Category: Music from The Great Canadian Road Trip

All posts in this series tell the stories behind some of the most memorable music by Canadian artists and bands. In addition, each post will highlight a specific part of Canada that is either named in the song, relates to the lyrical content of the song or has to do with the artist and/or their life.

The Great Canadian Road Trip: Song #33/250: The Spark by William Prince

In 1986, William Prince was born in Selkirk, Manitoba.

William Prince

I have written many sentences over the years but few have been so rife with historical significance as the one that begins this post. While keeping in mind that this is a post about a singer and his songbook, it is impossible to separate William Prince from his lineage and the role his ancestors have played in several important events in Canadian history. His is a bloodline that has known its share of grand accomplishments and tragic heartbreak. His past informs his present in many ways but none more so that the philosophy of spirituality that guides much of his songwriting. William Prince is one of Canada’s most distinctive voices. The deep, rich timbre of his voice sets him apart from most singers. The hopeful, passionate tone of his lyrics resonates with all who are fortunate to hear him sing. William Prince has released four albums to date and has already received a Juno Award for Best Contemporary Roots and Traditional Album of the Year. He has also been named as Canada’s English Songwriter of the Year in 2020. But to fully appreciate the story of one of the rising stars in the Canadian music scene, it is important that we journey back almost two centuries to a time when Canada, as we now know it, didn’t exist. This is the story of William Prince. It is also the story of how Canada came to be.

Chief Peguis also known as Cut Nose.

William Prince is a direct relation to an Ojibwe chief named Cut Nose. Our history books have christened him as Chief Peguis. Cut Nose was the leader of the Saulteaux Peoples. Originally, the Saulteaux lived in what is now known as Ontario. But, with the westward expansion of English settlers across Ontario, Cut Nose moved his people to the Red River Valley in what is now known as Manitoba. Not long after the Saulteaux settled there, a man named Lord Selkirk appeared in eastern Canada. He found that there was money to be made in acquiring land and helping new settlers to build homes and set up farms. He began his business ventures on land found on Prince Edward Island. The success of his plans there encouraged Lord Selkirk to search for vacant properties to the west. He applied to the British Government to buy a tract of land in the Red River Valley of Manitoba but was refused because that land had already been granted to the Hudson’s Bay Company for fur trading. Undeterred, Lord Selkirk teamed up with Alexander McKenzie. Together they bought for themselves a controlling share of Hudson Bay Company stock. To further consolidate his position, Selkirk married the daughter of one of the Board members of the HBC. With his newly acquired authority, Selkirk assumed control of the Red River Valley and began the process of helping settlers to safely establish settlements there. At the time, many Indigenous Peoples had already been working in cooperation with the Northwest Company, which was a rival fur trading company to The Hudson’s Bay Company. In particular, the local Metis Peoples had a long and successful partnership with the Northwest Company and refused to cede the land to Selkirk without a fight. In the years that followed, there were many battles between the Metis and the forces of those who represented “The Crown” leading to, in time, the rise of Louis Riel and the battle known in history books as The Red River Rebellion. Caught in the middle of this political maneuvering were the Saulteaux led by Cut Nose. In order to limit the spread of Indigenous unrest, Lord Selkirk opted for a different strategy with the Saulteaux and the other Indigenous Nations in the area. He called for negotiations aimed at the formal establishment of peaceful relations between the new settlers, the Hudson’s Bay Company and the Indigenous Peoples of the land. These negotiations ended with the landmark signing of a peace treaty that is known in Canadian history simply as Treaty 1. In this treaty, the Indigenous Peoples of the land agreed to cede control of the entire Red River Valley area and beyond for all time. In return, they would be guaranteed an annual stipend and access to a parcel of land that would be exempted from any new settlement plans. One of those who signed away the rights to their land was Cut Nose on behalf of the Saulteaux. As many Indigenous Nations in North America were to find out, the Crown would soon use the same combination of armed force and negotiated promises to limit resistance across the remainder of the West. But, as they also found out, once these treaties were signed, the promises made were soon forgotten and those left on the newly created reserves often faced very hard economic and social times moving forward. In an attempt to ingratiate himself into the good graces of Lord Selkirk and his followers, Cut Nose agreed to convert to Christianity. In doing so, he gave up the use of his Indigenous name and adopted the name given to him which was William King. He was called “King” because he had been chief of his Nation. His sons and all descendants to follow were christened with the name “Prince”. This is how singer William Prince came to have his name.

Tommy Prince Stamp (CNW Group/Canada Post)

But William Prince’s family tree had yet another experience with the glory of proud accomplishment and the tragedy of failure. Cut Nose/William King had a great grandson named Tommy Prince. Tommy Prince would enlist in the Canadian Armed Forces and would go on to become one of Canada’s most highly skilled and decorated soldiers in our history. He earned his fame as a member of The Devil’s Brigade, which was a highly trained covert unit of soldiers who operated in WWII, as well as The Korean War. Despite earning multiple awards for bravery while in combat, when Tommy Prince was honourably discharged he returned to a Canada where Indigenous people were often faced with much discrimination. He found it almost impossible to get a job because his fellow employees would refuse to work alongside him because of his Indigenous status. He was also denied entry into The Royal Canadian Legion. Eventually, Tommy Prince developed addictions and suffered from mental illness. He died alone in a boarding house room no bigger than a jail cell. His death resulted in calls for a re-examination of how Canadians treat and regard Indigenous people. A Heritage Minute video was created about Tommy Prince’s story. Canada Post has subsequently honoured him with a stamp. Tommy Prince died in 1976.

William Prince was born in 1986 in Selkirk, Manitoba. Although he never met Tommy Prince (his third cousin) or Cut Nose/William King (his great-great grandfather), the historical weight of the past is something young William has carried with him his entire life. For some people, that weight would be viewed as a burden. But for William Prince, he has embraced his past and is determined to bring pride to his family and to his Peoples. One of the very first things that happened to William as a child was that he and his family moved from Selkirk to Peguis First Nation, which sits about 100 kilometres north of Winnipeg. Once settled there, William was introduced to the world of music by his father, who was a minister. As a teen, William tried his hand at singing in a grunge band (which was all the rage in North America in the late 1990s/early 2000s). Prince discovered that his voice was too deep to sing as fast and as high as he would have needed to in order to sound like his hero, Kurt Cobain. But, those who did hear him sing all commented that his voice seemed well suited for a slower style. That prompted Prince to buy an acoustic guitar. He abandoned his Nirvana-esque dreams and began to see music as a way to try and change the course of his family history. Thus, he took time to play and hone his skills as a guitarist. William Prince also took time to perfect the craft of writing songs that had meaning and that came from his heart. All through his twenties, Prince practised and played and wrote. It wasn’t until 2015, when he was almost 30 years old, that he felt he had enough skill and life experiences to warrant putting his music out to the world. His first album was called Earthly Days and was a mix of Gospel, Country and Folk. His work was well received by fans and critics alike, who were equally impressed by the sound of his voice as well as the maturity of his lyrics. Not long after Earthly Days was released and William Prince began to tour and play live in concert venues for the first time, he was approached to become involved in the Artist Development Programme offered by the folks who run Massey Hall in Toronto. In this programme, new artists are helped to secure bookings in venues that are an appropriate size for them during the early days of their career. In this way, an artist can be guaranteed of having bookings and can begin to develop an audience following that will grow with them as their career rolls along. What this meant for William Prince was that he eventually found himself on a bill at Massey Hall when it reopened in 2018 after having been closed for three years for renovations. He appeared at a show called The Songwriters Hall of Fame Gala. He appeared on stage with Inuk singer Elisapie to sing the song “Stolen Land” by Bruce Cockburn for Cockburn and the assembled crowd. The message of the song was clear to all in attendance. Since that performance, William Prince has continued to work with the folks at Massey Hall in an outreach programme for aspiring songwriters. He travels across the country, attending small festivals and appearing at local theatres and concert halls. At every stop along the way, William Prince continues to dazzle audiences with his beautiful singing voice and his message of hope, love and understanding.

The story of William Prince is definitely one of the most uplifting at play in the Canadian music scene today. His star is in ascendancy. His profile is becoming more well known across the country. His message of love and of hope is universal. He remains a proud member of Peguis First Nation. He has embraced his past and is striving to use his family’s experiences to inform his craft, and thereby, to inform all of us, too. Our world can be…and should be…a better place. William Prince is someone who is working tirelessly to make this happen. Let’s reply in kind and welcome him into our lives. He is a jewel of a human being. If this post is your introduction to him, then I am happy to have brought Mr. Prince to your attention. He is the real deal. Get ready to listen to some wonderful music. Enjoy.

The link to the video for the song “The Spark” by William Prince can be found here.

The link to the official website for William Prince can be found here.

The link to the Massey Hall Artist Development Programme can be found here.

The link to the official website for The Peguis First Nation can be found here.

The link to the Heritage Minute video about the life of Tommy Prince can be found here.

***As always, all original content contained within this post remains the sole property of the author. No portion of this post shall be reblogged, copied or shared in any manner without the express written consent of the author. ©2023 http://www.tommacinneswriter.com

The Great Canadian Road Trip: Song #32/250: Let It Rain by Amanda Marshall

Not the clearest photo but here is Jeff Healey jamming with a young Amanda Marshall in 1990.

I was blown away the very first time I ever listened to Amanda Marshall sing. That voice! So rich, deep and powerful. When she was barely out of her teens, Marshall was discovered by guitarist Jeff Healey. He took the Toronto native under his wing and helped introduce her to a larger audience. The first time I ever saw her perform was on Much Music when they were doing a segment on Healey. The segment was supposed to be about him, but instead, he made it about her by asking her to sing while he played backup. Marshall stepped up to the microphone…all hair and a huge smile…and began to sing “Let It Rain”. The voice that exploded out of her mouth made me sit up and take notice. It was soulful, almost Gospel-like. The sound was coming from deep within her. She appeared to be having the time of her life. To my way of thinking, I was watching the debut of Canada’s next big star.

Amanda Marshall

In 1995, she released her self-titled debut album. It was one of the biggest selling albums of the year and spawned an incredible total of six hit songs that found their way onto the Canadian charts: “Let It Rain”, “Birmingham” (which made it all the way to in the US and helped earn her the opening act slot on Whitney Houston’s European tour that year), “Beautiful Goodbye”, “Fall From Grace”, “Dark Horse” and “Sitting On Top of the World”. After co-writing many of the songs on her second album called Tuesday’s Child, she was nominated for a Juno Award as Songwriter of the Year. She had the looks. She had the charm. But most of all, she had real talent. That lady could sing like no one else on the Canadian music scene. I was so convinced that Amanda Marshall was going to be as big a star as Shania Twain or Sarah McLachlan or Celine Dion that I used to daydream that Lorne Michaels wanted me to host Saturday Night Live and my one condition before agreeing to appear was that Amanda Marshall had to be my musical guest.

And then it all went south.

Amanda Marshall’s first two albums featured music that can best be described as soulful rock. With a voice that seemed similar to Janis Joplin or to today’s star, P!nk, Marshall seemed perfectly suited to be belting out songs with strength and passion and personal conviction. But, as sometimes is the case with singers and bands, after completing album , Amanda Marshall had used up her inventory of songs that she used to play with Jeff Healey in the bars that dot the city of Toronto. For her third album, she decided to write most, if not all of the songs herself, from scratch. For inspiration, she turned to the story of her own life. Not many knew this about her when she first burst onto the Canadian music scene, but Amanda Marshall identifies as being black. She is the only child of a bi-racial marriage. Her mother was from Trinidad and, in her words, her father was “Canadian”. Marshall claimed that she had grown tired of being a black person who most people thought was white. So, she channeled her energy into writing songs that explained how she felt about being racially mis-identified and about some of the adversity she has had to deal with, along with her family, because of racism. In writing these songs, Marshall embraced a part of her background that had, up until then, been kept under wraps, and she created an R&B album all about race. Even in a multicultural hotbed such as Toronto, Marshall’s music came off as being preachy. Her fans did not know what to make of her new sound and subject matter. Consequently, album sales for her third album tanked. Behind the scenes, Amanda Marshall and her record label began to argue about the musical direction she should be following. Those arguments led to disputes about financial matters to do with royalties and profits. Before too long, Marshall had fired her entire management team. They, in turn, took her to court. To this day, she remains entangled in lawsuits that have effectively ground her career to a halt. Just like with the story of singer Irene Cara in the U.S. (you can read about what happened to her here), because of these lawsuits Amanda Marshall remains unable to record new and original music. She still sings at music festivals and in clubs and local bars but the only “new” album of her music that has been released in the last two decades has been one Greatest Hits album consisting of the songs from her first three LPs. That’s been it.

In interviews, Amanda Marshall remains firm in her conviction that she is in the right and that she will prevail and be making new music again soon. I hope that this is the eventual outcome of her legal disputes because I, for one, would love to hear her return to the airwaves once again. Regardless of what the future holds for Amanda Marshall, as listeners we have been blessed to still have her early work to listen to and enjoy. While “Birmingham” was her most successful hit song as far as chart success and U.S. market penetration goes, “Let It Rain” was always my favourite of hers, so that is what I have chosen to go with in the links below. The sun may still shine one day on the musical career of Amanda Marshal,l but for now, “Let It Rain”.

The link to the video for the song “Let It Rain” by Amanda Marshall can be found here.

The link to the official website for Amanda Marshall can be found here.

The link to the official website for singer/guitarist Jeff Healey can be found here.

***As always, all original content contained within this blog post remains the sole property of the author. No portion of this post shall be reblogged, copied or shared in any manner without the express written consent of the author. ©2023 http://www.tommacinneswriter.com

The Great Canadian Road Trip: Song #31/250: A Criminal Mind by Lawrence Gowan

Turns out that I owe Lawrence Gowan an apology. I was unaware that an apology was necessary until this past weekend but apologize, I must. And yes, I am talking about that Lawrence Gowan who, in the 1980s had big hits with songs such as “A Criminal Mind”, “Strange Animals” and “Moonlight Desires”. You know, that guy with the huge mullet! He was known just as Gowan back in the day. That guy. In the 80s, Gowan was a big star for a while just at a time when Canadian music was coming into its own. It was the dawn of Much Music (and MTV to the south) and a whole host of artists and bands were becoming household names across Canada because of the videos they were making that ended up in high rotation on the nation’s music station. Gowan was certainly right up there with the likes of Honeymoon Suite, Platinum Blonde, The Spoons, Lee Aaron and a host of other bright, shiny new stars. But then, after an album or two that sold well, Gowan did what so many other artists and bands tend to do, he disappeared from the public eye. The hit songs dried up. The demand for new videos ceased. He went away. As quickly as Gowan had appeared on the national music scene, he was gone…or so it had seemed. This is where the apology comes in.

I spent this past weekend reading a terrific new book called Massey Hall by David McPherson. As you may know, Massey Hall is a famous concert venue in downtown Toronto. For those in need of a comparable, many artists and bands say that Massey Hall is quite similar to Carnegie Hall in New York City. In any case, this book did a fabulous job of telling the story of how Massey Hall came to be, why it is so beloved by performers and audience members alike and who some of the biggest names were that graced the stage there. Mr. McPherson did extensive interviews with anyone and everyone who had something to do with Massey Hall, and as a result, it reads like a musical history book for modern times. Everyone from Miles Davis, Oscar Peterson and Glenn Gould played there, as well as Rush, Lou Reed, The Beach Boys and Chuck Berry. If you wanted to listen to Anne Murray or Blondie or K.D. Lang, then you could have bought yourself a ticket and enjoyed their show. The story of Massey Hall is told in chronological order and reads like a walk through The Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame. It was so interesting! I highly recommend it.

It was 1982 that I graduated from high school in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia and moved to Toronto to attend university. I ended up living not too far from Massey Hall. In fact, I had to walk past it every time I had to go to the nearest grocery store, which was nine city blocks from where I lived. On April 9, 1984, I was walking home after buying groceries. I didn’t have a little cart or a backpack in those days. I carried my groceries in bags which, as you can imagine, grew exponentially heavier with each block I walked. My arms were aching by the time I reached Massey Hall (which was the halfway point in my journey). My head was down. I wasn’t gawking all about as I usually did. I just wanted to put my groceries down and be home. So, I didn’t notice the crowd of people were milling about beside Massey Hall. I walked ever onward and actually ended up bumping into somebody with my groceries! I mumbled an apology and glanced up to see that the person I had smacked with my tins of soup was none other than singer Thomas Dolby! He was arriving for afternoon rehearsal after having released “Hyperactive” from his Flat Earth album. Other than shaking the hand of Buffy Sainte-Marie once, literally bumping into Thomas Dolby outside of Massey Hall is my only other physical encounter with a celebrity.

Lawrence Gowan

I realize that this story would have been tighter if the person I had bumped into was Lawrence Gowan but it wasn’t. At the time I smucked into Mr. Dolby, Lawrence Gowan was not yet the music star he was to become. Lawrence Gowan was originally born in Scotland. He moved to Scarborough as a young child and grew up in the Greater Toronto Area. As a teen, he was very much into theatre acting. He brought this sense of theatricality into his music career, even when he was just messing about in high school bands of one sort or another. With his strong voice and captivating stage presence, it wasn’t long before he was spotted by a talent agent and signed to a record contract. Gowan’s debut album didn’t sell well, but it did enable him and his band to tour around Ontario. At one point, he found himself at the Canadian National Exhibition (the C.N.E.) in Toronto. The C.N.E. is a huge fair that typically acts as an end of summer event in Toronto. At that particular edition of the C.N.E., there was an exhibit by folks who were promoting the recently closed Kingston Penitentiary as a museum. In this exhibit, there was an actual cell from the prison, along with a guard who used to work there. Lawrence Gowan happened by and sat in the cell for a while. As he sat, he chatted with the guard who told him stories about some of the inmates he had watched over. The guard told him that even though these were bad men who had done bad things, that he actually came to like many of them and considered some to even be friends when all was said and done. This talk struck Gowan as being profound and caused him to create a song that was to launch his career, “A Criminal Mind”. Because of the theatrical nature of his performance style, Gowan was able to create an imaginative video for his song which ended up being played on high rotation on Much Music, and just like that, Lawrence Gowan was a star! His second album, “Strange Animals”, spawned three singles and ended up selling almost 70,000 copies (which was a lot for a Canadian act in those days). He ended up winning the Juno Award for Best New Artist and for Best Video (just beating out Corey Hart and his “Never Surrender” song).

Here’s where the apology comes in. We are all consumers of music. As such, we tend to place our musical influences into one of two categories: those we have frozen in time and keep forever in our memories as they first appeared to us (The Beatles, Elvis, The Rolling Stones, an 18-year old Kate Bush dancing in a red dress and singing about “Wuthering Heights”), and then we have those we consider disposable. These are the singers who had a hit or two or maybe even three and then they went away. Forgotten. Relegated to being nostalgia acts in our minds. There are so many great songs that were one-hit wonder type songs. These songs have equal weight to music by the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Famers when it comes to the soundtrack of our lives, but, as consumers, we tend to simply keep the song but throw away the artist. This is what I did with Lawrence Gowan. I actually did this without so much as a second thought. I truly like his three hit songs and am happy to listen to them whenever I hear them played on radio or stumble across them in an 80s playlist. But, as for whatever happened to Lawrence Gowan after the mid-80s, I never gave it much thought at all to be honest. He seemed to have disappeared and like so many others, I simply let him go.

So, imagine my surprise as I read through my Massey Hall book and arrived at the chapter dedicated to the decade of the 1980s. Mr. McPherson talked about concerts by The Police, U2, Robin Williams and then he devoted a whole sub-section to…Lawrence Gowan! Wait, what?! I knew that Gowan had been a music star for awhile in the 1980s, but I never considered him to be in the same class of musician as Sting or Bono or Madonna, but yet, here he was being featured as if he was. I owe Mr. McPherson a debt of gratitude for taking the time to present Lawrence Gowan in a way that refused to allow me to just cast a cursory glance. So, I read all about Mr. Gowan. In doing so, I discovered why his own career seemed to grind to a halt after getting off to such a strong start in the mid-1980s. Here is what I learned.

Lawrence Gowan on the far right. Tommy Shaw in the middle. This is Styx!

The first thing I learned was that Lawrence Gowan’s career didn’t stop as the 1980s ended. In fact, he has been going strong for forty years now! The big thing I learned was that his career has had two phases: the first phase was when he toured as Gowan and sang about “Strange Animals”. The second phase came when he became the co-lead singer for the famous rock band Styx! Wait, what…again!!! The story is that the members of the famous rock band Styx (They of the hits like “Mr. Roboto”, “Come Sail Away”, “Lady”, “Renegade”, “Blue Collar Man” and many more) had, for most of their career, had conflicting visions for what kind of band they wanted Styx to be. Co-lead singers at the time, Dennis DeYoung and Tommy Shaw worked together to produce some of the most memorable rock songs of the 1970s, but the process of reaching consensus toward what to record, when and where to tour, what kind of venues to play, etc…, wore on everyone over time. Eventually, as the 1980s progressed, it was becoming clear that Shaw and DeYoung were becoming an incompatible pair. A power struggle of sorts ensued. The battle came to its conclusion one time when Dennis DeYoung became ill and asked the band to stop touring until such time as he had recovered. There was no timetable for his recovery. This brings us back to one time on their final tour with the original lineup. The band was scheduled to play in Montreal. In need of an opening act, Gowan was contacted. By the late 1980s, he was no longer in the music limelight in Canada, and no longer had a band of his own in his employ. He responded to the guys from Styx that he would be happy to open for them but that he would only be able to perform an acoustic set. The band agreed. Lawrence Gowan went on stage and performed for thirty minutes. He played his three hits and a few more songs thrown in for good measure. He closed with “A Criminal Mind”. Ever the performer, Lawrence Gowan managed to wow the crowd using nothing more than an acoustic guitar, his charm and his wonderful singing voice. Well, as often happens at concerts, the boys from Styx stood in the wings as Gowan finished his set. They were as impressed with him as the audience was. Fast forward a few months…Styx ended their tour. Tommy Shaw and Dennis DeYoung had their final blow-out battle. DeYoung announced that he wouldn’t be touring for the foreseeable future. Shaw announced that the band would go on without him. One of the very first people brought in to audition to replace DeYoung was Lawrence Gowan who, when all was said and done, was given the gig! For over two decades now, Lawrence Gowan has been the co-lead singer (along with Tommy Shaw) of the 1970s behemoth rock band, Styx! He has been so accepted by the band and integrated into their world that Gowan’s 1980s hit songs have been incorporated into the Styx song catalogue and are regularly played in concert: especially “A Criminal Mind”. And, until I read it in a book this weekend, I didn’t know anything about any of this.

For that, I apologize, Mr. Gowan.

What I really apologize for is that rush to judgment that so many of us make so easily about others without having any facts to warrant such thoughts to begin with. I am guilty of being dismissive toward an artist who was, in fact, thriving. I have no idea if Lawrence Gowan lost any sleep over the years because I had relegated him to the ranks of a nostalgia act in my mind. Regardless as to whether he did or not, I know that I have been guilty of forming opinions about others without a basis in fact. Not everyone is fortunate enough to have books written about them like Bob Dylan or Joni Mitchell have. To those performers who had their moment in the spotlight and then, seemingly, faded away and out of sight, my promise is to dig a little deeper to see what became of them after the curtains closed and the applause faded into silence. Instances like this one with Lawrence Gowan serve as a timely reminder to me to do better as a writer and as a researcher. Who knows how many other “one-hit wonders” or “one album wizards” are having fulfilling careers away from the media eye? My job as a storyteller is to tell an artist’s story fully and properly. I strive to improve my craft. I will leave any judgments as to my success in your hands. For now, I will simply thank Mr. McPherson for writing a truly wonderful book and congratulate Mr. Gowan for having had such a long and stellar career. Well done, gentlemen!

The link to the video for the song “A Criminal Mind” by Gowan can be found here. ***Lyrics video is here.

The link to the official website for Lawrence Gowan is here.

The link to the official website for the band Styx is here.

The link to the video for the song “A Criminal Mind” as sung by Lawrence Gowan and Styx can be found here.

The link to the official website for Massey Hall can be found here. ***Note: Mr. McPherson’s book is available for sale via the Massey Hall website. Enter and click on Shop.

***As always, all original content contained within this post remains the sole property of the author. No portion of this post shall be reblogged, copied or shared in any manner without the express written consent of the author. ©2023 http://www.tommacinneswriter.com

The Great Canadian Road Trip: Song #30/250: Misguided Angel by The Cowboy Junkies

When I started writing the posts that came to be The Great Canadian Road Trip series, the idea was to write about songs that possessed the specific name of a Canadian place within its lyrics. However, as the series has progressed, I have made the deliberate decision to move beyond the original criterion that I imposed upon myself and, instead, I will move forward simply talking about Canada, the people who create music here and the places that merit mention because of their connection to music. Today, we are going to visit a place of significant cultural and historical importance to the City of Toronto, as well as to the world of social activism and the Arts. That place is the Church of the Holy Trinity in Toronto. Aside from the myriad of things the church is known for, one of the most enjoyable was that it was the location where one of Canada’s greatest albums of all time was recorded. The album was The Trinity Session. The band who recorded it was The Cowboy Junkies. Let’s find out what it was that drew The Cowboy Junkies to The Church of the Holy Trinity and what it was about the church itself that caused this album to have such a distinctive sound and to be such a career-defining success. Here is the story of a small church in the heart of a big city. Let’s go!

Maintaining The Toronto Homeless Memorial is just one of many compassionate and important acts performed by those who run The Church of the Holy Trinity in Toronto.

The Church of the Holy Trinity has a very interesting and important history. It was built in the mid-1800s on a parcel of land that was donated by a man named James Simcoe Macaulay. Mr. Macaulay was the surgeon to the British Army stationed in the area. When he was honorably discharged from his post, he purchased a parcel of land that comprised 100 acres of farm, forest and marshland in an area of Toronto that was undeveloped at the time. (In 2023, the heart of his property sat where the Toronto Eaton Centre Shopping Mall and office towers now reside). As time went on, Macaulay severed his land to various family members and other people who wanted to develop the area for housing and for business interests. One of the people who approached Macaulay about his land was Archbishop Strachan, the Anglican Archbishop of Toronto. Strachan had been contacted by lawyers from England who informed him that the diocese had been bequeathed a large sum of money (5000 pounds sterling) for the sole purpose of building a new church. The benefactor was an English woman named Mary Lambert Swale. Mrs. Swale stipulated that the church must be named The Church of the Holy Trinity and that it must be an “open church”, meaning that the pews were unreserved. (In the past, one of the ways that churches raised money was from the selling of their pew space in return for a monthly or yearly fee. This often meant that only the wealthy could afford to go to church and that the poor were denied access). Mrs. Swale’s conditions meant that The Church of the Holy Trinity would be a church that serviced immigrants, the poor, the homeless and anyone else who wanted to attend. Consequently, throughout the entire length of its history, The Church of the Holy Trinity has carried through with its mission statement and has served as home for all manner of those on the fringes of society including Vietnam draft dodgers, members of the LGBTQ2S+ community in the 1970s, the homeless (The Toronto Homeless Memorial Roll that contains the names of all homeless people who have died in Toronto is kept there), those battling addictions and many, many more. It was a building that took on the air of a sanctuary in the heart of Canada’s largest and fastest growing city. Not only was the Church of the Holy Trinity a champion for those in need, it also served the role as a patron of the Arts. Throughout its history, it has routinely offered the space within its walls to musicians in need of a place to perform or record. It was because of this that a group that billed itself at the time as the Timmins Family Singers booked the church for one day because that was all they could afford. The Timmins Family Singers turned out to be The Cowboy Junkies and that one day allowed them to record the album that put them on the musical map in Canada, The Trinity Session.

The Cowboy Junkies had their origin way back in kindergarten when Michael Timmins met his lifelong friend Alan Anton. The two boys grew up together and started forming bands while in high school. Their first band was called Hunger Project. Wanting to live in the land of their musical influences, the lads moved to England. Eventually Hunger Project went belly up, and the boys started a new, avant-garde band called Germinal. While that band earned them some small bits of recognition, they both agreed that it was time to return to Toronto, so back home they came. After experimenting with band lineups using various combinations of friends and acquaintances, Anton and Timmins came to the conclusion that their songs might sound better if they were being sung by a woman’s voice, so Michael recruited his younger sister, Margo, to join their band. The only problem with this was that Margo was extremely shy at this stage of her life. The last thing she wanted to do was to face a live audience and belt out tunes written by her brother. But when her brother and Alan Anton heard her sing, they knew her voice was mesmerizing, so they adapted their style of play to suit her hushed style of singing. As a result, The Cowboy Junkies stumbled upon their signature quiet sound quite by accident.

The Cowboy Junkies and crew recording at The Church of the Holy Trinity for The Trinity Session album.

After realizing that performing in a small and intimate way was the key to their future success, the band sought opportunities to capture that sound live on an album. Fortunately for them, they ran into a man named Peter Moore who spoke about recording music using a single microphone. The band liked the thought of all crowding around one microphone and believed that doing so would allow their whispery style of play to be captured authentically on tape, so they formed a partnership with Moore. Now, the only thing left was to find an acoustically perfect place to make this album. Being a relatively new band, The Cowboy Junkies did not have a huge budget. Somewhere along the way, it was discovered that The Church of the Holy Trinity would rent its space for a small fee as long as the music being recorded was “suitable and appropriate” for such a venue. That’s how The Cowboy Junkies became The Timmins Family Singers for one day. They told the booking person at the church that they would be recording a Christmas album. They said nothing about singing songs of longing or addiction or sex. The band loved the acoustics they found in the church. The space had no pillars of any sort supporting the roof so the interior space was wide open. This, combined with the stone walls and rounded roof meant that there was a crystal clear clarity to the notes being played and the words being sung. The band recorded the simplest songs first…adjusting the microphone and their own positioning accordingly as each song progressed and grew more complex. The final song they recorded that day was “Misguided Angel”. It was recorded in one take. There was no overdubbing or mixing required. The version you hear when you listen to it today is exactly the same version that was recorded that day. With the exception of a few additional vocal tracks which were laid down afterwards, the entire Trinity Session album was recorded in one day at The Church of the Holy Trinity.

When The Trinity Session was released, it was lauded for the sound quality of the music, along with the inspired choice of lyrics of a majority of the songs, such as their cover of “Sweet Jane” by Lou Reed (which he has stated is his favourite version of that song), “200 More Miles”, “Blue Moon Revisited (A Song for Elvis)” and, today’s song, “Misguided Angel”. The album flew off of store shelves going two times platinum in Canada. Music critics across North America rated it as one of the best albums of the year, and as if that wasn’t enough, The Trinity Session was named the winner of the Polaris Prize for Best Album in Canada for the decade of the 1980s. To celebrate the success of the album, The Cowboy Junkies re-recorded it twenty five years later, but this time adding singers such as Natalie Merchant, Vic Chestnutt and Ryan Adams to the mix as duet partners. That album was called Trinity Session Revisited.

The Cowboy Junkies have released eighteen albums as of 2023. The band’s lineup has remained the same for almost thirty years now. As for The Church of the Holy Trinity, it occupies one of the most prime pieces of real estate in downtown Toronto. There have been many offers to buy the property and turn it into condominiums or storefront retail space but all attempts to buy the land on which the church sits have been rebuffed. This church, which was once one of Toronto’s most distinctive buildings, now sits dwarfed on all sides by buildings devoted to commerce and trade. Yet, it remains a safe harbour for those experiencing personal storms. It also remains a place where musicians and artists can find a venue to showcase their skills and talents. There is a weekly music series that anyone can attend. The Cowboy Junkies have never performed there but if you ever see a group that goes by the name of The Timmins Family Singers on the schedule, alert your friends and head on down because it will be sure to be quite the show. The price of admission remains free and will be forever more.

The link to the video for the song “Misguided Angel” by The Cowboy Junkies can be found here. ***There appears to be no lyrics version but a photo of the lyrics can be found here.

The link to the official website for the Cowboy Junkies can be found here.

The link to the official website for The Church of the Holy Trinity can be found here.

***As always, all original content contained within this blog post remains the sole property of the author. No portion of this post shall be reblogged, copied or shared in any manner without the express written consent of the author. ©2023 http://www.tommacinneswriter.com

The Great Canadian Road Trip: Song #29/250: Takin’ Care of Business by Bachman-Turner Overdrive

Elvis’ private airplane with the Takin’ Care of Business logo on the tail. This plane now sits at his Graceland Mansion Museum.

If you are familiar with the career trajectory of Elvis Presley at all, then you know how he burst onto the music scene in the 1950s with music and moves that left audiences in complete hysterics. In the early 1960s, Elvis left the bright lights of the music world for the discipline of the military. When he was honourably discharged from Uncle Sam’s army, Elvis returned to the world of entertainment but as a movie star instead of being purely a rock n’ roll singer. It was during this phase of his career that Elvis Presley began to experience a drop in popularity. Concerned about this, he decided to take control of his career back from his manager in the form of a national television special in which he would simply do what he enjoyed most and that was: sing! The television special was dubbed as Elvis’ “comeback special”. It was warmly received. Going back to his musical roots reinvigorated his spirits and caused Elvis Aaron Presley to want to perform live on a more regular and consistent basis. Thus, he gathered a new backing band and headed out on the road. The name he selected for his backing band reflected the renewed sense of purpose he felt inside. Thus, when Elvis launched his first tour in over a decade, it was called the “Takin’ Care of Business” Tour with Elvis Presley and the Takin’ Care of Business Band. The whole entourage flew on a plane emblazoned with the letters “TCB” next to a lightning bolt. All of the merchandise being sold on the tour had “TCB” and the lightning bolt on it. Elvis Presley was back and was takin’ care of business as only he could.

Just prior to the airing of Elvis’ “comeback special” on TV, a band from Winnipeg, Manitoba was climbing the US rock charts with a smash hit of their own, “American Woman”. The Guess Who, led by singer Burton Cummings and guitarist Randy Bachman saw their song go all the way to on the charts, becoming the first Canadian act to do so in the Rock n’ Roll era. As was the case with many bands, Bachman and Cummings were busy writing and composing new material even as they toured with their older work. One of the songs that Randy Bachman brought to the group was a song tentatively called “White Collar Worker”. At the time, Burton Cummings dismissed the song as terrible because the chorus was clumsy and the melody of the song seemed to be merely copying The Beatles hit, “Paperback Writer”. But despite Cummings’ stinging rebuke, there was something about the song that Randy Bachman liked, so he tucked it away with a list of other songs he was composing with the thought of revisiting it at a future date.

Bachman-Turner Overdrive: Randy Bachman, Blair Thornton (who replaced Tim Bachman on guitar), Robbie Bachman and Fred Turner.

Well, that future date arrived several years later after The Guess Who had broken up. Randy Bachman found himself drifting through several bands, none of which were successful in gaining a new record deal. Eventually, Bachman turned to his family and convinced his brothers Tim and Robbie to join him in a band. They knew they needed a better singer than any of them were, so they recruited a fellow Winnipeg singer named Fred Turner. They named their new band Bachman-Turner Overdrive and set out to create some good, old-fashioned guitar driven rock n’ roll. Randy Bachman wrote all of the songs and kept all of the royalties for himself, which, in time, would prove to be a divisive decision. But, in the beginning, none of that mattered because the hits rolled off of Bachman’s pen. Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s first five albums all went Gold in Canada, with the first four also going Platinum in terms of sales. They had a string of iconic Canadian hits, such as “Let It Ride”, “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet”, “Roll On Down The Highway”, “Hey You” and their most famous anthem, “Takin’ Care of Business”. In the mid-1970s, BTO were as big a band in Canada as there was. Their songs, along with those of bands such as April Wine and Trooper, formed much of the soundtrack of my teenage years.

Randy Bachman was listening to Vancouver’s CFUN radio when he heard the magical phrase, “Takin’ Care of Business”.

While most critics and fans accept BTO’s other hits at face value as being straight-ahead rockin’ tunes that are fairly self-explanatory as far as meaning goes, there have always been questions about “Takin’ Care of Business”. In an interview, Randy Bachman stated that although he was an Elvis Presley fan, he had no idea that Elvis’ new tour was titled “The Takin’ Care of Business” tour, nor that his backing band was called by that name, too. He denied ripping Elvis off and claimed, instead, that his song, “Takin’ Care of Business”, had actually been written years before and went by the name “White Collar Man”. Bachman maintained that Bachman-Turner Overdrive used to use “White Collar Man” as a warm-up song during recording sessions in which they would tune their instruments and get proper mic levels all figured out while they played. He said that he never thought of replacing the phrase “white collar man” with “takin’ care of business” until one day in Vancouver when he heard a DJ on CFUN radio use the phrase to describe the station’s musical philosophy. After hearing that, Bachman tweaked the song lyrics and the BTO version of “Takin’ Care of Business” was born. But, even then, the band had no intention of recording it for inclusion on an album. How that came to be was one day during a live performance, lead singer Fred Turner began to experience a mild form of laryngitis. Not certain that he had enough voice left to finish the show, he asked the band to play something…anything for ten minutes while he guzzled water so he could finish the set. Not knowing what else to play, they fell back upon their “tune-up” song and Randy Bachman began to sing. The debut performance of “Takin’ Care of Business” was met with thunderous applause, with the audience singing the new and improved chorus back right from the get-go. Afterwards, it was decided that the song should be added to the next album and the rest is Canadian music history.

The heyday of Bachman-Turner Overdrive coincided with the rejuvenation of Elvis Presley’s career and the donning of his iconic white jumpsuit. By the time that Elvis died in 1976, Bachman-Turner Overdrive were also essentially done as a touring band, too. In the short span of five or six years, Bachman-Turner Overdrive carved out a place for themselves in the pantheon of Canadian music greats. But the intensity with which they toured and recorded new material, coupled with the lack of equity in the division of profits the band was accruing caused the band to bicker and argue, and eventually, it caused Randy Bachman, himself, to opt to leave. There were several iterations of the band as the decades rolled by, including an actual reunion between Fred Turner and Randy Bachman, but nothing of musical consequence emerged. In fact, as some of you may be aware, Robbie Bachman passed away just one week ago formally ending any hope of a reunion of the classic BTO lineup.

Looking back upon it all, Randy Bachman has said that he has no regrets over anything. He remains one of the few Canadian rockers to have two hits with two different bands (“American Woman” with The Guess Who and “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” with Bachman-Turner Overdrive). A song that he always believed in (“Takin’ Care of Business”) became one of the most beloved and recognizable songs in Canadian history and still can be heard played at sporting events everywhere. And through it all, by some pure coincidence in timing, he has found himself forever linked with his hero, Elvis Presley, as two musicians who knew exactly what it meant to be takin’ care of business. The mere thought of it makes Bachman smile to this very day.

The link to the video for the song “Takin’ Care of Business” by Bachman-Turner Overdrive can be found here.

The link to the official website for Bachman-Turner Overdrive can be found here.

The link to the official website for Winnipeg, Manitoba…the birthplace of Bachman-Turner Overdrive can be found here.

***As always, all original content contained within this blog post remains the sole property of the author. No portion of this blog shall be reblogged, copied or shared in any manner without the express written consent of the author. ©2023 http://www.tommacinneswriter.com

The Great Canadian Road Trip: Song #28/250: Stereo by The Watchmen

Pearson Airport at midnight.

It is just after midnight. After a long day of travel, I find myself at Pearson Airport in Toronto. From what I can tell, we are the last flight of the day to arrive. All of the shops are shuttered. There are no other people here except for a few folks in uniform pushing brooms or pulling vacuum cleaners. Canada’s busiest airport is empty and silent. If my life was a television show or a movie, my fellow passengers and I would break out in song, flash mob style! The baggage carousel is ours to surf should our hearts so desire. But, no one dances or sings at this hour of the day. Slump-shouldered and bleary-eyed, we allow opportunity to pass us by. We trudge silently toward the doors and the night air beyond. We all just want to go home.

Nothing but the open road before me.

The airplanes are tucked snugly into their hangars. The sky above Pearson appears calm. There is no one else moving on the roof of the Sheraton Hotel as I pick up my faithful car. It is just me and a sky filled with stars. I pull out of the parking garage and on to Canada’s busiest highway, known simply as the 401. In the wee hours of the morning, the 401 unfurls before my wheels. There are only truckers and me as we roll past empty shopping malls and darkened apartment buildings. Even the CN Tower has turned off its lights and gone to sleep for the night. The truckers and I, we drive ever onward unencumbered.

It has been a very long day of travel delays and flight cancellations. Although the driving is easy across the top of Toronto, I can feel my body wanting to shut itself down. I am tired but still far from home. In order to help myself stay alert, I call upon an old friend for company. I turn on the radio and punch in the call numbers for CFNY-FM. This is the radio station immortalized in the RUSH song, “Spirit of Radio”. *(I wrote a post about that song that you can read by clicking here). CFNY-FM (or 102.1 the Edge, as they have branded themselves today) has been the home of alternative music in Toronto since I moved into the city in 1982. It was where I first heard bands such as Yaz, Depeche Mode, Rough Trade, The Constantines and early U2. I have always felt an affinity for CFNY-FM so it seems only natural that in my moment of need I turn to them to provide the soundtrack for this final leg of my journey home. They do not disappoint.

One of the great things about listening to radio after midnight is that the tightly controlled structure of their day time playlists relaxes somewhat. There is more freedom for DJs to programme what they want, and so the early hours of the morning often offer a window into the creative heart of those on the other side of the microphone. On this night, I hear a smorgasbord of classic alternative and more modern fare. I hear female bands, male solo acts, synth Pop bands and straight-ahead rockers like the Foo Fighters. But the very first song I hear as I head out into the night is “Stereo” by the Canadian band, The Watchmen. “Stereo” is a terrific song. It was a big hit for The Watchmen in the mid-1990s and helped solidify their claim as being one of Canada’s top musical acts during that decade.

My life’s a stereo

How loud does it go?

What songs do I know?

What ever happened to my plans?

What ever happened to the life I thought I’d have?

My life’s a stereo.

Kind of cheaply made though

How bad does it show?

Whatever did become of all my friends?

Whatever happened to the likes of all of them?

My life’s a stereo.

Turn me on and let’s go.

Turn me up louder

I’ll scream as loud and clear as I can scream

If you like what you’re hearing then please hang on to me.

The Watchmen: Ken Tizzard, Daniel Greaves, Sammy Kohn and Joey Serlin.

Hearing “Stereo” blasting away as I sail past the usually artery-clogging exit for the Don Valley Parkway fills me with a sense of pleasure. I am instantly transported back to much younger days when I first encountered the vocal prowess of lead singer Daniel Greaves on a song called “Boneyard Tree”. Greaves and his bandmates Joey Serlin, Sammy Kohn and Ken Tizzard were fixtures on Much Music and were members of a wave of Canadian musical acts such as The Tragically Hip, Blue Rodeo and Sloan that formed a sort of musical renaissance in this country. The Watchmen released five albums during the 1990s, earning one platinum and three gold records along the way, along with several Juno Award nominations. They were never the biggest band in the land, headlining sold out shows in stadiums and twenty thousand seat arenas. Instead, The Watchmen were the sort of band that showed up in your own town. They could fill one thousand seat theatres with ease. They were regulars on the festival circuit. They loved the atmosphere of bars like The Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto. They played every university and college in the country. In fact, the birth of the band took place in the furnace room of the McLaren Hotel in Winnipeg (where the band is from) and gave rise to the title of their debut album, McLaren Furnace Room. As I leave the lights of Toronto behind and enter the suburbs of Scarborough, I remind myself that The Watchmen were the sort of band that often did what I was doing at that very moment. Traveling from city to city, town to town in the stillness of the night after having ripped it up mere hours earlier for another throng of sweat-soaked fans.

Scarborough. Pickering. Ajax, Whitby. Oshawa…all signposts on the side of the highway on this night. The further east I drive, the darker it becomes as the 401 enters the rolling hills of Northumberland County that I call home. CFNY-FM is rocking seemingly louder than ever (Sum 41, I believe) as I pass by forests and farmers’ fields. Bowmanville. Newcastle. Newtonville. Port Hope. Cobourg. Home. I bid adieu to my trucker companions and exit off of the 401 and enter my hometown of Cobourg. Now that I am driving more slowly and entering my sleepy hometown, the music seems excessively loud so I turn it down without giving it a thought. I am the only driver on the streets of my hometown. It is two in the morning now when I pull into my driveway. The house is dark. My wife and daughters are dreaming away in their beds as I turn off the radio and exit the car. Before coming inside, I take a moment and stand in the darkness in front of my house. The stars shine above. I can hear the water flowing in a nearby brook. A breeze rustles the branches of the pine tree next to me. I may seem to be alone but I am part of so much more, even at 2:00AM. This is my world. Finally, I am home.

The link to the video for the song “Stereo” by The Watchmen can be found here.

***The lyrics version can be found here. Please note that the only lyrics version I could find is a remix and, as such, it sounds slightly different that the original version.

The link to the official website for The Watchmen can be found here.

The link to the official website for radio station CFNY-FM (102.1 the Edge) in Toronto can be found here.

The link to a news article about the history of The McLaren Hotel in Winnipeg (where The Watchmen got their start) can be found here.

***As always, all original content contained within this blog post remains the sole property of the author. No portion of this blog shall be reblogged, copied or shared in any manner without the express written consent of the author. ©2023 http://www.tommacinneswriter.com

The Great Canadian Road Trip: Song #27/250: Mistletoe by Justin Bieber

Justin Bieber at age 28.

Like him or loathe him all you want, but there is no denying the success that Justin Bieber has enjoyed so far in his young career. With record sales of over 150 million albums already (and he has yet to reach thirty years of age), Justin Bieber is poised to become the biggest selling Canadian artist of all time and will soon rank among the greatest of the greats when it comes to sales worldwide. Bieber has won several Grammy, Juno, Billboard and Brit Awards and holds several notable distinctions, such as being the youngest singer ever to top the charts as he did for his first hit, “Baby”, at age 13. His second album, Under the Mistletoe, was the first Christmas album to ever reach on the Adult Pop charts. In fact, Justin Bieber has spent over half of his entire life singing chart-topping music. In his fifteen-year career, he has achieved platinum sales levels for songs such as “Baby”, “Sorry”, “Despacito”, “Love Yourself”, “What Do You Mean?”, “Monster” (with Shawn Mendes), “Peaches”, “Lonely”, “Stay” and “Ghost”. Bieber has collaborated with many of the biggest names in the music business, such as Usher, Ed Sheeran, Chance the Rapper, Ariana Grande, Ludacris and Drake. The future looks bright for this young man from Stratford, Ontario.

Justin Bieber as a teen idol.

When Justin Bieber was just a child living with his mother in Stratford, he was already becoming known as being one of those kids who could charm the adults in his mother’s social circle with his singing and his comedic antics. His natural inclination toward performing coincided with the rise in influence of the social media performance app, YouTube. It wasn’t long before Bieber was taping himself singing and posting the results onto his own YouTube channel. The response to his videos was swift. His boyish good looks, his natural charm and singing talent all combined to generate lots of views for someone so young. As a twelve year old, Bieber posted a video of himself busking on the streets of Stratford during the famous Stratford Theatre Festival. Unknown to Bieber at the time, a US talent scout named Scooter Braun was combing through hundreds of videos looking for that special someone who could become the next big thing. When he came across Justin Bieber’s videos, he liked what he saw and decided to take a chance on the young man from Canada. Braun convinced Bieber’s mother to move with him to Atlanta, Georgia, where, under the guidance of singer Usher, Bieber was signed to a contract and prepped for the recording of his debut album. At age 13, his first album was released, and from it, his first single, “Baby”, featuring veteran rapper Ludacris. “Baby” became a hit in the US and around the world. At an age when most thirteen-year-old boys are trying to figure out how much Axe Body Spray is too much Axe Body Spray, Justin Bieber was touring the world, singing in front of tens of thousands of screaming fans, and becoming a very, very rich young man. However, as much as I commend Justin Bieber for rising to the top of the music business so quickly, I always worry when young children achieve sudden fame at such a young age. It has to be tough in a weird sort of way to have access to every material possession you could ever want, to always be showered with praise for every little thing you do, and to have to bear the weight of responsibility for the careers of so many other people who make their living off of the mini-industry that you have become. Like Michael Jackson before him, Justin Bieber’s life soon became fodder for the tabloids, as he engaged in many inappropriate, attention-seeking behaviours that landed him in trouble with the law, as well as the court of public opinion. Regardless of how many albums he sells, Justin Bieber remains a polarizing figure who is adored by some and despised in equal amounts by others. Yet, through it all, Justin Bieber has maintained several long-term relationships, has become married and is hoping to be a father one day soon, too. He is well respected by other artists in the music industry and has no shortage of willing collab. partners. He is approaching the age of thirty and is still releasing music that charts and sells well, so maybe, just maybe, Justin Bieber is going to be someone who defies the trends and becomes one of the few child stars to transition well to his adult life.

Are you a Belieber?

Today’s song comes from his Christmas album, Under the Mistletoe, and is simply called “Mistletoe”. Justin Bieber was all of seventeen when he released this song, which became a Top Ten song in many countries around the world. It is a sweet Pop song that isn’t so much about Christmas, but more uses Christmas to tell a romantic story about a boy and a girl falling into love and kissing under a mistletoe. For those fans who were attracted to the teenage Bieber, “Mistletoe” was a song that was perfectly suited to mine their disposition. Many, many fans pictured themselves as being the one under the mistletoe with Justin Bieber, and at the time, he did little to dissuade such a notion from existing. But that is the nature of celebrity and of the entertainment industry as a whole. It is all built upon a foundation of imagery and dreams and the creation of what appear to be personal connections between performers and their fans. Like many Scooter Braun rostered artists (Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, etc…), Justin Bieber has become a master of marketing himself to his fans and making them feel as though they are all like a family. While not quite in the same league as Taylor Swift’s fans, known as Swifties, Justin Bieber’s fanbase (Beliebers) is large and possesses political and economic clout. Furthermore, they are loyal, having grown up with Bieber, standing beside him as he struggled to find himself as a teenager with more money and power than any child should have, praying with him during several medical emergencies he has endured, cheering for him as he found love and family in his later years and much, much more. There may come a time when Bieber reaches middle age and suddenly seems old but that time is not now. Justin Bieber is as productive and prolific today as he has ever been. The boy who busked on street corners in small town Stratford, Ontario is maturing and is giving every indication that his best days are still yet to come.

The link to the video for the song “Mistletoe” by Justin Bieber can be found here. ***Lyrics video is here.

The link to the official website for Justin Bieber can be found here.

The link to the video of a pre-teen Justin Bieber busking on the streets of Stratford, Ontario can be found here.

The link to the official website for the Stratford Festival can be found here.

The link to the official website for the city of Stratford, Ontario can be found here.

***As always, all original content contained within this blog post remains the sole property of the author. No portion of this post shall be reblogged, copied or shared in any manner without the express written consent of the author. ©2022 http://www.tommacinneswriter.com

The Great Canadian Road Trip: Song #26/250: Song For A Winter’s Night by Gordon Lightfoot

If I could give you just one indicator that would prove that my life is blessed, the following statement would be it. Counting this calendar year, I have been alive for 59 Christmases and have been fortunate enough to be with those I love for every single one. There has not been one single instance where I had to leave members of my family to be anywhere else except with them. There has never been an instance where any member of my family has had to leave me behind and travel far away at that special time of year. As a child, I was always with my mother and father and sister until such time as I met my wife, who then became my new family. I have been surrounded by love and companionship and good cheer and warm hearts my entire life. This is especially true at Christmas time.

But, as many of you have experienced for yourself, there are no guarantees in life that we get to be with the ones we love at the exact moment of our choosing. For some people, family reunions have to be delayed because of inclement weather. Some people can’t have their loved ones by their side due to medical reasons. Have you ever been to a hospital on Christmas Day? It is, beyond any exaggeration, one of the saddest places you will ever find. A third common reason for loved ones to be apart on Christmas Day is simply due to having to work. While Christmas Day is a very special day to share with your family, the world still has to function…medical staff still treat those who are ill; firefighters stand guard at their stations; energy workers keep the electricity flowing, and soldiers remain at the ready in peacekeeping bases around the world. They leave their loved ones behind in order to perform the jobs that allow the rest of us to bask in the warm glow of the holiday season with those we love by our side. We owe these folks a debt of gratitude that cannot be easily repaid.

A very young Gordon Lightfoot and the woman who inspired today’s song, Brita Olaisson.

One song that best captures the longing associated with being away from a loved one is the 1967 Gordon Lightfoot tune, “Song For A Winter’s Night”. Believe it or not, but “Song For A Winter’s Night” is yet another famous song laden with references to chilly nights and snowy vistas that was actually written in the dead of summer. *(The same holds true for “All I Want For Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey). Not only that, but Gordon Lightfoot was not even in Canada when he penned the lyrics to this song…he was in Cleveland, Ohio! The story is that Gord was touring through the United States and had to leave his then girlfriend Brita Olaisson behind in Canada. After being separated for a lengthy amount of time, Gord began to yearn for the arms of his beloved, so he wrote her a song that ended up being not only a love song to her but to Canada as well.

Sarah McLachlan and her Wintersong EP.

“Song For A Winter’s Night” was a hit for Gordon Lightfoot, but it has also been covered with great success by numerous other Canadian artists, such as Sarah McLachlan, Blue Rodeo and hometown favourites, The Good Lovelies. The imagery contained within the lyrics of this song make it a beautiful song to listen to regardless of the voice doing the singing. Loneliness and longing are not bound by gender. The joy of love and the pain and emptiness of separation are felt equally by all of us with hearts that beat. So, as the Christmas season draws near, my wish for each of you is to love and be loved and that the ones you love the most are by your side on Christmas Day.

The link to the video for the song “Song For A Winter’s Night” by Gordon Lightfoot can be found here. ***Lyrics video can be found here.

The link to the official website for Gordon Lightfoot can be found here.

The link to the video for the song “Song For A Winter’s Night” by Sarah McLachlan can be found here. ***Lyrics video is here.

The link to the official website for Sarah McLachlan can be found here.

Gordon Lightfoot was born in Orillia, Ontario. So, the link to the official website of Orillia, Ontario can be found here.

***As always, all original content contained within this blog remains the sole property of the author. No portion of this post shall be reblogged, copied or shared in any manner without the express written consent of the author. ©2022 http://www.tommacinneswriter.com

The Great Canadian Road Trip: Song #25/250: Christmas Time by Bryan Adams

For a while in the 1980s, Bryan Adams was one of the biggest musical stars in the entire world. Selling close to 100 million records, having albums that had gone platinum multiple times, hitting on the charts with regularity, winning 20 Juno Awards and even enjoying a couple of Academy Award nominations, Bryan Adams was every bit as big a star on the world stage as Madonna, Garth Brooks and Prince. He was also a member of one of the great singer/songwriter teams in modern music history with his friend and business partner, Jim Vallance. His song “Christmas Time” is the biggest-selling Christmas song of all time in Canada. And true to his musical roots, it all began with his first six-string that he, indeed, bought at a five-and-dime. Here is the story of Bryan Adams, Canada’s biggest male rock star ever!

Bryan Adams circa 1985.

Bryan Adams was born in 1959 in Kingston, Ontario. His father was a military officer. Because of his dad’s occupation, Adams grew up in a very transient fashion, moving from one military post to another as his father got re-assigned throughout the course of his life. As he entered his pre-teen years, Bryan Adams found himself in Ottawa where he attended Colonel By Secondary School. *(I have friends with children who go there as I type these words. So, gooooooo Colonel By!) Anyway, it was in a five-and-dime store in Ottawa at age 12 that Bryan Adams famously bought his first six-string guitar. It was an imitation Les Paul-designed guitar modeled after the ones used by rockers such as Peter Frampton and Richie Blackmore. As a young Bryan Adams practiced his licks, he immersed himself into the world of classic rock’s guitar-driven music and began charting a life course for himself that would see him eventually move to Vancouver with his family, drop out of school and use his post-secondary savings to buy a baby grand piano and launched his own band called Shock.

Success in the music industry didn’t come easily to Adams. Like many young aspiring musicians, Bryan Adams spent his late teenage years working odd jobs to supplement the meager income he was making from $50/night gigs in local bars. For most of his teens, he played in backing roles for local bands such as Sweeney Todd. He also started trying his hand at songwriting. He sold a few of his songs to other artists but not many. Like most musicians with a dream, Bryan Adams spent his first few years scuffling around, barely getting by but loving every minute of actually playing rock n’ roll for an audience. As his teens were ending, Adams got his first of many big breaks in his career when he bumped into another young man in a music store called Long and McQuade’s. That man’s name was Jim Vallance. Neither knew it at the time, but they were destined to become fast friends and lifelong music partners in an alliance that would end up going down as one of the most prolific and successful of all time.

Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance.

At the time of their meeting, Vallance was slightly further ahead in his career path than was Adams. Vallance, working under the pseudonym of Raymond Higgs, was the drummer and main songwriter of a band that was starting to get some attention in national music circles called Prism. After meeting Adams, Vallance dropped out of Prism and together, he and Bryan Adams started writing songs. Over the course of their partnership, Valance and Adams not only co-wrote all or most of Adams’ own chart-topping hits, but they also wrote hit songs for artists such as Heart, Tina Turner, Joe Cocker, Rod Stewart, Bonnie Raitt, Bonnie Tyler and many others. But, ironically enough, the first song the duo ever wrote that ended up being formally released by a record label was a rock tune called “Let Me Take You Dancing” that the label actually turned into a disco song in order to cash in on that particular musical craze in 1978. Because Bryan Adams was a young unproven commodity in those days, he had little say in what the record label did with his music. Consequently, his first two albums achieved little to no success. However, his third album was a different story.

In 1983, just as MTV and Much Music were becoming established platforms for the release and distribution of new music, Bryan Adams released an album entitled Cuts Like a Knife. With Much Music desperate for Canadian content, the video for the song “Cuts Like a Knife” went into heavy rotation and became Adams’ first big hit. It was certainly my introduction to his music. With his raspy voice and straight-ahead, guitar-driven sound, Bryan Adams went from a musical nobody in Vancouver to one of Canada’s biggest and most recognizable stars almost overnight. Adams followed up his first single with “Straight From The Heart”, and then “This Time”, and away he went to the musical races. Adams’ next album was called Reckless, and it spawned even more hits such as “Run To You”, “Heaven”, “Somebody”, “It’s Only Love” *(which became a huge hit for Tina Turner as well), “One Night Love Affair” and, his signature tune, “Summer of ‘69”. By the time Reckless finished its run on the charts, Bryan Adams was internationally acknowledged as being one of the biggest musical acts in the world. Heady times for someone who was a dishwasher and a stock boy in a dollar store just a few years earlier. His next three consecutive albums, Into the Fire, Waking Up The Neighbours and 18 ‘Til I Die all went many times platinum, further cementing his reputation as a hit-making rock star. At this point in his career, Bryan Adams could have chosen to do almost anything that he wanted to, so it was with some surprise to his fans that what Bryan Adams decided to do next was to write an original Christmas song.

“Christmas Time” was first created by Adams and Vallance in the mid-1980s, around the time that the “Cuts Like A Knife” album was being recorded. The song was intended to be included as a bonus track on that album but, instead, was released on green vinyl as a treat for Bryan Adams fan club members only. However, as often happens, word of mouth reaction was very positive, and soon fans were calling into their local radio stations asking for “Christmas Time” to be played along with the other holiday classics of the time. Radio programmers, in turn, created a demand for the song with Adams’ record label, who, in turn, pressed more copies into circulation. A positive cycle of demand and supply ensued, and before anyone knew it, Adams had a holiday hit on his hands without actually ever intending for that to happen. One of the more ironic aspects of it all is that the song “Christmas Time” is not actually a song about Christmas at all. Instead, Adams and Vallance wanted to write a song about the sense of optimism, joyfulness and inclusion that seems to exist during the Holidays and to ask the question as to why this feeling couldn’t exist throughout the rest of the year. If it did, wouldn’t our world be such a better place for all of us? So in reality, “Christmas Time” is a song about being our best selves every day, all throughout the year and not just on special occasions. There is a universal appeal to such a message, and, as a result, “Christmas Time” by Bryan Adams has become the most popular and biggest selling Christmas-themed song in Canadian history. It is not quite in the same stratosphere as Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You”, but just the same, the song has sold millions of copies and is now recognized as being worthy of inclusion in today’s rotation of recognizable holiday standards that are played everywhere you go as December unfolds in the western world. In many ways, the success of “Christmas Time” is symbolic of the success that Bryan Adams has achieved as an individual artist, which is that he is respected as being one of the best and most successful rockers in history…not quite on the same level as an Elvis or The Beatles, but respected and acclaimed, nonetheless.

As his career has progressed, Byran Adams has branched out and has begun to indulge in passions for other things in life, which include photography and philanthropy. Adams is an award-winning photographer, whose work hangs in some of the most exclusive homes and galleries in the world. With the rest of his time, he devotes a lot of energy and resources toward funding causes that help improve the lives of others. In fact, one of the sole criteria that Bryan Adams insists all applicants prove when applying for one of his grants is how their project will positively impact others. To date, the almost completely self-funded Bryan Adams Foundation has awarded grants, totalling into the millions of dollars in Canada and around the world. Not too shabby for a military brat who bought his own six string at a five-and-dime in Ottawa at age twelve.

The link to the video for the song “Christmas Time” by Bryan Adams can be found here. ***There is no lyrics version.

The link to the official website for Bryan Adams can be found here. ***This includes access to his photography and his music.

The link to the official website for the Bryan Adams Foundation can be found here.

Since Adams bought his first real six string in Ottawa, let’s make that our pit stop on the Great Canadian Road Trip. The official website for the city of Ottawa, Ontario can be found here.

***As always, all original work contained within this blog post remains the sole property of the author. No portion of this post shall be reblogged, copied or shared in any manner without the express written consent of the author. ©2022 http://www.tommacinneswriter.com

The Great Canadian Road Trip: Song #24/250: The Unicorn by The Irish Rovers

A dear friend of mine who is a Teacher-Librarian at a nearby school to where I live recently wrote an impassioned blog post about the importance of reading aloud to children. She spoke about some of her favourite chapter books and how they were brought to life for her as a young girl because of the way her teachers read to her and her classmates. Her post *(which you can read here) seems like an obvious thing for a teacher to preach, but as she said, with the arrival of COVID-19 and the increased use of facial masks, along with a younger generation of teachers who, themselves, have grown up using technology to read their words, rather than books, she had noted a marked decrease in the number of classrooms in her school where being read to aloud was a regular part of a student’s day.

Her post struck a chord with me because when I was teaching, reading aloud to my students was my absolute favourite part of my day! I am an introverted person most of the time so reading great literature aloud gave me permission to tap into my theatrical side. I loved the cadence of wonderfully written language. I enjoyed reading “in character” by altering my voice and adopting accents and so on. But, most of all, I found great pleasure in inviting children into the magical world of stories. Helping to ignite a passion for reading is one of the most satisfying aspects of my job as a teacher. Not only is reading a crucial life skill but the ability to use your imagination, to be a problem-solver and to develop an appreciation for characters and cultures different from your own all play out in stories…especially, in stories read aloud by someone you trust.

The front cover of the book, "Where The Sidewalk Ends" by poet Shel Silverstein.

In June of 2018, as the date of my retirement approached, I tasked myself with the job of clearing out my classroom so that the incoming teacher wouldn’t have to deal with piles of resources that he or she may not have wanted. Among the resources to be cleared out were almost 2000 books. Over the course of my thirty year career, I had accumulated a vast in-class library of fiction and non-fiction books. I had them organized by subject in bins on shelves all around our classroom where they could be accessed by my students. As the end of that final school year approached, I was lucky to have another teacher come along and ask about what I intended to do with my classroom library. I ended up giving it all to her. The day she came to take them away, we discovered that I had seventy-two bins of books. Somehow she managed to get them all into a truck. I hope that some or all of those books turned out to be useful to her and that she is sharing them with her students even as I type these words. However, before this lady came to take my books away, I went through my own collection and pulled out thirty books that were important to me for various reasons….one book for each year that I was a classroom teacher. Those books I took home. Each time I look at them I am reminded of what it felt like to be involved in the journey that each child took when they walked through our classroom door and what a privilege it was to be their teacher. One of those thirty special books was a book of poetry for children called Where The Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein.

A photograph of a copy of the page from "Where The Sidewalk Ends" that contains his poem, "The Unicorn".
At once a children’s poem and also a hit song for The Irish Rovers.

The poetry of Shel Silverstein was silly and subversive at the same time. It dealt with topics that young children could relate to such as fear of the dark, the perils of laziness, dealing with parents and/or siblings and much, much more. The language used by Silverstein was sometimes simple and many times lyrical. I used this book (and several of his other books of poetry) with every group of students I ever taught from the very first year I bought this book (Year of my career), all the way to that very last class in 2018. By the time I took that book home with me in the summer sunshine, it was threadbare and falling apart from overuse…as all loved books should be. But something magical lay buried within the pages of this book. It was there in all those classrooms over the years. It was there before I ever bought the book. It lies there now for you to discover should you ever care to look for yourselves. The treasure buried within the pages of this great book is a hit song! It is true! On pages 76 and 77 of “Where the Sidewalk Ends” is a poem called The Unicorn. This poem was written by Shel Silverstein as a commentary on religion and inclusion and silliness. It concerns the biblical story of Noah’s Ark and how he created a floating zoo and how the unicorns were invited in but were too busy playing games to see the danger all around them from the rising flood waters (which explains why children can never see a real unicorn in the wild anymore says Silverstein). This poem would have remained strictly a moralistic tale for children if not for the fact that a group of Irish immigrants to Canada chose it as a song for their debut album. That group became the Irish Rovers and their version of “The Unicorn” went all the way to in Canada, selling over 8 million records in all, making it the biggest hit song in their whole career.

Four members of the Irish Rovers in a row holding an accordion, an acoustic guitar, nothing and an acoustic guitar.
The Irish Rovers in the early days.

The Irish Rovers got their name from an old song called The Irish Rover , which chronicles the journey taken by a ship back in the days of exploration and discovery. It is a fantastical tale of adventure and ruin and has been a popular drinking song in Ireland for generations. The Irish Rovers band was formed in the 1960s in Toronto when a man named Will Millar met another man named Jimmy Ferguson and the two spent the evening singing and drinking and singing some more. Millar introduced Ferguson to his brothers George, Joe and Ian who, in turn, were joined by an accordion player named John Reynolds. Together, the boys in the band became one of the driving forces behind making Irish/Celtic music popular in Canada and around the world. The Irish Rovers eventually became Canadian citizens at the behest of then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who then proclaimed them to be official Canadian ambassadors of music and sent them off to tour around the world under the banner of the Canadian red maple leaf flag. The Irish Rovers launched their career with “The Unicorn”, but they had plenty of other hits, including “Wasn’t That a Party?!”, “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer”, “Finnegan’s Wake” and “Black Velvet Band”. Not only did the Irish Rovers have a number of hit songs, but they were also television stars in Canada. The Irish Rovers hosted several iterations of the same variety show over the course of two decades. The shows would be set in a pub-like locale and would see the band play several tunes, along with a few celebrity guests who would show up, from time to time. One of my favourite university memories was getting to go to a live taping of an episode of “Party With The Rovers” in 1983.

Lead singer of The Irish Rovers, Will Millar and the band's former manager, Les Weinstein, arm in arm, holding glasses of beer.
A recent photo of Will Millar of The Irish Rovers and Les Weinstein, the band’s former manager and father of my roommate in university, Lisa Weinstein.

During my first year of university I lived in a student apartment complex in Toronto called Neill-Wycik College. My building was twenty-three stories tall and consisted of apartment units that housed four, five or six students at a time. Each unit had a common kitchen/living room area, two shared bathrooms and a bedroom for each student. In my first year, I was part of a six-person unit. There were three guys and three girls living together in what became a sort of family set-up. Being new to such a big city, it was helpful to have a group of people to explore the city with and to learn how to develop consistent cooking, cleaning and studying routines. One of the girls I lived with was a young lady named Lisa Weinstein. Lisa was taking the same Radio and Television Broadcasting course that I was. But, for the sake of this story, what is most important to note about Lisa was that her father was a man named Les Weinstein. Mr. Weinstein was an executive with a fledgling Canadian record label named Nettwerk Records. Nettwerk Records began by signing and promoting bands such as Skinny Puppy and The Grapes of Wrath. They would eventually gain fame by signing and developing a young female singer from Halifax named Sarah McLachlan. One of the other bands that was managed by Mr. Weinstein at Nettwerk Records was The Irish Rovers. So, when they were filming for their new series, Lisa asked us, as her roommates, if we wanted to attend a taping. We readily agreed and off we went. As mentioned, the set was designed to look like an Irish pub. Instead of sitting behind the cameras in bleachers, where many shows place their audience, we were seated at round tables meant to resemble how tables would be set in a real pub. Because of this, the audience was on camera as much as the singers were. One of the rules we were given before taping began was that there could never be an empty beer glass seen on a table. So, between each take, crew members would wander around and refill every glass! My glass was refilled four or five times, at least! I can’t quite remember to be sure. The members of the band drank with us drink for drink. By the time the show ended with a boozy rendition of “The Black Velvet Band” with guest star, Tommy Makem, I can barely remember applauding and stumbling home. But I do remember how personable the Irish Rovers all were and that It was a fun evening. If Lisa had asked, I am sure we would have all gone back again and again to the tapings.

Five mugs of ice cold beer being held aloft.
Here’s to you all!!!

It is funny how life is sometimes. Men from Ireland formed a band in Canada named after an Irish sea shanty. They had a hit song with a children’s poem from a book that I valued more than most in my own classroom library. But, before ever becoming a teacher, I drank beers with the band on the set of their show simply because I had the great good fortune to be roommates with their manager’s daughter. Although it may be a good story, it is one that I never shared with my students because I didn’t feel as though a story about their teacher getting hammered on free beer with the Irish Rovers was a suitable tale to tell. But, let me tell you, every time I opened that book in class and saw that poem I remembered. I remembered every moment of it all. And furthermore, unlike every other Shel Silverstein poem in that book, “The Unicorn” was one I couldn’t just read….it was one I had to sing.

The link to the video for the song “The Unicorn” by The Irish Rovers can be found here. ***The lyrics version is here.

The link to the official website for The Irish Rovers can be found here.

The link to the video for the original Irish song, “The Irish Rover” as performed by The Dubliners and The Pogues can be found here. ***The lyrics version is here.

The studio in which the “Party With The Rovers” show was filmed was in Don Mills, Ontario. The official website for Don Mills, Ontario can be found here.

***As always, all original content contained within this post remains the sole property of the author. No portion of this post shall be reblogged, copied or shared in any manner without the express written consent of the author. ©2022 http://www.tommacinneswriter.com

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