In Clémence, once again, a beautiful book which will be launched on Thursday, Mario Girard pays tribute to the legendary author, singer and actress. The journalist also highlights the sensitive, endearing and mischievous woman. La Presse joined our National Clemence at her home last Friday in a nice telephone conversation, interrupted by the arrival of her two cats… Grujot and Délicat!

Clémence DesRochers: It’s very flattering. However, I know very well that the younger generation does not know me. It sometimes happens that my face tells them something… As this young Hydro employee told me, who came to my house the other day. So much the better if the book can help introduce my work to the youngest.

Yeah, I feel [a time]…it’s hard to replace. You are in front of 800, 1000 people who are there for you, with you; they applaud you when you arrive alone on stage. Sometimes I’d go backstage and come back and ask them for a second “loving welcome”. For two hours, you manage to bring people from different backgrounds, with their moods, into your world. That’s wonderful ! Not many jobs can do that. But you know, one becomes an artist because one has a sickly need for love.

No, it didn’t bother me at all to be the only girl in Les Bozos, for example. Besides, it wasn’t about boys or girls; we just wanted to put on a good show. And I arrived in rehearsal with my texts. My gear could be stronger than the guys. There were quite a few who courted me, but it didn’t really hurt (laughs). But I didn’t know my sexual orientation at that time…

Because I am a free woman above all. As my father [poet Alfred DesRochers] taught me: “Your life is yours!” “, he said. I don’t want to be told that I am here, that I am that. I stopped going to church because the priests told us what to do. I hated school because the nuns treated the girls all the same, lining us up in tight rows.

It doesn’t look like me at all. I may be selfish, but I’m not interested in politics. At the same time, I respect the causes and struggles of others. I once knew a woman who changed her sex, it amazed me! But I know it comes from suffering, from a deep need. I can’t judge. It’s their life.

For having written Two Old Women. It was Pauline Julien, a very long time ago, who suggested that I do a song about the love between two women. But I was afraid of the reaction of the public. It took me many years to write it. I waited until Louise’s mother was gone because she didn’t know we were together…

Both. In the 1960s and 1970s, I wanted to name these women who weren’t sung in songs. Because “someone has to name her, the one who always speaks softly”. I’ve always had admiration for women in Quebec who ran the boat at home, with lots of kids and little money; while the fathers, at the time, were not very present. I think of young people today. And I tell myself that it must be difficult to be humorous in a world as disturbing as ours…