Stand Up Charlie

Stand Up Charlie

Montreal, Canada, 2011

It's a warm monday evening as I step out of the Club Soda, a nice old cabaret theater on Saint Laurent Boulevard, where I sometimes volunteer on National Improvisation League game nights. Improvisation matches are quite popular here in Quebec, for this is where it all started back in 1977 before later gaining popularity in other French speaking countries such as France, Belgium and Switzerland. It is modeled on hockey games and takes place in a small imitation ice-skating ring, with two teams of six players each, a referee, and even a guy playing themes on the organ, just like in an actual hockey game! The themes and rules of each improvisation are drawn by lot by the referee before each round. The audience votes for the winner by show of hands with cardboards to the colours of the teams. Today's game opposed the Greens to the Oranges. Although it does rather sound like a fight between fruit and vegetables, it was another great game with no shortage of wit and laughs.

I decide to take a walk up to Parc Lafontaine, in the heart of the plateau Mont Royal, one of my favourite places to go to and work on my songs in the evenings. Photogenic twisted staircases ornament the colourful brick plexes bordering the streets along the way. The eclectic architecture of Montreal makes for a most interesting walk, with more hidden gems around the corner than first meets the eye. Colourful victorian houses, gothic revival cathedrals, castle shaped fire stations, art deco monuments, roman catholic churches and modern glass buidling all stand side by side, fighting for spotlight in this patchwork urban landscape. Montreal feels like several cities superimposed into one, and yet it does work beautifully, nothing here feels out of place, however unlikely the mariage.

The historic park welcomes me with a cool breeze. I am about to pick a spot in the shade of a century old poplar tree by the side of the lake when I hear notes of blues harmonica in the distance. That has to be Simon, I say to myself, and so I decide to go on and follow the sound of music through the park's winding pathways. Finally a lonesome figure sitting on a washed up wooden bench appears from behind the hedge around the corner, and surely enough there is Simon, giving all he has to a Big Bill Bronzy tune, his all time favourite. We exchange a knowing smile as I grab my guitar out of its case and sit down by his side to join in the blues. It has been that way ever since we first met in this very park, about four months ago ; Simon has been my brother in soul, and we have shared many great jams under the shade of the old trees. I then go to the first chord of one of my own songs, Stand up Charlie, I know it is one of his favourites. This is a song I wrote for children who are war victims of left over landmines from conflicts, who either die or end up losing limbs when all they were doing was playing innocently in a field. I also wrote it with the humanitarian action of NGOs such as Handicap International in mind. Simon once told me he simply wouldn't get it if I didn't make it big time with that song; that song was gonna be my big break, he was adamant about it. There is also room for an extended harmonica solo at the end of the song, allowing him to play away to his heart's content, with inspired solos that would lift the song to a whole other level.

There's something about Simon. He has a beautiful soul, one of a true poet. He works a variety of manual jobs during the day -gardening, painting houses, construction work-, all so that he can free his mind for his writing once the work is done. I find this approach inspiring: many times have I noticed that some of my best songs came out of the blue after my body and mind had been devoted to a completely different task. Simon's best friend died suddenly about a year ago, and I can tell how deeply still this loss affects him. Both philosophers at heart, two kindred souls sitting on a bench, we'd spend hours wondering about the meaning of life and singing the blues. Other times we'd head off towards the subway to do some busking, either at Sherbrooke or Saint Laurent Stations, passing by Square Saint Louis and its colourful Victorian houses of purple, red and blue. There in the subway, under the blue lyre that marks the spot, we'd sing and play our hearts out, our melodies riding the waves of the crowd at rush hour, hoping our little songs could maybe ease some of that stress away.

My internship here in Montreal is coming to an end, and I 'll be leaving Canada soon. I bought a guitar during my stay here, a nice little parlor size acoustic from Simon and Patrick, handmade here in Quebec. This is the guitar I have been busking and songwriting on for the past seven months, it is really lovely, and I am very fond of it, but I already have a guitar to take back with me on the plane. Simon once told me he would like to learn blues guitar someday; this little parlor would be perfect for that. And call it destiny, she even bears his name. These two were clearly meant for each other. So I have decided that I'll leave her here in his company, she'll be in good hands.

*****

Stand up Charlie

In a world that's undermined

By the greed and the hatred

Of the human kind

Where bastards build bombs

Killing children of the world

Making money at all costs

No matter if it hurts

Stand up Charlie

Don't give up hope just now

There's still good to be found

In the human kind

People dedicate their life

To humanitarian cause

To whom human life

Can still be about joy

Stand up Charlie

Get yourself up from the ground

There may not be no heaven

Here on earth to be found

There's a better place for all

Behind the deep blue skies

Not the heaven we hoped for

Not as bad a place for sure

Stand up Charlie

Meet the Devil in the eye

And free your own angel

To those deep blue skies

Prove wrong those who

Turn the light into shade

That the smile of a child

Is enough to light up the day