SASKATOON -- A Saskatoon musician is making people smile during the COVID-19 pandemic with a song that pokes fun at life in quarantine.

“We just got back from wintering in Mexico at the beginning of March and then COVID hit so we missed our friends dearly and we never got a chance to visit them so I decided to write this song. At least I could share the song with them, make them feel better, put a smile on their face,” said Garry Gignac, who plays with a local band called The One-Eyed Dogs.

Gignac is retired and only started playing music eight years ago.

He said his song “Poor Little Flu” was inspired by an old Ricky Nelson song that he rewrote the lyrics to, adding some humour in the process.

“I’d go verse by verse and it was all the things in the news that were affecting people with this pandemic. One was the stocks, one was the isolation, and one was the price of gas. It all related and it kind of wrote itself. It probably took about an hour to do.”

Gignac said his favourite lyric in the song is “my extroverted huggy self thinks that this just blows.”

“I’m very extroverted, I’m very huggy and COVID has put all of that to bed. So I’m hoping once we’re done that everything reverts back to what it was before,” he said.

Gignac posted the song on YouTube and said he’s received great feedback from friends who have watched it.

“It put a smile on a lot of people’s faces and that’s the most important thing - it’s for fun.”

With the weather getting warmer, Gignac sings and plays his guitar out on his front porch.

“I’m on the porch doing several songs or several hours worth of songs a day so if it’s nice out, just walk on by and I’ll be here,” he said.

Gignac’s wife, Constance, said she enjoys sitting out with him on the porch and listening to him play.

“I get to enjoy watching him learn something new when he’s practicing new ones and then he writes funny ones and I get to benefit all of it.”

Constance, who sometimes plays backup drums for Gignac, said there’s a lot of foot traffic in the area as they live close to the Saskatoon weir.