Friday, July 4, 2008

Patriotic (and not so patriotic) lyrics

This week, we are celebrating Canada Day and Independence Day. And on this fourth of July, I am thinking of my friends and family south of the border and hoping they are enjoying their day. In celebration, I am sharing some lyrics about both countries.

Starting with Canada:

CA-NA-DA
(One little two little three Canadians)
We love thee
(Now we are twenty million)
CA-NA-DA
(Four little five little six little Provinces)
Proud and free
(Now we are ten and the Territories sea to sea)
(CA-NA-DA (or the Centennial Song))
I still have a 45 of this song (perhaps I shouldn't admit to this as it wasn't mine originally - probably my parents or older sister - they may claim it back)


Another summer day
Has come and gone away
In Paris and Rome
But I wanna go home
(Home by Michael Bublé)

The morning light steals across my windowpane
Where webs of snow are driftin'
If I could only have you near
To breathe a sigh or two
I would be happy just to hold the hands I love
Upon this winter's night with you
And to be once again with with you
(Song for a winter's song by Gordon Lightfoot)

Un Canadien errant,
Banni de ses foyers,
Parcourait en pleurant
Des pays étrangers.
(translation:
An errant ‘Canadien’
Banished from his homeland
Weeping, he travels on
Wandering through foreign lands
(Un Canadien errant written in 1842 by Antoine Gérin-Lajoie after the Lower Canada Rebellion)
(also recorded by Leonard Cohen in 1979)

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.
(Helpless by Neil Young - I know the k.d. Lang version)

Ain't no school bus (ain't no school bus)
Ain't no streetcar (ain't no streetcar)
Ain't no subway car (ain't no subway car)
The Spadina bus (the Spadina bus)
(Spadina Bus by The Shuffle Demons)

Coo roo coo coo coo coo coo coo...
Take off to the great white north
Its a beauty way to go
Take off to the great white north
(Take Off by Bob and Doug McKenzie)

or if you prefer

On the 6th day of Christmas my true love game to me
6 packs of 2-4
5 golden tuques
4 pounds of back bacon
3 french toasts
2 turtle necks
and a beer in a tree



Everything's gone wrong
Since Canada came along
Blame Canada
(Blame Canada as heard on South Park)




For my friends in the U.S.:

Some folks like to get away, take a holiday from the neighborhood
Hop a flight to miami beach or hollywood.
Im taking a greyhound on the hudson river line
Im in a new york state of mind.
(New York State of Mind by Billy Joel)

I want to wake up in a city that doesn't sleep
(New York New York by Frank Sinatra)

Everybody's gone surfin'
Surfin' USA

Philadelphia,
Brotherly love.
(Philadelphia by Neil Young)

There is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun
(the House of the Rising Sun by The Animals and by U2/Green Day - see below)

New birth...rebirth...Trombone Shorty
Living like birds in the magnolia trees
Child on the rooftop, mother on her knees
Her sign reads Please!!! I am an American!!!!
(The Saints Are Coming by U2 and Green Day as performed live at the New Orleans Saints game)




Do you know what it means
to miss New Orleans
and miss it each night and day

From the lakes of Minnesota, to the hills of Tennessee,
across the plains of Texas, from sea to shining sea,
From Detroit down to Houston and New York to LA,
Well, there’s pride in every American heart,
and it’s time to stand and say:
I'm proud to be an American
(God Bless the U.S.A. by Lee Greenwood)

America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
(America the Beautiful)

Songs that have been used for both countries:

Mon pays ce n'est pas un pays, c'est l'hiver (my country is not a country, it is winter)
Mon jardin ce n'est pas un jardin, c'est la plaine (my garden is not a garden, it's the plain)
Mon chemin ce n'est pas un chemin, c'est la neige (my road is not a road, it is snow)
Mon pays ce n'est pas un pays, c'est l'hiver (my country is not a country, it is winter)
(Mon pays by Gilles Vigneault)

I'm a star in New York, I'm a star in L.A.
In my life there's no place for the man that I love
'Cause I'm livin' my life just to sing and be free
From L.A. to New York, from New York to L.A.
(From New York to L.A. performed by Patsy Gallant to the tune of Mon Pays)


Don't want to be an American idiot.
One nation controlled by the media.
Information age of hysteria.
It's calling out to idiot America.
(American Idiot by Green Day)

Don't wanna be a Canadian idiot
Don't wanna be some beer swillin' hockey nut
And do I look like some frostbitten hose-head?
I never learned my alphabet from A to Zed
(Canadian Idiot by Weird Al Yankovic)


This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.
(This Land Is Your Land by Woody Guthrie)

This land is your land, this land is my land
From Banavista, to Vancouver Island
From the Arctic Circle to the Great Lakes waters,
This land was made for you and me.
(recorded by The Travellers in 1955)


And to finish off, back to classic Canadian songs:

Hello out there we're on the air it's hockey night tonite
Tension grows the whistle blows-& the puck goes down the ice.
The goalie jumps and the players bump and the fans all go insane
Someone roars "Bobby scores!" at the good ole hockey game
(The Hockey Song by Stompin Tom Connors)




Last but not least (no lyrics needed),

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