I don't understand the French, but this song has nonetheless torn me up over the years. His longtime job in the mills -- the source of his personal identity & pride -- is gone and the deep shame of that loss and the resulting depression drive him to drink and abuse his wife. When she leaves with the children (as she should), he loses everything.
Physical abuse is never right, but here it says more about desperation and narrow, traditional male roles. His drunken lash-out triggered his personal tragedy. He may have been a decent man before, perhaps even exemplary, but his legacy is devastation. I doubt that he lived very long after this.
I don't understand the French, but this song has nonetheless torn me up over the years. His longtime job in the mills -- the source of his personal identity & pride -- is gone and the deep shame of that loss and the resulting depression drive him to drink and abuse his wife. When she leaves with the children (as she should), he loses everything.
Physical abuse is never right, but here it says more about desperation and narrow, traditional male roles. His drunken lash-out triggered his personal tragedy. He may have been a decent man before, perhaps even exemplary, but his legacy is devastation. I doubt that he lived very long after this.