All inducted songs
Michel was inspired to write the song when he took out the front door from its frame.
Pas Besoin De Frapper Pour Entrer
  • Year Inducted: 2011
  • Written In: 1977
Songwriters
Jacques Michel Songwriter
Artists
Jacques Michel
Prolific and innovative author-composer-performer Jacques Michel has proven himself to be a figurehead of Quebecois music for over thirty years. Among his many successes, four songs have been selected as Classiques SOCAN, including Pas besoin de frapper pour entrer.

It was in the summer of 1972, in the picturesque Eastern Township village of North Hatley, Quebec, that the first seeds of the song Pas besoin de frapper pour entrer were sown. That same summer, Jacques Michel was having an old house restored and would leave Montreal every chance he got to drive out to the Townships to check on the renovations and sometimes even lend a hand. Having removed the front door from its frame and gazing at the old house, the saying ‘No need to knock before entering’ came to mind, and it was at that moment that the song began to take shape. It was at a time when an entire generation was chanting ‘make love, not war’, glorifying a return to roots, communal life, and the good earth. The influence of this social climate was felt not only in the lyrics of the song but also in the process and style of recording. Thanks to his musicians and more importantly his friends and associates, Richard Grégoire, René Letarte and Gilles Valiquette, the song Pas besoin de frapper pour entrer relayed the passion and fervour of this intense period in the history of Quebec.

In the summer of 1972, the events of the October Crisis were still very much present and Quebec was headed towards the election of a Péquiste government, whose goal of sovereignty was openly endorsed by Jacques Michel. A closer reading of the lyric of Pas besoin de frapper pour entrer reveals an underlying political message of a rallying, pacifist respect of diversity and civil liberties within a sovereign Quebec. It is in this way, in all its diverse colours, that this great success revealed its true meaning.

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Pas besoin de frapper (Jacques Michel) - performed by Wilfred Le Bouthillier
"Pas besoin de frapper", written by Jacques Michel, was performed by Acadian singer Wilfred Le Bouthillier at the 2011 CSHF Induction Ceremony.
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