Those of you who love the French language, whether at home or abroad, would most likely know one of Canada’s greatest singer-songwriters and guitarists: Ms. Linda Lemay who was born in Portneuf,Québec, in 1966. This post is meant to highlight her birthday.
Of note, according to the English-speaking Wikipedia, Lemay was born on July 25 (https://shorturl.at/ixG18) whereas the French Wikipedia page tells us it is July 27 (https://shorturl.at/kquBG). After reading both pages, Bambi was confused and curious to know which date of birth is the accurate one. She tried to find this information from other sources. It turned out that there seems to be an internet confusion about Ms. Linda Lemay, with some even explicitly wondering: when is her true birthday?
If you are still reading this post, you may be perhaps thinking right now: what difference does it make, except for Ms. Lemay and her loved ones? In other terms, who cares about her precise date of birth, really? Well, Bambi does :). Indeed, in addition to being one of Ms. Lemay’s fans, she is into dates and surely into birthdays, anniversaries, and memories; as you can guess from her blog. The latter may be, just like her childhood friend Rita described it once, a sort of a social diary. Who knows? Maybe it is a virtual follow-up to her childhood diary during civil war?
Anyhow, to come back to Ms. Lemay, regardless of her accurate birthday, we know that it is soon (maybe today?). So, Happy Birthday to her! Long live her creativity and unique talent. The themes of her songs are universal like singing for moms, dads, children we bring to the world, those experiencing perinatal bereavement, and for guests we do not feel like having over because the apartment is unclean or we are in a bad mood.
Lemay sings touchy topics like fear during the pandemic, the guilt of mothers who beat their children, the “frustrated women”, the husband who snores, etc. Her lyrics are simple yet deep, even powerful. They are serious, always moving, quite sarcastic, and at times just hilarious. In our collectively insane times of much political correctness, fear, and self-censorship, Lemay’s style feels like a breath of fresh air. Her texts’ authenticity resembles Linda Lemay herself.
Talking about authenticity, Bambi could sense Ms. Lemay’s genuine way of being during an unexpected 2-minute-random encounter. Here is the when, along with the how of this incident: she does not know why, but she often bumps into famous people in pastry shops, at hotels, at airports, and on airplanes. This is what happened to her, for instance, with the following folks: the late and great Ms. Denise Bombardier, the inspiring Honourable Mr. Roméo A. Dallaire who is the retired Lieutenant-General who led the UN peacekeeping mission in Rwanda during its genocide, Ms. Céline Dion’s mother who is the late and friendly, Ms. Thérèse Tanguay-Dion, famously known on TV as “Maman Dion“, Mr. Marcel Khalifé who is a Lebanese composer, oud player, and singer… and, last but not least, Ms. Linda Lemay.
Yes, believe it or not, Bambi bumped into Ms. Lemay on a bus taking them both (with many others!) to an Air Canada airplane at Geneva Airport. She was on her way back home from Beirut, through Europe as usual (no direct flights allowed yet). Lemay happened to be standing just next to Bambi; the latter got so excited to see her. She did not hesitate one second before telling her how much she is loved by many folks, including herself, and others; precisely in the country she just left, namely Lebanon, and of course in the rest of Canada. She encouraged her to consider visiting both Beirut and New Brunswick. Ms. Lemay showed interest in Bambi’s words, was kind not just polite, and receptive even on a bus filled with passengers and driving fast.
With the little happy story about this amazing coincidence in Switzerland, Bambi will end this post. She wishes Ms. Lemay the best again. To celebrate her music, she will leave you with some of her songs (the last one is sub-titled in English). These YouTube videos will be followed by the Happy Birthday song. May Linda Lemay and all of you have a good one!
