English with French translation. As our Val posted to another newsgroup:
"I don't know about the other songs, but the Lightfoot song (Nous Vivons Ensemble,
which means "We Live Together") was written about the problems between the French
and English speaking people in Quebec. It was written during a time of political
difficulties, and was written as a metaphor (the French & English populations/a man
and a woman). Lightfoot wrote the English lyrics and had them translated by a
Francophone (a woman, in fact); the translation is beautiful. And Lightfoot's
singing of it isn't bad; he has an Anglophone accent, yes, apparent in the vowels
and of course the "R", but it is not badly done and the Quebeçois themselves
enjoyed his concert performances of it and appreciated it. I wouldn't put it in the
category of inappropriate use of a foreign language at all; in fact, his singing of
it is just an additional metaphor for trying to live together. Today, more than 30
years later, the message in the song is still appropriate. He didn't just decide to
sing in French as a lark or as a gimmick; the choice was thoughtful and deliberate
and entirely appropriate. And, as I said, appreciated by the native speakers of the
language he was singing in that was not his mother tongue. For those not familiar
with the song, it is sung in both languages, English and then French."
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