The question is:
The lyrics of which iconic Canadian folk song refer to a 19th century Australian colonial governor?
The first correct answer will cause a link to the song to be posted.
48 Responses to “Today’s music trivia question”
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Any with the word “Darling” in it!
Nice try, dd, but no cigar on this occasion.
Bligh
OOps. Meant to write “Nellie Bligh, caught a fly …”
It’s got to be something about Bligh.
And, DeeCee, where is your evidence that the song is (a) iconic; (b) Canadian; (c) a folk song?
It doesn’t have to be, Sam, but I’m not giving out more clues than that.
The results of my Google search for “canadian folk song lyrics Bligh” turned up nothing.
Does ‘folk’ here mean ‘traditional folk’, or are we talking contemporary folk-style singers — Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Leonard Cohen even?
Well, the Stanley Cup is named after Lord Stanley who was a Colonial Secretary in the 19C, I guess he was responsible for us. So I will say the tres iconic Stompin’ Tom Connors’ iconic “The Hockey Song.”
Dr Cat, it can mean both.
Nice try, Amanda, but Lord Stanley wasn’t the governor and “The Hockey Song” ain’t the song.
Musselburgh Field
Dalkeith
Knockbacks In Halifax by Weddings, Parties, Anything.
(Hey it’s traditional to get knocked back in Halifax)
Still no cigar, folks.
I have a meeting at 2pm Brisbane time (3pm AEST) so if nobody has guessed the correct answer by then I’ll end the suspense and let you enjoy the song.
Lt. Gov. Sir Chelsea Q. Hotel the Second
Paul, you mean 3pm AEDT.
I do indeed Sam.
It’s now 2:00pm Brisbane time, so with the meeting bearing down on me I can now disclose that the song in question is North West Passage by the late Stan Rogers, and that the colonial governor referred to is Sir John Franklin, Governor of Tasmania, who is best known to the wider world as the organiser and leader of the disastrous Franklin expedition to find the North West Passage.
Awww, Due South. I had such a crush on that guy when I was 12.
In case anybody cares, there’s a marvelous and crazy novel about the Franklin Expedition (by the marvelous and crazy William T. Vollmann) called “The Rifles,” well worth a read. Well, as per Vollmann’s usual manner, it’s not *entirely* about Franklin, but there’s large sections devoted to him.
I didn’t know he went on to become Governor of Tasmania. Or if I once knew it, I’d forgotten. Or did he do that before he sailed north?
jpz, he was governor before the expedition - had to be, considering that he and his entire crew died after the ships became icebound and the crew became disoriented from lead poisoning caused by cheap and nasty soldering of the cans containing the canned food.
Shucks,
there was a post hereabouts after Kevin’s Glorious Election, pondering what we would blog about: well, ….. Suharto, Class War, Islam, Blogosphere, Comedy, Brisvegas, and now Canadian Folksongs
shucks all bloody mighty!
It was me wasn’t it?
Tom Waits.
No, you’re not Canadian.
So true Mark and to think Tom and Bob Dylan came from pretty much the same area; as in, neighbors. Just imagine how great the combined sound would be.
Dogs would bark cats meow.
It should be encouraged!
Say it, brother!
Given Richard Butler’s performance in the job almost two centuries later, Tasmania could have done worse than appoint a lead-poisoned corpse as govenor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Butler_%28diplomat%29
Amen and Awomen!
There is an Ausralian song that has been spinning around in my head that is probably easy for Amanda and Liam to remember. It is stoush song. I thought it was The Bushwackers but not sure now.
Anyway, the refrain, sought of go’s..
“and it’s on..”
Beautiful.
And speaking of icons and close harmonies …
The Cobbers used to sing “And It’s On”. Doesn’t mean they wrote it though.
And it’s on,
All reason and logic are gone,
Winning the fight
Won’t settle who’s right,
It’s sad, it’s true, but it’s on.
Or something like that.
I would have got the governor right off but not the song, because I immediately thought of the English song, ‘Lord Franklin’ and the beautiful haunting version of it done by Pentangle with John Renbourn. There’s even a Sinead O’Connor version on youtube.
Franklin must have been really caught people’s imaginations to inspire all this. So, has anyone written a song about Richard Butler…
Nice work genevieve and thankyou, it is what i rememeber.
Anita when you write you sound like Judi Dench
Anita, the obvious title would be “The Butler Did It!” and rhymes for Saddam, Destruction, Bore, Bush, etc can’t be too difficult. Like to give it a try and report back? morgan is very rude: ignore him, anita!
genevieve, the song was originally written by the late Don Henderson and was always performed by him at left functions I attended (and sometimes helped organise) in Brisbane in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The exact lyric is:
And it’s on,
All reason and logic is gone,
Winning the fight
Won’t prove that you’re right,
It’s sad, it’s true, and it’s on
Yep…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You‘re_So_Vain
Way to ruin a joke!
Does this work?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You‘re_So_Vain
Er, looks like links hate apostrophes.
Strange.
Sorry.
What’s a hate apostrophe?
It’s a backwards one, Katz. Fixed?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You‘re_So_Vain
Nope, you were right!
WP cuts off the url at the apostrophe, then freakin turns it around so you can’t even take the remaining black text and paste it on the end in your address bar.
Odd.
You’re So Vain:
http://tinyurl.com/34nrqh
Well, that’s all very well Mr/Ms For, but how does one get/use this marvellous innovation?
Go here FDB.
http://tinyurl.com/
It has changed my life, as it will yours.
And (ahem) as I was saying:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/25kbod
Or more succinctly:
http://tinyurl.com/25kbod
how charming of you morgan the pirate to compare me with the fabulous judi dench
wouldn’t it be a cracker to hear jude read e e cummings
or sing there is nothin like a dame
There was a old novelty song called ‘I Was Kaiser Bill’s Batman’, so I reckon ‘I Was Richard Butler’s Butler’ has something going for it. The Batman song was whistled, which is one way to get around the lyrics problem.
Would Richard Butler go to Nove Scotia to see the total eclipse of the sun? Probably, he likes his holidays and is pretty cashed up. While in Canada, he could also check out the Banff Springs Hotel and maybe an ice hotel etc etc and inspire a few more iconic Canadian songs.
Whenever His Ex-Excellency appears in the daylight, the sun is ipso facto eclipsed.