#1 François Morel (14 March 1926 – 14 January 2018) was a Canadian composer… Read Full Bio ↴#1 François Morel (14 March 1926 – 14 January 2018) was a Canadian composer, pianist, conductor, and music educator. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre, he was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec in 1994 and was awarded the Prix Denise-Pelletier in 1996. He has had his works premiered by the CBC Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

#2 François Morel (born 10 June 1959) is a French actor, singer and humorist.

#1 Born in Montreal, Morel studied at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal from 1944–1953. His teachers included Claude Champagne (composition), Isabelle Delorme (harmony, counterpoint, fugue), Gérald Gagnier (conducting), Arthur Letondal (piano), Germaine Malépart, Jean Papineau-Couture (acoustics), and Edmond Trudel (piano). He was a founding member of the Canadian League of Composers in 1951. From 1956–1979 he worked for CBC Radio as a composer of incidental music, music consultant, and researcher.

Morel taught music analysis and composition at the Institut Nazareth from 1959–1961. In 1972 he was appointed director of the Académie de musique du Québec, a position he held through 1978. From 1976–1979 he taught at the Bourgchemin Cegep in Drummondville and from 1979–1997 he taught at Université Laval. He also served on the faculty of the Université de Montréal in 1979–1980. His work for guitar Me duele España, played by and written for guitarist Michael Laucke, was recorded on the Radio Canada International label (RCI 457) and won the Grand Prix du Disque of the Canadian Music Council in 1979 for the best Canadian recording.

He is among the first Quebec musicians to be trained exclusively at the CMM. From 1944 to 1953 he studied composition with Claude Champagne, acoustics with Jean Papineau-Couture, harmony, counterpoint and fugue with Isabelle Delorme and piano with Arthur Letondal, Germaine Malépart and Edmond Trudel.

Petit Homme
François Morel Lyrics

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Il était un petit homme
Pirouette, cacahuète
Il était un petit homme
Qui avait une drôle de maison

Sa maison est un carton
Pirouette, cacahuète
Sa maison est un carton

Au-dessus d’une bouche d’aération

Les passants, à toute vitesse
Pirouette, cacahuète
Les passants, à toute vitesse
Passent en détournant la tête

C’est à cause du baromètre
Pirouette, cacahuète
C’est à cause du baromètre
Qu’il est mort un soir de tempête

On l’a mis jusqu’à perpète
Pirouette, cacahuète
On l’a mis jusqu’à perpète
Dans une éternelle couchette

Ce qui fait qu’il a moins froid
Pirouette, cacahuète
Ce qui fait qu’il a moins froid
Dans son joli cercueil en bois

Le petit homme est content
Pirouette, cacahuète
Le petit homme est content
D’être au chaud définitivement

C’est que les morts à présent
Pirouette, cacahuète
C’est que les morts à présent
Sont plus choyés que les vivants

Pour beaucoup de petits hommes
Pirouette, cacahuète
Pour beaucoup de petits hommes
La mort est un soulagement

Il était un petit homme
Pirouette, cacahuète
Qui avait une drôle de maison

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to François Morel's song Petit Homme tell the story of a small man who had a strange house, made out of a cardboard box, positioned on top of a ventilation shaft. Despite his eccentric abode, many passersby ignored him, possibly due to their haste or discomfort around him. However, he eventually died in a storm, and was then laid to rest in a wooden coffin. The song suggests that he was more comfortable in death, as the dead are now better cared for and warmer than the living.

The lyrics of the song function as a commentary on the state of societal neglect for marginalized groups, whose existence is often ostracized and ignored by the majority. The main character's house being situated above a ventilation shaft is indicative of his homelessness, which is a common problem in many parts of the world. The passersby who ignore him as they speed past are representative of the larger societal problem of turning a blind eye to the plight of the homeless, or other marginalized groups, in favor of pursuing their own individual goals. The final paradoxical lines of the song suggest that, despite society's tendency to neglect those in need, death may ultimately provide a sense of comfort that life does not.

Line by Line Meaning

Il était un petit homme
There was a little man