O Canada Day music

Take Off

It’s Canada Day, and so I need some Canada Day music. And there’s a LOT of it. I came across this list of the Best Canadian Musicians: 25 Icons From The Great White North.

I’m eliminating anyone whose music I don’t own, which is not a knock on the artists. I don’t have any albums by Shawn Mendes, Drake,  Ron Sexsmith, Blue Rodeo, Justin Bieber, Feist, Bryan Adams, Rush, or Rufus Wainwright (though I have music by each of his parents). And I was not familiar with Broken Social Scene, Joel Plaskett, or Al Tuck.

I do have Bob & Doug McKenzie with Geddy Lee from Rush doing Take Off.

That leaves:

Diana Krall. My wife and I have seen her live, though not simultaneously. Maybe a quarter century ago, I caught her open for Tony Bennett at Tanglewood. We have about a dozen and a half of her albums.  She is one of my wife’s K girls, along with Alison Krauss. Popsicle Toes

Daniel Lanois. I LOVE his album Acadie. Of course, I have several albums he’s produced for others, including U2, Peter Gabriel, Robbie Robertson, the Neville Brothers, Emmylou Harris, and Bob Dylan. The Maker

Gordon Lightfoot. I have a couple of his LPs. But this is the first song of his I ever heard. If You Could Read My Mind

Cowboy Junkies.  I’ve opted for the last song on The Trinity Session. Walkin’ After Midnight

Arcade Fire. I have two of their CDs, which I’ve been playing every July 1 since. No Cars Go

The Guess Who. I have three of their LPs, plus the greatest hits on CD.  The last song on the original GH. Hang On To Your Life with that ending from Psalm 22

Kathryn Dawn

k.d. lang. I have a LOT of her music, from her country roots to her more MOR material. She is one of the reasons I don’t organize my music by genre. Season Of Hollow Soul 

The Tragically Hip. Road Apples is an album I play on July 1. Twist My Arm

Bruce Cockburn. I bought several used albums from my roomie Mark in the 1980s.  I’ve already written about The Trouble With Normal. Lovers In A Dangerous Time

The Band. I loved the second (brown) album back in high school and then got all of their studio albums. King Harvest (Has Surely Come)

Joni Mitchell. I’ve seen Joni twice, in 1974 in Saratoga Springs, NY, and in 1981 in Philadelphia. I bought her early albums on CD in 2022. People’s Parties/The Same Situation

Leonard Cohen. I had one LP years ago. I have songs of his covered by Judy Collins, Jennifer Warnes, and others, but in the past thirty years, I’ve come to appreciate him as a teller of his own tales. If you get a chance, see the 2022 movie about him. Almost Like The Blues

Neil Young. I have scads of Neil Young, from Buffalo Springfield to CSNY to at least 20 solo albums; here is the list from 2010, and I’ve gotten some since then. Mr. Soul from Trans, because why not?

Unwritten rules for Canada Day

respect the queue

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License.
I was astonished. During that Team JEOPARDY! tournament, there was a question in the Dates category. “The Dominion of Canada was proclaimed on this date in 1867.”

The players at the time were Julia Collins, who had won 20 regular games; Austin Rogers, 12 regular games; and Ken Jennings, a record 74 regular games. None of them rang in, and Canadian-born Alex Trebek appeared genuinely disappointed.

But I knew. Heck, I’ve known since at least 1967, when EXPO ’67 took place.

Sometimes, Quora is useful. I have pilfered some unwritten rules in Canada. They are fairly consistent among the over 40 contributors.

Say “I’m sorry” for everything, even when the other person is wrong. Hold the door for others.

Don’t make ostentatious displays of wealth, or brag about your material success.

Never raise your voice in public. You will scare the natives.

Don’t litter. Respect the environment, National and Provincial Parks.

Take off your hat and shoes when entering the home.

Never refer to people by their physical ethnic group or by skin color. Do not make nasty or negative comments about immigrants or refugees. Respect the diversity of ALL cultures, and their relationship to Canadian culture as a whole.

Don’t talk about religion or politics unless it’s brought up in a meaningful way. Separate religion and politics altogether.

Feel free to gripe about the weather.

Queuing up is mandatory. Jumping the queue will always be met with a dirty look, snide comments, or, on occasion, worse.

The left lane is the passing lane on the highway.

Feign an enjoyment of hockey.

Americans on Quora have heard that the wait time for Canadian medical care is excessive. To a person, the feeling is exactly the opposite.

As one fellow put it, “Canadian healthcare is so much better than US healthcare it’s like comparing apples to a moldy pile of compost with something fuzzy and odoriferous growing on it.”

Happy Canada Day!

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