Canada wants a national soundtrack for the country's sesquicentennial in 2017. What songs would be on your Canadian national soundtrack? What songs would truly represent a cross section of Canada to celebrate its sesquicentennial?
A full list would require its own blog. In lieu of a full list, we've assembled some thoughts on Canadian music, mostly from the last 50 years.
Songs that invoke Canada
These are songs that are or feel like they are about Canada. These are not necessarily the best songs, but songs that scream Canada.
Hockey Night in Canada theme/Dolores Claman: writer (1968)
The Hockey Song/Stompin' Tom Connors (1973)
Subdivisions/Rush (1982)
Canadian Railroad Trilogy/Gordon Lightfoot (1967)
Take Off/Bob & Doug McKenzie with Geddy Lee (1981)
If I Had a Million Dollars/Barenaked Ladies (1992)
American Woman/Guess Who (1970)
Quebec Language Police/Royal Canadian Air Farce (1993)
I am Canadian/Royal Canadian Air Farce (1979)
Honourable mention: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently noted that only in Canada could Justin Bieber have a hit called "Sorry." The title feels Canadian.
Cool Canadian songs
These are songs that you would want on your playlist, regardless of whether there was a Canadian connection.
Black Velvet — Alannah Myles
Life is a Highway — Tom Cochrane
This Beat Goes On/Switchin' To Glide — The Kings
Rockin' in the Free World — Neil Young
I Feel It All — Feist
Constant Craving — k.d. Lang
Sweet Surrender — Sarah MacLachlan
If I Had a Rocket Launcher — Bruce Cockburn
Everybody Knows — Leonard Cohen
Big Yellow Taxi — Joni Mitchell
Brian Wilson — Barenaked Ladies
Fantasy — Aldo Nova
Lunatic Fringe — Red Rider
Turn Me Loose — Loverboy
Somewhere Down the Crazy River — Robbie Robertson
Spirit of Radio — Rush
Takin' Care of Business — BTO
Mummers Dance — Loreena McKennitt
Cuts Like a Knife — Bryan Adams
Rush gets the long overdue Rolling Stone treatment
Leonard Cohen proves you're not too old to win a Juno
Rush makes first U.S. appearance in 33 years on U.S. TV
Some unique takes on Canada
The Beaver Song from Robin Sparkles on "How I Met Your Mother" ties in the many Canadian mentions. The singer is real-life Canadian Cobie Smulders, who played Robin Sparkles on the show.
"Canada Is" truly is about Canada, even if the song is sung by Roger Whittaker. Steve Hyde wrote the words and Eric Robertson wrote the music.
100th Grey Cup
This was a widely varied major all-star lineup of Canadian music. The halftime show had legendary singer/songwriter Gordon Lightfoot along with pop sensations Justin Bieber and Carly Rae Jepsen, as well as Marianas Trench. Country artist Johnny Reid performed as part of the pre-game show and Burton Cummings performed a creative version of O Canada.
Toronto wins 100th Grey Cup on home turf
While things did not go smoothly that day from a music standpoint, having a bunch of Canadian artists performing live, perhaps around Canada Day 2017, would get a tremendous showcase for Canadian music.
Random collections based on title and lyrics
Love Song to Canada — Jason Collett
Oh Canada — Classified
416 to the 905 — Maestro Fresh Wes
Sudbury Saturday Night — Stompin' Tom Connors
Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) — Arcade Fire
One Great City! — The Weakerthans
The Canadian Dream — Sam Roberts Band
Running Back to Saskatoon — Guess Who
Northwest Passage — Stan Rogers
Alberta Bound — Gordon Lightfoot
Big-Boned Gal From Southern Alberta — k.d. Lang
Montreal — Blue Rodeo
Spadina Bus — Shuffle Demons
The Maple Leaf Forever — Michael Bublé
The first 100 years
While most of Canada's music success has come since the country's centennial in 1967, there were some successful artists who made their mark before that time.
Glenn Gould is without question one of the most celebrated classical pianists of the 20th century, especially for his interpretations of Johann Sebastian Bach.
Many Canadian and Americans couldn't have celebrated New Year's Eve without famous bandleader Guy Lombardo.
Oscar Peterson had an outstanding career as a jazz pianist and composer.
Paul Anka certainly has had a fine career well beyond 1967 but his biggest hit "Diana" and his most well-known song, the theme from "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" came before 1967.
Hank Snow had a career that spanned nearly 50 years in country music.
Gil Evans played an important role in the development of cool jazz, modal jazz, free jazz and jazz fusion, and collaborated extensively with Miles Davis.
When Canada celebrated its centennial in 1967, the national soundtrack would have been a lot of old-time folk songs and non-PC songs such as "Indian Love Call" from Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald.
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Special thanks to my friend, Leroy Fields, for providing some of the music research for this article. Seriously, he knows his Canadian music. Also, if you feel like we missed something or want to provide your own take on the question of a Canadian music national playlist, please leave your thoughts in the comments section.
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videos credit: Royal Canadian Air Farce/CBC; "How I Met Your Mother"/CBS; YouTube/Antonio Vendramin
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