We have talked about Don Dixon a little as a producer on his blog. But he's a musician, too, and one worthy of Wicked Guilty Pleasures.
This song, from the 1985 album Most of the Girls Like to Dance but Only Some of the Boys Like To, served as Don Dixon's debut as a musician - he had already produced some of R.E.M.'s early albums - and, let's face it.... it's a little odd.
I grew up in Connecticut, where the praying mantis is the state insect, so we learned a little bit about them..... but for the rest of the country, this song, which got a fair amount of MTV airplay, was an education on the mating habits of the praying mantis. Yes, it's accurate.
Dixon is still performing. Here he is, performing this classic, in 2017, with his wife Marti Jones supporting him on guitar and Grammy award winner (for this) Jon Carroll on keyboard.
This is a song I don't expect to enjoy. And yet, I do.
Five For Fighting is named for the penalty given in hockey (and is a penalty I never got in my years playing hockey, because I avoided fighting on the ice. Not a fan.)
Five For Fighting is also the stage name of John Ondrasik, This Grammy-nominated song from from 2002 was his biggest hit - and has a pretty interesting subject. The titular narrator of the song is, of course, the famous DC Comics superhero, talking about how surprisingly hard his life is. You wouldn't think empathy for the Man of Steel would result in an a moving hit song, but yet, it did.
In 1993, I can tell you that I thought the Flaming Lips were a fun novelty band that wouldn't endure. Especially on the strength of this song, which to this day remains the bands biggest radio hit, if not their most recognizable song anymore.
Boy, was I wrong. Led by Wayne Coyne, the Lips have proven to be an interesting and inventive band who really respects, honors, and relishes its loyal fans. Plus, the band is chock-full of excellent musicians who have all contributed both to the Flaming Lips catalog and other artists who might have once palled around with a blue dog.
Lyrically, this song is goofy. Musically - it's catchy and uplifting and fun and rich.
If you doubted me in how much the band respects their fans, this 2013 performance of the song, which is highly interactive, should illustrate that. There are fans on stage. They are playing with the crowd, who are singing along.
If you've been reading Totally Covered today, you know that we featured three tracks from the Knocks ft. Foster The People EP Melody and Silence.
As you may have guessed, this is track 4, which is the single. It is both melancholic and uplifting. Musically, The Knocks have always had a distinctive electronic sound. Adding Mark Foster to the mix - with whom they've collaborated in the past, and it shows - adds depth to an already rich, deep song.
My plea to you: go encourage your local radio station to play this song. The way music like this gets made is if music like this is supported.
Earl Simmons was born in Westchester County, and died in Westchester County this morning.
You knew him better as DMX. He was a groundbreaking artist, gone too soon.
DMX is still the only artist to have five consecutive albums debut at #1 on the Billboard album charts. A lot of hip hop artists before him chose accessible or angry forms of the music. His success showed that an artist can reach both.
He will be missed. He leaves a large catalog of music behind, perhaps none better known than this song.
We don't normally cover children's music here on Wicked Guilty Pleasures, especially when it wasn't music we grew up with.
The Wiggles made sure we made an exception for them, especially since we've now featured them twice in the last month on Totally Covered. If you didn't read yesterday's Totally Covered post, I strongly encourage you to do so.
This song, one of the signature Wiggles songs, first appeared on their 1994 album Yummy Yummy, so this version, from one of their many videos, features the classic, original Wiggles lineup. The song is earnest and inoffensive, and at the same time, teaches kids how to make a fruit salad.
Of course, the Wiggles are known for their live shows, too, and they do perform this song live, A LOT. You'll be happy to know that I listened to this song A LOT when I was writing this. I know definitively how to make a fruit salad now. This version, complete with a lot of dancing fruit, is from 2011 and their 20th Anniversary concert.
In 2013, the Wiggles changed, with only Anthony Field remaining from the original lineup. At that time, the modern lineup, with Lachlan Gillespie, Simon Pryce, and Emma Watkins debuted, and they've been quite popular with the modern kids. The original educational theory,
But the history of the Wiggles endures, and, rather than just tritely talking about bananas, apples and grapes, the Wiggles did something a little different to celebrate their 30th anniversary. They celebrated the concept that we're all like fruit salad, in the same bowl... while still acknowledging that fruit salad is, indeed, yummy yummy. It is truly a delicious tribute to the times we in which we live.
When the Wiggles (along with a couple of OG Wiggles) appeared on Triple J's "Like A Version" to perform, well, yesterday's Totally Covered post, they also performed their new song, live. Emma did not play drums this time.
Sometimes, a song is so mind-blowing and transcendent that I have to drop everything and reschedule posts just to make sure I fit them into these blogs as soon as possible.
This 2013 song from Australian psychedelic band Tame Impala is not that song. It is, however, a great song, that combines blues and psychedelic elements with a fantastic guitar riff that defies understanding. One of Kevin Parker's oldest songs, it was pulled out and recorded in 2013, and ended up being one of the band's most successful songs.
Lyrically, the song is a bit naughty - the trunk of the elephant is clearly metaphoric- and not just a tribute to Death From Above 1979 - and, for that reason, Kevin Parker found the song "shallow", but it isn't. It's rich and deep and sultry, a musical and lyrical journey.
But in this song, 21 Savage and ESPECIALLY Cardi B steal the show. Between the two of them, there is not a single low moment - no down time, no pause - in this song. And yet, the song does not feel rushed.
To his credit, Khaled is happy to give the spotlight to artists he clearly respects. This is the second time he had collaborated with each of them.
The three featured artists co-wrote the song with producer Tay Keith. "Wish Wish" peaked at #19 on the US pop charts.
I felt like this excellent tune, from the Phantogram album Eyelid Movies, is an appropriate post in a week when Derek Chauvin is currently on trial for his part in the death of George Floyd in police custody.
That's as political as we are going to get with this post.
Clearly, the protagonist in this song - sung by Josh Carter and not Sarah Barthel - is not a fan of the cops. Neither is the guy who made the video, Naje Lataillade, who very much thought through the imagery used. In Naje's words:
"...a sexy police woman comes into frame and gives chase to the crowd. The hipster wearing the PHANTOGRAM shirt is scared for his life. As we watch, we think, "Oh I get it, the song is called 'Running From The Cops'", but there is only one cop, not plural cops. Well, here in Brooklyn, cops equal pigs. So the next character to come out is a freak with a pig nose, dressed in all pink, carrying a bottle of swine flu. He looks angry and like he wants to raise hell. This explains why the people in the beginning were wearing medical masks, as he's spraying the swine flu everywhere. Even the cop is running from because swine flu kills 'pigs'."
The video is mostly in black in white, but there are splashes of blue and red/pink in the black and white. Those two colors are what are required to make a phantogram, the technology you may have seen in your 3D glasses of the 1980s.
It is interesting to watch the performance of this song from 2009. It is a song that is not only performed, but constructed and looped, synthesized to the nth degree to create something noisy and chaotic and beautiful. Second note: they're both multiinstumental.
With a fuller band, like they had in 2014, the song is still chaotic, but less electronic and looped, and more direct. If you happen to have one of those old pairs of 3D glasses, now might be a good time to put them on.
Even though we've featured Annie Clark here before - yes, Scott beat me to St. Vincent just like he beat me to Lights - it's likely none of you know who she is.
Or, at least, until you watched Saturday Night Live this weekend, right? Full disclosure, I'm writing this the day BEFORE she's scheduled to appear, and I didn't know about it until I started doing research for this post. In fact, because I discovered that fact, I moved this post to Monday. You deserve instant gratification.
It's a shame it took SNL to bring her to your attention, but here we are. Her music is poppy yet dark. Her 2017 album MASSEDUCATION is a revelation of sorts. This song, the second single from that album, is a commentary on the culture of Los Angeles, purposefully layered on top of distorted guitar and synth lines.
It's somewhat easy to lose the message in the synth of the song, but in 2018, St. Vincent released an piano version of the album, calling it MassEducation - see what she did there? She also performed the song live in an acoustic guitar version - here's an example of that. Notice how she retains the desperation of the third verse, even with a sparser accompaniment.
If you are here to hear the song St. Vincent performed on SNL this weekend, here it is. Her new album, Daddy's Home, is due to be released May 14th, and, since it's the first since MassEducation, we're pretty excited for it.
I promise you I didn't intend to wean you off of a month of Canadian music with back-to-back 1993 songs by Chicago bands.
It just happened this way.
What also just happened on the whole Saturation album was that Nash Kato, who wasn't the band's normal lead vocalist, sang lead vocals. I wasn't a huge fan of the band before this album, so it was a good thing for me....
As your reward, here's the power ballad 2nd single from the Smashing Pumpkins' epic 1993 album, Siamese Dream. I remember sitting with my girlfriend (at the time) watching them perform this song on SNL. They were becoming a big deal then. I didn't think I'd be talking about this band nearly thirty years later.
But here I am, and it remains one of my favorite song by the band.
Good evening. This is Wicked Guilty Pleasures, an owned and operated blog of the Wicked Guilty Pleasure Broadcasting Corporation, with a picture signal strength of 77,000 watts and a sound signal strength of 7,500 watts. Our principal transmitter is somewhere inside a Google datacenter, which broadcasts to metropolitan Toronto and areas throughout the world. Repeat transmitters extend our broadcast area to include Wawa, White River, Hornepayne, Manitouwadge, Beardmore, and Geraldton. If you have any comments or suggestions about our programs, please address them to info@wickedguilty.com. We hope you've enjoyed this month's programming.
And now, our national anthem.
Bonsoir. Il s'agit de Wicked Guilty Pleasures, un blog détenu et exploité par Wicked Guilty Pleasure Broadcasting Corporation, avec une puissance de signal d'image de 77 000 watts et une puissance de signal sonore de 7 500 watts. Notre émetteur principal se trouve quelque part dans un centre de données Google, qui diffuse vers la métropole de Toronto et des régions du monde entier. Les émetteurs de répétition étendent notre zone de diffusion pour inclure Wawa, White River, Hornepayne, Manitouwadge, Beardmore et Geraldton. Si vous avez des commentaires ou des suggestions sur nos programmes, veuillez les adresser à info@wickedguilty.com. Nous espérons que vous avez apprécié la programmation de ce mois.
Et maintenant, notre hymne national.
(Special thanks to CLBT-TV, whose sign-off from the 1990s we shamelessly lifted)
We are closing this month of nothing but Canadian music the same way we started.
Not just with a band the American audience here had never heard. I mean, yes, that.
Wait. You did figure out the Canadian music thing before now, right? Every artist I posted in March was Canadian - even the covers. I was explicitly clear in every post. EVERY post contained the word "Canada" or "Canadian" - except for the one that contained the word "canadien" and was all in FRENCH. I spelled the word "favourite" several times. I pretty much beat you over the head with the damn maple leaf.
Which also brings us back to ending this month exactly like we started. You see, Armistice was a group - a duo, really, comprised of a man from Toronto band Bedouin Soundclash, named Jay Malinowski, and his girlfriend at the time, a Montreal musician named Béatrice Martin.
This collaboration was very much has a 60's mariachi band feel, which is very different than the reggae/ska sound of Bedouin Soundclash and the sound (although not the lyrical depth) of the chanson française of Cœur de Pirate (are you happy that I had to write the œ AGAIN?!).
Jay and Béatrice, while on tour together in 2011, performed a couple of songs on the streets of Paris. For reasons that will become clear in a minute and you can already guess, I decided to feature their song "City Lights Cry", which also tells a story in mariachi. The couple clearly had a lot of fun doing this.
And they were a couple - meeting at the Olympics in 2010 in Vancouver - but when that relationship ended, Armitice persisted long enough for some promotion of their EP, and then they went their separate ways. Thankfully, the songs didn't die with the relationship, as they have been performed by Cœur de Pirate regularly. Granted, they don't sound quite as mariachi on a piano.... but the songs still work.
I know many of you were underwhelmed by The Weeknd's Super Bowl performance.
It is difficult, however, to be underwhelmed by the impact this Canadian singer has had on music. His combination of soul and electronic music is somewhat groundbreaking - and I can understand that not translating well to a weird national broadcast performance.
So we're clear, this was his current single during that Super Bowl, and it is a top 20 hit worldwide, so I think he's doing something right. The song initially charted in April 2020, a full 8 months before it was released as a single - because it is such an infectious song.
The Weeknd also performed the song during the 2020 iHeartRadio Jingle Ball. In a few years, we're going to look back upon performances like this, without crowds, and remember our little pandemic. For now, just enjoy this live performance.
I'm a little surprised it took me this long to post anything by this Degrassi: The Next Generation alum. That's right. Aubrey Drake Graham was best known for his role on the Canadian drama before he was a musician.
Yes. He was billed as Aubrey Graham.
On this song, which is more soul and less hip-hop than some of Drake's other tunes, he is joined by R&B duo (singer + producer) and fellow Canadians Majid Jordan - and had a worldwide hit, both commercially and critically.
In case it isn't clear, here are Drake and Majid Jordan on Ellen, with Majid Al Maskati clearly singing significant vocals on this song.
I couldn't in good conscience let Klaatu stand as your Wicked Guilty Pleasure today.
For a good percentage of you, this was your first exposure to BNL.
For me, this was the song, playing on CFNY, a radio station from Toronto. It's clearly a tongue-in-cheek love song, referring to the romance of John Lennon and Yoko Ono in somewhat amusing terms. Their debut single, it was a minor Canadian hit and cemented their charm and appeal across the country.
By the way, Yoko Ono has heard the song, and enjoyed it.
The Carpenters did a lot of covers. This was one of them.
But we're not talking about the cover. We're talking about the Klaatu original. You see, Klaatu was a band, formed in 1973, whose style had them dubbed "the Canadian Beatles". It was even rumoured that they WERE The Beatles for a while. Clearly, they weren't, but they had a few hits in their own right.
And they sure did write some offbeat music. However, the title was lifted from an actual 1950's UFO society who used that phrase to start every transmission.
A classic played at many many hockey games, especially in Canada (as it references a Canadian win, and I don't think he means the Canadiens), the single, released in 1973, became a posthumous Canadian Top 30 hit for Connors in 2013.
And me standing in the Saddledome in Calgary at a Flames game in late 2019 singing this song with a lot of Canadians is among my best memories of Canada. It's truly moving to hear thousands of people singing such a joyous song.
On December 29, 2017, Arden was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada for her 'achievements as a singer-songwriter and broadcaster, and for her extensive charitable work.
I literally copied that from the Jann Arden Wikipedia page. I also learned from her Wikipedia page that she was born in Calgary, but at an early age, moved to Springbank, Alberta. Having spent some significant time in Calgary, I can tell you 1) great city. Go there when you can. 2) That's barely leaving Calgary.
This was Arden's only big US hit, reaching #12 on the pop charts, but she's a superstar in Canada. This song might sound like a sweet ballad, but it's actually kind of angry - which is part of the brilliance of Arden's performance.
The song was released in the mid 1990s, but she still sounded amazing playing the song live in 2018.
After we posted that brilliant k.d. lang cover of this Neil Young song yesterday, we could not help but post the original performing his own song.
From Farm Aid 1993, the Canadian legend belts his classic song, originally performed with his band Crazy Horse but was more famously recorded by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Alone, the power and ache of Young's voice shines through.
You know, we haven't had anything resembling country yet this month, so let's go with it today.
k.d. lang did start off as a country artist in the late 80's, finding success in both the US and her native Canada. However, when she embraced a slightly poppier sound in the early 90's, she achieved her biggest hit outside of Canada - today's feature. By moving away from country, she found a larger audience - and earned a Grammy.
The song itself - which lang co-wrote - is a song about, well, constant craving. It features both her rich voice alone, and multi-part harmonies. In kind of a funny coincidence, the Rolling Stones were (perhaps not consciously) inspired by this song when writing their 1997 single "Anyone Seen My Baby" - so much so that they gave lang a co-writing credit. This was not due to a lawsuit. This was due to Keith Richards being that big a fan of the song.
Also, I hear this song on in-store radio literally every time I go to Wegmans. Not a joke.
For me, personally, the greatest musical discovery I made in 2020 is PEI band The East Pointers. It's not even close. They are a delight, and everything that trio has done is delightful. I love their dedication to folk music and to Atlantic Canada.
For those outside Canada, YYG is the code for Charlottetown Airport, on Prince Edward Island. And yes, WestJet does fly from YYG to and from YYC - that's the code for Calgary, an airport I know very well - on a seasonal basis.
Gordon Lighhtfoot is a Canadian treasure. On this, there can be no debate.
Of course, the song was written on a hot summer's night in Cleveland, Ohio in the mid-1960, as Gordon was missing his wife while on tour. It is a sweet song that is now a winter staple in my house. I hope it is in yours as well.
Captial Q and King Lou were just a couple of friends from Toronto who came together to sample an old Quincy Jones song that was a television theme song. I suspect it is this song that caused "Soul Bossa Nova" to be the theme for the Austin Powers movies, although Mike Myers is Canadian, so he'd probably have seen the Canadian game show Definition.
And now you know where the chorus for this song comes from. And why the song has such a long title.
In case you were wondering about Definition, here's a 1982 episode. YES, that's the guy from Card Sharks.
Every one knows that Len is a one hit wonder. That doesn't mean they didn't release other music, or even that "Steal My Sunshine" was their first single. The Canadian band preceded that huge hit with this single, and a video that features some sweet snowboarding.
"Trillion Daze" is much less hip hop and much more straight-ahead rock with punk sensibilities. I like this incarnation of the band.
We have featured The Weakerthans before. "Tournament of Hearts" is absolutely the greatest song ever written about the uniquely Canadian sport of curling.
The single that followed that great song was this one, a working man's anthem from a working class band. The band, proud of their hometown of Winnipeg, filmed this video there. Together, they make a fitting tribute to life in the middle of Canada.
Who would have thought that an song that sounds like a traditional Irish folk composition would be a top 20 hit?
And yet, that's exactly what happened to Canadian Celtic singer Loreena McKennitt in 1997. A tribute to the mummers' plays of spring, it is an odd but sweet song, bolstered by her sharp soprano vocal. It would be her only hit outside of her native Canada, as she did take a hiatus from music following a deep personal tragedy in 1998 - but she has returned to music and is still releasing new material.
Spirit Of The West aren't a band most Americans have heard, but were wildly successful with their Irish-tinged music in their native Canada. So, this article is going to hit a certain number of you more in the feels than others.
That statement should sound familiar, and yeah, this story doesn't end better.
In 2014, the band's frontman, John Mann, was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease. He continued with the band as long as he could, but it clear he was not long for the music industry. He passed away in 2019, at the age of just 57.
This song was an anthem of the band from 1990, but wasn't released as a single until 2014, when it was released in a limited manner on Record Store Day. In the wake of the announcement of Mann's illness, it was quite a bit more poignant than the drinking song it was originally intended to be.
The first time the band played at the famous Massey Hall was on June 6, 2015 - and it was one of their last shows. Mann actually forgets the lyrics for a bit during the song - but the audience had his back. It is one of the greatest moments in Canadian music history.
This song was recorded straight to 2-track in a Toronto church, as was the rest of the Trinity Sessions album - although one of the songs was recorded on a 2nd day, despite the mythology of the song. Famously, they ran out of time during the recording session - which famously featured Margo Timmins singing into a PA - and had to bribe a security guard to let them stay long enough to record this unrehearsed song - which they recorded in ONE TAKE.
This is the DEMO. And it is beautiful.
Of course, the Canadian band is best known for a cover they did, which you can heard today over on Totally Covered.
When Robbie Robertson of The Band went solo, no one expected such a soulful song like this to come out of him.
And yet, this sultry masterpiece is exactly what he came up with. But it happened accidentally. As Robertson was playing with chord progressions, he was telling a story, which producer and fellow Canadian Daniel Lanois secretly recorded. The chorus and backing vocals by Sam Llanas of The BoDeans were added later.
I would be remiss if I didn't talk about the video. There's three people in the video - Robertson, Llanas, and Maria McKee, who at the time was wrapping up her time with Lone Justice and embarking on a solo career. McKee herself sings some background vocals on other Robertson songs on his debut album, but her appearance her is solely visual.
The Stampeders had several hits, but this 1971 tune was their biggest hit by far outside of Canada - or even INSIDE Canada. The Calgary trio - who started as a quintet in the mid-1960 - broke up in the late 1970's, but reformed at the 1992 Calgary Stampede, and has not stopped touring since.
By the way, the Calgary Stampede is something I barely missed in my time in Alberta, and remains on my bucket list. It probably won't happen for me in 2021, but it will sometime soon.
I recently have been looking into my family tree, and have traced some of my genealogy back to 9th Century Europe. In fact, I have a branch of my tree that is, indeed, descended from Ferdinand III, king of Castile, Toledo, León and Galicia.... a real life King of Spain, I sincerely doubt that Moxy Früvous had me in mind when they wrote their prince/pauper tale in the 1990's, mostly because I never worked at the Pizza Pizza... but that's the story I'm telling everyone now.
Seriously, Moxy Früvous were a fun and satirical band, frequently poking fun at their native Canada and making a lot of "inside the Queensway" jokes. This is their biggest hit outside of Canada, which got some radio play in Western New York.
I have been a fan of Canadian electronic artist Grimes for many years now. She continuously reinvents herself, and yet still sounds fresh and exciting.
But this video is boring as heck on purpose, and it's because she loves her fans.
You see, she released this video on April 1, 2020, with a green screen background, alongside the raw audio from the recordings, specifically so fans could remix the song and make their own versions of the video - #GrimesArtKit. What a terrific pandemic art project!
The song itself is fairly soulful while not forgetting the electronic power Grimes has consistently brought to her music.
Here is the original video, in all its chromakey glory. I think it's important to note that Grimes was seven months pregnant when she released this.
I wanted to highlight some of my favourite fan versions of this video.
YouTube user Brent Bonacorso describes this version of the video as "(a) quarantine dream of digital conception and creation, broadcast from the heavens in a gamma-burst of love and code." I pretty much think that nails it. Starting with a roar, it builds into the music.
I thought YouTube user Jonathan Hernández made a visually interesting video. He doubled up on the Grimes and put her in space.
Rather than use the Grimes video, YouTube user Red Dawn went with footage from a bunch of 1980s movies and a radical electronic remix. It works, well. This is the only video on that channel, but I personally hope that changes.
The Tragically Hip never got to be the superstars that they were in Canada south of the border. So, this article is going to hit a certain number of you more in the feels than others.
I grew up in Connecticut - but my extended family lived in the Buffalo, NY area, so I would visit them often. As I visited the area, I became accustomed to Canadian radio - and because of the rules governing Canadian radio that required a certain percentage of Canadian artists to be played, I got to hear a lot of artists that weren't generally played in the States.
One of these bands was The Tragically Hip.
When this song became a minor hit in the US for The 'Hip in the early 1990s, I already knew who this "new" band was, and I was pretty excited.
The Tragically Hip are no more. Their lead vocalist, Gord Downie, was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in 2016. Their last show, in their hometown of Kingston, Ontario, was broadcast to the entire nation by the CBC in August 2016 - a show that 1/3 of Canadians watched.
This song opened the first of three encores and was the 22nd of 30 songs they would perform.
Downie passed in November 2017. He was so beloved, his death so mourned, that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed it, emotionally.
No matter how you feel about them, the Canadian band does have a few solid tunes. This song, from 2001, TOPPED the POP charts in the United States.
Topped. The. Pop. Charts. With a heavy rock song.
The song is an emotional roller-coaster, written by Chad Kroeger about a dysfunctional relationship he had once had. It remains the signature Nickelback song to this day.
In all seriousness, the one-time 3rd place Canadian Idol finisher really stepped up her game here. This 2019 single, which combined a childlike exuberance with sexual themes, received an abundance of critical acclaim, applauding both the fun sound and maturity of theme, so well-balanced. If you missed this 1980's throwback song in 2019 - the horns! the synth! - I encourage you to check it out now.
As an added bonus, here she is, performing the song in her hometown of Vancouver. Three things of note:
Rush was, of course, a band made up of three of the greatest rock musicians on their respective instruments (yes, I know. Neil Peart joined after the first album. Don't @ me). Sone might call them egotistical, with numerous bass, guitar, and especially drum solos featured on many of their songs.
This song, the big single from their 1980 album Permanent Waves, is a great example of that, where you can hear all three members of the band taking a lead in the music at some point. It remains the band's biggest UK hit, also hitting the charts in the US and their native Canada.
Lyrically, the song is a lament of the loss of radio formats of the 1970's, having been replaced with more commercial formats. The band specifically have cited Toronto radio station CFNY - one of the first stations to play the band - as a catalyst for this song. They also pay tribute to several of their favourite artists in the song - the tribute to Simon and Garfunkel is pretty obvious, but the reggae feeling that portion of the song takes on is a tribute to up-and-coming band The Police.
It's where the song title came from.
The song was featured on the album Permanent Waves, which has a catalogue number of 1021 - in tribute to the CFNY FM frequency - 102.1. This video was commissioned for the 40th anniversary of the song in 2020.
My American audience isn't going to know k-os very well. k-os is a Canadian "alternative hip-hop artist", according to his Wikipedia page. I wish he was known better south of the border, because his sound is soulful and innovative.
This song, which won Single of the Year at the 2005 Juno Awards (which, for those unaware, are kind of like the Canadian Grammys - and this was the first time a hip-hop song won that award), referred to the crab-in-the-bucket syndrome. Basically, if you throw a bunch of crabs in a bucket, the mob will work to pull down anyone who tries to escape - a metaphor for someone trying to escape a particular socioeconomic situation.
Martha and the Muffins are a rock band from Toronto - ARE. Not WERE. Formed in the mid-1970s, they had a lot of hits in their native Canada, but only one real big hit outside their homeland. That hit, of course, was "Echo Beach", a horn-filled electronic romp to a place far removed from the ennui of everyday life.
To commemorate the 30th anniversary of their biggest international hit, Martha and the Muffins rerecorded the song, imagining it at a much slower tempo with a somber tone. It's a far sadder song.... and still works as such.
As a snooty music fan in the late 1980's and early 1990's, I discovered some music before it hit the mainstream.
Sarah McLachlan was one such artist. I discovered this song - her first alternative radio hit in the US (it was a bigger hit in her native Canada) and instantly loved it - her huge voice, and unusual lyrical content.
And yes. That's her naked and covered in mud in the video.
Fast forward to the late 1990's. McLachlan is now a huge hitmaker worldwide.... but as of this point, she still remembered her roots. Here she is, performing the song in her 1999 concert film Mirrorball.
Sadly, she stopped performing this song live in 1999. Which is a shame. It remains one of my favourites by her.
Bran Van 3000, from Montreal, Quebec, did have some success stateside. Probably best known for "Drinking In L.A.", they actually have a rich, deep catalog.
Take this song, which is less hip-hop and more straight-ahead pop-rock. A follow up to their aforementioned hit, it was a pretty big, sweet Canadian hit in its own right. Bear in mind, those two very different songs were from the SAME album - Glee, which is a truly underrated piece of art.
I couldn't let this little synergy go unnoticed. So I'm doing a 2nd post.
"Peace Sign" was Track 8 on the Lights album Siberia, which was released in 2011. It was not a single, but is still an excellent song.
Here is Lights performing the song live. Excellent, energetic, and something of a dark song. But clearly, an exciting highlight when performed live.
Following along so far?
Literally the day after this song was written, the G20 riots in Lights's hometown of Toronto, and that had quite an impact on her. So, as the story goes, she started corresponding and collaborating on a bilingual version of this song with an artist she was a fan of, for Siberia Acoustic, which was released in 2013.
That artist, of courses, was Montréal artist Cœur de Pirate.
And here is that finished product. It's a lot less energetic, but the lyrics shine so much stronger.
Lights tells the rest of the story live in 2013 - as of this recording, she had never MET Cœur de Pirate in person - and didn't know the French part of her own song. Thankfully, the audience did and helped. Say what you want about the politeness of those from Québec, but it's my opinion and experience that French Canadians are just as polite, helpful and wonderful as just about every other Canadian.
And that's the Canadian singer-songwriter's real first name (not by birth, but still). Which is super convenient when it comes to having a stage name.
This song was released in 2011 to mostly positive reviews, and, really, it's kind of got an infectious beat and some intelligent lyrics. Which makes me wonder why I was so late to the party.
The video was filmed in Lights's hometown of Toronto.
Lights has been known to do an acoustic version of this song live - and in fact did an acoustic version of the entire Siberia album. Here she is, performing it live in 2019. The audience knows the words. It's a slightly different feel, but still just as heartfelt.
Anne Murray hit #1 on the US pop charts for the her first and only time in 1978 with this song - ironically missing the top spot on the Country and Adult Contemporary charts on which she had much more success. She also won the Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal for this song, the first time a Canadian had done that.
In 2007, Murray would rerecord the song as a duet with fellow Canadian Shania Twain. It's essentially the same song - but just with two people singing it.
By the way, I know you came here to hear Stewie Griffin sing this.
This is from her 2015 album Roses, which features songs in French and English.
In 2018, Béatrice Martin announced she planned to no longer make music under the name Cœur de Pirate, which I guess would mean I'd be able to stop trying to type œ on my English-language keyboard..... but 1) she would continue to make music, which is amazing.....
....2) Cette chanson, de fin 2020, est clairement sortie sous le nom Cœur de Pirate.
C'est clairement étiqueté
Je ne me soucie pas particulièrement du nom que Béatrice Martin a choisi d'utiliser pour faire de la musique à l'avenir. Tant qu'elle continuera à faire de la musique révolutionnaire qui est intéressante, je vais rester heureuse.
Je ne suis pas canadien, donc je n'ai pas eu à apprendre le français à l'école. En fait, dans mon apprentissage des langues, c'est mon talon d'Achille. Permettez-moi de vous assurer que tout cela est une gracieuseté de Google Translate.
It is refreshing to hear an artist so fresh and not-so-well-known outside their home country like Cœur de Pirate. However, what is really unusual is that Béatrice Martin has actually had more hits in France than in her native Canada.
You see, she is a francophone from Montreal, and primarily sings in French. Not exclusively, mind you - but mostly. And yet, despite having the heart of a pirate (that's what her name translates to, people), the songs are just enchanting. Without knowing French, you can hear the love and longing in her voice, in the music.
This song, her debut single, won the 2010 Victoires de la Musique (French-language music) award for Original Song of the Year.
It almost sounds more soulful live. Check out this performance from Massey Hall in Toronto from 2014. The acoustics threaten to drown her out, but Cœur de Pirate's full voice wins in the end.
"Volare". And Bobby Rydell's English language version is better known today.
But Domenico Modugno wrote the song. And, in 1958, it spent five weeks at #1 in the US, in THIS version, and was the biggest hit of 1958.. all while remaining faithful to its original Italiamn. To compare, Rydell's version hit #4 in 1960 - this was the bigger hit.
