and I had chosen from one of the verses: “from far and wide we fought, we cried, we came and made a choice.” Jann kindly suggested a local Calgary studio, which I booked, and the engineer sent us her recorded tracks.
My good friend Dan Hill also agreed to contribute to the song. Hot and sweaty from cycling the Lake Ontario bike trails over to Zolis Audio, Dan, who in 1977 had penned the lyrics to the monster hit “Sometimes When We Touch,” sang the choruses to “Thank You for Bringing Me Home” as well as the second line on “Canada, My Canada”: “the mighty forests add their voice with mystic majesty.”
Little Maria Aragon, the youngster Lady Gaga discovered through her YouTube videos, was in town for a fundraiser and contributed her sweet voice as together we sang, “Let’s sing as one and harmonize our many different themes,” and Divine Brown’s powerful soul-style vocals belted out “and build the greatest nation for our children and our dreams.”
Randy Bachman, the singer and guitar player of BTO and the Guess Who fame, agreed to sing, “Our people are a symphony, a multicultured voice,” and Mark Masri, known for his mellifluous vocals, harmonized beneath Randy and contributed a line to the bridge section. Ron MacLean of CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada, whom I had met in the first-class lounge along with his sidekick, Don Cherry, came bounding into the studio, full of energy, with his line, “From the rocky Western shore, to the coast of Labrador,” well-rehearsed and the chorus memorized. Ron even brought along two bottles of wine that he autographed with a silver pen for Peter and me.
How very thoughtful of him, I mused, as so many artists tend to take the producer or engineer for granted.
Richard Margison, Canada’s leading operatic tenor, later harmonized with Ron and added his own powerful voice to the last line of the bridge and the final chorus. Eleanor McCain’s crystal-clear soprano blended beautifully with mine in the choruses, and with John McDermott’s, as together they sang, “From the cities to the mines, to the misty Maritimes.”
Robert Pilon, who was famous for his roles in Les Misérables and Phantom of the Opera, contributed his special vocal colour to mine as he sang, “I hear the rhythm in the wings of wild geese as they fly.”
At Peter Soumalias’s Walk of Fame dinner I was able to corral a large group of retired hockey players from Team Canada of 1972, the heroes who had beaten the Russians and made Canada erupt with joy. “Tears Are Not Enough” had featured a hockey team, and it seemed a smart move to add some legendary players from the ’72 Summit Series to my own song. The good-natured fellows stood in a semicircle while I held up my lyrics, written largely on cardboard, and Peter, assisted by Jim Zolis, recorded the blend of their mostly untrained voices line by line to add to the last chorus.
A few months later Michael and I performed at the Hockey Alumni dinner in Toronto, and I sat beside Ron MacLean, who appeared to be idolized by all in attendance, including many famous players.
Serena Ryder, a very popular singer-songwriter and bouncy pigtailed brunette, generously came in with her manager, Sandy, and added her sonorous voice to “and music in the rocky mountains reaching for the sky.” I invited francophone Michel Bérubé, whom I had heard live in concert, to sing, “From the coves of Come By Chance to Quebec, la belle province,” and he and Divine were able to add some subtle, improvised “vamps,” which intensified the emotion at the end of the song.
The exceptional Etobicoke School of the Arts choir, directed by Trish Warnock, sang their hearts out for me in the choruses. They were a most fitting choice of choir, I thought, since Etobicoke had played such a significant role in my life. I chose three talented string players who had won the Canadian Music Competition to record the instrumental bridge — Alyssa Delbaere-Sawchuk played the viola solo, Emma Meinrenken the violin solo, and Danton Delbaere-Sawchuk the cello part.
• • •
Peter originally travelled to St. Catharines to work with Mark Lalama on the orchestral parts. Ron Korb had added his flute, and now with all the voices singing along with mine, and my classical guitar of course, we had a proudly patriotic song that I hoped school kids and choirs would learn for years to come.
Productions like “Canada, My Canada” never happen overnight, but I was glad that we had made the extra effort. I had even been lent the famous Six String Nation steel guitar, “Voyageur,” to add some zing to the opening riffs and choruses. The story of how this guitar was created from pieces of Canadiana — wood from Pierre Trudeau’s canoe paddle, from the deck of the Bluenose, and from Wayne Gretzky’s hockey stick, a moose antler used in a native ceremony up in Heron Bay on Lake Superior, bits of muskox, whale, and walrus, copper from roof of the Library of Parliament — is itself an epic tale, and there is a book about it, thanks to the passion of its creator, Jowi Taylor.
A year later, when “Canada, My Canada” was all but finished, I started to obsess about adding another voice to support my own in the opening line. Which singer had the right type of voice and attitude?
Nobody seemed right, apart from Lightfoot, but I suddenly realized that there was one perfect person I hadn’t yet considered: Chris Hadfield, the astronaut, a true Canadian hero, and a fine singer and guitarist. Chris had walked in space and excited millions of young people about the universe through his poetic tweets from the International Space Station, where he lived for almost six months. Chris had insisted upon taking his guitar with him into space and singing David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” live from the station.
Chris is an amazing scientist and pioneer, a man of whom we Canadians should feel very proud. It was only later upon reading his autobiography that I realized how much he and his wife and family had actually sacrificed for his career, and how challenging and nerve-wracking it had all been at times.
I sent a letter off to the Canadian Space Centre, not really expecting to hear back, but a few weeks later I received a “Hi Liona, this is Chris” telephone call. To my delight, he was familiar with my music, and in spite of his exhausting bookings he generously agreed to join me on the opening line as well as singing the last line of verse two. Juggling all our crazy schedules, Peter and I were able to record him in a studio in Sarnia using Skype. I discovered that Chris is not only a true hero, but also a real sweetheart!
How had I ever pulled off such a coup to have all these renowned singers contribute to my song, and gratis, too? I felt immensely honoured that they had all chosen to join me. Peter and I hugged each other when we heard the final blend of voices blasting from the big speakers at Zolis. We had somehow manifested my dream patriotic song. I felt proud that without any manager, grants, or loans, I had been able to create a patriotic song that I hoped Canadians could be proud of.
• • •
The fact that to this day I have not heard “Canada, My Canada” played once on the CBC, our national radio station, saddens me to no end, particularly because Universal had assured me that the station would be all over it the minute the song was sent to them. Does it make me cynical and disappointed? Yes, indeed, it does, and it makes me feel let down by the audience I hoped would celebrate such a song and the huge effort I personally invested to make it happen. Could it be that the intentional folky style, featuring my guitar, is no longer be hip enough for Canadian radio? Gordon Lightfoot, who no doubt influenced me when I wrote this song, told me he loved the whole The Return … to Canada with Love album. I hope he noticed how part of my chorus melody pays tribute to his own immortal “Canadian Railroad Trilogy.”
Despite my disappointment that radio stations appear to have practically ignored “Canada, My Canada,” I am extremely grateful to all the wonderful singers who contributed to it, and I hope that one day this song, my gift to my country, will not be forgotten. I am grateful to the thousands of people who have bought and downloaded the album, and who have enjoyed my performances, but I wonder if they have ever called a radio station to request it be played. I think we Canadians have a much more apathetic attitude than Americans, who love to celebrate their country. Stompin’ Tom, a much loved and authentic Canadian country performer, was so right to reprimand us all, as he believed fervently that Canada should sing her own praises and not feel apologetic about expressing our own brand of patriotism. He had even gone so far as to ship back his six Juno Awards