The best Canadian song of all time is, ironically, about Americans
The best-ever Canadian song is The Guess Who’s “American Woman,” says Bob Mersereau, the author of the new coffee-table book The Top 100 Canadian Singles. (We’ll let national identity theorists ponder what it means that the tune is about the U.S.) Mersereau, a New Brunswick–based arts journalist, is attempting to document influential Canadian musicians he feels are underappreciated compared with British and American artists. So last year, he asked over 800 people in the industry to name their top 10 favourite Canadian tunes, resulting in a list of 100 songs. See them all, after the jump.
1. “American Woman,” The Guess Who
2. “Heart of Gold,” Neil Young
3. “The Weight,” The Band
4. “Summer of ’69,” Bryan Adams
5. “Hallelujah,” Leonard Cohen
6. “Born to Be Wild,” Steppenwolf
7. “If You Could Read My Mind,” Gordon Lightfoot
8. “Takin’ Care of Business,” Bachman Turner Overdrive
9. “Four Strong Winds,” Ian and Sylvia
10. “Snowbird,” Anne Murray
11. “Big Yellow Taxi,” Joni Mitchell
12. “Tom Sawyer,” Rush
13. “Try,” Blue Rodeo
14. “New Orleans Is Sinking,” Tragically Hip
15. “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” Gordon Lightfoot
16. “Suzanne,” Leonard Cohen
17. “Life Is a Highway,” Tom Cochrane
18. “These Eyes,” The Guess Who
19. “Sundown,” Gordon Lightfoot
20. “Underwhelmed,” Sloan
21. “Up on Cripple Creek,” The Band
22. “Let Your Backbone Slide,” Maestro Fresh Wes
23. “Tired of Waking Up Tired,” The Diodes
25. “The Spirit of Radio,” Rush
25. “Oh What a Feeling,” Crowbar
26. “High School Confidential,” Rough Trade
27. “Echo Beach,” Martha and the Muffins
28. “Sweet City Woman,” Stampeders
29. “Wake Up,” Arcade Fire
30. “If I Had $1,000,000,” Barenaked Ladies
31. “Lindberg,” Robert Charlebois
32. “I’m an Adult Now,” The Pursuit of Happiness
33. “Nothin’,” Ugly Ducklings
34. “Coax Me,” Sloan
35. “Closer to the Heart,” Rush
36. “Picture My Face,” Teenage Head
37. “Shakin’ All Over,” The Guess Who
38. “Signs,” Five Man Electrical Band
39. “Lost Together,” Blue Rodeo
40. “Sonny’s Dream,” Ron Hynes
41. “The Safety Dance,” Men Without Hats
42. “Claire,” Rheostatics
43. “One Fine Morning,” Lighthouse
44. “(Make Me Do) Anything You Want,” A Foot in Coldwater
45. “Sunglasses at Night,” Corey Hart
46. “Working for the Weekend,” Loverboy
47. “Raise a Little Hell,” Trooper
48. “Rise Up,” Parachute Club
49. “Black Velvet,” Alannah Myles
50. “Seasons in the Sun,” Terry Jacks
51. “Montreal 40C,” Malajube
52. “Cinnamon Girl,” Neil Young
53. “You Oughta Know,” Alanis Morissette
54. “1234,” Feist
55. “Rebellion (Lies),” Arcade Fire
56. “Constant Craving,” k.d. lang
57. “Rockin’ in the Free World,” Neil Young
58. “Lovin’ You Ain’t Easy,” Michel Pagliaro
59. “Lovers in a Dangerous Time,” Bruce Cockburn
60. “Bobcaygeon,” Tragically Hip
61. “A Case of You,” Joni Mitchell
62. “New York City,” The Demics
63. “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You,” Bryan Adams
64. “Ahead by a Century,” Tragically Hip
65. “Five Days in May,” Blue Rodeo
66. “I’m Moving On,” Hank Snow
67. “Pour un instant,” Harmonium
68. “Magic Carpet Ride,” Steppenwolf
69. “Money City Maniacs,” Sloan
70. “My Heart Will Go On,” Celine Dion
71. “Crabbuckit,” K-os
72. “This Beat Goes on/Switchin’ to Glide,” The Kings
73. “Old Man,” Neil Young
74. “1990,” Jean Leloup
75. “Eyes of a Stranger,” Payola$
76. “Hasn’t Hit Me Yet,” Blue Rodeo
77. “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet,” Bachman Turner Overdrive
78. “Wondering Where the Lions Are,” Bruce Cockburn
79. “You Could Have Been a Lady,” April Wine
80. “Let’s Shake,” Teenage Head
81. “Help Me,” Joni Mitchell
82. “We’re Here for a Good Time,” Trooper
83. “Sunny Days,” Lighthouse
84. “Le petit roi,” Jean-Pierre Ferland
85. “Cuts Like a Knife,” Bryan Adams
86. “The Hockey Song,” Stompin’ Tom Connors
87. “Wheat Kings,” Tragically Hip
88. “Mon pays,” Gilles Vigneault
89. “Home for a Rest,” Spirit of the West
90. “Letter From an Occupant,” New Pornographers
91. “No Time,” The Guess Who
92. “As the Years Go By,” Mashmakhan
93. “Hey Hey My My,” Neil Young
94. “Diana,” Paul Anka
95. “The Maker,” Daniel Lanois
96. “Nova Heart,” The Spoons
97. “La complainte du phoque en Alaska,” Beau Dommage
98. “Secret Heart,” Ron Sexsmith
99. “Run to You,” Bryan Adams
100. “Weighty Ghost,” Wintersleep
“If I had $1,000,000” is 27 spots higher than “Rockin’ in the Free World”???? Scary….
no informer by snow?…racists!
Just another wanna be list. At least 30 songs on this list never cracked the top 50. Nice try, Now do it over.
My Canada includes Sarah McLachlan, Nickelback, Jann Arden, Chilliwack, Avril Lavigne, Kardinal Offishall, and K’Naan. And less Diodes, Demics, & Teenage Head who between them deserved maybe one spot on the list.
It’s a sad top 100, but it’s an almost unbearable top 10. I wish the Guess Who never existed.
Roch Voisine- “Helene”
Brutus- “Ooh Mama Mama”
Ugly Ducklings- “Gaslight”
Chilliwack- “Raino” “Fly at Night”
Queen City Kids- “Dance”
Haywire- “Bad Bad Boy”
Walter Zwol- “Hey Whats Your Name”
Great Big Sea- “Ordinary Day”
Robert Charlebois- “Je T’aime Comme En Fou”
The Trews- “Not Ready To Go”
Turn Off The Light – Nelly Furtado
Getting real tired of Max Webster’s “Let Go The Line” being overlooked on EVERY best Canadian song list. My god, I just read one that left it off but had Skaterboy by Avril Levine on it!!! Smarten up people! Let Go the Line is top 20 easily! Don’t believe me then YouTube it.
Correct me if I’m wrong but HE’S WHITE!!!!!!!!!
If the Guess Who never existed lots of the other singers/artists never would have made it!!!!