Most Canadian song

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.

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.

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.

That said, Ontario certainly feels a lot more familiar to me than BC, for instance.

Well let's all just agree on this one then

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiGb31e5ydo

love it but what about Leamington?

No fucking way am I signing on to any pro-ketchup messaging.

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

Dave Marsh for prime minister!

ok i adore that they included the French on the ketchup bottle cartoon

Also, Stompin' Tom was terrible. /controp

I don't get the Stompin' Tom thing either.

Mitsou brought the Canadas together
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do_6YzvWqF8

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.

mitsou v compelling choice ngl

if the rankin family covered it that'd be the ballgame

lol

did anyone ever cover blue rodeo's "trust yourself" but in french? that would be a good one

Most mysterious mystery of a mysterious film: there are five Sloan songs in The Virgin Suicides.

I wonder if Air are fans.

to americans, it's probably 'having an average weekend'

bonus: no need to translate lyrics

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!

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

We could certainly pick one that would piss off the entire nation evenly.

(eventually expands to the whole country except Alberta)

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

Has anyone already made a definitive playlist of "[this Canadian city/province] sucks" songs?

You should @ Amir Attaran on Twitter, he’ll post it in a jiffy.

How many of those are there? I can only think of "Winnipeg Is A Frozen Shithole"

'one great city!' (but not really)

Joel Plaskett dumps on Kelowna in “I Love This Town”

The Music Canada top 20 albums chart is ... something this week: https://musiccanada.com/charts/#albums . Pom will be glad to know that 5 of the top 10, including the top 3, are Quebecois, but the composition of it seems random. #1 is trad country singer Irvin Blais, whom I know from a UOttawa radio programme, with a single. #2 is Angèle Dubeau, a violinist I was unfamiliar with, with an album that apparently includes Philip Glass, Michael Nyman, Jonny Greenwood, and Olafur Arnolds compositions. #3 is Les Cowboys Fringants. Then Rob Zombie and Taylor Swift appear, below these, and just ahead of two albums by Lynda Lemay. I'm tbh wondering how these charts are compiled. (The tracks chart just looks like an American Billboard chart.) Or do French speakers just buy more albums??

Heh, I too would be very curious to know what the exact criteria are here. Angèle Dubeau is *the* classical crossover act par excellence in Quebec btw, or so it seems to me. A massive step up from the likes of André Rieu in Europe. Irvin Blais does not ring a bell, but that’s to be expected given my usual blind spots.

Has anyone already made a definitive playlist of "[this Canadian city/province] sucks" songs?

― intern at pepe le pew research (Simon H.), Saturday, March 27, 2021 4:22 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

i can get into this, ha!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_r5zXOnKio

My man Stan Rogers:

Ontario, y’know I’ve seen a place I’d rather be
Your scummy lakes and the city of Toronto don’t do a damn thing for me
I’d rather live by the sea.

In "Thoughts on a Rainy Afternoon", Bruce Cockburn asks "Jesus don't let Toronto take my song away".

Joel Plaskett dumps on Kelowna in “I Love This Town”

― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Saturday, March 27, 2021 4:45 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

isn't grapes of wrath's backward town also about kelowna?

this all reminds me that the arrogant worms must have a few contenders for the thread concept

also, it seems like most songs about vancouver being crap are about e hastings, so my vote goes to hot hot heat's yvr

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOeTRurNG6E

Weakerthans One Great City seems almost insincere in its hate, but it still fits the sub theme here I think

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLlsjEP7L-k

Main topic - Besides Mitsou, there was also The Box with a few hits that bridged the language border.

One Great City is obviously a love letter disguised as a hate letter. Def still fits the sub theme.

Similar conflicted hate vein from Spookey Ruben - Leave The City. I assume it’s about Toronto.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoPSk92DiwU