This folk group from Newfoundland and Labrador had a few hits in the 1990s - hits that you wouldn't know if you didn't live in Canada.
Some of them were covers, to be sure, but they did original music, too. This song, from 1997, was among their biggest hits and it was written by members of the group. According to co-author Alan Doyle, it was inspired by a Vancouver street musician who had gotten beaten up and robbed, and then went right back to performing in the same place.
The song was co-opted by Conservative Party politicians in the 2000s, but the band filed a copyright claim to stop that. Because they don't need their song politicized.
It may not be so clear from the official video that they were a folk group, but this live performance should make that clear.
In 1989, he released his debut album, Symphony In Effect. He would release this classic as his first single, ever.
It hit the US top 40 chart and was a top 15 US rap hit. It is the first time a Canadian rap artist ever did either of those things.
In Canada, he sold more than 50,000 copies of this - which is their gold certification. He was the Canadian rap artist to do this.
But also, the song kicks some old-school ass. It's a great song, and even though he proudly declares he's not American, at the end of the day, that doesn't matter.
It is, of course his biggest hit, so it makes sense that he's still performing it all these years later. Here is the Canadian Music Hall of Famer performing the song last year as part of the coast-to-coast Canada Day celebrations.
He's still got the mad rhymes.
I mentioned he was a member of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, and that's great. He was inducted in 2024 at the Juno Award ceremony and, yes, of course he closed with this song.
THIS might be the biggest oversight of this page so far. This song, when I first heard it on CFNY in the early 1990s, changed my life. It was lighthearted, fun, and lyrically clever. And you KNOW this post is going to be a doozy!!!
It also changed the way I looked at green dresses.
Written by Steven Page and Ed Robertson - the two vocalists - which should suprise no one - it takes a call-and response style and adds a lot of eccentric romantic purchases, many of them references to REAL purchases that Michael Jackson made. You never connected that set of dots, did you? But yeah, he bought Joseph Merrick's remains and a monkey. Haven't you always wanted a monkey?
The dialog pieces are different in every live performance because, no joke, they're made up as they go along. It's just banter.
The song was never released as a single, but became a HUGE HUGE hit anyway.
I can't even justify a studio version of this song for this post. I start with this 1996 live performance, where they react to the rides around them.
In 2000, the band performed the song at Farm Aid and were complementary to fine organic foods.
Then there's this Page/Robertson performance where they pick on the TV host in a stripped-down manner.
Then there is this 2008 performance where they have a special guest star on accordion.
Of course, Steven Page left the group and it's never been the same, but there's still a lot of banter. The whole band gets into it now. This show happened to be in Cincinatti, Ohio. If this concert happened today, it would probably cost 25% more.
But really, it was their reunion at the 2018 Juno Awards that got me. The shoutout to Maestro Fresh-Wes was a nice touch.
When I first saw this pop up on my Spotify last year, I had to do a double take. You see, I recognized the artist's name.... but not from music.
One of my favorite TV series of all time is a show from the 2010s called Orphan Black. Seek it out - I highly recommend it. Evelyne Brochu was the name of an actress on the show (for those who know the show, she played Delphine). And yes, it's the same Evelyne Brochu, I found out in my research. The even wilder thing I found out? She's Canadian - growing up outside of Montreal and a native speaker of French in Quebec (although also learning English at a very young age). I always thought she was French.
She did reprise her role of Delphine in Orphan Black: Echoes, which was also good but not quite matching the original.
But let's talk about "Paris". A sincere love letter to the city, Brochu sings the song with a sincerity and a brightness. It also seems like she recorded the video on her cell phone - because she did. She was the cinematographer.
Her performance is just as genuine and sweet live as it is recorded.
This has been the toughtest Maple Leaf March so far for me.
You see, I live in the United States, but I have been a long time fan of Canada. In 2011, one of my first attempts at blogging, I wrote an article about several of the things I love about Canada. It really needs an update - I have, for example, had poutine on several occasions and been to many poutineries at this point, and I did spend about 6 months in Calgary more than the States, so I have kind of lived in Canada, too.
But hell, I had pictures of Canadians in my locker at school as a teenager.
OK, Canadian. Singular.
And it was Carling Bassett.
I was 16. Don't judge me.
But this month, the United States President, Donald Trump, has escalated a trade and culture war with Canada by
Imposing significant tarriffs on Canadian goods when there once was none
Requiring Canadians - including snowbirds who winter in Florida - in the United States to register with the US government
Continually joking, but not actually joking, about annexing Canada as the 51st state, ignoring the fact that Canada has TEN unique provinces and 3 territories (also unique)
Blamed Canada for the fentanyl crisis, when in fact, very little fentanyl enters the United States from Canada.
In short, this administration has damaged one of the most enviable partnerships - the one between Canada and the United States - and I hope this isn't irreparable, but it's probably going to be a few years.
This has made me sad on so many levels. On an economic level, Canada is our biggest trade partner and the United States has now demolished that. On a foreign policy level, Canada has had our back in many conflicts. On an entertainment level, Toronto has been a stand in for New York City because it WAS cheaper to film there - I doubt that's going to continue.
On a personal level, I have many excellent friendships with Canadians that have been damaged because my President is being an asshole. There's no other word for what he's doing. He's being an unprovoked, egotistical, misguided asshole to Canada.
So, to my Canadian friends, I don't blame you for keeping your elbows up, and don't for a second believe that the current administation at all reflects the love and respect the American people have for our Canadian neighbors.
Today's post is one of the last I wrote for this month, because it's been so hard, and because I needed a great song that sounded vaguely Irish and that completely misunderstands the geography of Saskatchewan (the nearest shore to Regina is about 140 km away), and it is a great and funny song. And yeah, because of the current world situation, this song is getting the shaft - I mean, I pretty much guaranteed the thumbnail most people are going to see is going to be Carling Bassett - but listen to it anyway.
A video by The Stellas with their daughters in the back seat of the car. Really, about their daughters in the back seat of that car.
This video would have been pre-Nashville. This means that The Stellas were driving with their then-anonymous daughters who happen to be named Lennon and Maisy - which, of course, we know because Nashville (and the fact that Lennon was a Juno Award nominee a couple of years ago herself and Maisy just did a movie with Aubrey Plaza - My Old Ass - that was pretty well recieved and earned her an Independent Spirit Award just last month).
But even though the Stellas are talking about their daughters, can we just take a minute to appreciate the beautiful country harmonies they bring?
But, in all seriousness, Girl Prometheus was one of my 2 or 3 favorite albums of 2024. It is something of a meloncholic masterpiece, with a LOT of great songs.
Honestly, I was always going to post something by Flower Face this month - but I was going to go older. Last week, I was listening to this album again and this song jumped out at me, and I knew what I had to do.
Also, listen closely. She name-checks herself. See if you can catch it.
The cool thing is, a couple of months after Girl Prometheus was released, Flower Face released an all-instumental version of the album. She's a unique multi-instrumental talent, so this makes so much sense - but also, it is incredibly cool to hear the music stand on its own.
