“Johnny Hallyday”

PEI’s Acadian duo Sirène et Matelot (Lennie Gallant and Patricia Richard) released the song “Johnny Hallyday,” an excerpt from their latest album Un monde de dissonance.

The song was commissioned by American songwriter Jimmy Buffett, a close friend of French rock star Johnny Hallyday. Both spent part of the year residing on the island of Saint-Barthélemy in the French West Indies. As Lennie Gallant explains: “Jimmy Buffett had ancestors from Eastern Canada and was always trying to improve his French. His friendship with Johnny Hallyday certainly contributed to this interest. Hallyday’s death in 2017 deeply upset him, and that’s what prompted him to ask me to help him write a song in his honour.”

Buffett, knowing Gallant had spent time in Saint-Barthélemy, shared videos of Johnny’s grave—now a place of pilgrimage—along with landmarks and personal memories to inspire the song.

“Johnny Hallyday” was written by Buffett, Gallant, Richard, and Mac McAnally, with music by Buffett, Gallant, and McAnally. The recording features Gallant (vocals, guitar), Richard (vocals, mandolin), Davy Gallant (guitar, banjo, backing vocals), Gilles Tessier (electric guitar), Simon Blouin (percussion), Rémy Malo (bass), and Gabriel Ethier (keyboard). Produced by Davy Gallant with Sirène et Matelot, the song was released on the Acadian label Le Grenier musique.