I compiled a list of Saskatchewan songs for a fellow student so thought I would post it here as a counterpoint to my SW Ontario playlist entry. (This is not an exhaustive list by any means – feel free to add others in the comments section.)
“Last Sask Pirate” – Captain Tractor/Arrogant Worms
“Roll On, Saskatchewan” – Stompin' Tom
“Runnin' Back to Saskatoon” – Guess Who
“Prairie Moon” – Connie Kaldor
“Broadway” – Eileen Laverty
“Wheat Kings” – Tragically Hip
“Hurtin' Albertan” – Corb Lund Band (has a hilarious verse about Saskatchewan)
Artists/Bands From Saskatchewan
Waltons
Wide Mouth Mason
Theresa Sokyrka
Colin James
Joni Mitchell
Jack Semple
Streetheart
Northern Pikes
Kyle Riabko
See also: http://www.saskrecording.ca/artists/index.html
And the best “Saskatchewan” song of all-time (this isn't the actual video but a pretty cool project by some kids in a youth group in Saskatchewan.)
Comments 7
Is “Field Behind the Plough” too generically “prairies” rather than SK-specific? Stan Rogers isn't a SK musician, though.
Is “Wheat Kings” a SK song? Thought that was about the Brandon Wheat Kings. I love the Hip, but you know waaaaaay more about them than I do.
There's also the (very corny) Saskatchewan Song
Here are some others:
Bird on a Wing
Farewell Saskatchewan
The Girl In Saskatoon
The Fields of Saskatchewan
The Harvest Excursion
I Love My Saskatchewan
Johnny, Drop the Reins
Our own Saskatchewan
The Prairies of Saskatchewan
Roll on Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan for me
Saskatchewan girl's lament
Saskatchewan, my home
Saskatchewan sunrise
Saskatchewan today
Saskatoon
Song for Saskatchewan
The “Moon in June” song from Sesame Street (mentions Saskatoon)
There are a bunch of genre-specific artists from SK (probably shouldn't bother with all the punk bands), but here are a couple more who have been played nationally in the last few years:
Marny Duncan-Cary (country-ish musician)
Joel Fafard
Arkadia (folk/international music)
Buffy Sainte-Marie
Again, certainly not exhaustive, but additional…
great list!
uh. Sorry for the duplicates there. Apparently, my reading skills aren't all that good when I've had a couple of cups of coffee.
I'm going to stop commandeering your 'blog, now.
cheers!
Great list. As the classmate who initially asked for some suggestions, I've found some of these. But a lot of them are hard to find (at least on the shareware that I'm using). Do you know who some of the artists are? It might be easier to try to find them by artist than by song title.
Other than what's already been listed, I have:
– A little bit south of Saskatoon (Sonny James)
– A poor lone girl in Saskatchewan (Anne Halderman)
– By the banks of the Saskatchewan (Mary Lou Fallis)
– Molson commercial parody: I am from Saskatchewan
– North Saskatchewan (Ian Tyson)
– Trouble in the Fields (Sarah Harmer) … a stretch, but a great song
– Prairie Wind (Neil Young) … not sure if it's specifically about Sask?
– Saskatchewan (Rheostatics) … there are actually a few songs just called “Sasktatchewan” but these guys are a band with a good reputation
– Saskatoon Moon (Connie Kaldor & Ray Forbes – different from Connie's ballad called Prairie Moon)
I don't know what Barb's criteria are but if it was my mix tape, I'd
use the same “let's error on the side of inclusiveness” policy that we used with the Sask Book Archive. If a song had an artist OR title OR topic from/about Saskatchewan or something very “Saskatchewan-esque” like farming or big skies or uhm, climbing elevators, it would be good enough for me.
“Wheat Kings” is about David Milgaard but the title was (possibly) inspired by the name of Brandon's WHL team. The guy who makes this post is about the most hardcore Hip fan I know so if anybody has the inside scoop, it'd be him. (http://experts.about.com/q/Tragically-Hip-628/Wheat-Kings.htm)
I feel the shame that I missed Buffy St. Marie and the Rheostatics on my initial list. They have a song called “Ballad of Wendel Clark” which is awesome. Related factoid: Wendel is from Kelvington, SK, the community that's probably produced more NHL players per capita than anywhere in Canada. Saskatchewan also produces the highest per capita number of NHL players of any province/state in the world.
I'd count the Sarah Harmer song definitely and possibly the Neil Young though knowing his background, it's probably more of a Manitoba song.
Depending on how loose you want to go with things, I made a farm mix once that had a lot of songs that apply to Saskatchewan indirectly – “Rain on the Scarecrow” by John Mellencamp, most early Fred Eaglesmith, “Green Grass of Home” by Tom Jones. If you picked just one farm song to put on your mix, “The Farmer Song (Straw Hats and Dirty Old Hankies)” by Murry McLachlan (sp?) is a good choice.
(Completely off-topic but do you guys get e-mail notification when I reply to the whole thread or only if I reply to your individual posts?)
I don't get email notification at all.
I'm ashamed to have missed the Rheostatics, too. They're an awesome band. Aren't some of them from SK?
I think the Rheos are all from Ontario – Dave Bidini definitely is as is Martin Tielli.
I think if you check “Receive Comment Notification for this Article” before posting, you should get an e-mail if anybody responds or adds a comment. Could be helpful tracking threads you've contributed to?
Sammy Kershaw had a song titled” Anywhere But Here” with the lines “well I hear it's cold up in Saskatoon but it couldn't be colder than our bedroom. Also the Kelvington Hockey teams are known as the Wheat Kings.