emaycee Presents: A Liberal in the Motor City: Canada

Showing posts with label Canada. Show all posts

Sunday, July 12, 2026

ALL of them

Bingo! All the Scandinavian Democratic Socialist Countries have higher satisfaction and happiness indexes than the US.

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— NauticalN (@watermaidens.bsky.social) November 6, 2025 at 10:04 PM

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

Sunday, July 5, 2026

Tuesday, June 30, 2026

Trump first, Michigan second

A beautiful bridge, fully built, ready to open, much needed and long awaited, now sits unused because the owner of the older, smaller, more run down toll bridge nearby bribed the president to stop it from opening. So Trump got paid AND got a chance to punish both Canada and Detroit.

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— Khashoggi's Ghost (@urocklive1.bsky.social) June 16, 2026 at 5:15 PM

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

Thursday, May 28, 2026

Trump did this

The US had a 5.5% drop in overseas tourism and a loss of 4 million foreign visitors in 2025 the sharpest annual drop in inbound foreign travel in roughly 20 years costing the US economy over $8 billion in foreign spending w/the largest drop coming from Canada www.thedailybeast.com/tourists-boy...

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— Rebecca (Becca) (@beccajt.bsky.social) May 25, 2026 at 4:54 PM

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

Saturday, May 16, 2026

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DXCI--Ian and Sylvia: Four Strong Winds

Oh to live on Sugar Mountain, with the barkers and the colored balloons, you can't be twenty on Sugar Mountain, though you're thinking that...I'm (eight days) late again....

My introduction to this week's tune came when I was writing my first post about Neil Young (here). As I did my weekly half-assed research, I discovered that Young was much smitten with this song as a young man and how much it influenced his career, so I gave it a listen. Turns out, it was a hell of a song even if I didn't discover until I did my half-assed research this week that it wasn't a solo effort but rather a duo....

Ian and Sylvia began performing as a duo in 1959, were married in 1964, and divorced and stopped performing together in 1975. Ian Tyson set out to be a rodeo performer, but while recuperating from injuries incurred while striving for that goal, he learned the guitar and it eventually led to a long career. Sylvia Tyson (nee Fricker) began playing in clubs in Toronto at the ripe old age of nineteen before meeting up with Ian and forming their duo. They had some success, mostly in their native Canada, before their divorce and their band Great Speckled Bird (formed in 1969) is considered one of the progenitors of country rock. After their demise, Ian raised horses and performed sporadically as a solo artist; Sylvia became a solo artist before joining Quartette in 1993 and later performing one-woman shows. Along the way they were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame as a duo, and both were also inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame individually. For their career as a duo, they released twelve studio albums, one live album, and six singles. Ian passed away in 2022, but Sylvia is still performing and released her latest album in 2023.

"Four Strong Winds" was the first single from their 1963 album, the rather uniquely titled Four Strong Winds (again no Wikipedia entry--again, WTF?). The single did not chart in America but hit #9 in Canada (so many cool kids in the Great White North!). The album hit #115 on the Billboard 200 but surprisingly did not chart in their homeland.

Fun Fact: In a poll conducted by the Canadian Broadcasting Company in 2005, "Four Strong Winds" was voted the greatest Canadian song of all time. That's a pretty damn good legacy.

Fun Fact #2: "Four Strong Winds" was the first song Ian Tyson ever wrote. Their other charting hit in Canada (it reached #4 and through the years has become something of a folk standard), "You Were on My Mind," was likewise the first song that Sylvia Tyson wrote. Talk about your strong starts....

"Four Strong Winds" may be one of the saddest songs ever written. It tells the tale of a man heading out to find a job and leaving a relationship that's over. But he still holds out hope--but nope they've gone over it again and again. Maybe when he gets where he's going (Alberta) he can send her fare--but nope, it'll be very cold in the winter and not much to do. But he still knows he'll go looking for her if he ever comes back--but regardless of his sadness the world is going to keep spinning. Ian Tyson sings with the plaintive voice of a man who's still in love but knows his love will be unrequited. Sylvia Tyson provides backing vocals throughout that seem to only deepen his sorrow. Softly sung, softly performed, and acoustic from beginning to end--if this one isn't a modern (ish) folk classic I don't know what is. A beautiful, beautiful song (says the old fart folkie...).

Lyric Sheet: "Still I wish you'd change your mind/If I ask you one more time/But we've been through this a hundred times or more..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

Monday, March 30, 2026

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DLXXXIII--Neil Young: The Needle and the Damage Done

She said, hey babe, take a walk on the wild side, and the coloured girls go...I'm (seventeen days late, a new Friday Night Jukebox record!) late again....

My introduction to this week's tune came one Christmas in the late seventies (couldn't remember which one, though 1978 would be my guess) when my parents bought me this week's artist's triple album greatest hits, Decade. I was just beginning to learn there was a lot more to life than they taught me in high school, and simultaneously that there was a lot more to rock and roll than top forty radio, and that album opened my eyes even wider to both. And I'll never forget Young's self-penned liner note about this week's song: "I am not a preacher, but drugs killed a lot of great men." Just as true today....

I've written about Neil Young as a solo artist twice before (here and here) and once as a member of Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young for the greatest protest song every written, "Ohio." In the little more than a year since I last wrote about him, Young has released two albums (one of which has been in the vaults since the 1970's) and headlined the Glastonbury Festival. Even better, last year he released another protest song, "Big Crime," which he wrote in response to Donald Trump, piece of shit that he is, sending the National Guard into Washington D.C. One of its lyrics was "Got to get the fascists out, got to clean the White House out...." Bravo, Mr. Young!

"The Needle and the Damage Done" was originally released in 1972 on Young's rather accumulatively named album, Harvest. The song was released as the B-side of Young's single "Old Man" which peaked at #31 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100 (it reached #4 in Young's native Canada--so many cool kids in the Great White North!), The album was the only #1 of his career.

(Not so) Fun Fact: Young wrote the song about the effects of heroin addiction on musicians he knew, including his Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten. Sadly, Whitten would die of an overdose the same year the song was released. Even worse, the next year Young's roadie Bruce Berry also died of an overdose.

"The Needle and the Damage Done" is two minutes of sheer fucking brilliance. Rather than record a studio version, Young used a version he'd performed in concert, just him and his guitar, for the album release. The sparseness of the show strips the song to its bare essence which captures both the song's beauty and its sorrow. Neil Young has written a lot of great songs, but this is his greatest. The lyrics reveal Young's compassion for these troubled folks and avoids even the slightest hint of self-righteousness as he chronicles heroin addiction and the chains with which it wraps up its victims. Young's vocals are spare, honest, and convey the tragedy he has seen unfolding around him. Add in Young's beautiful melody, picked adeptly on his acoustic guitar, and you have a masterpiece, a short story in song.

Lyric Sheet: "I've seen the needle and the damage done/A little part of it in everyone/But every junkie's like a settin' sun..."

Enjoy:

Tin soldiers and Nixon's coming, we're finally on our own, this summer I hear the drumming...I'm (eleven days--yikes) late again....

You could read my introduction paragraph to last week's (at least technically last week's) tune of the week, and it could serve as this week's paragraph. Huge single from the seventies gets played everywhere. I will add this about this week's song: I sincerely doubt there is a seventies pop compilation ever released that doesn't contain it. Zero. It is literally the epitome of seventies pop....

Looking Glass formed at Rutgers University in 1969, but the original lineup broke up after graduation. Lead singer Elliot Lurie and Larry Gonsky recruited two new members and continued the band anew. They released their first album in 1972 and their second a year later. In 1974 the band changed its name to Fallen Angels at which time Lurie split, and in 1975 changed their name to Starz. (who would go on to develop a small following and gain some reputation as an influential heavy metal band). That would also be the last year that the original band would be together until 2003 when Lurie reformed the band with all new musicians. They continue to play the oldie circuit, and it's my guess it beats the hell out of working in a grocery store. For their career, Looking Glass released the aforementioned two albums and five singles (they actually had a second hit that reached #33).

"Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)" was the first release from their 1972 debut album, the ever so conveniently named Looking Glass. The single would reach #1 (with a bullet!), while the album peaked at #113. Look how cool those kids are in the Great White North--#1 there, too.

Fun Fact: Looking Glass owes a good deal of their big single's success to one Harv Moore, program director at WPCG in Washington, D.C. He gave the radio release of the song a chance over two days and later said the station's switchboard "lit up like a Christmas tree." Epic Records quickly released a single and other stations around the country caught on shortly.

From its mellow groove opening (replete with some wondrous doo-doo doo doos), "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)" just oozes sticky sweet pop vibes and doesn't let up until it's over. It tells the story of a waitress named Brandy from a "port on a western bay" (screams San Francisco) who spends her life serving sailors. Alas, poor Brandy fell in love with one who told her the sea was his life, and she spends her days in love with a man who will never be hers. Lead singer Lurie lays down some blue-eyed soul, and the band makes some bitchin' and joyous music for its three minutes and six seconds. While doing my half-assed research, I noticed that the song is full of some nice backing horns--how the hell did I miss that the first million times I heard it? As with last week's song, this is a wonderful slice of pop pie from the seventies that never gets old, which is probably as big of a testament to its greatness as any words I might write.

Lyric Sheet: "At night when the bars close down/Brandy walks through a silent town/And loves a man who's not around/She still can hear him say..."

Enjoy:

The life I love is making music with my friends, and I can't wait to...be late again (double yikes, more than a week)....

My introduction to this week's tune was twofold--the first was when it came out back in the day, though I wouldn't say that it stuck with me from then. The second was after my Dad passed away--he had given me all of his records before he died, and I set out to listen to them all. I never made it through all of them (or even close), but I did find a few new (to me) gems along the way. One of them was the greatest hits of this week's artist, which I enjoyed thoroughly, and was reintroduced to our song of the week. This time it did stick with me...for good....

Anne Murray was born in Springhill, Nova Scotia in 1945, and began her professional career in music at the ripe old age of twenty-two in 1967. She would have a hit in her native Canada from her debut album, and her first hit in America from her second album. Murray would find considerable chart success through the late eighties and would continue to release albums and tour through 2008. Murray sang "O Canada" at the first American League game in Canada (Toronto), as well as singing it at the first World Series game in Canada (ditto). She won four Grammys, twenty-six Juno Awards, and has been inducted in four Canadian Halls of Fame (Songwriting, Broadcast, Juno, and Country Music). For her career, Murray released thirty-three studio albums (with five #1's in Canada and three more top five, as well as five top forty here in the States), one live album, twenty compilations, eight Christmas albums, and seventy-six singles (with twenty-two [!] hitting number one in Canada, and one here in the U.S.). After more than forty years of performing, Murray retired in 2008 and as of yet says she has never regretted it.

"Snowbird" was the first single from Murray's 1969 release, the rather directionally entitled This Way Is My Way. The song would be her first #1 hit in Canada and peaked at #8 (with a bullet!) in America. The album reached #13 in the Great White North but did not chart in the United States.

Fun Fact: Murray was the first female solo performer to receive a gold record from the RIAA in the United States, for, surprise, surprise, this week's featured tune.

Regular readers (all three of you) will recall that emaycee is a big fan of female vocalists, and when you add to that a catchy pop tune you have another Friday Night Jukebox post. Written by Gene MacLellan, "Songbird" tells the tale of a young woman who has had her heart broken and wants to escape both her unfaithful lover and the pain by flying away with the titular songbird. MacLellan's lyrics are really a cut above, juxtaposing the broken heart with the cold Canadian winters, and a lot of nature imagery throughout adds to the song's sorrowful ambiance (which isn't too often your usual top forty fare). Murray makes the most of her alto range, and brings heartfelt emotion to her vocals, capturing well the woman's pain and desire for it all just to go away. And all of this in two minutes and fourteen seconds. Add another sweet piece of pop pie to the annals of Friday Night Jukebox....

Lyric Sheet: "Spread your tiny wings and fly away/And take the snow back with you where it came from on that day/The one I love forever is untrue/And if I could you know that I would fly away with you..."

Enjoy:

Trump HUMILIATED: When Donald Trump started lying at a G7 press conference, Canadian PM Mark Carney cut him off. When Trump tried to continue, Carney simply ENDED the press conference, and the press left. ☺️ THANK YOU for showing America how to handle a bully. 💪
— Monica Beckett (@moniemouse.bsky.social) June 16, 2025 at 7:52 PM

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

Sunday, July 12, 2026

Sunday, July 5, 2026

Tuesday, June 30, 2026

Thursday, May 28, 2026

Saturday, May 16, 2026

Monday, March 30, 2026

Thursday, February 19, 2026

Wednesday, February 11, 2026

Sunday, February 1, 2026

Thursday, January 29, 2026

Thursday, January 22, 2026

Tuesday, November 18, 2025

Monday, November 17, 2025

Thursday, November 6, 2025

Saturday, October 11, 2025

Sunday, September 28, 2025

Friday, September 26, 2025

Sunday, July 6, 2025

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

Tuesday, June 17, 2025

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