Canadian songs

The National Post recently published an opinion piece on what its critic(s) thought were the top 100 Canadian singles of all times. Interesting list. I can't agree with most of it.

Well... scratch that. I have to concede, the list has a lot of well-known singles that put Canada on the musical map internationally, or influenced other musicians and styles in times that followed. So I guess what I have issue with is that I just don't like most of their selections. Of course, my list would likely be 90 Jane Siberry songs and 10 Kate and Anna ones and that's it. I know my own biases.

Some chat about the list among friends on Facebook had me thinking, though. What are my top 100? Good question.

I took a stab at it, and yep, a lot of Jane Siberry (mind you, the National Post list was 65% Tragically Hip, wasn't it?). I deliberately weeded some out in the interest of varying up the list. It was a tough exercise for a few reasons:

• what constitutes a single? In this day and age, it's easier just to go with track or song since so many of them are available as downloads whether released as a single or not.
• what did I listen to in the 80s and 90s? That's a crucial question since that's when I would have been exposed to Canadian music thanks to CanCon rules. I haven't had exposure to much Canadian music in a decade now, and I can't clearly remember the music of the old days.

So here's a list of things that I still listen to mixed with things that I used to like or haven't thought of in ages. Alphabetically by performer - I can't rank these, don't even ask me to. I hope that if you read this, you might respond with some of the more fun and obscure things I might have forgotten. I always like being reminded of fun things I may have missed.

1. Head Over Feet - Alanis Morissette
2. You Oughta Know - Alanis Morissette (when I first hear this, I scoffed, but I came around to appreciating the song despite remembering the poodle hair teen pop queen Alanis)
3. Black Velvet - Alannah Myles
4. Could I Have this Dance - Anne Murray (not Snow Bird for me - I always think of this song as a sweet one my parents would dance to)
5. Sleepy Maggie - Ashley MacIsaac
6. Enid - Barenaked Ladies
7. Lovers In A Dangerous Time - Barenaked Ladies (a cover of another Canuck, I know, but I have always liked this version)
8. Diamond Mine - Blue Rodeo (I considered adding "Try", but it missed the cut)
9. If I Had a Rocket Launcher - Bruce Cockburn (I may prefer BNL for Lovers in a Dangerous Time, but I do like Cockburn here)
10. The World Just Keeps on Turning - Candi & The Backbeat (if Allison doesn't mock me for this, I will be surprised - I almost added West End Girls' "Not Like Kissing You" by the way)
11. Surrounded - Chantal Kreviazuk (the sound of December 1997 in my mind)
12. I Just Came back to Say Goodbye - Colin James
13. Miles From Our Home - Cowboy Junkies (I kind of like "Sun Comes Up, It's Tuesday Morning" as well)
14. Superman's Song - Crash Test Dummies
15. Inside Out - Crash Vegas
16. Sky - Crash Vegas (if anyone can spend more time than I care to and track down the video, then great!)
17. Pine For Cedars - Dan Mangan (I could have also picked "Basket", "Road Regrets", heck, the whole album they came from)
18. Robots - Dan Mangan
19. Silence - Delerium featuring Sarah McLachlan
20. Hockey Night in Canada Theme - Dolores Claman (composer); Jerry Toth (orchestration) (a national embarrassment that this is no longer the theme song. I can't talk about this anymore)
21. 1234 - Feist
22. Mushaboom (Postal Service Remix) - Feist (a case where I prefer a remix)
23. Black Cars - Gino Vannelli
24. If You Could Read My Mind - Gordon Lightfoot
25. Song For A Winter's Night - Gordon Lightfoot (and I love Sarah McLachlan's version)
26. Dance Desire - Haywire
27. Ev'rything I've Got - Holly Cole Trio (tough to pick a Holly Cole song - there are a lot I like and still listen to)
28. Tokyo Rose - Idle Eyes (interestingly enough, the woman known as Tokyo Rose was a regular at Yoshi's in the years before her death, and I was introduced to her there)
29. Bound By The Beauty - Jane Siberry (the song that, in my second year of UVic re-awakened by love for Siberry's music)
30. Calling All Angels – Jane Siberry (and gorgeous backing from kd lang!)
31. Everything Reminds Me Of My Dog - Jane Siberry
32. Map of the World (part II) - Jane Siberry (Dah Dah / Dah Dah Dah...)
33. Mimi On The Beach - Jane Siberry (where the Jane love started - I like the full version of the song on the CD. Incidentally, Mimi is really named Ruth)
34. See The Child - Jane Siberry
35. She's Like The Swallow - Jane Siberry (I actually started to cry a little when she played this once at Old Town School of Folk Music)
36. The Life Is The Red Wagon - Jane Siberry
37. The Taxi Ride - Jane Siberry
38. The Walking (And Constantly) - Jane Siberry
39. I Would Die for You - Jann Arden
40. Free Man In Paris - Joni Mitchell
41. St. Peter - Justin Rutledge (music that Allison introduced me to)
42. Constant Craving - k.d. lang
43. The Consequences of Falling - k.d. lang
44. Trail of Broken Hearts - k.d. lang (not much country music on the list, I know)
45. Matapedia - Kate & Anna McGarrigle (some days I think this might be #1 on this list)
46. Mother Mother - Kate & Anna McGarrigle (my discovery of the McGarrigles, in 1990, I think)
47. Talk To Me Of Mendocino - Kate & Anna McGarrigle (I especially love the version on The McGarrigle hour with Rufus and Martha joining in. Gives me the chills to hear Rufus on there with his mother)
48. Terrier Song - Kids in the Hall (I was torn between this and "Daves I Know", but the part in French and the line about corn chips and the scantily clad women in the video give this the edge
49. Crabbuckit - K-Os (Canadian rap!)
50. A Criminal Mind - Larry Gowan
51. Steal My Sunshine - Len
52. Working For the Weekend - Loverboy (the sound of elementary school dances in grade 7)
53. Giving Away A Miracle - Luba
54. How Many - Luba (I kick myself for not trying to get to her concert at Expo 86)
55. Let It Go - Luba
56. Cooling the Medium - M+M (aka Martha and the Muffins)
57. Let Your Backbone Slide - Maestro Fresh West
58. When the Day Is Short - Martha Wainwright (if Snow Patrol were Canadian, then "Set the Fire to the Third Bar" would have made the list)
59. Pop Goes the World - Men Without Hats (I like this more than "Safety Dance", but who can resist "Safety Dance"?)
60. The Safety Dance - Men Without Hats
61. Dead Disco (Kylie Kills Mix) - Metric
62. Rain - Michael Breen
63. Haven't Met You Yet - Michael Buble
64. Bye Bye Mon Cowboy - Mitsou (Quebec's answer to Madonna, or so they used to say)
65. King of Spain - Moxy Fruvous
66. For Tonight - Nancy Martinez
67. I'm Like A Bird - Nelly Furtado (ah, Nelly - Allison, commence scorn now)
68. Powerless (Say What You Want) - Nelly Furtado (her second album was so underrated)
69. Say It Right - Nelly Furtado
70. Promiscuous - Nelly Furtado & Timbaland (Steve Nash namecheck - awesome!)
71. At The Feet Of The Moon - Parachute Club (I played this cassette to death)
72. Hallelujah - Patricia O'Callaghan (the first version of this song ever I heard, and still the best for me)
73. Take This Waltz - Patricia O'Callaghan (ah, the memories of Serendipity Boy)
74. Crying Over You - Platinum Blonde
75. Let's Go to the Mall - Robin Sparkles (ok, so this is bending things some, but really, how awesome is this?)
76. Dirty Water - Rock and Hyde
77. April Fools - Rufus Wainwright
78. Barcelona - Rufus Wainwright (does it make me a bad gay that I kind of like his sister more? Gorgeous song, though)
79. Brother Down - Sam Roberts
80. Steaming - Sarah McLachlan
81. The Path of Thorns - Sarah McLachlan (memories of seeing her live at UVic in the er-lee 90s)
82. Vox - Sarah McLachlan (she was around in the 80s, you know)
83. Tell Somebody - Sass Jordan
84. That Don't Impress Me Much - Shania Twain
85. You've Got a Way - Shania Twain (an ideal wedding song, though not for next October, sorry)
86. I Want You Back - Sherry Kean
87. The Lines You Amend - Sloan
88. And If Venice Is Sinking - Spirit of the West
89. Frankfurt I’m Sorry - Spirit of the West (first heard on a mix tape a young guy I was sort of pursuing made me. Long story not worth going into but the ring I wear reminds me of that time)
90. Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) - The Arcade Fire (though really, shouldn't that be "Neighbourhood"?)
91. Heart of the City - The Arrows
92. Ordinary People - The Box
93. Wasn't That a Party? - The Irish Rovers (although I remember their children's music more fondly)
94. I Will Give You Everything - The Skydiggers (good concert in Victoria late in 1993)
95. Slow Burning Fire - The Skydiggers
96. Romantic Traffic - The Spoons (the National Post picked Nova Heart? I barely remember that song)
97. Locked in the Trunk of a Car - The Tragically Hip (there are a few Hip songs I'm ok with, but this is the only one I utterly and enthusiastically like)
98. In the Meantime - The Waltons
99. Brothers - Tiga
100. Just Like Ali - Tom Cochrane (but NEVER "Life is a Highway" thanks!)

language barriers

I'm always amused when people in this country talk about me having a "Canadian" accent. As if everyone in Canada were from Ontario and said things like "oat and aboat" or "oot and aboot" or however we supposedly say it. Or as if I end every sentence with "eh". Good luck catching me saying that one.

No, there is no single Canadian accent just as there is no single American accent. Correspondingly, we use different vocabulary from Americans at times, and we also use different vocabulary depending on the part of the country we're from.

Okay, I'm not a linguist. Others have done studies, and the results likely contradict what I think. Still, there are words or expressions in use in one part of Canada and not in others. My favourite?



That was a sign in the Renaissance Hotel in Vancouver. Conrad is used to such oddities now. It's one term only, but it's a useful one for picking the BCers out of a crowd. Allison and I have had fun discussing some of them in e-mail.

A few years back the oral surgeon I went to see for my wisdom teeth managed to pick me out as a BCer based upon my pronunciation of "again", which I thought an impressive feat.