Stealing All My Dreams
September 30, 2015 10:42 PM Subscribe
Blue Rodeo offers a modern day (anti-harper) protest song (And wins extra points for citing all the facts in the song and video with news links).
“Blue Rodeo does not always speak with one voice. However we feel collectively that the current administration in Canada has taken us down the wrong path. We do not seem to be the compassionate and environmentally conscious nation we once were. As respectful as we are of the variety of opinions held by our audience, we felt it was time to speak up and add our voice to the conversation.”
Jim Cuddy
“Blue Rodeo does not always speak with one voice. However we feel collectively that the current administration in Canada has taken us down the wrong path. We do not seem to be the compassionate and environmentally conscious nation we once were. As respectful as we are of the variety of opinions held by our audience, we felt it was time to speak up and add our voice to the conversation.”
Jim Cuddy
And there is a direct download on the linked site obfuscated by a bit.ly address.
posted by Mitheral at 10:53 PM on September 30, 2015
posted by Mitheral at 10:53 PM on September 30, 2015
Dear Canada,
please, don't break my heart.
love,
C.
posted by From Bklyn at 3:29 AM on October 1, 2015
please, don't break my heart.
love,
C.
posted by From Bklyn at 3:29 AM on October 1, 2015
I've always loved Blue Rodeo. They're a terrific live band. This is great that they've done this.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 3:59 AM on October 1, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 3:59 AM on October 1, 2015 [3 favorites]
The one and only thing that will save Canada from itself is if youth finally get out and vote. I hope BR's efforts help with that.
posted by five fresh fish at 4:05 AM on October 1, 2015
posted by five fresh fish at 4:05 AM on October 1, 2015
Great gesture but I've always viewed Blue Rodeo as well done dad rock. It's unlikely that this song will light a fire under Canadian youth. I'll be surprised if CBC radio 2 doesn't play the hell out of it though.
As for kids these days, I saw a facebook filter that adds " I will vote" to one's profile pic - maybe that will do it.
posted by peppermind at 4:33 AM on October 1, 2015
As for kids these days, I saw a facebook filter that adds " I will vote" to one's profile pic - maybe that will do it.
posted by peppermind at 4:33 AM on October 1, 2015
> environmentally conscious nation
Oh come on: we had British-style building codes in a continental climate, industrial energy waste on a colossal scale, smelter plumes from Wawa and Sudbury, acrid beehive burners in logging towns in BC, sulfur effluent from paper and board mills …
posted by scruss at 4:47 AM on October 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
Oh come on: we had British-style building codes in a continental climate, industrial energy waste on a colossal scale, smelter plumes from Wawa and Sudbury, acrid beehive burners in logging towns in BC, sulfur effluent from paper and board mills …
posted by scruss at 4:47 AM on October 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
The one and only thing that will save Canada from itself is if youth finally get out and vote. I hope BR's efforts help with that.
There is nothing like 60 year old rockers with a 30 year old band to get the 20 year olds out to vote.
posted by srboisvert at 4:53 AM on October 1, 2015 [8 favorites]
There is nothing like 60 year old rockers with a 30 year old band to get the 20 year olds out to vote.
posted by srboisvert at 4:53 AM on October 1, 2015 [8 favorites]
I agree 100% with the views expressed in this song (possibly 200%), but I didn't think it was a great song. It's hard to marry politics and art.
posted by tallmiddleagedgeek at 5:33 AM on October 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by tallmiddleagedgeek at 5:33 AM on October 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
Odd related fact: in the riding I used to live in, Jim Cuddy's brother once ran as the Conservative cadidate against Jack Layton.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:37 AM on October 1, 2015
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:37 AM on October 1, 2015
Whatevs, if Blue Rodeo can even get people their age and mine out to vote, I'll call it a win, because it isn't just the young'uns not showing up at the polls.
posted by Kitteh at 5:42 AM on October 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 5:42 AM on October 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
Dear Canada,
please, don't break my heart.
Hmm, well, yes, about that...
posted by Capt. Renault at 6:20 AM on October 1, 2015
please, don't break my heart.
Hmm, well, yes, about that...
posted by Capt. Renault at 6:20 AM on October 1, 2015
We do not seem to be the compassionate and environmentally conscious nation we once were.
Yeah I'm Canadian and I love Jim Cuddy, Greg Keelor and the rest of Blue Rodeo but this is some revisionist flag-on-the-backpack bullshit right here. We wax poetic about the friendly down-to-earth peacekeeping nature of our country that once was, even though it amounted to little more than singing Tears Are Not Enough and sending half a dozen sacks of flour to Ethiopia in the 80s.
Ask someone First Nations about how we've been 'compassionate'. Ask a gay couple about how much more tolerant it was in the 60s. I really wish the air quality of Hamilton in the 80s could return.
I hate Stephen Harper as much as anyone, but in many ways the current administration is the result of our past behaviours distilled and funneled into a narrow stream of baby booming mentality laid bare by our tireless media microscope.
posted by jimmythefish at 6:37 AM on October 1, 2015 [6 favorites]
Yeah I'm Canadian and I love Jim Cuddy, Greg Keelor and the rest of Blue Rodeo but this is some revisionist flag-on-the-backpack bullshit right here. We wax poetic about the friendly down-to-earth peacekeeping nature of our country that once was, even though it amounted to little more than singing Tears Are Not Enough and sending half a dozen sacks of flour to Ethiopia in the 80s.
Ask someone First Nations about how we've been 'compassionate'. Ask a gay couple about how much more tolerant it was in the 60s. I really wish the air quality of Hamilton in the 80s could return.
I hate Stephen Harper as much as anyone, but in many ways the current administration is the result of our past behaviours distilled and funneled into a narrow stream of baby booming mentality laid bare by our tireless media microscope.
posted by jimmythefish at 6:37 AM on October 1, 2015 [6 favorites]
but I didn't think it was a great song
Yeah the first few verses are cringe-worthy. Chorus is catchy, though, which is the important bit.
posted by jimmythefish at 6:40 AM on October 1, 2015
Yeah the first few verses are cringe-worthy. Chorus is catchy, though, which is the important bit.
posted by jimmythefish at 6:40 AM on October 1, 2015
Too late. Looks like Canadians have settled on the issue of the election, and we would rather be angry about the existence of brown people than try to solve any problems.
posted by [expletive deleted] at 8:19 AM on October 1, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by [expletive deleted] at 8:19 AM on October 1, 2015 [4 favorites]
We wax poetic about the friendly down-to-earth peacekeeping nature of our country that once was, even though it amounted to little more than singing Tears Are Not Enough and sending half a dozen sacks of flour to Ethiopia in the 80s.
Canadian forces in blue helmets have done a little more than that.
Our collective treatment of the First Nations is an atrocity, however.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 8:51 AM on October 1, 2015
Canadian forces in blue helmets have done a little more than that.
Our collective treatment of the First Nations is an atrocity, however.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 8:51 AM on October 1, 2015
Whatevs, if Blue Rodeo can even get people their age and mine out to vote, I'll call it a win, because it isn't just the young'uns not showing up at the polls.
I was a Blue Rodeo fan back in the day. It was hilarious to see them in concert because when they played outside of Toronto all these rural folk would show up expecting a more country style show while Blue Rodeo was always a lot more Rock live than there albums would suggest. The Wranglers and suspenders crowd would grumble through the first few songs and then leave. Maybe somewhere about 1/3 to 1/2 the crowd.
They were an alt-country/indie music crossover band back before there were very many. They had and probably have a lot more conservatives as fans than you would expect but I'd bet this song will just mean those people walk away from Blue Rodeo, like the country fans at the live shows, than from their political convictions.
posted by srboisvert at 8:51 AM on October 1, 2015
I was a Blue Rodeo fan back in the day. It was hilarious to see them in concert because when they played outside of Toronto all these rural folk would show up expecting a more country style show while Blue Rodeo was always a lot more Rock live than there albums would suggest. The Wranglers and suspenders crowd would grumble through the first few songs and then leave. Maybe somewhere about 1/3 to 1/2 the crowd.
They were an alt-country/indie music crossover band back before there were very many. They had and probably have a lot more conservatives as fans than you would expect but I'd bet this song will just mean those people walk away from Blue Rodeo, like the country fans at the live shows, than from their political convictions.
posted by srboisvert at 8:51 AM on October 1, 2015
We wax poetic about the friendly down-to-earth peacekeeping nature of our country that once was, even though it amounted to little more than singing Tears Are Not Enough and sending half a dozen sacks of flour to Ethiopia in the 80s.
Ask someone First Nations about how we've been 'compassionate'. Ask a gay couple about how much more tolerant it was in the 60s.
A. we've never been the angels that certain voices from the anti-Harper non-right seem to believe we were.
B. that said, as peacekeepers, our work goes back at least as far as 1957 (when some argued that Lester Pearson as much as saved the world) and since then, has amounted to magnitudes more than moving sacks of flower.
C. guilty as charged on our First Nations transgressions.
D. it was in 1967 during debate on the decriminalization of homosexuality that Pierre Trudeau (then the Liberal justice minister, I believe) made his famous quote, "There's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation."*
E. good song. Hopefully it will get some dads (and moms) motivated to the get their deadbeat kids out to vote. Maybe turn off the Wifi for a few hours or something.
* the wiki reveals that ... "the quote is a paraphrase by him from an editorial that appeared in the Globe and Mail on December 12, 1967 (page 61) which read in part: "Obviously, the state's responsibility should be to legislate rules for a well-ordered society. It has no right or duty to creep into the bedrooms of the nation."
posted by philip-random at 9:42 AM on October 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
Ask someone First Nations about how we've been 'compassionate'. Ask a gay couple about how much more tolerant it was in the 60s.
A. we've never been the angels that certain voices from the anti-Harper non-right seem to believe we were.
B. that said, as peacekeepers, our work goes back at least as far as 1957 (when some argued that Lester Pearson as much as saved the world) and since then, has amounted to magnitudes more than moving sacks of flower.
C. guilty as charged on our First Nations transgressions.
D. it was in 1967 during debate on the decriminalization of homosexuality that Pierre Trudeau (then the Liberal justice minister, I believe) made his famous quote, "There's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation."*
E. good song. Hopefully it will get some dads (and moms) motivated to the get their deadbeat kids out to vote. Maybe turn off the Wifi for a few hours or something.
* the wiki reveals that ... "the quote is a paraphrase by him from an editorial that appeared in the Globe and Mail on December 12, 1967 (page 61) which read in part: "Obviously, the state's responsibility should be to legislate rules for a well-ordered society. It has no right or duty to creep into the bedrooms of the nation."
posted by philip-random at 9:42 AM on October 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
B. that said, as peacekeepers, our work goes back at least as far as 1957 (when some argued that Lester Pearson as much as saved the world) and since then, has amounted to magnitudes more than moving sacks of flower.
...and in that time has run the gamut from decent, compassionate people like Romeo Dalliare to the psychopaths who comprised the Canadian Airborne Regiment in Somalia.
C. guilty as charged on our First Nations transgressions.
Sure are: "We care more about postal service, child care and tax credits for the suburban middle class than we do Aboriginal issues."
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:10 AM on October 1, 2015
...and in that time has run the gamut from decent, compassionate people like Romeo Dalliare to the psychopaths who comprised the Canadian Airborne Regiment in Somalia.
C. guilty as charged on our First Nations transgressions.
Sure are: "We care more about postal service, child care and tax credits for the suburban middle class than we do Aboriginal issues."
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:10 AM on October 1, 2015
mandolin conspiracy, I almost made that Maclean's article my fpp instead of this song. It's a compelling (and damning) piece of writing and I encourage everyone to read it.
For me, I had a couple of (admittedly sentimental) reasons for liking this song.
First, as an NDPer it provided a good emotional boost after obsessively poll watching. Better than drowning my sorrows.
Second, I have a nostalgic attachment to Blue Rodeo and their activism. I saw them play at the Stein Valley festival, and it was just as the Oka Crisis started ... In fact I first heard about the Oka Crisis in an annoucnement after their set. They spoke powerfully in favour of First nations rights, and from my perspective they are a band of white guys who have really tried to consistently speak out on this issue. It was the start of an awakening for me.
I agree that any piece of writing or music that harkens back to Canada's allegedly progressive past is inaccurate ... however, I do think it is important that we aspire to meet our potential for justice, and that we recall what gains we're losing under the Man in a Blue Suit.
posted by chapps at 1:35 PM on October 1, 2015
For me, I had a couple of (admittedly sentimental) reasons for liking this song.
First, as an NDPer it provided a good emotional boost after obsessively poll watching. Better than drowning my sorrows.
Second, I have a nostalgic attachment to Blue Rodeo and their activism. I saw them play at the Stein Valley festival, and it was just as the Oka Crisis started ... In fact I first heard about the Oka Crisis in an annoucnement after their set. They spoke powerfully in favour of First nations rights, and from my perspective they are a band of white guys who have really tried to consistently speak out on this issue. It was the start of an awakening for me.
I agree that any piece of writing or music that harkens back to Canada's allegedly progressive past is inaccurate ... however, I do think it is important that we aspire to meet our potential for justice, and that we recall what gains we're losing under the Man in a Blue Suit.
posted by chapps at 1:35 PM on October 1, 2015
Too late. Looks like Canadians have settled on the issue of the election, and we would rather be angry about the existence of brown people than try to solve any problems.
I can't get over it. It's horrific, of course, but also obvious and tacky (as a strategy). I don't understand how it's working so well, but it seems to be. Young people aren't voting, they won't, and our blue-voting demographic is huge. I think we're stuck with him until it isn't.
posted by cotton dress sock at 3:28 PM on October 1, 2015
I can't get over it. It's horrific, of course, but also obvious and tacky (as a strategy). I don't understand how it's working so well, but it seems to be. Young people aren't voting, they won't, and our blue-voting demographic is huge. I think we're stuck with him until it isn't.
posted by cotton dress sock at 3:28 PM on October 1, 2015
The thing that gives me some hope is the polls are telephone polls. According to Stats Canada, as of 2013 over 60% of households where people were <35 years old did not have a landline. The only households that were still predominantly landline were >55. On top of that, most people have call display so they can screen out junk calls, which pollsters usually get lumped into. So, the polls are biased towards an older demographic with landlines and no call display, and would not be representative of a younger and more urban demographic. In other words, biased towards those more likely to vote tory. Sure, the older set may have a higher rate of voting, but in close ridings the younger demographic is still enough to swing results.
Alberta has one of the youngest populations and the highest rate of cellphone-only households. Which makes this year's "orange surprise" in Alberta a bit less surprising.
posted by fimbulvetr at 4:52 PM on October 1, 2015
Alberta has one of the youngest populations and the highest rate of cellphone-only households. Which makes this year's "orange surprise" in Alberta a bit less surprising.
posted by fimbulvetr at 4:52 PM on October 1, 2015
I was hoping the niqab "issue" would fade like C-51, once people had a chance to get over their initial fear and prejudice and think. Apparently the conservatives disagree, as Polliviere was "not ruling out" proposals to ban the niqab among public service employees today. Which is just more pandering to racism.
posted by chapps at 6:23 PM on October 1, 2015
posted by chapps at 6:23 PM on October 1, 2015
I've been trying to think of how to push back on this racism most effectively. I remember post 9-11 there were efforts by a group Medea Benjamin was involved in to promote signs in windows stating that your house rejects muslim-blaming ...
posted by chapps at 6:25 PM on October 1, 2015
posted by chapps at 6:25 PM on October 1, 2015
Andrew Coyne: To uncover or not to uncover — why the niqab issue is ridiculous
Worth noting: "It was a ridiculous issue when the numbers of women involved were thought to be in the dozens. It is a more ridiculous issue now that it has been confirmed the actual number of women to have been refused citizenship for failing to uncover since 2011 when the policy was introduced is … two."
posted by Capt. Renault at 6:43 AM on October 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
Worth noting: "It was a ridiculous issue when the numbers of women involved were thought to be in the dozens. It is a more ridiculous issue now that it has been confirmed the actual number of women to have been refused citizenship for failing to uncover since 2011 when the policy was introduced is … two."
posted by Capt. Renault at 6:43 AM on October 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
Less direct, but Hey Rosetta! and Yukon Blonde, two bands that speak to my (lefty, under 30) demographic have come out with this: Land You Love.
posted by invokeuse at 12:21 PM on October 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by invokeuse at 12:21 PM on October 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
« Older "I just want to sit in your lap and tell you... | Getting to the Point with Senator Elizabeth Warren Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by chapps at 10:44 PM on September 30, 2015