Make a Canadian mixtape with me in honor of Canada Day

Cafe Society
41

This list has gone surprisingly long without anyone mentioning The Arcade Fire. I’ll go with

Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
or
Rebellion (Lies)

42

No specific mention of any song by the best selling Canadian artist in Canada itself? Jeez.

Here is your authoritative double album. This is what you need.

DISC 1

  1. The Tragically Hip, “Courage”
  2. Neil Young, “Heart of Gold”
  3. Alanis Morrissette, “Ironic”
  4. kd lang, “Hallelujah”
  5. The Barenaked Ladies, “If I Had $1,000,000”
  6. Rush, “Tom Sawyer”
  7. Joni Mitchell, “Big Yellow Taxi”
  8. k-os, “Crabbuckit”
  9. Gordon Lightfoot, “Sundown”
  10. Lem, “Steal My Sunshine”
  11. Bryan Adams, “Heaven”
  12. Sarah McLachlan, “Possession”
  13. Bruce Cockburn, “Lovers in a Dangerous Time”
  14. Sarah Harmer, “Basement Apartment”
  15. Corey Hart, “Sunglasses at Night”
  16. Paul Anka, “Diana”
    BONUS TRACK: Mitsou, “Bye Bye Mon Cowboy”

DISC 2

  1. Tom Cochrane and Red Rider, “White Hot”
  2. Drake, “Hotline Bling”
  3. Sam Roberts, “Brother Down”
  4. Arcade Fire, “We Used to Wait”
  5. BTO, “Takin’ Care of Business”
  6. Odds, “Heterosexual Man”
  7. Alannah Myles, “Black Velvet”
  8. The Box, “Closer Together”
  9. The Band, “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”
  10. Spoons, “Nova Heart”
  11. Jane Siberry, “Mimi on the Beach”
  12. Bob & Doug Mackenzie, “Take Off”
  13. Feist, “1234”
  14. The Weeknd, “Can’t Feel My Face”
  15. Martha and the Muffins, “Echo Beach”
  16. Doug and the Slugs, “Makin’ It Work”
    BONUS TRACK: Avril Lavigne, “I’m With You”

You’re welcome.

43

Thank you!

44

DISC 3

  1. The Guess Who - “American Woman”
  2. Steppenwolf - “Born to the Wild”
  3. April Wine - “You Could Have Been a Lady”
  4. Triumph - “Lay it on the Line”
  5. Loverboy - “Working for the Weekend”
  6. The Tragically Hip - “Boots or Hearts”
  7. The Stampeders - “Sweet City Woman”
  8. Trooper - “Raise a Little Hell”
  9. Tom Cochrane and Red Ryder - “Lunatic Fringe”
  10. Rough Trade - “High School Confidential”
  11. Chilliwack - “Fly at Night”
  12. Lighthouse - “One Fine Morning”
  13. Gordon Lightfoot - [“Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”
  14. April Wine - [URL=“April Wine - Roller - YouTube”]("The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" - Gordon Lightfoot (HD w/ Lyrics) - YouTube)
45

I can’t believe that I forgot some Doug & the Slugs.

46

Well, Sam, I like your choices here, but** I was deliberately trying to not repeat any artist**. If we’re to give our foreign friends a comprehensive rundown of Canadian musicians, let’s have more musicians, not more Gordon Lightfoot. If we’re going to add a third disc, I’d really prefer not to repeat anyone. Going just by quality, the Tragically Hip and Neil Young each have a dozen or more songs better than anything Loverboy did, but if you wanna listen to the Tragically Hip, just buy Hip albums.

I do like some of your suggestions, though - I am embarrassed I forgot Steppenwolf, and truth be told I neglected many fine artists - so I’m going to use your disc to create an entirely different artist Disc 3:

  1. The Guess Who, “American Woman”
  2. Steppenwolf, “Born to be Wild”
  3. April Wine, “You Could Have Been a Lady”
  4. Triumph, “Lay it on the Line”
  5. Loverboy, “Working for the Weekend”
  6. Skydiggers, “A Penny More” (how the hell did I forget this)
  7. Kim Mitchell, “All We Are”
  8. The Stampeders, “Sweet City Woman”
  9. Trooper, “Raise a Little Hell”
  10. Rough Trade, “High School Confidential”
  11. Chilliwack, “Fly At Night”
  12. Ashley MacIsaac, “Sleepy Maggie”
  13. Spirit of the West, “Home for a Rest”
  14. Gino Vanelli, “Black Cars”
  15. Nelly Furtado, “I’m Like A Bird”
  16. Chantal Kreviazuk, “Dear Life”
    BONUS TRACK: Christ, fine… “Snowbird,” Anne Murray

This is actually a harder thing to do than I expected, because I am really trying to give those unfortuante enough to not be Canadian a taste of the fullness of Canadian music without ever repeating it twice, but it’s easy to fall back to just what YOU like and remember; a list of my 50 favourite Canadian songs would include 15 Hip songs, 10 Neil Young songs, and a lot of other stuff from the 80s. I am trying to draw from acrtoss various genres, times, include female artists so it’s not a sausage party of white guy prog-rock bands, and respect the really good new hip hop Canada is producing. Having Ashey MacIsaac gives us both a great song and a nod to Celtic influences in Canadian music without having to have goddamn Lorenna McKennit. And I still think we have too many white guy bar and prog rock bands on here. I’d like to drop Trooper, honestly.

In many cases it’s hard to decide what song to choose. Well, sometimes it was easy; for Neil, “Heart of Gold” is a slam dunk. But what Hip song do you include? I don’t think “Courage” is their best song - it’s not even close to “Cordelia” or “Nautical Disaster” - and it’s not their highest-charting single, which is, you’ll be amazed to hear, “In View.” But it’s a mix of everything; it was an immense radio and video hit, is the lead single on their nest selling album, is full of Canadiana, and is just a very Hippesque song in every respect.

I had similar problems with others; I picked Gord’s “Sundown” over “Edmund Fitzgerald” just because, frankly, it’s a better song. I picked Spoons’ “Nova Heart” over “Romantic Traffic” for the same reason. I think Tom Cochrane had better songs than “White Hot” but it just seemed like the most Tom Cochraney song, if you catch my drift; he has better songs, but mad props to a guy who insists on having the word “Somalian” in his song, is forced to pronounce it as “Soh-ma-lee-an” to make it scan, and somehow makes it sound really cool. I picked “Lovers in a Dangerous Time” for Bruce Cockburn because it was a more notable hit, and made famous again by the BNL cover, than anything else he did. Kim Mitchell’s “All We Are” over “Patio Lanterns” was a tough call but honestly I’m just sick of “Patio Lanterns” so to hell with that song. In some cases I picked artists I don’t like because, well, not having them would not be an honest history of Canadian music; I can take or leave Nelly Furtado, Lighthouse, and BTO, but it they would be very odd exclusions. Lem is a one hit wonder but it’s a fun song that doesn’t sound like anything else and it was super popular; Alanis’s “Ironic” is neither my favourite nor (I think?) her biggest hit, but, again, it wins across the board; huge hit, off a huge album, and it does have a wonderful, iconic video.

47

A few more for consideration - though I will straight up admit I don’t know enough about Canadian music to try and make any claim about these qualifying. :slight_smile:

54-40 - Casual Viewin’
54-40 - Ocean Pearl
Matthew Good Band – Everything is Automatic
Matthew Good Band – Hello Time Bomb
Matthew Good Band - Carmelina
Matthew Good – House of Smoke and Mirrors
Matthew Good – Near Fantastica
Sam Roberts – Hard Road
Sam Roberts - Where have all the good people gone?
Sam Roberts – Don’t Walk away Eileen
July Talk – Paper Girl
July Talk – Summer Dress
Walk off the Earth – Red Hands
Walk off the Earth – Gang of Rhythm
Sarah McLachlan - Into the Fire
Sarah McLachlan – Angel
Sarah McLachlan – Hold on
Headstones – Tweeter and the Monkey Man (cover)
Headstones – Cubically Contained
Tragically Hip – Fiddler’s Green

48

Fair enough. I didn’t quite catch the nuance there.

If you want some more bands for your list, here are some you didn’t mention:

Blue Rodeo
Arcade Fire
The Jeff Healey Band
Our Lady Peace
Sum 41
54-40
Honeymoon Suite
Prism
Crash Test Dummies
Colin James (!! I’m shocked I forgot him too. One of my faves)
Glass Tiger
Men Without Hats
Headstones
The Downchild Blues Band (another fave)
Powder Blues Band
Cowboy Junkies (!! Biggest Omission yet - great band!)

So from those, let me add these songs:

  1. Cowboy Junkies - “Sweet Jane”
  2. Blue Rodeo - “Try”
  3. Jeff Healey Band - “Angel Eyes”
  4. Colin James - “Just Came Back”
  5. Crash Test Dummies - “Superman’s Song”
  6. The Downchild Blues Band - “Flip, Flop and Fly”
  7. Powder Blues Band - “Doin’ it Right”
  8. Prism - “Armageddon”
  9. Sum 41 - “Fat Lip”
  10. Honeymoon Suite - “New Girl Now”

The fact that it’s so hard to choose even when picking dozens of songs just goes to show you how much Canada punches above its weight in music.

You mentioned Lighthouse - IMO, one of the most under-rated bands (or at least forgotten) in Canada. Those guys were absolute monsters when it comes to big-band sound. They had something like like a 13 piece horn section, and it was tight as can be. Plus, they wrote some really catchy tunes.

Listen to how tight that band is on this track: Lighthouse - “One Fine Morning”

Try not to smile to this on a hot summer day: Lighthouse - “Sunny Days”

Lighthouse - “Pretty Lady”

49

I actually had Blue Rodeo’s “Lost Together” on Disc 1 and it got edited out somehow, so just replace Paul Anka, who’s too boring. They were a no brainer to me so I’m not sure how that happened.

I have Arcade Fire on Disc 2, Track 4. I don’t like them but one cannot den their popularity and critical acclaim.

I considered a lot of your nominations; “Naveed” by Our Lady Peace was a strong contender but I think I need a Disc 4 to get to them or, say, Glass Tiger, who were a big band but very forgettable and dull and we’ve got better stuff from that era. I’d much rather have “Fool for Love” by Tegan & Sara and they’re so boring that even two of them aren’t as exciting as one normal human.

We do need a fourth disc though; we need Cowboy Junkies, Colin James, Buffy St,. Marie and Crash Test Dummies, obviously. I like Downchild Blues Band but have they ever had a hit single?

50

Downchild Blues Band had hits in Canada with ‘Flip, Flop and Fly", and ‘Tryin’ to keep my 88’s straight’. They were also a major inspiration for The Blues Brothers, who covered “Flip Flop and Fly”*, and “I Got Everything I Need (almost)” on their huge debut album. They have also won two Juno awards, one for best blues album in 2014.

  • They didn’t write Flip Flop and Fly. It an old jump blues tune by Big Joe Turner. But the Blues Brothers credited the Downchild Blues Band, mainly because Dan Aykroyd hung out with them. In fact Ayckroyd has even toured with them and played harmonica in the band after their original harp player died. He’s even played on at least one of their albums.

I should add that I didn’t just pick the music I like, either. “Angel Eyes” is one of my least favorite Jeff Healey songs. I prefer his covers of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and “All Along the Watchtower”

51

Here’s another one for the list:

Blood, Sweat & Tears - “Spinning Wheel”.

So many great bands in this era had tight horn sections.

52
  1. “Cremation of Sam McGee” (Hank Snow)
  2. “Northwest Passage” (Stan Rogers)
  3. “Hina Na Ho” (Susan Aglukark)
  4. “I’se the B’y” (Great Big Sea)
  5. “Bud the Spud” (Stompin’ Tom)
  6. “Farewell to Nova Scotia” (Irish Rovers)
  7. McCain Superfries…for the strong, silent type
  8. “Mon Pays” (Gilles Vigneault)
  9. “Blackfly” (Wade Hemsworth)
  10. “Red River Valley” (Joyce Sullivan)
  11. “The Last Saskatchewan Pirate” (Arrogant Worms)
  12. “Alberta Bound” (Gordon Lightfoot)
  13. Theme to “The Beachcombers”
53

Well, this has been quite a seminar in Canadian music for me! Thanks to Poysyn for including one from Kate & Anna.

54

I can’t bottle up Quebec, but I’ll try (some off the top of my head).
[ul]
[li]Mes aïeux - Dégénération (basically Quebecker self-perception in song form)[/li][li]Gilles Vigneault - Mon pays[/li][li]Loco locass - Hymne à Québec[/li][li]Les cowboys fringants - Les etoiles filantes (kings of Quebec folk every song’s a gem)[/li][li]Les cowboys fringants - Droit Devant[/li][li]Jean Leloup - I lost my baby[/li][li]Jean Leloup - Sang d’encre[/li][li]Les colocs - Tassé vous de d’la[/li][li]Les colocs - Mauvais caractère[/li][li]Éric Lapointe - N’importe quoi[/li][li]Garou - Belle[/li][li]Pierre Lapointe - La science du cœur[/li][li]Avec pas d’casque - La journée qui s’en vient est flambant neuve [/li][li]Patrice Michaud - Kamikaze[/li][li]Vincent Vallières - On va s’aimer encore[/li][li]Fred Pellerin - Mille apres mille (ft. Celine Dion)[/li][li]Les Soeurs Boulay et Nicolas Pellerin - Belle rose du printemps[/li][li]Alex Nevsky - On leur a fait croire[/li][li]Alex Nevsky - Polaroid[/li][li]Louis-Jean Cormier - Ce soir l’amour est dans tes yeux[/li][li]Karim Ouellet - L’ Amour[/li][li]Coeur de pirate - Comme des enfants[/li][li]Coeur de pirate - Adieu[/li][li]Les Trois Accords - Les dauphins et les licornes[/li][li]Les Trois Accords - Saskatchewan[/li][li]Les Trois Accords - Je me touche dans le parc[/li][li]Les Trois Accords - J’aime ta grand-mère[/li][li]Les Trois Accords - Hawaiienne (sorry I guess I just love these guys and their absurdist music…)[/li][/ul]

55

Let’s not forget the Scots/Irish out on Nova Scotia, now.

Natalie Macmaster - Pretty Mary Medley

I first saw her at the Kennedy Center playing with the Chieftains. They were these old Irish guys and suddenly there’s a damn buzz saw on fiddle playing at the speed of light while with blond hair flying everywhere. It was astonishing and opened me up to what was going on up there in NS.

56

I didn’t forget. :wink:

57

I’ll add one more. As a kid in New York State in the 70s, I enjoyed an LP of the story “How the Loon Got its Necklace,” with music for symphony:

https://www.musiccentre.ca/node/1379

About the composer:

“Keith Bissell was a lifelong exponent of Canadian music. In 1963 he and John Adaskin organized the first Canadian composers symposium in music education in Toronto. In 1976 a trust fund was established in his name that annually commissions a choral work to be written for school use by a Canadian composer. He was an associate of the Canadian Music Center and was awarded the Canadian Music Council Medal in 1978.”

58

I have Fiona Ritchie to thank for knowledge of Cape Breton. And my mom.

When I was 4 and just learning to read, my mom got travel brochures for Nova Scotia in the mail. I asked her about this place with the funny o-a-o-a vowel rhythm in its name and then was able to fit it in with my recently acquired geographical knowledge of Canada. For many, many years afterward, if I asked Mom where she was going, she’d answer “I’m going to Nova Scotia!” I don’t think she ever actually went there, though. It was just a thing to say. Like “Where is it?” “In Hekkifaino, Finland!”

The first thing I noted about Canada, when my teacher had me do a world map puzzle of countries, besides that it’s our neighbor, is that I liked to pronounce the name “Canada.” It sounded pleasant and fit in my mouth comfortably, unlike my own country’s name.

59

Do you count Mylène Farmer as Canadian? Expatriate maybe? (Wow, it’s almost Bastille Day)

60

Wow! She’s a regular Paganini of the Atlantic!
She has mastered (no pun) that wild thin mercury sound while paradoxically her fiddle produces a bold fat tone.