Can con music in my lifetime

Today I was listening to Stuart McLean give his top 10 list of Canadian songs from his lifetime (the last six decades), so I thought I would give a kick at the can... I have now almost lived 5 decades, so I'm going to choose 2 albums for each decade, that had a significant impact on me -- at the time.

1960s [so, remember I was only 9 in 1969]

Ian & Sylvia, Four Strong Winds [1964], listened to lots of this duo over the years, remembering singing the title song from this album in Gr 5 music class.

Gordon LIghtfoot, The Way I Feel [1967] or Did She Mention My Name [1968], my dad liked Lightfoot; and I always liked listening to and singing the songs from these albums.

1970s [my teen years]

Burton Cummings, The Best of Burton Cummings [1980] Cummings had 3 great albums in the 70s, this 'best of' released in 1980, has all the best!

Stompin' Tom Connors, Bud the Spud [1969], this is about as 'rooted' as you can get in Canadian music;

1980s

Bruce Cockburn, Waiting for a Miracle [1987]; features the best of Cockburn from 70s & 80s

Jennifer Warnes, Famous Blue Raincoat [1986], all Leonard Cohen music; beautiful, haunting vocalist

1990s

Crash Test Dummies, The Ghosts that Haunt Me [1991], this one and their 1993 release, God Shuffled His Feet [1993]; can't beat Brad Robert's voice

Sarah McLachlan, Surfacing [1997]; we were living in South Africa at the time, but it still got on playlists there.

2000s

Sarah Harmer, I'm a Mountain [2006]; Sarah is a friend of my brother, and I have listened to this album a lot.

The Dukhs, Migrations [2006], this Winnipeg alternative folk group has great vocals, instrumentalists and songlist

So, that's my list of favourite albums; maybe not the 'best' of these decades :) but they work for me! And I'm still listening to them all today as well -- they have stood the test of time.

Comments

[darryl dozlaw]

what- no rush?
no tragically hip?
a cover album of leonard cohen songs, but no leonard cohen?
dude, NO NEIL YOUNG???

well, you know, i guess that this testifies mainly to how awesome canadian music is and how difficult it is to log just ten faves.

at least dr cockburn made the cut. thanks for letting me listen to that record on your iPod as we careened along the highway running adjacent to the indian ocean just outside of batticaloa, sri lanka last february. it was a memorably palpable reminder of home.

:)