During the prohibition era, alcohol smuggling was a rather profitable, if illegal, business in the maritimes. The bootlegger became a staple of both acadian and anglophone cultures. Antonine Maillet created Mariaagelas, Chris Leblanc made a documentary about them, Gerald Leblanc and 1755 spoke about them in their songs...and Cayouche, the mascot of bootleggers!

Usually I hate country music. Why, I am a sophisticated, urban, acadian millennial who reads Victor Hugo, Maurice Druon or Dante!
But I never needed Hugo, or Dante, or Molière emotionally while little ‘ol Cayouche, with his three cords, his beard and his guitar spoke to me on a less pretentious level:

“L’alcool au volant c’est criminel, (Drinking and driving is criminal)
la bière vient chaude pis la poche te gèle, (The beer gets warm and your balls get cold)
Si tu bois en drivant, t’est tout l’temps arrêté (If you drink and drive, you have to stop all the time)
A toute les cinq miles pour pisser (Every five miles to take a piss)

C’est l’fun a prendre une bière (It’s fun to have a beer)
Des fois, même deux (A beer or two)
On a du fun quand’s qu’on est su l’bootlegger (We have fun at the bootlegger’s)
Mais c’est quand tu timbes dans l’chemin (But that’s when you hit the road)
Avec un char dedans les mains (With a car on your hands)
C’est la que tu deviens dangereux!” (That’s when you get dangerous)

I grew up in an alcoholic family and I have an addiction problem myself. Whenever my parents came back from a bender, my grandmother was always yelling on the phone “Back from a bender, you drunks?”. My dad said similar things about my brother’s addictions. I said a few stupid things, too and the cycle continued.

It is not exactly the best way to deal with addiction but in conservative, catholic Acadia, that’s all we had. Then along came Cayouche with his Alpine, his guitar and his jokes to give us an important lesson on responsible drinking….without being a condescending jerk!