h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

What would you choose? What songs grab you by the arteries and throttle you until you weep -- in a good way, I mean?

Four Strong Winds has turned me into a blubbering idiot for most of the day today, but there are a couple of others:

Complainte pour Ste Catherine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM4rD9PZy98

The Sisters of Mercy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuORgPpODZA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfZes9fFmXc
Canadian Railroad Trilogy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjoU1Qkeizs

and, of course . . .


Four Strong Winds: Ian Tyson wrote it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBF-x-_BI2c but Neil Young made it his own



What do ya think? What Canadian songs would you send out to the world as gifts (or earworms)?

oops. Neil Young's version of Four Strong Winds got blown into the wrong place.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfZes9fFmXc

The Weight by Robbie Robertson

I always like that song, even though the lyrics don't make a great deal of sense

I normally can't stand songs of the 'anthem of hope'
variety. They're all variations of Onward Christian Soldiers
and Rule Britannia - quasi militia rabble rousers all.

But Leon Dubinsky's 'We Rise Again' always gets to me.

http://youtu.be/2ZypkL0nsbc


~jwf~

"I think upon Mackenzie, David Thompson and the rest,
Who cracked the mountain ramparts and did show a path for me,
To race the roaring Fraser to the sea."

It doesn't look like much of a lyric written out but Stan Rogers' Northwest Passage always gets me.

A2586495

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTaB_gFSjhg

'Cause it's a heave-ho, high-ho, coming down the Plains

Stealing wheat and barley and all the other grains

And it's a ho-hey, high-hey, farmers bar your doors

When you see the Jolly Roger on Regina's mighty shores


The Last Saskatchewan brings a touch of dew to me oi, matey!

Irony aside, and in the greatest possible generalization,
I have to say almost anything by Buffy Saint Marie including,
obviously her Academy Award winning 'Up Where We Belong'.

Which, ironically, this link isn't:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zCtmiEXGjc


~jwf~

What a week it's been already!

Sorry I've not been back since I started this thing.

Robbie Robertson's the Weight: http://www.4shared.com/video/cjnIUdl6/Robbie_Robertson_-_The_Weight_.html The wiki thingy on the song is interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weight


"We Rise Again" I always have found that an interesting song because while it seems to be about immortality/reincarnation, a careful listen shows that it's not really, except in the physical sense of our atoms being scattered to the winds and our genes and memories being passed to another generation.

Northwest Passage, of course. and Barrett's Privateers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIwzRkjn86w&feature=related

I like Captain Tractor's version of the Last Saskatchewan Pirate: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8G_L9tXEwmc

For Buffy Sainte Marie I'd have to vote for Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTmvrHoyMZ8&feature=related



I've been thinking of making a little list just for fun with a single song for each province and territory. So far all I've come up with for P.E.I. is Stompin' Tom's "Bud the Spud"

Look no further then.
You got it in one.

Mind you there have been some pretty good songwriters
out of PEI over the past half century. I hesitate to
name any lest I get it wrong but many of those considered
to be Nova Scotian or Maritimers came out of PEI. And
many semi-retired artists reside there - at least in
summer - no least of whom is native Lennie Gallant.
http://www.lenniegallant.com/media.html
"...inducted into the Order of Canada where it was said,
'Gallant has garnered much respect for his hard hitting
songs chronicling the lives of people dealing with tremendous
adversity and serious issues..."

For Nova Scotia you may have difficulty once you start
reviewing the discography of April Wine, Sloan and Anne
Murray.

~jwf~

I was figuring on Farewell to Nova Scotia.


I confess a family connection: a cousin's first (and last, as far as I know) academic publication concerned the Scottish origin of the song, and it got her a mention in the Canadian Encyclopedia http://www.encyclopediecanadienne.ca/m/article.cfm?params=U1&id=U0001170

Oh, and I should mention that it was that same cousin and her English husband who introduced my to the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy while they graciously hosted me in St. Andrews one summer. They also were fine hosts to me in their home in Watford a number of years later while I was on my way to Italy for some Roman things.

It's hard to say, but the Irish Rovers did a nice little version of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v3MAaQLSSI

and the Real McKenzies do a rousing version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiPxYPZ9MvQ&feature=related


And, of course, the Chief did it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaE9vlrhX-k&feature=related

The 'Farewell' is quite adaptable.
It makes a fine hoppy jig or a leaden dirge.

In dirge form it can be heartbreaking if the musicians
know how to change keys properly. The best version I ever
heard was a semi-synthetic dirge on an anonymous and generic
TV musical backgrounds set of CDs used by film and TV producers.
So subtle you;d be reaching for a razor to cut your wrists as
the tears rolled down your face, There was a 10 minute track.

Someone, an excellent musician, producer, of my youthful
acquaintance (who was Anne Murray;s first manager/arranger
and was for a time married to Emmy Lou Harrison) once said
rather dryly that the Farewell 'has too many miners' .

Anne Murray's 1970 hit 'Snowbird' was written by Gene MacLellan
(claimed by PEI as a native son)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_MacLellan
and recorded by dozens of other artists including Elvis, Lynn Anderson,
Bing Crosby with Count Basie, Burl Ives, Loretta Lynn, Al Martino,
and Andy Williams..
http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=2319
http://www.songfacts.com/d~tail.php?id=2319
Gene took his own life in 1995.


~jwf~

"Gene took his own life in 1995."





gotta post it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVNj9Pl-i7I

My link had the original black and white
CBC Halifax production. It says 1970 but
it looks like early sixties `Don Messer show`
If I thougfht about long enough I could make
an educated guess based on judgement of the
drunk old blind guy on laptop guitar. Yes,
the general post-Beatles style screams
`Sing-along Jubilee`.

She married the producer.
He had a BMW 7 series.
She owns large pieces of NS.

BTW I hope you`re thinking Great Big Sea
to represent Newfoundland and none of that
silly early folk stuff like Ed McCurty.
Sadly I can find no footage of Ed. Must say
I`m glad to have the chance to see him play
live in Halifax coffee houses of the early
sixties even as his anthem of peace was being
recorded by literally hundreds of others.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ed+mccurdy+last+night+i+had+the+strangest+dream&oq=Ed+McCurdy&aq=1&aqi=g3&aql=&gs_sm=c&gs_upl=26519l37600l0l42921l10l10l0l3l3l0l308l1512l0.2.4.1l7l0

The standard version is Pete Seeger`s
and someone has done a fairly arty vid
to go with it.
http://youtu.be/AZU-9TBP2NY

Some prefer the Simon and Garfunky version.

Me, I`m a Carolyn Hester freak
http://youtu.be/QVN_FfpNcrk
(Stereo headset recommended)


-jwf-

Hat tip to mudhooks .... 8:30 Newfoundland: http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D8KGh5UQU9Lk%26feature%3Dshare&feature=share&v=8KGh5UQU9Lk&gl=CA