The “Montreal Gazette” declared it “the fastest-selling single in the province this year,” and the song went on to reign for three weeks at No. 1 on the Quebec charts. In total Québécois spent 19 weeks on the charts, and thanks to its catchy tune and populist lyrics, it has remained a favourite in that province.

The three songwriters who wrote Québécois – Angelo Finaldi, François Guy, and Richard Tate – themselves made up La Révolution Française (previously Les Sinners). They recorded Québécois for the Revolution label, with Tony Roman producing; the record was released in French-Canada and France as a pop-rock 45-rpm single (R-2010) with Shoo-Do-Be-Do on the B side. The song was also the title track of the band’s 1969 album (Trans-Canada TSF 769), the cover of which, in classic 1960s design style, displayed a psychedelic stylized map of Canada with – of course – an enlarged Quebec.

The cheery, proud and upbeat Québécois opens with popular references to Montreal’s Mayor Drapeau, Expo ’67, and the Expos baseball team. The lyrics then go on to voice the desire of many Quebeckers to be in charge of their own future. The timing for such a song was ripe, with the new Parti Québécois gaining support throughout the province and Quebec’s future looking bright and prosperous. Indeed, many fans sang Québécois’s chorus as an unofficial provincial anthem and it became popular at political rallies: “Québécois, nous sommes québécois” (“Quebeckers; we are Quebeckers.”)