Montéhus
Gaston Mardochée Brunswick, better known by his pseudonym Montéhus (9 July 1872 – December 1952), was a French singer-songwriter. He was the writer of such notable songs as "Gloire au 17ème" and "La Butte Rouge".
Biography
Montéhus was the eldest child of 22 in an impoverished working-class family of Jewish descent.
A Child of the Commune
Montéhus was born in
He began to sing in public at the age of 12, in 1884, a decade before the beginning of the
A Committed Singer
In the second half of the 19th century, the song was central to the popular culture. Books, expensive as they were, were not accessible to the working classes. When it contained a strong political element, the song could be a powerful tool of
In his lively, driven songs, Montéhus opposed war, capitalist exploitation, prostitution, poverty, religious hypocrisy, but also the income tax:
- Au lieu d'imposer l'travailleur qui enrichit l'gouvernement
- Imposez plutôt les noceurs [les capitalistes] qui gaspillent tant d'argent.[1]
He also defended the cause of women in a remarkable way. La grève des Mères (The Mothers' Strike) was legally banned on 5 October and Montéhus condemned for "incitement to abortion".
On 5 March 1902, he is initiated into Freemasonry at ″l'Union de Belleville″ lodge in Paris.[2] And when he considered joining the Communist Party in 1922, as the French Communist Party did not accept Freemasons, he preferred to remain faithful to his lodge.
A Friend of Lenin
Montéhus maintained relations with
A Revolutionary Jingoist
During the First World War, Montéhus, like many others, underwent a radical change of political opinion. He made himself the zealous changer of the
- "Et maintenant tous à l'ouvrage
- Amis, on ne meurt qu'une fois !"
Similarly, in Lettre d'un Socialo (sung to the tune of L'air du Clairon by Paul Déroulède), he explained that the time had come for La Marseillaise, while waiting to be able to sing L'Internationale once again:
- Nous chantons La Marseillaise
- Car dans ces terribles jours
- On laisse L'Internationale
- Pour la victoire finale
- On la chantera au retour.
Montéhus was the image of the working people, who left en masse for the front contrary to the fears of the state adjutant who had overestimated the workers' commitment to pacifism.
In a song impregnated with the racism of his time, entitled L'Arbi, Montéhus held xenophobic intentions:
- Moi li sait bien, toi pas voulu guerre
- Toi, li Français, c'est kif kif le bon Dieu.[4]
Plus loin :
- Moi suis content voir Paris : J'suis content, c'est bézef bonno
- A couper cabêche aux sales Pruscots
- car eux, du tout, pas gentils
- As pas peur, as pas peur, Sidi
- Si Pruscots venir, moi coupe kiki.[5]
During these four years of war, he did not cease to compose warlike songs (La Dernière victime, La Voix des mourants, La Vision sanglante, Debout les Morts !, etc.), he would never be mobilised and thus never know the horrors of the front. On the other hand, on the stage of the Olympia, he was wounded in the head singing warlike songs. At the end of the war in 1918, for his good and loyal services, he received the Croix de Guerre.
Disgrace
After the war, Montéhus faced a rather long period of disgrace. He ceased to enroll in the
[...] car les bandits qui sont cause des guerres
n'en meurent jamais, on ne tue qu'les innocents.
Support for the Popular Front
During the 1930s, he was a member of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO). At the advent of the Popular Front, at the age of 64, Montéhus was again at the forefront with Le décor va changer, Vas-Y Léon !",[6] Le Cri des grévistes, L'Espoir d'un gueux, songs in which he supported the Popular Front and Léon Blum.
Under the Vichy Regime
Montéhus was not sent to a concentration camp, but he was forced to wear the yellow star from 1942 until the Liberation of France. In 1944, he wrote the Chant des Gaullistes (Song of the Gaullists).
After the Liberation
He received the Legion of Honour from Paul Ramadier en 1947. Nevertheless he was all but forgotten in show business, and was supported only by his family when he died in 1952 in Paris.
Citations
Gloire au 17ème – 1907
- Salut, salut à vous,
- Braves soldats du 17ème ;
- Salut, braves pioupious,
- Chacun vous admire et vous aime ;
- Salut, salut à vous,
- À votre geste magnifique ;
- Vous auriez, en tirant sur nous,
- Assassiné la République.
Lettres d'un socialo – 1914
- Certes cela est pénible
- Quand on a le cœur sensible
- De voir tomber les copains
- Mais quand on est sous les armes
- On n'doit pas verser de larmes
- On accepte le destin.
La Butte Rouge – 1919
- La Butt’ Rouge, c’est son nom, l’baptême s’fit un matin
- Où tous ceux qui montaient roulaient dans le ravin.
- Aujourd’hui y’a des vignes, il y pousse du raisin.
- Qui boira ce vin là, boira l’sang des copains.
References
- ^ L'impôt sur les fainéants, répertoire Montéhus
- ^ Dictionnaire Universelle de la Franc-Maçonnerie - Jode and Cara (Larousse - 2011)
- ^ Marc Robine, « Montéhus, Le chansonnier humanitaire. Enregistrements originaux 1905–1936 » EPM, Paris
- ^ Marc Robine : « Montéhus, Le chansonnier humanitaire. Enregistrements originaux 1905–1936 » EPM, Paris
- ^ Marc Robine : « Montéhus, Le chansonnier humanitaire. Enregistrements originaux 1905–1936 » EPM, Paris
- ^ Anthologie de la chanson française année 1936
Book
Rémy Wermester : "Montéhus La lutte en chantant" Editions Elzévir (November 2012) : In the same time, biography, bibliography of the writer under historic ground from "La Belle Epoque" to "Trente Glorieuses".
Bibliography
Marc Robine : « Montéhus, Le chansonnier humanitaire. Enregistrements originaux 1905–1936 » EPM, Paris.
External links
- Chansons de Montéhus (La Butte rouge, La jeune garde, Les mains blanche, ...)
- La Butte rouge