Another true test of Canadianness

So we stayed up ’til midnight last night, listening to the final list of CBC’s 50 Tracks feature.
In brief, the three-month feature asked several panels and then listeners to nominate and defend the top 50 quintessential Canadian singles of all time (or at least the last century).
We started listening around 7 o’clock, and got hooked…
This has nothing to do with the fact that the host is the eminently scrumptious Jian Ghomeshi. Just because he’s smart, funny, musical, melifluous and generally yummy? Please. Give us some credit.
Besides, it was a radio broadcast.
Anyway, the final list is now available. There were a few surprises, not least of which for me was a total absence of April Wine. What about Just Between You and Me? For goodness sake, there’s even a French bit. English Montreal was well-represented by the likes of Sam Roberts and Leonard Cohen, and thankfully abberations like Corey Hart and Gowan didn’t make the list. There was no Pagliaro, however; in fact, the only franco on the list was the 40-year-old Gilles Vigneault single Mon Pays.
Also, while Gordon Lightfoot had two songs in the top ten (as did Joni Mitchell), personally I would have chosen If You Could Read My Mind instead of Early Morning Rain, but that’s a matter of personal taste, I guess.
Another surprise was number 2 on the list – not that this song doesn’t belong on the list. I was just surprised to see it at number 2, edging out American Woman, which frankly should have been number 1. American Woman not only rocks, it reflects a Canadian perspective lyrically, and not just by dropping place names.
Having said that, the song that did end up in the top position, while it might not reflect a quintessential Canadianness for me, certainly does separate the Canadians from the pretenders. I guessed it before the lovely Jian revealed it, and Dr. T, who was with me right up to that point, said, and I quote, “who?”
This is because the one track that, according to CBC voters, best represents the best of Canadian music is Ian & Sylvia’s Four Strong Winds.
While Dr. T tried to figure out just who the heck these people were, I took a little trip down memory lane – I can remember watching Ian & Sylvia on TV. I remember when they broke up. I remember my mother, guitar in hand, singing Four Strong Winds, and it was beautiful.
Maybe the Guess Who put Canada on the map musically, but Ian & Sylvia are so very Canadian.