{"id":21089,"date":"2025-06-16T00:10:49","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T04:10:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.expo67.museum\/2025\/06\/un-jour-un-jour-lhistoire-surprenante-derriere-lhymne-de-lete-67\/"},"modified":"2025-07-20T23:17:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T03:17:00","slug":"how-hey-friend-say-friend-became-the-soundtrack-of-summer-67","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.expo67.museum\/en\/2025\/06\/how-hey-friend-say-friend-became-the-soundtrack-of-summer-67\/","title":{"rendered":"How \u201cHey Friend, Say Friend\u201d became the soundtrack of Summer \u201967"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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In 1967, tens of millions of visitors discovered Expo in Montr\u00e9al to the beat of a simple, catchy refrain : Hey Friend, Say Friend. The song was everywhere. It played on the airwaves, at ceremonies and in carillons. It became the soundtrack of a moment of collective optimism.<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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But behind this refrain lies an even more astonishing story, one of last-minute decisions, secret recordings, and discreet tensions between stars.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The visual spark behind the story<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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In a 2017 interview with the Journal de Montr\u00e9al<\/a>, St\u00e9phane Venne recalls that the idea for the song came to him after seeing an image. One morning in 1966, he was flipping through La Presse<\/em> when he came across an architect\u2019s drawing of what the future Expo islands would look like. The image was grand, almost dreamlike.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\u201cI thought to myself, \u2018That\u2019s my tune!\u2019 That\u2019s where we\u2019re going to feel good, that\u2019s where we\u2019re going to welcome the world.\u201d\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSt\u00e9phane Venne, Le Journal de Montr\u00e9al, April 22, 2017<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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At the time, Venne was 24 years old. He had been writing songs since his teens but hadn\u2019t broken through yet. The contest came at just the right moment. There were 2,200 submissions from 35 countries. Venne arrived at the Festival du disque office five minutes before the submission deadline to drop off his sheet music. Back then, submissions didn\u2019t include recordings; the sheet music was performed live by a singer hired for the occasion.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Une chanson, deux parcours<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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A few days before the Radio-Canada special broadcast where the winning song would be revealed, Venne learned that he had won the contest. The news came from a close confidant involved in the auditions.<\/p>\n

Officially, it was Mich\u00e8le Richard<\/strong> who was to premiere Un jour, un jour<\/em>. Unofficially, Venne preferred that the song be performed by Donald Lautrec<\/strong>, a friend with whom he shared musical affinities, and who better matched the energy he had envisioned for the performance.<\/p>\n

The 45 rpm single was released with two sides:
\u2022 Un jour, un jour<\/em>, the French-language version performed by Donald Lautrec
\u2022 Hey Friend, Say Friend<\/em>, the English-language version adapted by Marcel Stellman<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Mich\u00e8le Richard also recorded her own version, created for television, with an introduction and a conclusion explicitly mentioning \u201cExpo\u201d and \u201cMontr\u00e9al\u201d. This detail addressed criticism from some, including Mayor Jean Drapeau, who found it surprising that the official song made no mention of either the event or the city. On site, the instrumental version hovered over the Expo islands, played on the electronic carillon by Lucien H\u00e9tu from the Sun Life Tower on Sainte-H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Island.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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