21 March 2024 - Gordon Lightfoot - Canadian Railroad Trilogy

Gordon Lightfoot passed away last May, and we didn't do a Special Edition post for him.  

That's because I was saving it for today.  This week, when I am posting about some of the giants of Canadian music.

Gordon Lightfoot was a goddamn Canadian treasure, and there's no fucking way we weren't putting a fitting tribute into Maple Leaf March. Inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1986, we aren't just saying things like this to say them.  We're saying them because he is revered to this day across Canada, and he truly spoke to life in Canada in a lot of his songs.

This song was released in 1967, having been commissioned in 1966 by the CBC to commemorate the building of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, which is transcontinental, as part of a celebration of the Canadian Centennial.

Lightfoot's debut album was released in 1966, and he had a few top 10 hits as far back as 1962, so he was already a big enough deal to do this.  This song was also included on his 1967 album The Way I Feel, and is a huge and epic song of labor and national pride.

He re-recorded the song for his 1975 greatest hits album Gord's Gold. 

We could think of no greater tribute than a performance of this song from Reno, NV in the year 2000. This is one of the videos that is included as part of his official Canadian Music Hall of Fame record. 

Not good enough?  How about this 1972 performance from the BBC?  It's different, equally beautiful, and spreads the Canadian pride.

OK, you want peak Canadian pride.  I get it.

Here's Gordon Lightfoot performing "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" on Ottawa's Parliament Hill on the occasion of Canada's 125th birthday party. 

20 March 2024 - Shania Twain - You’re Still The One

For four years, we've had this draft ready to go every March.

For four years, we've ignored Shania Twain (except for this cameo on a Anne Murray post two days into the first #MapleLeafMarch). 

Shania Twain is arguably the biggest hit singer to come out of Canada in a generation (arguable because Céline Dion is from the same generation) With over 100 million records sold, she is the biggest female country artist of all time.  Her 1997 album Come on Over is recognized as the biggest selling album by any female solo artist, ever, in any genre, and the eighth best selling by any type of musical artist, anywhere.

And yes, the best selling album by any Canadian artist.  

Shania Twain is a monstrous pop-country crossver superstar.  

This song is a huge part of all of that.  The 1997 ballad is far and away the biggest hit song she ever had - the one that truly crossed her over to a pop audience and out of her country pigeonhole.  The song, cowritten by Twain and her then-husband (more on that in a minute), producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange, is a mandolin and pan flute driven track, a beautifully written love song.  It peaked at #1 on the country charts and #2 on the pop charts in the US, and was a top ten hit worldwide, including in her native Canada.  

The video was the first by a female country artist to be nominated for an MTV Video Music award - for Best Female Video in 1998 (she lost to "Ray of Light" which was admittedly a fantastic video that also won Video of the Year).  

She was, and is, a huge crossover superstar.

She, of course, became a worldwide superstar.  In this 1998 performance, the very large crowd at the Prince's Trust concert in Hyde Park knows every word.

In this acoustic performance of the song, she talks about her unlikely relationship with her husband - their 17-year age difference, their different cultural backgrounds.

Also, stick around to the end to hear Shania talk about her cleavage.

    

Twain divorced her husband in 2010 after reports he was having an affair with her best friend.  Her best friend's husband also divorced his wife.  That man, Frédéric Thiébaud, married Twain in 2011.  

I just love that story.  

Also in 2011, Shania was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, which she richly deserved, by her friend and fellow Canadian Bryan Adams.

Even though Robert wasn't the one for life, this song is, and she still performs it - she just doesn't mention who it's about.  In this performance from last year, she nailed it.

19 March 2024 - Alanis Morissette - Reasons I Drink

It has been four years, and this is the FIRST time we're featuring Alanis Morissette in Maple Leaf March.  That's so odd to me.  

True story - I actually had an Alanis song slated for the very first day of the very first Maple Leaf March, but moved it (without regret) for a lesser known artist.  I did end up posting that song in another month. 

The lead single from her 2020 album Such Pretty Forks In The Road, the song was actually released in late 2019.  Co-written by Morissette and Michael Farrell.  It is at once a beautiful and obviously personal song about her life in the music industry - and let's be clear - she has really been working since she was single digits - so, 40 years.  

She was double digits when she got slimed, though.

It's also a really relatable song - who hasn't done something, like drinking or eating, emotionally? 

The video is simple, a support group in which Alanis is several of the participants. 

This is one of Alanis's most performed songs... and still performed, four years later.  Here she is, performing the song a few weeks ago, as a duet with Kelly Clarkson.  

The song shines most when it's just Alanis, though - like this, one of the very first public performances of the song from a 2019 performance at a Connecticut casino.

18 March 2024 - Sarah McLachlan - Building A Mystery

We've mostly avoided really big international artists during the last few Marches.  This week, we're not doing that.   

We start with Nova Scotia's Sarah McLachlan - who we did feature in our first Maple Leaf March, but not since.  And what a lot of people don't really realize when thinking about McLachlan, 1) she's Canadian and 2) this was her first really big hit - her first top 20 hit in the States (peaking at #13), and her biggest hit on the Canadian pop charts - her only #1 (for eight weeks!) in her home country, but also, the biggest hit of ANY song in Canada in 1997.  

In addition to winning Sarah a Juno Award for Song of the Year - one of four she won in 1998 (Album of the Year for Surfacing, Songwriter of the Year (partly for this song), Female Vocalist of the Year) (she had previously won a Juno in 1992 for "Into The Fire") - this song won a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance the same year (she also won for Best Pop Instrumental Performance the same year).

Let's remember that this 2017 Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductee also brought us Lilith Fair.  She brought us a real life Sarah McLachlan School of Music - with three locations (Vancouver, Edmonton, Surrey BC).  She's truly amazing, and she shares her gifts with others so generously.

The song, written by McLachlan and Pierre Marchand, is about insecurities and building a facade.

The song holds another distinction.

When Steve Jobs intrioduced the very first iPod in 2001, what was the first song he played?

"Building A Mystery".

The song is at its most beautiful when performed just by Sarah on an acoustic guitar, as she did a few years after the song's release.....

.....and she did again in this 2019 performance (because she still performs, people).

She doesn't just perform the song acoustic, but also with a full band, like this performance from 2022.

She's even been known to perform the song with a full symphony orchestra, like this performance from 2011.

She's even been known to perform it with Shawn Colvin and Paula Cole at the 1998 Grammys.

17 March 2024 - Lu Kala - Hotter Now

A 2023 Juno Award nominee for Breakthrough Artist, Lu Kala is one of the more successful Canadian aritsts in that category - even appearing on the US Billboard Hot 100 in a collaboration with Latto.

This song was a top 30 hit in Canada in 2023 - her biggest hit to date.  The Congolese-Canadian singer (born in Congo, but raised in Toronto) has a bright sound and a bright future.  Her sound is happy, a throwback to an earlier era - with a pop/R&B confidence without disrespect.  

It's only a matter of time for her.

16 March 2024 - Men I Trust - Organon

Not gonna lie, but when I saw the title of this song, I thought it was a weird Kate Bush cover and was destined for the other blog.  

It's not.  Men I Trust, from Montreal, are nominated for Breakthrough Group of the Year at this year's Juno's, and their music is truly original, reminding me of the Cocteau Twins a bit.  The trio are definitely in the dream pop sphere, bringing a truly great ambient feel.  

This song opens their 2021 album, Untourable Album,  and is truly punctuated by Emmanuelle Proulx's haunting vocals.  The song was written by the band.  It is Emma levitating.

Clearly the title of their album is ironic, because they're touring.  And performing these songs live. Beautifully.  Without levitation.  Here they are opening their set with it and going right into "Serenade of Water" in Barcelona.  

15 March 2024 - Jayli Wolf - Blood Orange

Honestly, I've been sitting on this song since last summer, when it was released.  It's amazing and it was really tempting to post it right away.  I held back.  

I'm glad I did.  Because today is the 1600th post on Wicked Guilty Pleasures, and there are few songs I'd rather such an odometer flip of a post would be about than this song.

The last few times I've posted about Jayli Wolf, I've very much leaned on her reliance on indigenous themes and how she's writing important music. And, let's be clear - she does - she has arguably done more for her Anishinaabe/Cree culture than anyone else in modern times - and she is making important, thought-provoking music.  

Not every great song needs to be deep and important.  "Blood Orange" is a great song that is just a great song.  It's not at all deep and important.  It's just about fruit.

“I wanted this song to boldly confront the themes of control, oppression, and societal standards, while also illuminating the courage to break free and reclaim one’s narrative,” - Jayli Wolf

No, of course it's not just about fruit.  It's a powerful song about standing up for yourself against your oppresors - whoever that may be - and claiming your own narrative. The first single from her highly personal EP God is an Endless Mirror, the whole set is introspective and filled with emotion.  She's left the city to buy and work her generations-old family farm in British Columbia, and that seems to be driving this direction in her music.

The video, written and produced by Jayli herself, has a lot going on - and yes, does feature a real blood orange (watch the upper right left corner).  

This song is also really great.  Doubtless.