100 Days That Changed Canada by Canada's National History Society

Author:Canada's National History Society [Reid, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-443-40914-8
Publisher: HarperCollins Canada
Published: 2011-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Canadian Chorus

January 1, 1967—Gordon Lightfoot debuts the “Canadian Railroad Trilogy.”

MIKE FORD

Canada’s optimistic centennial year, 1967, announced to the world that the future was very bright—and it was starting right here. One Canadian artist, however, summoned his considerable creative powers to turn 180 degrees and look back. Gordon Lightfoot’s masterpiece song “Canadian Railroad Trilogy,” which debuted on national television on January 1, 1967, was a soaring proclamation that Canada’s sunny present had an extraordinary past, a past that demanded our attention.

Much credit must go to the CBC for commissioning the piece and for making an event of its debut, complete with a live “music video” that provided visual accompaniment to the song’s epic sweep. But it was Lightfoot who responded beyond all expectations. He knew he’d need a broad canvas to tell the story of the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway—the Confederation promise that linked this land from coast to coast and arguably made the nation’s existence possible.

The Orillia-born-and-bred musician, whose career was just then exploding into international success, created a stirring three-part anthem to the iron road’s construction, evoking not only the energy, motivations, hardship, and toil of the era, but also wonder at the majestic expanse of land and history upon which the story unfolds. Pierre Berton, author of The National Dream, once remarked that it took him 450 pages to do what Lightfoot did in a seven-minute song.

The song’s tale of national adventure carries a historical message: look what can be done. It is a message as relevant to twenty-first-century Canada as it was to the centennial year. On a cultural level, it carries an equally provocative message: look what can be sung. What remains breathtaking today is the audaciousness of the Canadian songwriter, on the cusp of international acclaim and reward, summoning his powers to create something for, and entirely about, here. Some say it made him English Canada’s national troubadour. Perhaps the only comparison is the creative dam-burst effected in Quebec by Gilles Vigneault’s “Mon Pays.”

A century ago in this country, it was normal to hear songs about local exploits—provided one was sitting around a work camp wood stove. With the rise of radio and television, Canadian stories proved to be all but invisible in popular song. But Lightfoot’s broadcast rekindled the fire for the satellite age and inspired countless artists to do the same—to sing in depth about here—career consequences be damned. True, the commercial market seems to support little more than the occasional Canadian place-name dropping, but beyond that—from summer music festivals to CBC Radio competitions and to a multitude of MP3 collections—there exists a phenomenon that “Canadian Railroad Trilogy” helped initiate: a new way of being a musical artist, or music listener, in Canada.

Today the song inspires still, and continues to raise questions. Where is the composer who can mirror the spirit of Canada today in song? Who in the media will champion such a tune? Who will listen? And will it still be heard a half century later? On New Year’s Day, 1967, Gordon Lightfoot set the bar high indeed.

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