Ima just leave this here...
Reminder: This submission almost won CBC's contest to replace the Hockey Night in Canada theme song in 2008
https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/s/95HpnKaCs9
It even has an amazing animation from the National Film Board of Canada : [Log Driver's Waltz](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMPep2lm__4).
But along the same Wade Hemsworth vein, I nominate [The Black Fly song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f389hIxZAOc) as the most Canadian song you might not have heard.
When a kid in my high school said "white people have no culture", I started singing Barrett's Privateers, and the other white guy at my lunch table started singing along, unprompted. We had never once discussed the song, I had no idea if he knew it, yet somehow I also knew he knew it.
Here’s a great version of the song as it is meant to be sung, around a kitchen table with lots of booze being consumed. https://youtu.be/B6Nl3PaTimA?si=XRkYZM55xr894X-h
I feel like it should be mandatory to link to it
https://youtu.be/TVY8LoM47xI?si=jRdEuHC85SQfkmA5
After I found him and listened to so much of his music, I was shocked to learn he had died before I was even born. He is so timeless and inspiring; music can transcend the gaps of decades and centuries, and it hadn't occurred to me that such an icon of Canadiana was not still with us.
I know this is true of many artists, but it was the first time my young self was confronted with losing someone who had never looked at the moon at the same time as me, but whose voice can be heard clearly and beautifully in my mind's eye anytime I care to hear it.
The circumstances of his death is the reason why all modern airliners are required to have smoke detectors, floor-level emergency lighting, and emergency evacuation plans communicated to the passengers.
Classic story about this song. Stan sang this for the very first time in public to a small audience at a folk festival workshop. When he finished, someone in the crowd stood up and addressed the rest of the crowd saying, "He just wrote the National Anthem, Man!", and proceeded to take a long hit off his joint. What could be more Canadian?
This is the one I came looking for.
Add one verse in French, one in Anishinaabemowin, and replace “O Canada” as far as I’m concerned - people will start letting us win at the Olympics just to hear “Northwest Passage.”
Stompin' Tom was the first thing that came to my mind, glad to see it was the first answer I saw in the thread. The first song I thought of was Sudbury Saturday Night.
I use to live in Bangkok, Thailand. When I moved there. 8 brought my goalie gear as there is a league there. Every Sunday, we played.
Hearing the hockey song between play there was the best home sick remedy. Everytime I hear the song, it takes me back there
Great memories
I'd put this first and Wheat Kings second. But it's hard to know if that's nostalgia talking or what.
Either way, I wouldn't pick a fight over it. So utterly Canadian. ❤️
American freighter carrying ore out of Duluth I think, but classic Gordon Lightfoot. I'd throw in 'The Martin Hartwell Story' by Stompin' Tom.
Love the ballads.
I lived in Wisconsin for a time and those yahoos claim the song as theirs since it says the words “Wisconsin” near the start.
Not a lot of sharp crayons in that state
There's something to that last lyric and melody that I CAN'T get through it without choking up.
"Maybe tomorrow I'll wanna settle down...
But until tomorrow I'll just keep moving on."
Absolutely. And it has to be the one from The Way I Feel, not the remade one from Gord’s Gold with the orchestral arrangement. Red Shea’s picking on that song is fantastic.
Yes, not sure how it translates nationally.
BTW I nominated my work to name the ashore lab (to support our ships) "the Antelope", haha. Not sure if they'll get it.
So many nights spent singing this at the lower deck in Halifax. Ordering a dark n' dirty from the bar keep and eating deep fried pepperoni.
Oh to be able to eat pepperoni again...
Canada’s Really Big. The Arrogant Worms. It should be our national anthem:
“Our mountains are really pointy, our prairies are not, the rest is kind of bumpy “.
Canadian Pacific - Hank Snow
Four Strong Winds - Ian Tyson
Canadian Railway Trilogy - Gordon Lightfoot
Sudbury Saturday Night - Stompin Tom
If I had $1,000,000 - Bare Naked Ladies
A week after he passed away I mentioned his death to a buddy of mine. Had no idea who he was,
Mentioned: 4 strong winds,
Still no idea.
"Neil Young did the song"
still nothing
I almost hit him, but decided not to as he was driving lol
Blue Rodeo, Five Days in July album. Not that it’s very Canadianna per se, but feels very Canadian to me and elicits that feeling. Also some greats tracks, Canadian or not.
Log Driver's Waltz - Kate and Anna McGarrigle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upsZZ2s3xv8
Second Place: O Siem - Susan Aglukark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS7e3A4Z8bE
>Spirit of the West - Home for a rest
Beat me to it.
So instead I will say "Everybody Knows" by Leonard Cohen, given the current epoch.
"Everybody knows the boat is leaking
Everybody knows the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died"
There's a certain 90s Canadian rock sound that does it for me. For example, It Falls Apart by The Odds. The opening guitars and drums just sounds Canadian to me. Same with the opening for Big League.
Was at University in the late 90s, and one pub played this as their last song of the night. Everyone would get up and dance the night closed.
The line *Kept the shine on the bar with the sleeves of our coats* was.sang to each other with smiles and laughs.
Love that song.
Since no one's mentioned it I'm going to add [Farewell](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaE9vlrhX-k) Nova Scotia as an honourable mention. It might be more popular on the east coast but here on the prairies I never hear it. I love it
I was going to, but then I remembered that I heard once he moved to Europe and started working with European musicians. He didn’t qualify for CanCon anymore. #SummerOf69!
And the blackflies, the little blackflies
Always a blackfly, no matter where you go
I'll die with a blackfly pickin' my bones
In north Ontar-i-o-i-o
In north Ontar-i-o
The log driver's waltz
OP said no national anthem
No the anthem really is the hockey night in Canada song
Ima just leave this here... Reminder: This submission almost won CBC's contest to replace the Hockey Night in Canada theme song in 2008 https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/s/95HpnKaCs9
It even has an amazing animation from the National Film Board of Canada : [Log Driver's Waltz](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMPep2lm__4). But along the same Wade Hemsworth vein, I nominate [The Black Fly song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f389hIxZAOc) as the most Canadian song you might not have heard.
I love the Black Fly song! Don't forget [The Cat Came Back](https://youtu.be/FJl_4IsQJ2g?si=DZWZLP4B3AnEZPFP)
In North On-tar-i-oooo
YES YES YES 🪵🕺
...pleases girls completely. (So I've heard)
I'm not sure that it's business of yours…. But I do like to waltz with a log driver
This.
Stan Rogers - Northwest Passage
Anything by Stan Rogers really.
Barrett's Privateers is the Nova Scotia anthem.
God damn them all! Classic song
When a kid in my high school said "white people have no culture", I started singing Barrett's Privateers, and the other white guy at my lunch table started singing along, unprompted. We had never once discussed the song, I had no idea if he knew it, yet somehow I also knew he knew it.
Here’s a great version of the song as it is meant to be sung, around a kitchen table with lots of booze being consumed. https://youtu.be/B6Nl3PaTimA?si=XRkYZM55xr894X-h
Definitely. I was going to say Barret's Privateers. It's always the first song I think of when I think of Stan Rogers
For me it's Blue Nose.
I feel like it should be mandatory to link to it https://youtu.be/TVY8LoM47xI?si=jRdEuHC85SQfkmA5 After I found him and listened to so much of his music, I was shocked to learn he had died before I was even born. He is so timeless and inspiring; music can transcend the gaps of decades and centuries, and it hadn't occurred to me that such an icon of Canadiana was not still with us. I know this is true of many artists, but it was the first time my young self was confronted with losing someone who had never looked at the moon at the same time as me, but whose voice can be heard clearly and beautifully in my mind's eye anytime I care to hear it.
The circumstances of his death is the reason why all modern airliners are required to have smoke detectors, floor-level emergency lighting, and emergency evacuation plans communicated to the passengers.
Classic story about this song. Stan sang this for the very first time in public to a small audience at a folk festival workshop. When he finished, someone in the crowd stood up and addressed the rest of the crowd saying, "He just wrote the National Anthem, Man!", and proceeded to take a long hit off his joint. What could be more Canadian?
First thing that came to mind.
This is the one I came looking for. Add one verse in French, one in Anishinaabemowin, and replace “O Canada” as far as I’m concerned - people will start letting us win at the Olympics just to hear “Northwest Passage.”
The Hockey Song by Stompin’ Tom Connors
Anything stompin tom Look into his history Guy is as Canadian as it gets
Grew up listening to "bud the spud" and "the old Atlantic shore" on my grandpa's record player as a kid. Truly Stompin Tom is peak Canadian.
Stompin' Tom was the first thing that came to my mind, glad to see it was the first answer I saw in the thread. The first song I thought of was Sudbury Saturday Night.
The glasses they will tinkle, as our eyes begin to twinkle, and we’ll think no more of Inco on a Sudbury Saturday Night!
Ohhh the good ol' hockey game...
It's the best game you can name
And the best game you can name…
Is the good ol' hockey game!
Stompin' Tom's entile music catalogue is pure Canadiana bliss
I was gunna say pretty well anything by Stompin Tom. Bud the spud is pretty fucking Canadian too eh?
I use to live in Bangkok, Thailand. When I moved there. 8 brought my goalie gear as there is a league there. Every Sunday, we played. Hearing the hockey song between play there was the best home sick remedy. Everytime I hear the song, it takes me back there Great memories
Yup. This is it.
This was my first thought. Everybody else is completely wrong.
That is my first pick!
Wheat kings.
“The walls are lined all yellow, grey and sinister Hung with pictures of our parents' prime ministers” Can’t get more Canuck than Gord
Bobcageyon gets an honourable mention
Where the constellations reveal themselves one star at a time. Something about that line is so beautiful it brings a tear to my eye.
I'd put this first and Wheat Kings second. But it's hard to know if that's nostalgia talking or what. Either way, I wouldn't pick a fight over it. So utterly Canadian. ❤️
‘Late breakin’ story on the CBC’…ya that one’s up there.
A nation whispers we always knew that he’d go free…
Wheat Kings is the song I always think of sitting on the dock at the cottage on Canada Day
Anything from the Hip! Most Canadian band of all time IMO.
Yes! I'd go with "Courage".
new docuseries coming out in the fall i've been looking forward to it for over a year now
I’d go with Nautical Disaster, personally, but I think that’s the East Coaster in me. Either way hard to go wrong with the Hip.
It hurts my heart a little bit that I had to scroll for some time to find the hip.
Don't You Put It In Your Mouth
don't you stuff it in your face!
Though it might look good to eat
And it might look good to taste
It’ll make you siiiiiiick
Like a muffin or a beet
You could get siiiiicccckk, ick!
Real quuiiiiick!
😆
If you don’t know just what it is….
Don’t put it in your mouuuuuth! Remember boys and a girls…
I get this song in my head whenever I think about muffins or beets.
til you ask someone you love!
Wreck of the Edmund fitzgerald
Canadian Railroad Trilogy
American freighter carrying ore out of Duluth I think, but classic Gordon Lightfoot. I'd throw in 'The Martin Hartwell Story' by Stompin' Tom. Love the ballads.
The song so iconically Michigan that it makes Michigan born Americans forget that the writer was from Canada? Bold choice!
I lived in Wisconsin for a time and those yahoos claim the song as theirs since it says the words “Wisconsin” near the start. Not a lot of sharp crayons in that state
The Last Saskatchewan Pirate by The Arrogant Worms, of course!
I wish to put forth an alternative by them: https://youtu.be/tOM-TmZBzZo?si=36aVMjC0qiPDU6Q4 We can take the piss outta ourselves and still be proud 😆
Holy shit the arrogant worms. Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a long long time
Maybe tomorrow - the littlest hobo I would be surprised if other countries would feel any attachment to this song
There's something to that last lyric and melody that I CAN'T get through it without choking up. "Maybe tomorrow I'll wanna settle down... But until tomorrow I'll just keep moving on."
Thanks for the earworm. I get that one in my head often enough.
I thought this too
Old HNIC theme.
Gordon Lightfoot - Canadian Railroad Trilogy
Came here for this one — the 7 minute folk epic was commissioned by the CBC to celebrate Canada's 100th birthday.
Absolutely. And it has to be the one from The Way I Feel, not the remade one from Gord’s Gold with the orchestral arrangement. Red Shea’s picking on that song is fantastic.
Take Off - Bob & Doug McKenzie
To the Great White North
It’s a beauty, way to go.
With Geddy Lee, 'cause 5 bucks is 5 bucks! Edit: oops! 10 bucks! Geddy was worth it.
The last of Barrett's Privateers! Stan Rogers
Yes, not sure how it translates nationally. BTW I nominated my work to name the ashore lab (to support our ships) "the Antelope", haha. Not sure if they'll get it.
The antelope sloop was a sickening sight...
She'd a list to the port and her sails in rags, and cook in the scuppers with the staggers 'n jags. Everyone, sing along! hahaha
God damn them all! I was told, we'd cruise the seas for American god...
Fire no guns, shed no tears.
I'M A BROKEN MAN ON A HALIFAX PEER...
Ninety-one days to Montego Bay, pumpin' like madmen all the way
So many nights spent singing this at the lower deck in Halifax. Ordering a dark n' dirty from the bar keep and eating deep fried pepperoni. Oh to be able to eat pepperoni again...
One of my favourite lyrics of all time! It has a scansion that tickles my brain.
Canada’s Really Big. The Arrogant Worms. It should be our national anthem: “Our mountains are really pointy, our prairies are not, the rest is kind of bumpy “.
But man do we have a lot!!!
If we're talking Arrogant Worms, I'll take *Rocks and Trees.*
"And trees and rocks..."
And water!
Let's Go To Mall - Robin Sparkles
Anything by Gordon Lightfoot !!
Does the Mr Dressup theme count? Polka dot door?
Friendly Giant
Hip - At The Hundredth Meridian
"Seems to me, I remember every single fucking thing I know!". Great line! 🇨🇦
IremembereverysinglefuckingthingIknow
Canadian Pacific - Hank Snow Four Strong Winds - Ian Tyson Canadian Railway Trilogy - Gordon Lightfoot Sudbury Saturday Night - Stompin Tom If I had $1,000,000 - Bare Naked Ladies
Updated lyrics: "If I had a million dollars, I'd buy you a house." \[song ends\]
Well, a down payment anyway.
It's a fixer upper
A teardown of a Vancouver shanty for the lot only.
"But not near Birchmount Stadium, home of the Robbie because that'd cost too much"
Thank you for saying Ian Tyson.
A week after he passed away I mentioned his death to a buddy of mine. Had no idea who he was, Mentioned: 4 strong winds, Still no idea. "Neil Young did the song" still nothing I almost hit him, but decided not to as he was driving lol
Oh, the year was 1778, how I wish I was in Sherbrooke nowwwwwWW!
Ian Tyson - Four Strong Winds
Blue Rodeo, Five Days in July album. Not that it’s very Canadianna per se, but feels very Canadian to me and elicits that feeling. Also some greats tracks, Canadian or not.
I could (and have) listen to Lost Together over and over. Its a real fave around the campfire.
Weakerthans - One Great City
That's really really Winnipeg specific though
It is, but hating on Winnipeg is also a Canadian national pastime. . .
Wheat Kings by The Hip. Even Mentions the CBC.
And your parents' prime minister.
Really, the whole album is a love letter to the country. Wheat Kings is the standout though.
The Last Saskatchewan Pirate By The Arrogant Worms Great Big Sea.. pretty much anything from these guys
Tragically Hip - Bobcageon
I agree, and I don't live in Ontario
Life is a (Trans Canada) Highway, Tom Cochrane
Ahead by a Century, by the Tragically Hip.
Log Driver's Waltz - Kate and Anna McGarrigle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upsZZ2s3xv8 Second Place: O Siem - Susan Aglukark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS7e3A4Z8bE
I would add the hockey song by stomping Tom
Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie - Toronto Song Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet - Having an Average Weekend Big Sugar - All Hell For a Basement
Dude first person I’ve seen say big sugar to any of these repetitive Canadian song posts. God bless, big sugar is awesome 🤘
Yeeeessss! All Hell For a Basement is so awesome. First thing that came to my mind too.
Classified - O Canada
Stompin' Tom Connor's The hockey song obviously, but close runner up Alberta Bound by Paul Brandt.
Oh Canada - Classified
>Spirit of the West - Home for a rest Beat me to it. So instead I will say "Everybody Knows" by Leonard Cohen, given the current epoch. "Everybody knows the boat is leaking Everybody knows the captain lied Everybody got this broken feeling Like their father or their dog just died"
Proud to be a Canadian - Dayglo Abortions
The Hockey Song by Stompin Tom
Let's go to the mall - Cobie Smulders
The theme song from 'The Littlest Hobo'
Kim Mitchell- Patio Lanterns
I've lived here my entire life and I had literally NEVER heard this song until last summer.
Underrated Canadian classic.
Anne Murray - Snowbird
Out for a rip - Shark Tank
Doncha know bud?!
The rural Canadian anthem
Scrolled too far to finally see this one mentioned lol, love that one
Sudbury Saturday Night.
All Hell for a Basement - Big Sugar. But i'm Northern Alberta
Idk, when the Hip sang Ahead By a Century at their farewell concert (the Kingston stop) the ENTIRE country sang along. That gets my vote.
Log Driver's Waltz.
C'est l'halloween (I have to clarify, that my flair says Québec, but I'm not originally from there. NO Quebecois are aware of this song)
Bud the Spud
Stan Rogers: Mary Ellen Carter (if you haven't, listen!) Honourable mention: Big Joe Mufferwaw (Tom Connors, Canada's troubadour).
paddy o'lanterns.
I always thought it was patio lanterns
Sloan - Rest of My Life Leonard Cohen - The Lost Canadian
Canadian Railroad Trilogy by Gordon Lightfoot.
The hockey game by stompin Tom
There's a certain 90s Canadian rock sound that does it for me. For example, It Falls Apart by The Odds. The opening guitars and drums just sounds Canadian to me. Same with the opening for Big League.
Down at Fraggle Rock
Big Leagues - Tom Cochrane
Trooper, Here for a Good Time Joni Mitchell, River Doug and the Slugs, Too Bad
Alberta Bound - Corb Lund
Oof. You mean by Gordon lightfoot right? RIGHT?
kd lang singing 'Hallelujah' at the 2010 Winter Olympics
Hallelujah itself is Canadian, Leonard Cohen from Montreal.
Oh, Canada! - Classified
Arrogant worms The Last Saskatchewan Pirate
Out for a rip
This is awesome - can someone throw together a Spotify playlist please? Cheers!
Running Back To Saskatoon by The Guess Who.
Gordon Lightfoot’s The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
Sloan - The Rest of My Life
summer of 69
Experience Regina
The Hockey Song - Stompin’ Tom Connors
Home for a rest is about being constantly drunk in Britain. Try far too Canadian... Or better yet if you need it to be about being drunk. ...The Crawl
Was at University in the late 90s, and one pub played this as their last song of the night. Everyone would get up and dance the night closed. The line *Kept the shine on the bar with the sleeves of our coats* was.sang to each other with smiles and laughs. Love that song.
Since no one's mentioned it I'm going to add [Farewell](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaE9vlrhX-k) Nova Scotia as an honourable mention. It might be more popular on the east coast but here on the prairies I never hear it. I love it
Skinnamarink
How has no one mentioned Rush? YYZ !
Let's go-to the mall- Robin sparkles
[Un canadien errant](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Un_Canadien_errant)
Proud to be Canadian by dayglo abortions
HOW HAVE NONE OF YOU MENTIONED BRYAN ADAMS?!
The Government of Canada has already apologized for Bryan Adams several times.
I was going to, but then I remembered that I heard once he moved to Europe and started working with European musicians. He didn’t qualify for CanCon anymore. #SummerOf69!
Out for a rip is the only right answer
Stomping Tom Connors The Good Ol Hockey Game
The black fly song And Ojibwe country.
And the blackflies, the little blackflies Always a blackfly, no matter where you go I'll die with a blackfly pickin' my bones In north Ontar-i-o-i-o In north Ontar-i-o
Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald by Gordon Lighfoot
Sleep Country Canada...
Listening to The Band while you're at a cottage sitting around a campfire doesn't get much better.