Thursday, January 15, 2009

Canada's Mix Tape for Obama

CBC wants to make a 49-song playlist for the new US President, and here are the songs that are up for nomination. I'd like to point out that the songs include:

- "Canada's Really Big" by the Arrogant Worms, the point of which is basically that Canada has no defining characteristic other than its size.

- "One Great City!" by the Weakerthans (awesome band, imagine the offspring of TMBG and the Decemberists), which ends each verse with "I hate Winnipeg." Oh yeah, did I mention they're from Winnipeg?

- "Acadian Driftwood" by The Band, the first song on the list - the vocals of which are provided by a dude from Arkansas.

- "American Woman" by the Guess Who, because the first thing you want the new American President to hear is "American woman, get away from me..."

- "If I Had $1000000" by the Barenaked Ladies, which given the state of our economy should really add a few zeroes to the title. "If I had a trillion dollars, I'd pay down our debt..."

- "Rockin' in the Free World" by Neil Young, which blatantly lampoons Bush 41.

- A song by the Crash Test Dummies that isn't "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm"

- Not a single song by The Dears, which is a HUGE travesty.

I think we should send them a mix tape back... first on the list should be "Blame Canada."

2 comments:

Mike said...

Seriously Canada? No Our Lady Peace? No New Pornographers ("The Laws Have Changed", anyone)? No Swan Lake/Wolf Parade/Destroyer? Some of the best Canadian bands are given zero shrift here.

Though I applaud their restraint in excluding Nickelback from eligibility.

Ben said...

Off topic, but I'm looking forward to seeing both you guys tomorrow and the whole Woodhead clan.

See you soon, old friends!