...Down At The Internet Legion's Favourite Watering Hole.
Which would be the Twittmachine.
And darned if a stompin' and hard-strummin' guy from my generation didn't start it all:
Whadd'ya reckon?
Because, personally...
While I love his stuff and all, I'm not sure I would actually put Tom Connors in the top three.
Robbie Robertson's name came up during the barroom brawl, the full blow-by-blow of which can be re-played here, and while I think the body of work gets him pretty darned close I figure he owes too many guys a writing credit or seven to make him a legitimate contender.
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And there are a lot of great Stompin' Tom tributes out there already, but I have not come across a finer one than that was written by Dave Bidini a couple of years ago.
And if this post does nothing else, I reckon it just might get Mr. Beer 'N Hockey on the Twittmachine feed.
15 comments:
Tyson's great, as is His Stompingness, but not in the top three.
1. Neil Young
2. Gordon Lightfoot
3. Leonard Cohen
4.Stan Rogers
5.everybody else
Man Rev--
You're making this tough.
Rogers is worth considering for sure.
And I do have a soft-spot for Randy Bachman. Those three Guess Who albums from 68-70 are like a Canadian CCR trilogy to me.
But...
No Joni?
.
I Only Know I Am The Wind
scotty--
The Stompin' Man in Black?
.
Mostly it is all about time. For the internet, I have time to write the blog, not much more. From the beginning I thought the Tweet Machine was for 13 year old girls. Wrong again Beer.
I would throw Joni Mitchell onto those lists of greatest Canadian songwriters (maybe ahead of Tyson)but keep Stompin' Tom at #1. No one did so much with so little, becoming one of our few Canadian icons in the process.
The night he played the Exeter Arms in 100 MIle House is the stuff of legend. Legend he spread generously all over this land.
His legend grew for me on my family's black and white tv. He had a show once. I never missed it.
And God Damn whoever it was that decided to not have him play one of the ceremonies at the 2010 Olympics. God Damn them to Hell!
Beer--
You're changing my mind - especially that 'so much with so little' part.
Heckfire.
If Snooklandia suddenly decided to spend an extra $25 million to have a 'Resurrection of the Tom' at the Grey Cup game we're going to be giving money to Dennis Skulsky and Co to make money off of (watch for announcement at Gate H tomorrow, allegedly)....
Well.
I might even get behind that one.
But only if the festivities included a Juno Burning funeral pyre and a hearse-drawn carriage hauling in the Tom driven by a newly non-repentant Neil.
Or some such thing.
.
Well, RossK, you have made a fan for life.
Not only do you have a unique way of using/abusing the English language.
Not only do you present your topics in a way that is entertaining, timely and thought provoking.
But you also have the good taste to recognize one of Canada's great poets and musicians. His contribution is limited in scope only by the fact that his is a relatively narrow genre.
Vive Ian Tyson
If we're takin best Canadian singer songwriters than we have to catagorize somewhat.
If the category was 'real' then stomping Tom is it.The man was as real as the leather in your shoes!
He could give more with three chords and staighttalk than any other. If you needed him to hammer nails well I think he would be your man for that too!He would be the only one in this most important category.
In the next category would be placed legends like Neil young, Randy Bachman, Joni mitchell, Leonaed cohen and Lightfoot.
Lastly the 'fake' award to Robbie Robertson, as fake as a three dollar bill and again alone for this category.
Just some thoughts...
persey--
The timelessness of Tyson's songs just slays me.
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Don--
I can't disagree with you on the upside.
Is it Robertson's stuff you don't like or the way 'he' came up with it that bugs you?
(or both)
.
Let's just say history has shown a certain,well he should be in a category where Christy Clarke could also be considered.
Right you are, Ross: there's a shared element between Cash&Connors, don't know why it never occurred to me until now. Been a lifelong fan of The Man in Black, ' least ever since I was old enough to drive the tractor for my uncle Mac (and that's back when it took a couple three cousins to steer and work the clutch)--Mac had but few records in his hi fi but one was Fulsome Prison. By the time "Boy Named Sue" came out, I was way ahead of the curve at school.
I lived in Quebec (one of my favourite cities) for a spell around the first Referendum time, a real education for a bloke like me. I had two framed pictures on our bedroom wall: one a photo of a teenaged John Lennon in a skiffle band, almost have to squint to recognize him; the other was one of those glossy promo posters came in a Johnny Cash LP (pre-Nashville Skyline, I'm sure.) Thing that stuck out for me was how virtually all of my Quebecois friends readily recognized the obscure photo of Lennon while absolutely none could name Cash, most claiming they'd never even heard of him, not even when I'd play them a few of his hits, just shrug apologetically (or not so apologetically if they were among their separatist peers.) Admittedly I've done my share of satire at Cash's expense but always admired the solidity, if not the particulars, of his convictions.
Not too, too far away from my uncle's farm but more than half a lifetime later (a whole decade at the time), I tried my hand at tobacco pickin'. Never made enough money to buy a train ticket back home by the time my Ma got deathly ill so I hitched back. Not bein' cheeky when I say my back still aches when I hear the word Tilsonburg (that and the "Tomato Song" where already national anthems in that part of Ontario--and only a few years after they were released.) Yes, we all thought Tom was a bit of a joke but he kind of grew on you.
Now you mention it, Ross K, I think it must be the simple, heart-felt sincerity of both men that puts them right up there with the likes of Carl Perkins: they weren't always gentlemen but they were always gentlemen. It never did make sense that they all played through the initial ridicule and ended up in our hearts forever.
Keep on stompin', Tom, we'll miss you, Brother.
Joni MItchell. Neil Young. Leonard Cohen.
On the flip sides, Lightfoot, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Joe Hall.
And maybe Kate and Anna McGarrigle covering Rita MacNeil.
With a side of Bruce Cockburn.
Don--
Gotcha.
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Helluva story scotty--
Ya. Can you imagine if Tom had spent a little more time out here?...And am I missing something, or are we missing a pacifico-centric type geographical type songwriter guy or girl?...I mean he's a little young, but the Mangan kind of does that for me a little.
And as for Carl Perkins...He's the real king that came out of the million dollar quartet as far as I'm concerned.
A little off-topic, but only a little, this is a tune about (but not by) Mr. Perkins that I really dig.
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Chris--
Beauty way to go.
And I'm glad somebody finally mentioned the McGarrigles.
.
Yo, Ross! Thanks for the Mike Cooley link--cool, man.
When Carl died I got into a real blue funk, which is what possessed me to pin a recipe card on the transom over the front door of Denman General Merchants. It read: So long Carl--Keep on Rockin'. Now, the two door posts are always covered with notices, messages, lost keys, that type of stuff's gotta get taken down regularly and usually fills up pretty quick again; but that message pinned up there, fairly obscure to most of the islanders who pass that threshold every day, stayed there for about two years, until they painted the front veranda. Not sure how many even noticed or understood it. But I did every day, still do even now it's been gone for years. That's how I feel about Stompin' Tom, too.
As to where's our west coast version? I'd have to think on it and prob'ly start my own blog to expound. Give it a thought, though. Thanx again.
scotty--
Do it!
Start the blog I mean.
(and you live on the Isle of Denman?...Man, I had the West End in my head...assumptions and all that)
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