CANADA DAY setlist
 

http://www.theguardian.com/music/201...canada-results

Readers recommend: songs from or about Canada - results VIDEOS at link.

Going east to west via Gordon Lightfoot to Bruce Cockburn, Newfoundland to Vancouver, RR veteran Marconius takes a musical journey with songs from last week’s topic/

Canadians! You know us. We’re the ones who apologise for bumping into you while chugging back a beer, wearing a toque and peppering every sentence with an “eh” or two. Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas created the characters of Bob and Doug Mckenzie to parody every cliche about Canada for the comedy show SCTV. Their hit Take Off featured Rush’s Geddy Lee (10 bucks is 10 bucks) singing the chorus. It’s a “beauty” way to start, eh?

Canada wouldn’t have become what it is today without the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway. This epic chapter in Canadian history is well told by Gordon Lightfoot in the Canadian Railroad Trilogy.

Let’s cross the country starting in the east. Troubadour Stan Rogers had a particular affection for the region. Free in the Harbour tells the poignant story of the end of whaling as an industry and the migration of Newfoundlanders west to find work in the oil patch.

Canadian icon Stompin’ Tom Connors sings about Bud the Spud, a trucker hauling “the best doggone potatoes that’s ever been growed and they’re from Prince Edward Island!”

Leaving the Maritimes we find ourselves in Quebec. Ginette Reno’s rendition of fellow Quebecer Jean-Pierre Ferland’s Un Peu Plus Haut, Un Peu Plus Loin at the St Jean Baptiste Day celebration in 1975 brought the house down. A song about a breakup, its lyrics, including the line “I cannot hold your hand any longer”, had a deeper meaning for the nationalists who gave her a 10-minute standing ovation. A year later the separatist Parti Quebecois took power in the province.

Now on to Ontario where Bruce Cockburn is wandering the streets of Toronto “wishing you were here on The Coldest Night of the Year”.

Manitoba is the birthplace of Lucille Starr. Her 1964 bilingual hit The French Song (Quand Le Soleil Dit Bonjour Au Montagnes) was the first Canadian recording to sell over a million copies.

Raised by adoptive parents in Massachusetts, Buffy Sainte-Marie went back to her Cree roots for inspiration as she blended native chants into a song of her birthplace, Qu’appelle Valley, Saskatchewan. A prolific song writer, singer and political activist, she won an Oscar for co-writing Up Where We Belong (from the film An Officer and a Gentleman - 1982).

Due South, a crime drama set in Chicago, featured a Mountie attached to the Canadian consulate who solved crimes with a Chicago PD detective. It was the first Canadian-made TV show to win a prime-time spot on US television. Alberta-born actor and singer Paul Gross penned and sang Ride Forever, a stirring tribute to the Mounties. Look for the cameo by Leslie Nielsen who has a recurring role in the series.

Advertisement

Another westerner, Dean Brody, thinks the Beach Boys can have their California Girls. The Beatles can have their Moscow girls back in the USSR. He thinks none can compare to Canadian Girls!

And finally we arrive in Vancouver where Spirit of the West takes us on The Crawl visiting pubs from Horseshoe Bay to Deep Cove. Tragically, singer John Mann was diagnosed with early onset of Alzheimer’s disease last September. The band plans to continue performing using an iPad as a teleprompter so he can get by when the lyrics slip his memory.

Our penultimate song is the only one not performed by a Canadian. The only one that doesn’t specifically mention Canada. The 1980 cross-country run by amputee Terry Fox inspired the country, and indeed the world. Rod Stewart was inspired and dedicated Never Give Up on a Dream to Fox, who succumbed to cancer the year the song was released.

Rush drummer Neil Peart once said: “It is always a happy day when YYZ appears on our luggage tags!” YYZ is the code for Toronto International Airport and home for the power trio. Like Dorothy Gale in the Wizard of Oz, Canadians know “there’s no place like home”. Canada, the true north, strong and free.

1 July was the 148th anniversary of Canada’s independence as a country. Happy birthday Canada!

Take Off – Bob and Doug Mckenzie with Geddy Lee
Canadian Railroad Trilogy - Gordon Lightfoot
Free in the Harbour - Stan Rogers
Bud the Spud - Stompin’ Tom Connors
Un Peu Plus Haut, Un Peu Plus Loin - Ginette Reno
Coldest Night of the Year - Bruce Cockburn
The French Song (Quand le Soleil Dit Bonjour au Montagnes) - Lucille Starr
Qu’appelle Valley, Saskatchewan - Buffy Sainte-Marie
Ride Forever - Paul Gross
Canadian Girls - Dean Brody
The Crawl - Spirit of the West
Never Give Up on a Dream - Rod Stewart
YYZ - Rush