La Chanson Du Jour/ The Song Of The Day: Arcade Fire - Haiti

This is probably the most heartfelt song I have seen written in recent times, an elegy sung by Régine Chassagne(one of the founding members of the group Arcade Fire) of her once beautiful homeland,from which she was driven out during the reign of Haiti's exiled leader Jean-Claude Duvalier.

I like the live version of this song best because its seems to portray the raw emotion, the sadness, anger, frustration in which this song was penned.

LYRICS:

Haïti, mon pays,
wounded mother I'll never see.
Ma famille set me free.
Throw my ashes into the sea.

Mes cousins jamais nés
hantent les nuits de Duvalier.
Rien n'arrete nos esprits.
Guns can't kill what soldiers can't see.

In the forest we lie hiding,
unmarked graves where flowers grow.
Hear the soldiers angry yelling,
in the river we will go.

Tous les morts-nés forment une armée,
soon we will reclaim the earth.
All the tears and all the bodies
bring about our second birth.

Haïti, never free,
n'aie pas peur de sonner l'alarme.
Tes enfants sont partis,
In those days their blood was still warm


Original album version