Most Canadian song

It's definitely the most Sloan Sloan track

I was listening to Love Junk by The Pursuit of Happiness in preparation for the Todd Rundgren poll (he produced it). I hadn't heard the whole album, but the four singles were all over MuchMusic at the time. I was imagining an alternate reality where Moe Berg became a Gord Downiesque Canadian hero.

I really didn't get what he meant by "had her hands around him and she's been giving it a beating" in Grade 6. I realized when watching recently that Berg even mimed it in the video.

https://i.imgur.com/bfgB4G9.png

a part of me died when they stopped making this in 09

the only "malt liquor" product sold in Nfld

I may or may not have had one of those without realizing it.

do tell

(i realized i also got married that year...hmm)

Tbf, watching now, he may just be shaking his fist for emphasis.xps

Nothing exciting, but I’m pretty sure it made its way into one of my teenage binges and I only took stock of it the morning after.

It's true, though, that Moe was pushing sexual boundaries in 80s CanRock.

Isn't part of the point in "Fireworks" that the protagonist's worldview was limited and provincial before meeting the love interest?

You held my hand and we walked home the long way
You were loosening my grip on Bobby Orr...

...Isn't it amazing what you can accomplish
When you don't let the nation get in your way...

i have only ever shouted along to this song holding Extra Old Stock, you're blowing my mind

Gord Downie singing about his "grip" on Bobby Orr has different connotations than The Pursuit of Happiness.

I just post old Canadian stuff here because it's convenient--I'm not really making grand "most Canadian" claims for these songs (although, if you're of a certain age, they resonate).

As I've pointed out before, I'm a non-fan (and one-time hater) who loves "Fireworks." Besides the significance of that goal, what makes the Bobby Orr line so perfect is "I never saw someone say that before." It's like Bo Diddley's "you should've heard just what I seen," the way it scrambles up senses.

"Canadian Railroad Trilogy", come on

Some of the early posts aren't loading, so here's Stompin' Tom Connors's "Sudbury Saturday Night" in case it hasn't shown up already.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl751CDdRZI

Kim Barlow's "Humminah" (wish it were easier to find online) captures northern isolation well: "We rolled around in the snow beside Lucky Lake / I built him a table out of lumber to try and make me like him better."

The joker in me wants to nominate “So. central Rain”

Not with that pronunciation of "sorry", it's not!

"Fireworks" is kind of brilliant imo in relating the central relationship to iconic national/historical events like the Hockey Summit, Cold War, and National Fitness Program, but ultimately expressing cynical ambivalence with regards to nationalism - the marriage to the woman who doesn't give a fuck about hockey is the "one thing" that "doesn't have to go away". That might actually make it the most Canadian song?

idk if it's "the most Canadian song" but this is definitely the most Canadian stanza

Isn't it amazing what you can accomplish?
When you don't let the nation get in your way
No ambition whisperin' over your shoulder
Isn't it amazing you can do anything?

Kind of hits the nail on the head

The most Canadian stanza is also the most un-Québécois. Checks out.

the opening line of "problem bears" by the tragically hip is "writing a song about lake memphremagog" which feels the most canadian to me

i see the hip were summoned yesterday as well

"fireworks" a very good choice

That’s Anglo imperialist talk, like when people claim poutine is Canadian. Lake Memphrémagog is in Quebec (and, well, Vermont).

(Not being serious btw.)

I feel a "most" Canadian song has to do a lot of work reconciling the rural with the urban (Margaret Atwood probably has a record review somewhere about this). Like Martha and the Muffins' "You Sold the Cottage".

If we’re going to seriously answer the question only bilingual songs should qualify imo. So far most answers would in fact satisfy the staunchest of Québécois sovereignists because they imply an almost complete disconnect between Quebec and the ROC.

Kind of how the Hip never meant shit to the overwhelming majority of francophones here.

Gowan covering Harmonium?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZZk8skMY0U

Btw pom I have an Albertan friend who would argue equally strongly that all these answers are 'Eastern' chauvinism.

Sure, but I think it’s fair to argue that there are fewer cultural differences between Alberta and other parts of Canada than between Quebec and the ROC due to the language barrier. I don’t have a horse in this race btw, I just think the question is more complicated than first meets the eye and the answers that have been offered so far betray a very specific conception of Canadianness that provides a great deal of grist for the separatist mill.

there are fewer cultural differences between Alberta and other parts of Canada than between Quebec and the ROC

Haha you tell them that!

There's also the issue that many francophone artists don't see themselves as Canadian and would reject that characterization. You end up with this sort of CBC tokenism that doesn't satisfy either side. But OK, "Complainte pour Ste. Catherine" by Kate and Anna McGarrigle.

If I were to address the thread topic specifically, and not just post old stuff I hear on the radio, I'd go with some obvious picks: Ian & Sylvia's "Four Strong Winds," Gordon Lightfoot's "Early Morning Rain" (he has more definitively Canadian songs, but my second criteria would be that I love or at least like the song), Neil Young's "Helpless" or "Journey Through the Past." "Fireworks" would be a reasonable pick. I can't think of a Guess Who song that qualifies--"Runnin' Back to Saskatoon" is the first thing that comes to mind, and that's good but not good enough. The Demics' "New York City" actually gets at something very Canadian, wanting to light out for somewhere else.

There's also the issue that many francophone artists don't see themselves as Canadian and would reject that characterization. You end up with this sort of CBC tokenism that doesn't satisfy either side.

Absolutely, which perhaps points towards the impossibility of reconciliation?

Hey, I posted a solid federalist effort at cross-solitude outreach and it went unremarked!

Precisely!

Tbf I can’t think of a single national designation that isn’t bursting at the seams with irreconcilable contradictions. Like, what is Americanness, really?

This thread will be Exhibit A for the sovereigntists in the next Quebec Referendum.

Sorry, Justin.

Yeah, good luck even settling on a language for the most Indian song.xps

(The first song in the thread was in French btw.)

OP’s vision hath been betrayed!

I mean, if we just want to identify a song that seems to resonate with people across the country and its divisions, we may be as well off putting on "Comfortably Numb" and calling it a day.

The album was inspired by a Montreal event at the least.

Did Waters spit on an anglophone or francophone?

Oh so Canadians a mari usque ad mare are comfortably numb is what you’re saying?!?!? (Kind of true, actually.)

cmon yall

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GICDnzm3QNc

Ha well that but also ime it has an exceptional stature on Canadian radio, and Pink Floyd seem as popular, if not more, with French Canadians as with anglophones. xp

Halfway there raises a vital question, though.

You end up with this sort of CBC tokenism that doesn't satisfy either side.

How about one of these per province/territory? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Canadian_Song_Quest

I've always thought the song that is most representative of "this country" is "Mon Pays", but I believe it is associated with QC separatism.

A sovereignty-associated song commissioned by the National Film Board does seem v Canadian tbf so maybe OP was OTM.