[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkltavMBHDs&feature=related]
The Juno Awards celebrate their 40th anniversary this week in Toronto, so here’s a Top 40 list of songs by Canadians that reference the country. The first 25 or 30 songs are pretty much off the top of my head, which might explain the questionable ordering (that and some differences in taste!). Debate welcome.
1. Helpless – Neil Young (There is a town in north Ontario …) [Cool duet with Bruce above]
2. It Hasn’t Hit Me Yet – Blue Rodeo (Snow falling in the middle of Lake Ontario)
3. Wheat Kings – The Tragically Hip (Sundown in the Paris of the Prairies)
4. Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald – Gordon Lightfoot (when the Gales of November came slashin’)
5. Coyote – Joni Mitchell (On the road to Baljennie near my old home town)
6. Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out) – Arcade Fire (Growin’ up in some strange storm, nobody’s cold, nobody’s warm)
7. Acadian Driftwood – The Band (Canadian cold front movin’ in)
8. Lakeside Park – Rush (Everyone would gather on the twenty-fourth of May sitting in the sand to watch the fireworks display.)
9. The Night Paddy Murphy Died – Great Big Sea (They stopped the hearse on George Street outside Sundance Saloon)
10. Oh … Canada – Classified (I know where I’m from and I told ya before North of America hard to ignore)
11. Your Ex-Lover Is Dead – Stars (Captured a taxi despite all the rain we drove in silence across Pont Champlain)
Adrian Brijbassi 