ingenious way.
At the Brickworks, bricks would be baked in big ovens, and then would be placed in stacks to gradually cool down. The homeless men found that if they slept on top of these just-backed bricks, they'd be warm, even though it might be 20 below outside. When police first learned of this, they raided the place and chased the men off, or worse. The owner of the Brickworks posted a sign (and open letter in the newspaper) declaring that these men where not to be disturbed - that they where there as his guests. A true hero, he was.
My studies revealed other heroes as well. It is said that on occasion, housewives who lived in houses at the top of the hill (in north Riverdale, along Chester Hill and other streets) would sometimes come down into Todmorden Mills with food for the homeless workers. The image called out for a song!
The narrator in this song talks about the hardships of 1933, and how in the valley he just wishes for some tenderness from up above - at first to the heavens, that his fate might improve, and then celebrates the actual kindness that does arrive.
Other Examples
One of the things we explore in our song workshops is that there are NO RULES in songwriting! Whatever works to express what you'd like to express. This applies to Rhyme, Meter, Melody, Song Structure, and so much more, including LANGUAGE.
La tendresse d'en haut expresses the thoughts of a Franco-Ontarian whose come to Toronto during the depression. I wanted to reflect his newness tot he town by having his thoughts expressed in both English and French. Check out these other tunes that use more than one language, to wonderful effect:
The Girl from Ipanema /Garota de Ipanema by Antônio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes, sung here in Portugese and English by Astrud Gilberto and João Gilberto.
by The Beatles - Paul McCartney using the only French he knows in an effort to communicate his feelings
A song from my 'Canada Needs You' concerts - including many French expressions from the voyageur world.