[lordmandeep]

You know in the states they have song that are the essence of "Americana".


What song would that be in Canada..

I am think it likely something by Gordon Lightfoot, but his most popular song is about an American disaster.

 

[doady]

In my opinion, it's "New Orleans is Sinking", but that is also about an American disaster.

 

[Urban Shocker]

Lightfoot's Canadian Railroad Trilogy?

Bud The Spud?

Echo Beach?

 

[lordmandeep]

I was thinking it was the song by Gordon Lightfoot: The Edmund Fitzgerald

 

[scarberiankhatru]

American Woman?

 

[theowne]

I was thinking it was the song by Gordon Lightfoot: The Edmund Fitzgerald

Yes..I love that song...definitely feels Canadian to me.

 

[junctionist]

Stompin' Tom Connors: The Hockey Song

 

[adma]

Four Strong Winds?

 

[Conrad Black]

I was thinking it was the song by Gordon Lightfoot: The Edmund Fitzgerald

Except that its about an American boat that was carrying ore from Wisconsin to a steel mill in Detroit. The only Canadian aspects of the song are Gordon Lightfoot and that the boat went down on the Canadian side of Lake Superior.

 

[Urban Shocker]

Big Yellow Taxi?

 

[LowPolygon]

For some reason there is no one song that is about Canada the way innumerable songs are about America. Canadiana just doesn't have the same stature as Americana somehow. Four Strong Winds is about as close as it comes, and would be a strong contender. Of course, in 2005, CBC Radio One listeners did choose it as the greatest Canadian song of all time for that series 50 Tracks...

Guess Ill go out to Alberta
Weathers good there in the fall
Got some friends that I can go to workin for
Still I wish youd change your mind
If I asked you one more time
But weve been thru that a hundred times or more

Strange thing about Four Strong Winds is that its a total one off, by an artist who never wrote another thing anywhere near as great...

As far as lasting contributions to popular song goes, Canada has produced three straight up geniuses, in the form of Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen, and two very great and huge talents in the form of Gordon Lightfoot and The Band.

Of all the great Canadian talents, Gordon Lightfoot is the person who contributed the most to the idea of a Canadian identity in music--in songs like 10 Degrees & Getting Colder, Love & Maple Syrup, Nous Vivons Ensemble, Alberta Bound, Christian Island (Georgian Bay), Ode to Big Blue, Canadian Railroad Trilogy and Song For A Winter's Night.

Despite all this, for some reason i think Neil Young most captures the spirit of Canada, in songs like Harvest, Out On The Weekend, Are You Ready For The Country?, After The Gold Rush, Heart of Gold, Comes A Time, and so many others. These songs aren't necessarily about Canada the way Lightfoot's songs are--they just feel like Canada..

There is a town in north Ontario,
With dream comfort memory to spare,
And in my mind
I still need a place to go,
All my changes were there.

Of course there's always Snowbird by Gene MacLellan, sung by Anne Murray. Elvis' version of that song is fab...

 

[Edward Skira]

Strange thing about Four Strong Winds is that its a total one off, by an artist who never wrote another thing anywhere near as great...

You mean Ian Tyson who had a bunch of hits with his wife as the duo Ian & Sylvia? He had a bunch of other hits as a solo artist as well though yes that was his biggest song. Neil Young's cover of the song made him a rich man.

 

[theowne]

If you ask me I think Oscar Peterson's "Canadiana" suite is the one, but I suppose that doesn't count as a "song".

 

[LowPolygon]

You mean Ian Tyson who had a bunch of hits with his wife as the duo Ian & Sylvia? He had a bunch of other hits as a solo artist as well though yes that was his biggest song. Neil Young's cover of the song made him a rich man.

of course...
and you're right, it not true to say he never wrote another good song.

but he was never a big hit maker. the only other big song he had was Someday Soon, also quite fantastic. Summer Wages is also fairly well known, but hardly a hit.
and yes, Neil made him very wealthy.

 

[ShonTron]

How about the Guess Who's American Woman? That band had a few decent songs, but not quite of the same calibre as others mentioned here. Same goes for the Tragically Hip (New Orleans is Sinking, Courage) or Barenaked Ladies. The Band was quite influential at its time.

Lightfoot's Edmund Fitzgerald might be an "American" disaster , but it's not like it did not have a Canadian impact, given the close binational nature of the Seaway freight trade. His other song about an American disaster, Dark Day in July, almost reads like a detached, but saddened Canadian's perspective on US issues.

Yeah, Cohen, Lightfoot, Young, perhaps Mitchell.