song of the day

“America” by Simon & Garfunkel seems appropriate for today. Happy 4th of July!

Okay, one more Canadian before the big American holiday, and this one’s a more recent favorite. It’s Christine Fellows with “Migrations” off her Paper Anniversary album. I’m a big fan.

Won’t you pick me up? I’m light as a feather.
Though I’m not afraid, I am not brave enough to offer…

Picking up on yesterday’s post, here’s another Canadian singer, though one far different than Leonard Cohen: Stan Rogers, with “Northwest Passage.”

I think I first heard this song on an episode of Due South, years ago. I watched another episode, from earlier in the show’s run, last night*, and that seemed like a good enough excuse to share the song now. I’m not too familiar with Rogers’ work as a whole, although I gather he died much too young, and I know I like this song.

*No reason, just wanted to.

Yesterday’s Tom Waits song led people to recommend Leonard Cohen, who, while not as raw or as raspy — at least not early in his career — is maybe the Canadian equivalent. Certainly, the man is a phenomenal songwriter, and I’ve long been a fan of his considerable talent.

As it happens, today is Canada Day, which seems like a perfect excuse to post this song from one of the country’s favorite sons. As with Waits, there’s a lot to choose from, but you really can’t go wrong with one of his biggest (and certainly earliest) hits, “Suzanne.”

I think I first heard the song — and I know I first really became aware of it — as an undergraduate at Penn State, listening to it in one of my Integrative Arts classes, Popular Music in America. So thanks, Professor Kelly!

It’s taken me a while, I think, to really become a fan of Tom Waits. As a singer, he can be a little off-putting to the newcomer, and that voice — so famously described as sounding “like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car” — is definitely an acquired taste.

But the man is easily one of the greatest songwriters I’ve ever come across, and it’s not tough to see why he’s been covered by performers as varied as Tori Amos, Rod Stewart, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, and even Scarlett Johansson. I’ll admit, sometimes I do still prefer the covers to the originals, if only to better appreciate the lyrics sometimes hiding underneath the trademark growl. But sometimes there’s just no substitute for the real thing.

Here’s “Hold On” from Mule Variations.

Tom Waits – “Hold On” video from Anti Records on Vimeo.

I don’t know, though. I think you meet plenty of nice girls in coffee shops.