And for a final Canada Day weekend bonus: Stan singing his great western farming song ‘Field Behind the Plow’
Category: Folk music
Stan Rogers: ‘Northwest Passage’
And to finish off our festival of Canadian music for Canada Day weekend, there can really only be one closing song.
James Keelaghan: ‘Kiri’s Piano’
For this Canada Day holiday Monday, one of Canada’s finest living songwriters plays one of his finest songs.
Gordon Lightfoot: ‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’
Our Canada weekend continues with Gordon Lightfoot’s ‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’. I have a very clear memory of the time I first heard this song on the radio; at the time I was used to short lyrical songs, so a longer, narrative piece seemed a little unusual to me. Now that I sing traditional songs, I understand the form a lot better. I think this is a true Canadian classic – but then, so many of Lightfoot’s songs fit into that category!
Arrogant Worms: ‘Canada’s Really Big’ and ‘Carrot Juice is Murder’
Two for the price of one tonight. Yes, folks, this is the Arrogant Worms in all their glory.
Bruce Cockburn: ‘All the Diamonds’ and ‘Gifts’
Forty years after I first heard ‘All the Diamonds’ in a live concert at Ontario Place, it’s still one of my favourites. ‘Gifts’ was a new one for me, though, and I like it too. Note that Bruce is playing a baritone guitar here.
Maria Dunn: ‘Can You Blame the Poor Miner?’
The picture isn’t that good but the music is wonderful. This is Edmonton’s own Maria Dunn, a national treasure in my opinion, with a song about coal miners in the Crowsnest Pass in the early part of the 20th century. If you’ve never heard Maria before, google her, and then do yourself a favour and buy every CD she’s ever recorded. I’ll help you: here’s her website.
