Already tired of the rolling rail strikes that started last week and will continue until the end of June? Well, why not write a song about it?

Just a few days ago, emerging artist Madeline Fuhrman did just that, and decided to put into words her own frustration after being stuck in Toulouse during the first wave of contest on the 22nd of March. Her song, entitled “Ma chère SNCF”, is slowly becoming a viral sensation on YouTube, thanks in part to all the comments, sometimes nasty, it has been receiving.

The 24-year old American who splits her time between Los Angeles, where she was born, and Rennes, the “charming” city she calls home, has recently launched “The Humanizing Project to help people have a better relationship with themselves through music.

With this new funny yet apolitical song she just wants to give her honest opinion as a foreigner who is in love with France, the French, and their way of life, but sometimes does not really understand their habits or behaviour.

As she sings in perfect French: “Either full or cancelled, I cannot book a seat. Neither for Nantes, nor for Nice, not for Montpellier. I am stuck here at the station, I am no longer depressed. I cannot leave so I am trying to pray. My dear SNCF, why on you are strike, what dream are you fulfilling? As an American, I do not understand that, I do not understand your laws, how you can go on strike whenever you want? You know very well that time is money. Maybe it is just French, so then I understand.”

Nonetheless, this little ballad is stirring some controversy on social media between those in favour of the planned reform and its opponents. While the government argues that the shake-up of the SNCF, which includes ending early retirement for rail workers, is a necessity to transform the heavily indebted company into a profitable public service, trade unions are complaining that the reform is just paving the way for privatisation.

Nice Riquier SNCF sign

 

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All photos © RIVIERA BUZZ, all rights reserved

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