Song(s) of the Day: July 01, 2017 - Happy #CanadaDay! - Our Favourite Canadian Songs

Happy Canada Day everyone! Instead of picking one song (or going with O Canada!) we're each presenting you with our favourite Canadian songs. There are so many lists out this year in celebration of the 150th, but we tasked ourselves to narrowing it down to our favourites of all time...

However you're celebrating, have fun and be safe!


Christine's Pick:
"Lake Fever" by The Tragically Hip

First of all, I'm not crying, you're crying. I'm the diehard Hip fan of the 3 of us, and have fangirl'd over the band (specifically Downie) since I was a teen. This is my personal favourite song of their's specifically because of the "I want to be your stars of Algonquin" line - referring to the park in which I grew up camping in every year. The actual story behind the song is kinda crazy, centring around the cholera epidemic in Lake Ontario. Read the story on the Hip Museum, it's 100% worth it. It doesn't get much more quintessentially Canadian than The Tragically Hip, I'll definitely be listening to many of their songs today.

Shout Outs: "Howe Sounds" by Said The Whale, "Where They Left It Wild" by Hawksley Workman, "Sundown" by Gordon Lightfoot, "Hockey Teeth" by Bahamas, "Northern Air" by Elliott Brood


Kirk's Pick:
"You and I Are a Gang of Losers" by The Dears

First of all, how the hell am I supposed to pick a single favourite song!? Even narrowing it down to six, I know I'm forgetting a lot, and I almost couldn't decide between two songs from this same band*. Second off, it should be no surprise to anyone who follows this blog that I am picking The Dears, and this song is everything I love about the Montreal band. "You and I Are a Gang of Losers" starts with Murray Lightburn's soft vocals, lamenting on being an outsider, until joined by his wife Natalia Yanchak, their voices swirling together beautifully. "We, we got the same heart" she proclaims, as he belts out "You and I are on the outside Of all of this", their voices dripping with emotion & passion, for an uplifting song about two misfits finding each other. Or, that's my interpretation anyway, and you can't convince me otherwise.
(*The other song, if you are wondering, was "22: The Death of All The Romance")

Shout Outs: "Prime Time Deliverance" by Matthew Good Band, "It's All Gonna Break" by Broken Social Scene, "The Bleeding Heart Show" by The New Pornographers, "Your Ex-Lover is Dead" by Stars, "Margaret Downe" by Aidan Knight