That’s Anglo imperialist talk, like when people claim poutine is Canadian. Lake Memphrémagog is in Quebec (and, well, Vermont).
(Not being serious btw.)
― pomenitul, Saturday, 27 March 2021 15:15 (three years ago) link
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".
― Halfway there but for you, Saturday, 27 March 2021 15:19 (three years ago) link
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.
― pomenitul, Saturday, 27 March 2021 15:23 (three years ago) link
Kind of how the Hip never meant shit to the overwhelming majority of francophones here.
― pomenitul, Saturday, 27 March 2021 15:25 (three years ago) link
Gowan covering Harmonium?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZZk8skMY0U
― Just Another Onionhead (Sund4r), Saturday, 27 March 2021 15:30 (three years ago) link
Btw pom I have an Albertan friend who would argue equally strongly that all these answers are 'Eastern' chauvinism.
― Just Another Onionhead (Sund4r), Saturday, 27 March 2021 15:42 (three years ago) link
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.
― pomenitul, Saturday, 27 March 2021 15:52 (three years ago) link
there are fewer cultural differences between Alberta and other parts of Canada than between Quebec and the ROC
Haha you tell them that!
― Just Another Onionhead (Sund4r), Saturday, 27 March 2021 16:03 (three years ago) link
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.
― Halfway there but for you, Saturday, 27 March 2021 16:04 (three years ago) link
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.
― clemenza, Saturday, 27 March 2021 16:06 (three years ago) link
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?
― pomenitul, Saturday, 27 March 2021 16:11 (three years ago) link
Hey, I posted a solid federalist effort at cross-solitude outreach and it went unremarked!
― Just Another Onionhead (Sund4r), Saturday, 27 March 2021 16:14 (three years ago) link
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?
― pomenitul, Saturday, 27 March 2021 16:17 (three years ago) link
This thread will be Exhibit A for the sovereigntists in the next Quebec Referendum.
― Halfway there but for you, Saturday, 27 March 2021 16:24 (three years ago) link
Sorry, Justin.
Yeah, good luck even settling on a language for the most Indian song.xps
― Just Another Onionhead (Sund4r), Saturday, 27 March 2021 16:24 (three years ago) link
(The first song in the thread was in French btw.)
― Just Another Onionhead (Sund4r), Saturday, 27 March 2021 16:25 (three years ago) link
OP’s vision hath been betrayed!
― pomenitul, Saturday, 27 March 2021 16:27 (three years ago) link
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.
― Just Another Onionhead (Sund4r), Saturday, 27 March 2021 16:46 (three years ago) link
The album was inspired by a Montreal event at the least.
― Just Another Onionhead (Sund4r), Saturday, 27 March 2021 16:47 (three years ago) link
Did Waters spit on an anglophone or francophone?
― Halfway there but for you, Saturday, 27 March 2021 16:48 (three years ago) link
Oh so Canadians a mari usque ad mare are comfortably numb is what you’re saying?!?!? (Kind of true, actually.)
― pomenitul, Saturday, 27 March 2021 16:49 (three years ago) link
cmon yallhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GICDnzm3QNc
― maf you one two (maffew12), Saturday, 27 March 2021 16:54 (three years ago) link
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
― Just Another Onionhead (Sund4r), Saturday, 27 March 2021 16:57 (three years ago) link
Halfway there raises a vital question, though.
― Just Another Onionhead (Sund4r), Saturday, 27 March 2021 17:02 (three years ago) link
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
― maf you one two (maffew12), Saturday, 27 March 2021 17:09 (three years ago) link
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.
― flamboyant goon tie included, Saturday, 27 March 2021 17:37 (three years ago) link
A sovereignty-associated song commissioned by the National Film Board does seem v Canadian tbf so maybe OP was OTM.
― Just Another Onionhead (Sund4r), Saturday, 27 March 2021 17:44 (three years ago) link
picking a song that represents an entire country, or one that resonates with most canadians, seems backwards in the 21st century. i can kind of understand how this was possible in the past, though.
you can probably do a serviceable attempt at picking a song that resonates with most people from a given province. someone said alberta isn't that different from the rest of canada (compared to roc and qc), being from vancouver and going to edmonton almost feels like going to a different country in some ways.
― Punster McPunisher, Saturday, 27 March 2021 19:05 (three years ago) link
I didn’t mean to minimize the very real differences that exist between predominantly English-speaking provinces, but imo being part of the Francosphere makes for a more radical distinction still.
― pomenitul, Saturday, 27 March 2021 19:11 (three years ago) link
That said, Ontario certainly feels a lot more familiar to me than BC, for instance.
― pomenitul, Saturday, 27 March 2021 19:13 (three years ago) link
Well let's all just agree on this one then
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiGb31e5ydo
― flamboyant goon tie included, Saturday, 27 March 2021 20:55 (three years ago) link
love it but what about Leamington?
― maf you one two (maffew12), Saturday, 27 March 2021 20:59 (three years ago) link
No fucking way am I signing on to any pro-ketchup messaging.
― Just Another Onionhead (Sund4r), Saturday, 27 March 2021 21:05 (three years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLoO_XsYAxQ
Dave Marsh for prime minister!
― maf you one two (maffew12), Saturday, 27 March 2021 21:05 (three years ago) link
ok i adore that they included the French on the ketchup bottle cartoon
― maf you one two (maffew12), Saturday, 27 March 2021 21:06 (three years ago) link
Also, Stompin' Tom was terrible. /controp
― Just Another Onionhead (Sund4r), Saturday, 27 March 2021 21:08 (three years ago) link
I don't get the Stompin' Tom thing either.
― Halfway there but for you, Saturday, 27 March 2021 21:08 (three years ago) link
Mitsou brought the Canadas together https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do_6YzvWqF8
― Kim, Saturday, 27 March 2021 21:36 (three years ago) link
I was thinking recently how it’s funny that “underwhelmed” is pretty much just a regular word now. They might not have been first to use it, but it definitely still had a jarring “wrongness” back when Sloan wrote that, so I guess that’s their legacy.
― Kim, Saturday, 27 March 2021 21:41 (three years ago) link
mitsou v compelling choice ngl
― maf you one two (maffew12), Saturday, 27 March 2021 21:45 (three years ago) link
if the rankin family covered it that'd be the ballgame
― intern at pepe le pew research (Simon H.), Saturday, 27 March 2021 21:45 (three years ago) link
lol
― maf you one two (maffew12), Saturday, 27 March 2021 21:46 (three years ago) link
did anyone ever cover blue rodeo's "trust yourself" but in french? that would be a good one
― intern at pepe le pew research (Simon H.), Saturday, 27 March 2021 21:47 (three years ago) link
Most mysterious mystery of a mysterious film: there are five Sloan songs in The Virgin Suicides.
― clemenza, Saturday, 27 March 2021 21:51 (three years ago) link
I wonder if Air are fans.
― intern at pepe le pew research (Simon H.), Saturday, 27 March 2021 22:05 (three years ago) link
to americans, it's probably 'having an average weekend'
bonus: no need to translate lyrics
― mookieproof, Saturday, 27 March 2021 22:07 (three years ago) link
I feel like someone needs to mention Leonard Cohen's version of "Un canadien errant (The Lost Canadian)".
I unironically like that everyone continues to ignore the Prairies. Western alienation is real!
― Just Another Onionhead (Sund4r), Saturday, 27 March 2021 22:14 (three years ago) link
Tbc, I agree that it's obviously true that it is impossible to do this:
picking a song that represents an entire country, or one that resonates with most canadians
― Just Another Onionhead (Sund4r), Saturday, 27 March 2021 22:20 (three years ago) link
We could certainly pick one that would piss off the entire nation evenly.
― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Saturday, 27 March 2021 22:56 (three years ago) link