![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tsuyunoyoFor some reason I feel like writing this post in English. Maybe I hope to get some response from my Canadian friends.
Recently I took my son to the concert of the children chorus in Toronto. Chorus was am important part of my Moscow childhood and I want my son to have similar experience. The concert was devoted to the 150th anniversary of Canada, and so every age group that was performing on stage sung a part of the song about Canada which was kind of refrain for the whole concert.
The song was nice, rhythmic and joyful, and both of us really liked it. Being brought up in Russia I still don't know much about Canadian culture and so far knew just one song about Canada (O, Canada) which is too solemn for listening in the daily life. So I thought I'll listen this song at home and write a post about it here.
Here is the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSjMuKh1Wpo
This land is your land
This land is your land, This land is my land,
From Bonavista, to Vancouver Island
From the Arctic Circle to the Great Lakes waters,
This land was made for you and me.
As I went walking that ribbon of highway,
I saw above me that endless skyway;
I saw below me that golden valley
This land was made for you and me.
The sun came shining, and I was strolling,
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling;
As the fog was lifting, a voice was chanting,
This land was made for you and me.
This land is your land, this land is my land,
From Bonavista to Vancouver Island;
From the Arctic Circle to the Great Lakes waters,
This land was made for you and me.
So far so good, but before writing this post I decided to read about the story of the song, and that's where my mood totally changed. Here is Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Land_Is_Your_Land
In short, this is not a Canadian song, it is USA song about their country that was later changed for Canada. It is so famous in USA that it was even performed on Obama inauguration where everybody were singing it together.
Now, maybe to some people people it sounds all fine but I came from a state where national symbols were pretty much the only abundant items, we had tons of beautiful patriotic songs that children were learning from kindergarten. And here in Canada I encountered the situation when even for the Canadian anniversary concert the theme song is not Canadian but American. Why is it that this huge country doesn't have as simple thing as a patriotic song apart from the variant of the American one? Are we a nation by itself or just another American state?
...Eventually I came to the another song on the Youtube, this time truly Canadian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHt1DgeRwuo
Something to Sing About
words and music by Oscar Brand
I have walked on the strand of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland
Laxed on the ridge of the Miramichi
Seen the waves tear and roar on the stone coast of Labrador
Watched them roll back to the Great Northern Sea
Refrain:
From the Vancouver Island to the Alberta Highland
'Cross the Prairies, the lakes to Ontario's towers
From the sound of Mount Royal's chimes, up to the Maritimes
Something to sing about, this land of ours
I have welcomed the dawn from the fields of Saskatchewan
Followed the sun to the Vancouver shore
Watched it climb shiny new up the snow peaks of Caribou
Up to the clouds where the wild Rockies soar
I have wandered my way to the wild wood of Hudson Bay
Treated my toes to Quebec's morning dew
Where the sweet summer breeze kissed the leaves of the maple trees
Sharing this song that I'm sharing with you
Yes there's something to sing about, tune up a string about
Call out in chorus or quietly hum
Of a land that is still young, with a ballad that's still unsung
Telling the promise of great things to come
Good song and the last two lines of it partially explained something to me. Still, I find it weird the chorus was singing the first song...
Recently I took my son to the concert of the children chorus in Toronto. Chorus was am important part of my Moscow childhood and I want my son to have similar experience. The concert was devoted to the 150th anniversary of Canada, and so every age group that was performing on stage sung a part of the song about Canada which was kind of refrain for the whole concert.
The song was nice, rhythmic and joyful, and both of us really liked it. Being brought up in Russia I still don't know much about Canadian culture and so far knew just one song about Canada (O, Canada) which is too solemn for listening in the daily life. So I thought I'll listen this song at home and write a post about it here.
Here is the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSjMuKh1Wpo
This land is your land
This land is your land, This land is my land,
From Bonavista, to Vancouver Island
From the Arctic Circle to the Great Lakes waters,
This land was made for you and me.
As I went walking that ribbon of highway,
I saw above me that endless skyway;
I saw below me that golden valley
This land was made for you and me.
The sun came shining, and I was strolling,
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling;
As the fog was lifting, a voice was chanting,
This land was made for you and me.
This land is your land, this land is my land,
From Bonavista to Vancouver Island;
From the Arctic Circle to the Great Lakes waters,
This land was made for you and me.
So far so good, but before writing this post I decided to read about the story of the song, and that's where my mood totally changed. Here is Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Land_Is_Your_Land
In short, this is not a Canadian song, it is USA song about their country that was later changed for Canada. It is so famous in USA that it was even performed on Obama inauguration where everybody were singing it together.
Now, maybe to some people people it sounds all fine but I came from a state where national symbols were pretty much the only abundant items, we had tons of beautiful patriotic songs that children were learning from kindergarten. And here in Canada I encountered the situation when even for the Canadian anniversary concert the theme song is not Canadian but American. Why is it that this huge country doesn't have as simple thing as a patriotic song apart from the variant of the American one? Are we a nation by itself or just another American state?
...Eventually I came to the another song on the Youtube, this time truly Canadian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHt1DgeRwuo
Something to Sing About
words and music by Oscar Brand
I have walked on the strand of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland
Laxed on the ridge of the Miramichi
Seen the waves tear and roar on the stone coast of Labrador
Watched them roll back to the Great Northern Sea
Refrain:
From the Vancouver Island to the Alberta Highland
'Cross the Prairies, the lakes to Ontario's towers
From the sound of Mount Royal's chimes, up to the Maritimes
Something to sing about, this land of ours
I have welcomed the dawn from the fields of Saskatchewan
Followed the sun to the Vancouver shore
Watched it climb shiny new up the snow peaks of Caribou
Up to the clouds where the wild Rockies soar
I have wandered my way to the wild wood of Hudson Bay
Treated my toes to Quebec's morning dew
Where the sweet summer breeze kissed the leaves of the maple trees
Sharing this song that I'm sharing with you
Yes there's something to sing about, tune up a string about
Call out in chorus or quietly hum
Of a land that is still young, with a ballad that's still unsung
Telling the promise of great things to come
Good song and the last two lines of it partially explained something to me. Still, I find it weird the chorus was singing the first song...
