"A pop version of the song was done, featuring a mess of big name artists..."

June 30, 2011 10:19 PM

Happy Canada Day! (via Garth Turner)

"Sung in both official languages, the clip features over 240 voices representing the musical & cultural diversity of Canada. Made over 15 yrs ago, you might recognize a few faces..."

posted by flex (32 comments total)

I could've used more Anvil
posted by beau jackson at 10:32 PM on June 30, 2011

144 eh?
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 10:36 PM on June 30, 2011

My god that was terrible until the earrings at 2:23.
posted by dobbs at 10:39 PM on June 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

Jesus, no. We used to listen to this version over the announcements in elementary school. Watching this video is like reliving a long-forgotten nightma—OH MY GOD I SAW PAT BURNS!!!!!
posted by tapesonthefloor at 10:52 PM on June 30, 2011

That video was made two years after Dan Gallagher's Test Pattern, if you can believe it.
posted by i_have_a_computer at 10:55 PM on June 30, 2011

Jesus, no. We used to listen to this version over the announcements in elementary school.

Oh god, as soon as that bass hook came in on the last verse I knew exactly what dark magic I was listening to. Every goddamned day in elementary school. I didn't know Rita McNeil's jowls were involved.
posted by t_dubs at 11:30 PM on June 30, 2011

Sorry Canada, this needs the Japanese touch.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:59 PM on June 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

On Canada Day, I watch The Big Snit to celebrate.
posted by benzenedream at 12:10 AM on July 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

On the first (admittedly fast-forwarded because gah) go through, the only people I successfully picked out were Rita MacNeil and Maestro Fresh Wes. This seems somehow telling, but I'm not sure why or how.
posted by wreckingball at 12:15 AM on July 1, 2011

I just like the fact that the previous post led with "What does a post-American world look like?"

Oh Canada, indeed!
posted by twoleftfeet at 12:42 AM on July 1, 2011

They need to work on their diction. At one point, it starts to sound like they aren't even singing in English anymore.
posted by pracowity at 1:06 AM on July 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

Ralph Wiggum sings O Canada. Oh shit earthquake.
posted by hal_c_on at 2:51 AM on July 1, 2011

Happy Canada Day, everyone!
posted by The Card Cheat at 4:17 AM on July 1, 2011

Happy Dominion Day
posted by Jode at 4:45 AM on July 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

Happy Canada Day!
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 5:14 AM on July 1, 2011

Happy Canada Day!
posted by LN at 5:28 AM on July 1, 2011

"I moved here from Canada and they think I'm slow, eh?"
posted by Fizz at 5:46 AM on July 1, 2011

Cananananda, thank for such wonderful stuff like Classe Audio. PSB. And for buying B&W in the 90's. Pretty damn cool that a country actually provides facilities for Audio engineering and research.
posted by buzzman at 6:10 AM on July 1, 2011

I was doing okay with picking out faces among the singers and players (Murray McLauchlan, Luba, Randy Bachman etc.) right until the french verse, and then I was completely lost. Two Solitudes indeed, eh?

* trivia for non-Canucks: the french version of O Canada is actually the original; the english translation followed about twenty-five years later.
posted by spoobnooble at 6:20 AM on July 1, 2011

Happy Canada Day, everyone!

Let Hank Snow take you on a two thousand mile journey across this great land!
posted by Capt. Renault at 6:20 AM on July 1, 2011

Garth has some great articles on his website about the coming Housing correction in Canada. He's my kind of crazy.
posted by blue_beetle at 6:35 AM on July 1, 2011

I didn't know that, spoobnooble, of if I did ever know it it's been forgotten.
It's funny how the English version plays down the detail about Canada's strong arms knowing how to wield both a sword and the cross.
posted by Flashman at 6:44 AM on July 1, 2011

I always liked the animated national anthem sign-off that CBC used to use.
posted by Johnny Assay at 7:15 AM on July 1, 2011 [2 favorites]

Canada, you're fabulous. (So are you, NFB website.)
posted by 1UP at 7:29 AM on July 1, 2011

The cavalcade of stars:

Rita MacNeil
?
Oh, that guy... He's not Bruce Cockburn, and he's not Gordon Lightfoot, but he thinks he's both?
?
?
?
?????????????????????????
The Toronto cast of Les Miserables, maybe? There are t-shirts.
?
?
?
?
?
?
??????????????????????????
Randy Bachman
?
Alannah Myles
?
Maestro Fresh Wes
?
Les Miz again
?
?
posted by Sys Rq at 8:28 AM on July 1, 2011

"Nineteen years ago the long-haired morning man at a hick Ontario radio station lamented the fact no decent version of O Canada existed to open his show with."

And nineteen years later, he is still lamenting.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:36 AM on July 1, 2011 [2 favorites]

Guy With a Beard
Conductor Guy & Michael Burgess
Rita MacNeil
Tommy Hunter
Murray McLaughlin
Michelle Wright
? & Maureen Forrester?
Chorus: Alanna Miles, Susan Aglukark, Gary Fjellgaard TOO MANY STARS OVERLOAD

I feel bad for not recognizing any of the black or French performers.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:54 AM on July 1, 2011

I'm a French Canadian and I don't even recognize any of the French performers!
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 8:58 AM on July 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

I'm still waiting to be moved by my national anthem, once in my entire life. When I was a kid, I liked the Ontario song more than Oh Canada, even after the family moved west.
posted by philip-random at 11:52 AM on July 1, 2011

The re-harmonization in the video is atrocious. The chords are just plain wrong.
posted by Jode at 3:10 PM on July 1, 2011

Gino Vanelli, Randy Bachman, Luba and that could be the cast of Les Miserables (given the t-shirts)?
posted by acoutu at 10:45 PM on July 1, 2011

Oh, good Lord.
posted by stevil at 10:15 AM on July 2, 2011