One of Canada's greatest folk singer songwriters, and one of my personal favorites !! Thanks for doing this review !! I've taken the train from Vancouver over the rockies, and the views are stunning !!
One other interesting note on the song is that Pierre Berton, author of The Last Spike, once said "You did more good with your damn song than I did with my entire book on the same subject."
So very proud of this man. Have been a true loyal fan since he played his guitar in downtown Toronto in coffee houses in the mid 60's. Our national treasure.
Thanks for showing Canadian history. I always feel, as a layman historian, that Canada is lost in the shadow of U.S. history. Just like the American railroad our rails were laid by Chinese and Irish workers. I've been a Lightfoot lover for 60 years, what can you say he's a fantastic songwriter. 👍
This song has put tears in my eyes for 40 years. "We are the navvies who work upon the railway..." and "A drink to the living, a toast to the dead." So many men died; many of them Chinese immigrant workers who came here for a better life but got treated like dirt and paid less, but still worked like dogs. So much sacrifice, blood, sweat and tears went into our railway.
Many were also Scottish, Irish and English immigrants that looked for work abroad and it was back breaking work and many of them perished as well. The Chinese labourers were treated horribly, paid a quarter of the white labourers and were expendable. A shame that really can’t ever be cleansed even worth the apologies and acknowledgment. Rest In Peace Gord.
Canadian here. John A MacDonald, Canada’s first Prime Minister, had this dream. He was in a hurry to connect all the provinces sea to sea. It was his dream. It wasn’t just Chinese migrants who built our railway, many Irish did too. We studied this in school.
Moving to slow....literal, had to get to the Pacific before the Americans turned their eyes north. Americans were busy expanding into Cal. and Oregon and the south west. There was a great feeling of hurry.
Back in the 60s, it seemed to me there was a Chinese Canadian restaurant in every small prairie and Ontario town. I later realized that these were the result of the entrepreneurship of the Chinese who survived building the railway and escaped getting sent back to China. Add in the laundries and other small businesses and the many notable descendants, they are a remarkably successful group. I especially remember Normie Kwong who played for 12 years in the CFL for the Calgary Stampeders and Edmonton Eskimos.
My beloved paternal grandfather immigrated to Canada from Scotland in 1921 having been hired as a cop in the days when the CPR had it's own police force. He retired in 1962 from the CPR. Growing up in a little village called Fredericton Junction, New Brunswick, I listened to the trains run through my back yard. I applied for a job many years later out here in Alberta and they knew we were moving our mobile home from Edmonton if I got the job. The HR person who was helping conduct my interview asked me if I got the job and knew that the railroad tracks ran by the only mobile home park in town, wouldn't it bother me to hear the trains running through in the middle of the night. I told him about my background and told him I wouldn't hear a train even if it ran through my living room blowing it's whistle at 3:00 am. In Edmonton, I only live a few blocks from the railroad switch and when I hear the trains taking cars on and off, I just go back to sleep listening to the sounds I grew up with.
Navvy, a clipping of navigator (UK) or navigational engineer (US), is particularly applied to describe the manual labourers working on major civil engineering projects.
That was beautiful. We need to remember what people went through to develop this great land we live in. Thank you John for this wonderful message as told by Gordon Lightfoot. ❤️❤️🇨🇦🇨🇦
Taught at a Chinese university for 3 summers. The students were very familiar with the contributions that Chinese workers made to the building of the railroad in this country as well as the less than stellar way they were treated.
From 'Atlas of Alberta Railways' - The Railway Labourers: The Navvies
Railway labourers or Navvies-a term used in England that first described the canal builders, that is, navigators, and was transferred to those same men and others who built the rights-of-way of the railways-in Canada during the boom years from 1898 to 1913 were mostly immigrants of various nationalities and ethnicities. Generally speaking, their lives as railway labourers on the grade were nasty, brutish and often shortened due to accident and disease, the result of unsanitary camp conditions.
As a Canadian, I consider this iconic song to be the best Lightfoot ever wrote (commissioned by the CBC for Canada's Centenary in 1967). The structure of this song....the way it's fast tempo in the beginning, illustrating the growth of our new Canada, then the slower, reflective, plaintive construction of the story of the 'Navvys' and the loved ones sleeping far away to the East or back in 'the old country'....then back to the faster tempo as the railway progresses to the Rockies and beyond to BC...standing on the mountains to survey 'all the world at our command....the song of the future has been sung, all the battles have been won', illustrates the pride of completing the arduous task. "A drink to the living a toast to the dead"...a tribute to all who built our railroad, "and many are the dead men, too silent....to be real"....a special tribute to them in particular....In my opinion the most perfect song ever written by Gordon Lightfoot, a troubadour in the best sense, a wordsmith extraordinaire and a man who personifies Canada.....Thanks for your assessment of the song that leaves nothing to the imagination of the toil, tears and sweat it took to build Canada & the man who is Canada's favourite & best songwriter and performer....(Sorry Celine).
Thank you again. You should be a Canadian Studies Professor. I'm just a cattlemen in Saskatchewan. I appreciate your work. Don't have my reading glasses but I hope the Thank you is clear
I've been a Lightfoot fan for years. Whenever he began this song in concert, it always got a cheer from the audience. It never gets old. About 50 years ago, I took the train from Toronto to Vancouver. The scenery was breathtaking. When going through the tunnels and over the trestle bridges, I couldn't help but think of the men who built these amazing structures. Thanks for reviewing one of my favourite Lightfoot songs.
On this song Lightfoot pulls a Paul McCartney and combines two (or three) songs into one. Another time he did that was "Cabaret"- the closing track of "Summer Side of Life" (1971).
I recall hearing this on July 1st, 1967, Canada's 100th birthday. Mono AM car radio! Even then, it was memorable. Incidentally, the word "navvies" comes from the UK's nicname for railway workers, who were called "navigators." I recall reading the whole backstory of that nickname in L.C.T. Rolt's excellent biography of the brilliant engineer I.K. Brunel - funny that I can remember the author's name, but not where the term "navigators" sprang from. Anyhow, that came to Canada, along with (I suspect) many emigrants from the U.K. who hoped to find a better life in a new country. I was given my first Gordon Lightfoot LP by a cousin for my 10th birthday, mid-1960's and I think I still have the original, as well as several copies. Gordon Lightfoot was already an icon even then. Only two other voices stick with me in the same connection, one being the late Stompin' Tom Connors, and the other the late Stan Rogers. When I listen to Stan sing "Northwest Passage" in his enormous baritone voice, it sends chills down my spine for the way it describes the enormity of this country. Hard to believe Stan was killed 40 years ago, truly a tragedy. His music will be with us forever, as will Gord Lightfoot's.
Awesome coverage of my favourite Gordie Lightfoot song. The pictures really brings the ordeal of these ‘navvies’ to life. I get the feeling it was gruelling work but also a dream to complete this almost impossible task to span Canada from coast to coast.🇨🇦
That was great, John. Really enjoyed the companion video with lyrics, the images really drive it home. Also a big fan of the Hip and Gord Downie. Thank You! ✌
John, you’ve hit it out of the park again. Watched the 1st part b4 this. Great info I know I was taught but forgotten. Born/raised in Vancouver, then 24 yrs. In Calgary b4 moving back to BC, on Vancouver Island… I know the beauty of the Rockies & the railway. My salsa career allowed me to be PAID to travel in the ‘Kootenay’s’ as well as Banff, Lk Louise, Revelstoke, Golden etc … I stayed at resorts like the Banff Springs Hotel & other beautiful places … we are blessed in this area of N.A. …. As always - thanks for this & Gordon L. He played here in Nanaimo in Oct (tix were holdouts from 2 yrs. Ago….rebooked) I had covid & couldn’t go :( Oh well … all good !
This song was commissioned by the CBC for a special broadcast on January 1, 1967, to start Canada's Centennial year. Writing and composing it took him three days.
Season 2 of Canadian Idol did an entire Gordon Lightfoot episode, and this was the song that was done as the group performances, with the top six singing and playing instruments as well. Gordon Lightfoot was in the audience to watch. They did the song proud.
Both pt 1 and 2 were great, thank you John! I wish more people could appreciate how extensively the Chinese built the CPR and what they endured in making it happen. I think it would be wonderful if you were to cover the Klondike gold rush sometime - and Robert W Service, a Scottish-Canadian poet who had travelled abroad and parts of the US, and wrote on his experiences but became known as “bard of the Yukon”. Also country artist, the late Hank Snow (Nova Scotia) - released an album once, “Tales of the Yukon”, on which all of the songs (spoken) are Robert Service. I’m not a country fan, in particular, but do enjoy listening to pieces on that album. When I was 13 my dad took us to Yukon so that we could learn more about it than we had in school. I didn’t appreciate being “dragged” up there then but I sure did when I got older. 😊
My father went up there to retrace the gold rush route in the 1970s; I still have the envelope from a letter he got afterwards. It was one of the last letters delievered to the post office by dogsled. :-)
Thanks for all of this. I’m not a huge country fan either, but sometimes they tell great tales. There is a folk element country music. I’ll check it out.
I totally have that record too! The first vinyl I ever bought way back in 2016! As a supplement to this supplement to the previous video, you should watch the Heritage Minute about the railroad. The "Navees" were the mostly Chinese immigrant workers ( who's loved ones lay across the dark oceans) who built the railroad. There's a dead Chinese man for every mile of that track, that's what they say.
At age 12, my grandfather ran away from his parents who were giving up on Canada and returning to Italy. He found work as a 'water boy' carrying a bucket and ladle to the workers on the C.P.R... just like the youngster in the photo... at 7:10ish+:
Thank-you for Sharing these Vid's & Your much Appreciated Outlook : )) . One sat, here Far from Home, feeling Comforted, by Your Perspective & Thoughts, for this Vid & the 1st one, re: The Building of the Canadian Railroad & then Gordon Lightfoot's great rendition to It.... You are Appreciated...
Always enjoy your interests in Canadian History, I just hope many of your fellow US Citizens understand it all and appreciate what you are learning. Keep it up, they'll discover you yet.
I am doing my small part to spread the word. Though I started this channel to give equal attention to the other nations in the so called Anglo sphere, and I still want to explore those Nations further, I have really connected with my Canadian neighbors, and believe it’s more important to focus on Canada for the time being. There is no other nation that is more important to US foreign relationships in terms of trade, foreign policy, military alliance, culture and proximity. They say the US and Uk have a special relationship. I think so, but not as much as the US and Canada. And, there is so much we can learn from you as our North American cousins, who have embraced progressive values, where our nation re,sins divided. I am not pandering when I say, I feel proud that Canada is in North America and I feel closely connected to you all. peace from NY, USA.
Love this song so much but my favourite part is "For they looked in the future and what did they see? They saw an iron road runnin' from the sea to the sea...." You can actually feel the train pulling out and picking up speed. RIP Gordon Lightfoot and thank you for leaving us so many wonderful gifts.
Gord was commissioned to create a song and was given a short time to create the song ( apparently three weeks). He researched the information and had the song done and had it done in time.
Very enjoyable, John. Haven't seen this version in a long time. I tend to prefer his earlier version abd, yes, I still have my vinyl. Even driving across Canada, one can appreciate how diverse and huge this country is. One benefit about driving is that we like to explore the lesser routes away from the Transcanada. Much more fun. There were actually 2 rail lines built. The CP got the choicer routes and land incentives along the line. The Canadian National was later and amalgamated a number of trunk lines. Gord's lyrics are so evocative. The forests out here on the West Coast are very dark and silent compared to the ones back East. The many mountain ranges to get through to Alberta are rugged to say the least. Hard to build and then the dangers of avalanches and washout. My great grandfather was one of the engineers who worked on some of the tunnels a bit later. Engine 374 was the first passenger train out to Vancouver. For many years, it sat outside in Vancouver and I grew up playing on it. It was restored and is housed in the Roundhouse Pavilion which was a part of the 1986 transportation themed World Fair. As others have suggested, Stan Rogers and Stomping' Tom Connors would be a good next stop. Buffy Ste Marie and Susan Aglukark should be on the list, too.
Railway labourers or Navvies-a term used in England that first described the canal builders, that is, navigators, and was transferred to those same men and others who built the rights-of-way of the railways-in Canada during the boom years from 1898 to 1913 were mostly immigrants of various nationalities and ethnicities. Generally speaking, their lives as railway labourers on the grade were nasty, brutish and often shortened due to accident and disease, the result of unsanitary camp conditions.
Thanks so much John, your presentation was so well done and for me as a Canadian, so touching. I heard Gordon all my life, but only recently re-discovered him in a much more meaningful way, and indeed he is brilliant.
Like Pierre Berton said, Lightfoot captured the spirit of the building of the CPR railway in the poetry of his music. It was an absurdly difficult feat for a country with a population less than a tenth of the US's in the 1870s. Besides our really lousy weather and the western mountain chains, the hard rock and muskeg of Northern Ontario was especially difficult. John A had his faults, but he fathered the CPR and along with the Northwest Mounted Police, joined the West to the East.
The expression "navvies" came from the earlier age of canal-building. The Irish workers who built the "navigation canals" that permitted the industrialization of England were called by that name. The term may have also been used for the immigrant workers who built the Erie Canal in the U.S. The expression continued to be used for those who worked to build railways, because the rails were essentially "navigation canals" on land and the work was basically similar... as were the people who did it. It was definitely used in Canada in the nineteenth century to mean anyone who did manual labour on large construction projects, but eventually disappeared from common use. When Lightfoot wrote this song, the word would have been archaic, but known to anyone familiar with the history of the CPR, and it was around this time that interest in that historical achievement was being revived. In England, the term seems to have survived as slang for any construction worker until at least the 1940s, since it appears often in George Orwell's books, diaries and letters. Three years after Lightfoot's song, historian Pierre Berton finished his comprehensive history of the building of the CPR, "The National Dream". Berton himself was a familiar public figure in Canada --- somewhat oddly for a historian ---- mostly because of his wonderfully eccentric life. He was born in Dawson City, Yukon AFTER the goldrush, when it was nothing but a ghost town of abandoned buildings with a handful of people still living there. As a journalist, he covered controversial issues across the country (making many enemies among the comfortable and powerful along the way). His last public appearance was in 2004 (at the age of 84), when he made a short film about the best way to roll a marijuana joint (he sneered at wasteful "pinners" and sloppy rolling).
Canadian here. A dollar a day was paid in a silver dollars. The modern day Loonie is mostly nickel. A dollar a day was a lot of money. My grandad earned only $5 a week as an Irish metal worker in the early 1900s.
I went to see Gordon Lightfoot back in 1966 when at school in Toronto. I saw him in a little barn in Yorkville which at that time was hippy haven, now a very elite place to be. He sat down with us for a drink between sets.
Thank you John. Gordon Lightfoot is a Canadian treasure. I recommend that you check out Guess Who and BTO as well as the back stories of some of their songs.
Just FYI, you are not listening to the original version of the song, though the lyrics haven’t changed. All of the songs on the “Gord’s Gold” compilation are re-recorded versions for whatever reason Gord thought that the sound quality could be improved. For the musically interested locate the original release and listen to it.
I like how you tied the song in with the video from part one. Learned a bit of our history I didn't know. We have these very short clips about events that happened in the history of Canada. It's called Heritage Minutes, they're very short but a lot of information in them, thought you might be interested. Thank you for showing great videos of Canada.
Hi Debbie. That’s for the tip. As it happens, I did a reaction to Heritage minutes and also included one or two in other videos I did. Check out my channel if you’re interested. Otherwise, thanks for commenting.
There is aCBC special called “The Last Spike” which also tells the story of the railway. I think it’s the Canadian Pacific Railroad that they are talking about. There are two. The other one is the Canadian National Railway. It came out when I was in school. Maybe the late 60s or early 70s. Not exactly sure when. A school friend played Sir John A. McDonald. The first PM of Canada.
According to Wikipedia a "Navvy" is a navigational engineer, a manual labourer who works on a major civil engineering project. I love this song and he mentions my hometown at 9:05!
@@johnf-americanreacts1287 There is a pocket of loyalists from the uk that came over. Quebec is mostly french, but not all in the rural areas. It was a great place to grow up and I am so happy I did grow up there.
For a "new-er" version check out the Canadian Idol final 6 participants teaming up for the Candian Railway Trilogy with Gordon himself in attendance. ruclips.net/video/BF1g4NcINvQ/видео.html
So…. You know Lightfoot. Do you know Stan Rogers? Another brilliant musician. Unfortunately he met an untimely end in legendary fashion as well. I can suggest titles if it interests you.
@@johnf-americanreacts1287 thanks! Stan was a Nova Scotian musician of great local renown. He wrote a lot of songs not only of the sea and sailors, but the work of others across Canada. Like many others he had to drift west from the eastern provinces to find work as both a musician and a labourer. He sang of many types of work, from explorers to refinery workers to farmers and even prospective NHL hockey players. He sang of real life issues and feelings, including my absolute favourite love song. So, a few to cut your teeth on. The most famous of his songs is an a capella sea shanty called Barrett’s Privateers. Fictional, but shows the way sailors were often treated. Field Behind the Plow is a song about prairie farmers and Lies is about a rancher’s wife. Flying is about a prospective hockey player in the NHL. A realistic view. The Idiot is about a refinery worker who had to leave the east to find work out west when the fisheries collapsed. And Tiny Fish for Japan is about the industry limping along. Just a few. But his death was a tragedy and just as his career was gaining steam too. Cheers. There are other Canadian folkies I can suggest if you like this one. Btw Gordon Lightfoot was a staple growing up in our house. So were many other musicians.
Sorry if it's been mentioned, the Navies were the Chinese workers they brought in from overseas to do the hard work. There were many deaths, at least once a day I believe. You also have to understand the blasting required to break thru the Rockies. They had to run the explosives in... and safety wasn't as of great importance as speed.
@@johnf-americanreacts1287 John forget what I just said. Don't discuss Joni Mitchell. As a Christian woman I just watched an interview with Elton John (a practicing homosexual) where Joni Mitchell compared her 6 string guitar to the straight lines of a pentagram! Stay away from her and don't talk about her music. Now I'm sorry I mentioned her name!
Navvy - labourer employed in excavating for roads, railways and canals. I prefer the original version which doesn't have slide guitars, wind instruments and violins. It can be found on his first album "Lightfoot"
As usual John first class, very well done!! Along this theme of opening Canada with the rail road I came across an interesting video on the Klondike gold rush featuring an amazing American woman named Martha Black who went on to become only the second woman elected to Parliament at that time. I've included the linkruclips.net/video/1aBcZzq2ac8/видео.html :)!
Gord can paint a picture with his words....and it is art....I know Gord wasn't a stranger to you since you are a big music lover, but I always think some of his more "Canadian" songs were there as a love to Canada, and I doubt he cared what an audience outside of Canada would think. Truly a national treasure.
Right you are. If Americans know Gord, they now Sundown, If You Could Read My Mind, and the Wreck Of the Edmond Fitzgerald. But if you like those songs and that leads you to more Lightfoot, that’s when you discover the Canadiana.
May I suggest that you eschew the airlines and get a sleeper car and ride that rail from sea to sea. I’ve done it and they’re memories that I will take to the grave.…
The American concept of Manifest Destiny, along with the Monroe Doctrine, was an imminent threat to the freedom of the entire Western Hemisphere. Greed greatly outstripping need.
we can’t forget that our progress meant the end of another peoples world. Here the Assembly of First Nations show thier appreciation to Gord Downie ruclips.net/video/SoWRY9GRToQ/видео.html for all his work informing Canadians of the wrongs committed by our ancestors and by telling the story of Chanie "Charlie" Wenjack
Sir, Was gonna try to answer if Canada shows much national pride.... been binging your channel. There was this time in 2014 that there was a microphone error during the US national anthem, and the Canadians finished it with respect and love. Followed by our own, and well, will show that to ya... if I may be so bold. The love between our two countries, like siblings poking at each other, well, that is all fun and good, but we do have a lot of love for each other. But here, my offering to you. ruclips.net/video/LtVCaIYH9Xc/видео.html Thanks, neighbour. glad to have met you here.
Hello John. The lyrics are of course the same, and Gordon's voice is iconic, but you should know that you are hearing a re recording of the original. Mr. Lightfoot had changed labels, and had become slightly embarrassed by the simplicity of the original versions on United Artists. I actually prefer the originals for their basic story telling quality, and slightly younger voice quality. All the versions on the album you held up are remakes. Thanks for your interest in Canadiana.
Greetings from Vancouver, John. I don't know if you were referencing my comment from a few months ago about this wonderful Gordon Lightfoot song, but I'm happy to hear a deeper dive into it. Although I live in BC now, I grew up in Montreal. This song was commissioned by the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) to commemorate Canada's 100th birthday and because Montreal was hosting the 1967 World's Fair (I was 11 years old at the time), this song was indelibly imprinted in me. Here is a short documentary that examines the song in a wider context: ruclips.net/video/hh7xNDcA6f4/видео.html And a little info about what "Man and His World" (and more fondly remembered as) Expo '67 was about: ruclips.net/video/P40N4hnHpsE/видео.html
I was referring to your comment. And I thank you for it my friend. Without you and your fellow Canadians commenting and helping me understand your nation, I couldn’t do this in a meaningful way. And that is what I want. I don’t want to do superficial reactions that are the oh and ah, look at what I didn’t know about Canada. I want to really understand you all and so I take your comments seriously. It’s why I try my best to read and answer them. Anyway, thank you. Peace my friend.
@@johnf-americanreacts1287 Dear John, I do always enjoy your comments and they are definitely not superficial. Because yesterday was my birthday, my sister (born in Montreal but living for the past 40+ years in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey), was updating me on her son's recent move to Toronto to pursue his career in film. I sent this to Anvesh, my nephew, a compilation of references to Canada in films (not necessarily Canadian) in commemoration of Canada's 150th anniversary in 2017 (50 years after Expo '67): ruclips.net/video/1iDnJOq_5yo/видео.html Best wishes to you & your family.
@Lisanne: I was 3, at the time of Expo. I remember very distinctly that I pulled a major pout when my mother and father and my siblings( who were much older than me) went to Expo. I had to stay with my grandparents for 4 days. They brought me back a couple of things, one of which was a 45 record of the theme song of Expo. I also remember when my parents came back, I didn’t speak to them for a week, which culminated in me running away to my grandparents house. My mom came and got me, and made a promise that the next trip that the family went on, I could come. Amazing what memories come up from just a word! Stay safe, stay sane, stay strong Ukraine 🇺🇦
the cfl football leauge and churchill manitoba polar bear capital of world and the great travisty of the cancellation of our greatest aviation product the avro arrow are possible topics i may suggest to your great works about us my very nice american friend
Thanks for the suggestions. My list is getting long form all these wonderful suggestions. I do intend on getting to them all. The good thing is, we have the time. And I’m loving this. I feel like I’ve really discovered a part of my own continent that I thought I knew well enough, but I only ever saw the tip top of the iceberg.
I think there was sarcasm and some anger behind this song. We ruined the lamdscape and polluted the air with the railroad. And the worst part i6s Canada took Chinese men to do much of the labour.
Yes. I discussed that about the Chinese workers in my reaction video the the building of the Canadian Pacific railroad. Sadly, the same was done with a Chinese immigrants doing the most dangerous jobs in building our transcontinental railroad here too in the late 1860s.
Iam a Canadian in b.c Thank you for your show. It's nice to hear from a friend south of the 49th parallel. As two nations, friends, allies. We're not called the longest undefend border in the world for nothing
I found out by way of searching, ther are 51 countries that call themselves American. How can 1 country just say "hey, I'm just an American, America 🇺🇸 is God's country, I love being American? And then leave the other 50 countries 🙄 scratching there heads. It's your fault you call yourselves the united states of America and you can't just call yourselves USAIN! Your fault not the other 50 countries in America! Just saying bro.🇺🇸
This is a National Film Board documentary by Alanis Obomsawin. It is about a confrontation between a town in Quebec and the Mohawk community who occupied some land that the town wanted to convert to a golf course. I remember this event like we all remember 9/11. ruclips.net/video/7yP3srFvhKs/видео.html
Yes, so interesting to hear Gord sing so genuinely and sadly about what happened then in Detroit. A bit like Neil Young’s Southern Man but much more specific.
One of Canada's greatest folk singer songwriters, and one of my personal favorites !! Thanks for doing this review !! I've taken the train from Vancouver over the rockies, and the views are stunning !!
Wow, I can imagine. What a cool way to travel
One other interesting note on the song is that Pierre Berton, author of The Last Spike, once said "You did more good with your damn song than I did with my entire book on the same subject."
Love it
Definitely The Last Spike is a great book though.
Pierre Berton's "The National Dream" was made into a miniseries in 1974. It's an incredible story.
So very proud of this man. Have been a true loyal fan since he played his guitar in downtown Toronto in coffee houses in the mid 60's. Our national treasure.
Thanks for showing Canadian history. I always feel, as a layman historian, that Canada is lost in the shadow of U.S. history. Just like the American railroad our rails were laid by Chinese and Irish workers. I've been a Lightfoot lover for 60 years, what can you say he's a fantastic songwriter. 👍
This song has put tears in my eyes for 40 years. "We are the navvies who work upon the railway..." and "A drink to the living, a toast to the dead." So many men died; many of them Chinese immigrant workers who came here for a better life but got treated like dirt and paid less, but still worked like dogs. So much sacrifice, blood, sweat and tears went into our railway.
I'm glad you mentioned the Chinese workers. They deserved better and we owe them so much.
@@janmitchell641they did here and in Canada. Thanks for the comment my friend.
Many were also Scottish, Irish and English immigrants that looked for work abroad and it was back breaking work and many of them perished as well. The Chinese labourers were treated horribly, paid a quarter of the white labourers and were expendable. A shame that really can’t ever be cleansed even worth the apologies and acknowledgment. Rest In Peace Gord.
Came here to say this. But you've already spoken the words from my heart. God bless you, and God bless Canada.
Canadian here. John A MacDonald, Canada’s first Prime Minister, had this dream. He was in a hurry to connect all the provinces sea to sea. It was his dream. It wasn’t just Chinese migrants who built our railway, many Irish did too. We studied this in school.
Just thanks for this John!
Moving to slow....literal, had to get to the Pacific before the Americans turned their eyes north. Americans were busy expanding into Cal. and Oregon and the south west. There was a great feeling of hurry.
Back in the 60s, it seemed to me there was a Chinese Canadian restaurant in every small prairie and Ontario town. I later realized that these were the result of the entrepreneurship of the Chinese who survived building the railway and escaped getting sent back to China. Add in the laundries and other small businesses and the many notable descendants, they are a remarkably successful group. I especially remember Normie Kwong who played for 12 years in the CFL for the Calgary Stampeders and Edmonton Eskimos.
A great Canadian that could weave words into a perfect image. Thankyou for doing this fills my heart.
My beloved paternal grandfather immigrated to Canada from Scotland in 1921 having been hired as a cop in the days when the CPR had it's own police force. He retired in 1962 from the CPR. Growing up in a little village called Fredericton Junction, New Brunswick, I listened to the trains run through my back yard. I applied for a job many years later out here in Alberta and they knew we were moving our mobile home from Edmonton if I got the job. The HR person who was helping conduct my interview asked me if I got the job and knew that the railroad tracks ran by the only mobile home park in town, wouldn't it bother me to hear the trains running through in the middle of the night. I told him about my background and told him I wouldn't hear a train even if it ran through my living room blowing it's whistle at 3:00 am. In Edmonton, I only live a few blocks from the railroad switch and when I hear the trains taking cars on and off, I just go back to sleep listening to the sounds I grew up with.
Navvies are the men who built the railways. They would move their families to work on projects across the country.
Navvy, a clipping of navigator (UK) or navigational engineer (US), is particularly applied to describe the manual labourers working on major civil engineering projects.
Think I read somewhere they built the Panama Canal.
Gordon Lightfoot is a treasured Canadian singer/ songwriter, absolutely!
Rest in peace to one of Canada's finest ❤ Gordon Lightfoot November 17, 1938 - May 1 2023
That was beautiful. We need to remember what people went through to develop this great land we live in. Thank you John for this wonderful message as told by Gordon Lightfoot. ❤️❤️🇨🇦🇨🇦
Taught at a Chinese university for 3 summers. The students were very familiar with the contributions that Chinese workers made to the building of the railroad in this country as well as the less than stellar way they were treated.
what a stunning lyricist ...
RIP Mr Lightfoot and thanks for the beauty you added to this earth while you were here.
Great stuff, love Gordon Lightfoot, a song craftsman.
From 'Atlas of Alberta Railways' - The Railway Labourers: The Navvies
Railway labourers or Navvies-a term used in England that first described the canal builders, that is, navigators, and was transferred to those same men and others who built the rights-of-way of the railways-in Canada during the boom years from 1898 to 1913 were mostly immigrants of various nationalities and ethnicities. Generally speaking, their lives as railway labourers on the grade were nasty, brutish and often shortened due to accident and disease, the result of unsanitary camp conditions.
As a Canadian, I consider this iconic song to be the best Lightfoot ever wrote (commissioned by the CBC for Canada's Centenary in 1967). The structure of this song....the way it's fast tempo in the beginning, illustrating the growth of our new Canada, then the slower, reflective, plaintive construction of the story of the 'Navvys' and the loved ones sleeping far away to the East or back in 'the old country'....then back to the faster tempo as the railway progresses to the Rockies and beyond to BC...standing on the mountains to survey 'all the world at our command....the song of the future has been sung, all the battles have been won', illustrates the pride of completing the arduous task. "A drink to the living a toast to the dead"...a tribute to all who built our railroad, "and many are the dead men, too silent....to be real"....a special tribute to them in particular....In my opinion the most perfect song ever written by Gordon Lightfoot, a troubadour in the best sense, a wordsmith extraordinaire and a man who personifies Canada.....Thanks for your assessment of the song that leaves nothing to the imagination of the toil, tears and sweat it took to build Canada & the man who is Canada's favourite & best songwriter and performer....(Sorry Celine).
Thank you again. You should be a Canadian Studies Professor. I'm just a cattlemen in Saskatchewan. I appreciate your work. Don't have my reading glasses but I hope the Thank you is clear
I've been a Lightfoot fan for years. Whenever he began this song in concert, it always got a cheer from the audience. It never gets old. About 50 years ago, I took the train from Toronto to Vancouver. The scenery was breathtaking. When going through the tunnels and over the trestle bridges, I couldn't help but think of the men who built these amazing structures. Thanks for reviewing one of my favourite Lightfoot songs.
You’re quite welcome. It’s really been my pleasure to learn all this wonderful Canadiana
On this song Lightfoot pulls a Paul McCartney and combines two (or three) songs into one. Another time he did that was "Cabaret"- the closing track of "Summer Side of Life" (1971).
I recall hearing this on July 1st, 1967, Canada's 100th birthday. Mono AM car radio! Even then, it was memorable. Incidentally, the word "navvies" comes from the UK's nicname for railway workers, who were called "navigators." I recall reading the whole backstory of that nickname in L.C.T. Rolt's excellent biography of the brilliant engineer I.K. Brunel - funny that I can remember the author's name, but not where the term "navigators" sprang from. Anyhow, that came to Canada, along with (I suspect) many emigrants from the U.K. who hoped to find a better life in a new country. I was given my first Gordon Lightfoot LP by a cousin for my 10th birthday, mid-1960's and I think I still have the original, as well as several copies. Gordon Lightfoot was already an icon even then. Only two other voices stick with me in the same connection, one being the late Stompin' Tom Connors, and the other the late Stan Rogers. When I listen to Stan sing "Northwest Passage" in his enormous baritone voice, it sends chills down my spine for the way it describes the enormity of this country. Hard to believe Stan was killed 40 years ago, truly a tragedy. His music will be with us forever, as will Gord Lightfoot's.
Awesome coverage of my favourite Gordie Lightfoot song. The pictures really brings the ordeal of these ‘navvies’ to life. I get the feeling it was gruelling work but also a dream to complete this almost impossible task to span Canada from coast to coast.🇨🇦
The time signature you speak of also evokes in the mind a train and wheels and hands in motion, building.
That was great, John. Really enjoyed the companion video with lyrics, the images really drive it home. Also a big fan of the Hip and Gord Downie. Thank You! ✌
John, you’ve hit it out of the park again. Watched the 1st part b4 this. Great info I know I was taught but forgotten. Born/raised in Vancouver, then 24 yrs. In Calgary b4 moving back to BC, on Vancouver Island… I know the beauty of the Rockies & the railway. My salsa career allowed me to be PAID to travel in the ‘Kootenay’s’ as well as Banff, Lk Louise, Revelstoke, Golden etc … I stayed at resorts like the Banff Springs Hotel & other beautiful places … we are blessed in this area of N.A. ….
As always - thanks for this & Gordon L.
He played here in Nanaimo in Oct (tix were holdouts from 2 yrs. Ago….rebooked) I had covid & couldn’t go :(
Oh well … all good !
Has me thinking of the Edmond Fitzgerald song now 🤔 great videos my friend
This song was commissioned by the CBC for a special broadcast on January 1, 1967, to start Canada's Centennial year. Writing and composing it took him three days.
Thanks for the info friend.
Season 2 of Canadian Idol did an entire Gordon Lightfoot episode, and this was the song that was done as the group performances, with the top six singing and playing instruments as well. Gordon Lightfoot was in the audience to watch. They did the song proud.
Those kids did a beautiful tribute to his song, he was so proud.
That’s so cool. I’ll see if I can see it on RUclips
Thank you John for your tribute to Gordon Lightfoot. Truly a Canadian national treasure.
I have always loved how the music reflects the acceleration of the steam engine. So beautiful. RIP to a great Canadian, Gordon Lightfoot.
So true and how it speed up and slows down as the song progresses.
Both pt 1 and 2 were great, thank you John! I wish more people could appreciate how extensively the Chinese built the CPR and what they endured in making it happen.
I think it would be wonderful if you were to cover the Klondike gold rush sometime - and Robert W Service, a Scottish-Canadian poet who had travelled abroad and parts of the US, and wrote on his experiences but became known as “bard of the Yukon”.
Also country artist, the late Hank Snow (Nova Scotia) - released an album once, “Tales of the Yukon”, on which all of the songs (spoken) are Robert Service. I’m not a country fan, in particular, but do enjoy listening to pieces on that album.
When I was 13 my dad took us to Yukon so that we could learn more about it than we had in school. I didn’t appreciate being “dragged” up there then but I sure did when I got older. 😊
My father went up there to retrace the gold rush route in the 1970s; I still have the envelope from a letter he got afterwards. It was one of the last letters delievered to the post office by dogsled. :-)
And yes, the railroad would not have gotten built without Chinese immigrant workers. Bless them.
Thanks for all of this. I’m not a huge country fan either, but sometimes they tell great tales. There is a folk element country music. I’ll check it out.
I totally have that record too! The first vinyl I ever bought way back in 2016!
As a supplement to this supplement to the previous video, you should watch the Heritage Minute about the railroad. The "Navees" were the mostly Chinese immigrant workers ( who's loved ones lay across the dark oceans) who built the railroad.
There's a dead Chinese man for every mile of that track, that's what they say.
At age 12, my grandfather ran away from his parents who were giving up on Canada and returning to Italy. He found work as a 'water boy' carrying a bucket and ladle to the workers on the C.P.R... just like the youngster in the photo... at 7:10ish+:
Thank-you for Sharing these Vid's & Your much Appreciated Outlook : )) . One sat, here Far from Home, feeling Comforted, by Your Perspective & Thoughts, for this Vid & the 1st one, re: The Building of the Canadian Railroad & then Gordon Lightfoot's great rendition to It....
You are Appreciated...
Got refused a haircut in Orillia for being a native, our folks fought in wars, first n second, very proud, appreciate your stuff!
I’m very sorry to hear of your experience of discrimination. I hope for a better world
Such irony considering that is Lighfoots hometown...peace and respect
Always enjoy your interests in Canadian History, I just hope many of your fellow US Citizens understand it all and appreciate what you are learning. Keep it up, they'll discover you yet.
I am doing my small part to spread the word. Though I started this channel to give equal attention to the other nations in the so called Anglo sphere, and I still want to explore those Nations further, I have really connected with my Canadian neighbors, and believe it’s more important to focus on Canada for the time being. There is no other nation that is more important to US foreign relationships in terms of trade, foreign policy, military alliance, culture and proximity. They say the US and Uk have a special relationship. I think so, but not as much as the US and Canada. And, there is so much we can learn from you as our North American cousins, who have embraced progressive values, where our nation re,sins divided. I am not pandering when I say, I feel proud that Canada is in North America and I feel closely connected to you all. peace from NY, USA.
Love this song so much but my favourite part is "For they looked in the future and what did they see? They saw an iron road runnin' from the sea to the sea...." You can actually feel the train pulling out and picking up speed. RIP Gordon Lightfoot and thank you for leaving us so many wonderful gifts.
Gord was commissioned to create a song and was given a short time to create the song ( apparently three weeks). He researched the information and had the song done and had it done in time.
Very enjoyable, John. Haven't seen this version in a long time. I tend to prefer his earlier version abd, yes, I still have my vinyl.
Even driving across Canada, one can appreciate how diverse and huge this country is. One benefit about driving is that we like to explore the lesser routes away from the Transcanada. Much more fun.
There were actually 2 rail lines built. The CP got the choicer routes and land incentives along the line. The Canadian National was later and amalgamated a number of trunk lines.
Gord's lyrics are so evocative. The forests out here on the West Coast are very dark and silent compared to the ones back East. The many mountain ranges to get through to Alberta are rugged to say the least. Hard to build and then the dangers of avalanches and washout. My great grandfather was one of the engineers who worked on some of the tunnels a bit later. Engine 374 was the first passenger train out to Vancouver. For many years, it sat outside in Vancouver and I grew up playing on it. It was restored and is housed in the Roundhouse Pavilion which was a part of the 1986 transportation themed World Fair.
As others have suggested, Stan Rogers and Stomping' Tom Connors would be a good next stop. Buffy Ste Marie and Susan Aglukark should be on the list, too.
I saw Lightfoot do this live a the 100th Grey Cup game.
A SONG WITH SO MUCH MEANING!
The second part tempo is climbing the Canadian Shield & the Rockies.
The third tempo change is coming down off the Rockies into the BC delta.
Railway labourers or Navvies-a term used in England that first described the canal builders, that is, navigators, and was transferred to those same men and others who built the rights-of-way of the railways-in Canada during the boom years from 1898 to 1913 were mostly immigrants of various nationalities and ethnicities. Generally speaking, their lives as railway labourers on the grade were nasty, brutish and often shortened due to accident and disease, the result of unsanitary camp conditions.
Thanks so much John, your presentation was so well done and for me as a Canadian, so touching. I heard Gordon all my life, but only recently re-discovered him in a much more meaningful way, and indeed he is brilliant.
Like Pierre Berton said, Lightfoot captured the spirit of the building of the CPR railway in the poetry of his music. It was an absurdly difficult feat for a country with a population less than a tenth of the US's in the 1870s. Besides our really lousy weather and the western mountain chains, the hard rock and muskeg of Northern Ontario was especially difficult. John A had his faults, but he fathered the CPR and along with the Northwest Mounted Police, joined the West to the East.
The expression "navvies" came from the earlier age of canal-building. The Irish workers who built the "navigation canals" that permitted the industrialization of England were called by that name. The term may have also been used for the immigrant workers who built the Erie Canal in the U.S.
The expression continued to be used for those who worked to build railways, because the rails were essentially "navigation canals" on land and the work was basically similar... as were the people who did it. It was definitely used in Canada in the nineteenth century to mean anyone who did manual labour on large construction projects, but eventually disappeared from common use. When Lightfoot wrote this song, the word would have been archaic, but known to anyone familiar with the history of the CPR, and it was around this time that interest in that historical achievement was being revived. In England, the term seems to have survived as slang for any construction worker until at least the 1940s, since it appears often in George Orwell's books, diaries and letters.
Three years after Lightfoot's song, historian Pierre Berton finished his comprehensive history of the building of the CPR, "The National Dream".
Berton himself was a familiar public figure in Canada --- somewhat oddly for a historian ---- mostly because of his wonderfully eccentric life. He was born in Dawson City, Yukon AFTER the goldrush, when it was nothing but a ghost town of abandoned buildings with a handful of people still living there. As a journalist, he covered controversial issues across the country (making many enemies among the comfortable and powerful along the way). His last public appearance was in 2004 (at the age of 84), when he made a short film about the best way to roll a marijuana joint (he sneered at wasteful "pinners" and sloppy rolling).
Canadian here. A dollar a day was paid in a silver dollars. The modern day Loonie is mostly nickel. A dollar a day was a lot of money. My grandad earned only $5 a week as an Irish metal worker in the early 1900s.
You do good work and I thank you for it. Blessèd be.…
I went to see Gordon Lightfoot back in 1966 when at school in Toronto. I saw him in a little barn in Yorkville which at that time was hippy haven, now a very elite place to be. He sat down with us for a drink between sets.
So darn cool!
Thanks for expanding your knowledge base by considering your northern cousins..
We appreciate your passion
Ignore the haters.
Thank you John. Gordon Lightfoot is a Canadian treasure. I recommend that you check out Guess Who and BTO as well as the back stories of some of their songs.
Just FYI, you are not listening to the original version of the song, though the lyrics haven’t changed. All of the songs on the “Gord’s Gold” compilation are re-recorded versions for whatever reason Gord thought that the sound quality could be improved. For the musically interested locate the original release and listen to it.
One thing that seems to have been missed is that the strumming he does replicates the struggles of the old steam engines that crossed Our "Fair Land".
I like how you tied the song in with the video from part one. Learned a bit of our history I didn't know. We have these very short clips about events that happened in the history of Canada. It's called Heritage Minutes, they're very short but a lot of information in them, thought you might be interested. Thank you for showing great videos of Canada.
Hi Debbie. That’s for the tip. As it happens, I did a reaction to Heritage minutes and also included one or two in other videos I did. Check out my channel if you’re interested. Otherwise, thanks for commenting.
There is aCBC special called “The Last Spike” which also tells the story of the railway. I think it’s the Canadian Pacific Railroad that they are talking about. There are two. The other one is the Canadian National Railway. It came out when I was in school. Maybe the late 60s or early 70s. Not exactly sure when. A school friend played Sir John A. McDonald. The first PM of Canada.
According to Wikipedia a "Navvy" is a navigational engineer, a manual labourer who works on a major civil engineering project.
I love this song and he mentions my hometown at 9:05!
What’s your home town? That’s really cool.
@@johnf-americanreacts1287 Gaspe Quebec
@@johnf-americanreacts1287 There is a pocket of loyalists from the uk that came over. Quebec is mostly french, but not all in the rural areas. It was a great place to grow up and I am so happy I did grow up there.
It is a nickname for railway workers. Usually those who did the heavy excavation work along railways.
His best song by far.
Can you hear the train chugging away in the background tempo?
Totally
Check the Canadian Heritage Minute called Nitro, part of the railway history.
Navvies are labourers that work in construction of canals railways and roads.
For a "new-er" version check out the Canadian Idol final 6 participants teaming up for the Candian Railway Trilogy with Gordon himself in attendance. ruclips.net/video/BF1g4NcINvQ/видео.html
I come fromclose by where Gordon Lightfoot grew up, close by on a Reserve called Rama,
Another would be The Cariboo gold rush , Fraser's gold and Matthew Bailey begbie.......the hanging judge. Also governor Douglas Vancouver Island.
Love your channel.
So…. You know Lightfoot. Do you know Stan Rogers? Another brilliant musician. Unfortunately he met an untimely end in legendary fashion as well. I can suggest titles if it interests you.
100 percent. Suggest away my friend. I’d greatly appreciate it.
@@johnf-americanreacts1287 thanks! Stan was a Nova Scotian musician of great local renown. He wrote a lot of songs not only of the sea and sailors, but the work of others across Canada. Like many others he had to drift west from the eastern provinces to find work as both a musician and a labourer. He sang of many types of work, from explorers to refinery workers to farmers and even prospective NHL hockey players. He sang of real life issues and feelings, including my absolute favourite love song. So, a few to cut your teeth on. The most famous of his songs is an a capella sea shanty called Barrett’s Privateers. Fictional, but shows the way sailors were often treated. Field Behind the Plow is a song about prairie farmers and Lies is about a rancher’s wife. Flying is about a prospective hockey player in the NHL. A realistic view. The Idiot is about a refinery worker who had to leave the east to find work out west when the fisheries collapsed. And Tiny Fish for Japan is about the industry limping along. Just a few. But his death was a tragedy and just as his career was gaining steam too. Cheers. There are other Canadian folkies I can suggest if you like this one. Btw Gordon Lightfoot was a staple growing up in our house. So were many other musicians.
I would add “Northwest Passage.” It also tells the story of the opening of the Canadian West.
@@elizabethpetrie2732 agreed! But there are so many others I skipped including my favourite. Mary Ellen Carter.
@@444dkm Another great Maritime singer/ songwriter, Stompin' Tom Conners from PEI comes to mind. A proud Canadian!
Sorry if it's been mentioned, the Navies were the Chinese workers they brought in from overseas to do the hard work. There were many deaths, at least once a day I believe. You also have to understand the blasting required to break thru the Rockies. They had to run the explosives in... and safety wasn't as of great importance as speed.
It would be great to hear something of the Klondike gold rush , Dawson creek and the Canadian poet " Robert Service".
Officially added to my list which I keep on my iPhone notes so I don't; forget. Thanks for the suggestions.
Our Loonie came out in 1987 and gradually replaced our one dollar bill.
I have to say I really like that you call us your Canadian cousins. 🥰
Thanks so much. You made my day. 😊❤️
Another great Canadian folk artist of that era was Joni Mitchell. I still love her music...
Me too. She is brilliant. She is more well known here than Gordon Lightfoot.
@@johnf-americanreacts1287 Perhaps you might do a video about Joni. Another Canadian native artist is Buffy Saint Marie.
I again urge you to get some of Pierre Berton's books. A truly great Canadian historian.
@@johnf-americanreacts1287 John forget what I just said. Don't discuss Joni Mitchell. As a Christian woman I just watched an interview with Elton John (a practicing homosexual) where Joni Mitchell compared her 6 string guitar to the straight lines of a pentagram! Stay away from her and don't talk about her music. Now I'm sorry I mentioned her name!
Navvy - labourer employed in excavating for roads, railways and canals. I prefer the original version which doesn't have slide guitars, wind instruments and violins. It can be found on his first album "Lightfoot"
Mea Culpa. The whole song IS there. Don't know why it seemed short the first time I watched.
You should look into Stompin' Tom Connors.
As usual John first class, very well done!! Along this theme of opening Canada with the rail road I came across an interesting video on the Klondike gold rush featuring an amazing American woman named Martha Black who went on to become only the second woman elected to Parliament at that time. I've included the linkruclips.net/video/1aBcZzq2ac8/видео.html :)!
Gord can paint a picture with his words....and it is art....I know Gord wasn't a stranger to you since you are a big music lover, but I always think some of his more "Canadian" songs were there as a love to Canada, and I doubt he cared what an audience outside of Canada would think. Truly a national treasure.
Right you are. If Americans know Gord, they now Sundown, If You Could Read My Mind, and the Wreck Of the Edmond Fitzgerald. But if you like those songs and that leads you to more Lightfoot, that’s when you discover the Canadiana.
May I suggest that you eschew the airlines and get a sleeper car and ride that rail from sea to sea. I’ve done it and they’re memories that I will take to the grave.…
May I recommend "The Northwest Passage" by Stan Rogers.
The American concept of Manifest Destiny, along with the Monroe Doctrine, was an imminent threat to the freedom of the entire Western Hemisphere. Greed greatly outstripping need.
Navvy is a British term for railway worker - according to wik
we can’t forget that our progress meant the end of another peoples world. Here the Assembly of First Nations show thier appreciation to Gord Downie ruclips.net/video/SoWRY9GRToQ/видео.html for all his work informing Canadians of the wrongs committed by our ancestors and by telling the story of Chanie "Charlie" Wenjack
Sir, Was gonna try to answer if Canada shows much national pride.... been binging your channel. There was this time in 2014 that there was a microphone error during the US national anthem, and the Canadians finished it with respect and love. Followed by our own, and well, will show that to ya... if I may be so bold. The love between our two countries, like siblings poking at each other, well, that is all fun and good, but we do have a lot of love for each other. But here, my offering to you. ruclips.net/video/LtVCaIYH9Xc/видео.html
Thanks, neighbour. glad to have met you here.
Hello John. The lyrics are of course the same, and Gordon's voice is iconic, but you should know that you are hearing a re recording of the original. Mr. Lightfoot had changed labels, and had become slightly embarrassed by the simplicity of the original versions on United Artists. I actually prefer the originals for their basic story telling quality, and slightly younger voice quality. All the versions on the album you held up are remakes. Thanks for your interest in Canadiana.
Wow, I didn’t know that at all. Thanks for that info. I would never have known to check out the original if you didn’t comment. Thanks so much
A navvy is a British term for a person who is employed to do hard physical labour
Listen to stopped tom the most canadian your ever heae he is amazing singer
Hi friend. I recorded a reaction to the Hockey song several months back. Thanks for the comment and watching.
Greetings from Vancouver,
John. I don't know if you were referencing my comment from a few months ago about this wonderful Gordon Lightfoot song, but I'm happy to hear a deeper dive into it.
Although I live in BC now, I grew up in Montreal. This song was commissioned by the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) to commemorate Canada's 100th birthday and because Montreal was hosting the 1967 World's Fair (I was 11 years old at the time), this song was indelibly imprinted in me.
Here is a short documentary that examines the song in a wider context:
ruclips.net/video/hh7xNDcA6f4/видео.html
And a little info about what "Man and His World" (and more fondly remembered as) Expo '67 was about:
ruclips.net/video/P40N4hnHpsE/видео.html
I was referring to your comment. And I thank you for it my friend. Without you and your fellow Canadians commenting and helping me understand your nation, I couldn’t do this in a meaningful way. And that is what I want. I don’t want to do superficial reactions that are the oh and ah, look at what I didn’t know about Canada. I want to really understand you all and so I take your comments seriously. It’s why I try my best to read and answer them. Anyway, thank you. Peace my friend.
@@johnf-americanreacts1287 Dear John, I do always enjoy your comments and they are definitely not superficial.
Because yesterday was my birthday, my sister (born in Montreal but living for the past 40+ years in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey), was updating me on her son's recent move to Toronto to pursue his career in film.
I sent this to Anvesh, my nephew, a compilation of references to Canada in films (not necessarily Canadian) in commemoration of Canada's 150th anniversary in 2017 (50 years after Expo '67):
ruclips.net/video/1iDnJOq_5yo/видео.html
Best wishes to you & your family.
@Lisanne: I was 3, at the time of Expo. I remember very distinctly that I pulled a major pout when my mother and father and my siblings( who were much older than me) went to Expo. I had to stay with my grandparents for 4 days. They brought me back a couple of things, one of which was a 45 record of the theme song of Expo.
I also remember when my parents came back, I didn’t speak to them for a week, which culminated in me running away to my grandparents house. My mom came and got me, and made a promise that the next trip that the family went on, I could come.
Amazing what memories come up from just a word!
Stay safe, stay sane, stay strong Ukraine 🇺🇦
@@sirdavidoftor3413 What a great recollection! Though to be fair to your parents, there a lot of really long line-ups for many of the pavilions....
Hey you should do some more heritage minutes there classic
Have done one but I want to do more. I also include heritage minutes in vids when relevant.
the cfl football leauge and churchill manitoba polar bear capital of world and the great travisty of the cancellation of our greatest aviation product the avro arrow are possible topics i may suggest to your great works about us my very nice american friend
Thanks for the suggestions. My list is getting long form all these wonderful suggestions. I do intend on getting to them all. The good thing is, we have the time. And I’m loving this. I feel like I’ve really discovered a part of my own continent that I thought I knew well enough, but I only ever saw the tip top of the iceberg.
I think there was sarcasm and some anger behind this song. We ruined the lamdscape and polluted the air with the railroad. And the worst part i6s Canada took Chinese men to do much of the labour.
Yes. I discussed that about the Chinese workers in my reaction video the the building of the Canadian Pacific railroad. Sadly, the same was done with a Chinese immigrants doing the most dangerous jobs in building our transcontinental railroad here too in the late 1860s.
SO SORRY TO REPORT THAT GORDON LIGHTFOOT PASSED AWAY EARLIER TODAY.
I heard. Just posted a tribute video to him. So sad, but a life worth lived
@@johnf-americanreacts1287 I just watched your video. 😢🥲
Iam a Canadian in b.c
Thank you for your show. It's nice to hear from a friend south of the 49th parallel. As two nations, friends, allies. We're not called the longest undefend border in the world for nothing
Hey John, you working on something? It’s been a while.
You didn't paly the whole seven min. of the song. Why?
I found out by way of searching, ther are 51 countries that call themselves American. How can 1 country just say "hey, I'm just an American, America 🇺🇸 is God's country, I love being American? And then leave the other 50 countries 🙄 scratching there heads. It's your fault you call yourselves the united states of America and you can't just call yourselves USAIN! Your fault not the other 50 countries in America! Just saying bro.🇺🇸
Gordon Lightfoot's childhood house is a museum, one can walk through. it's in Orillia Ont Canada.
This is a National Film Board documentary by Alanis Obomsawin. It is about a confrontation between a town in Quebec and the Mohawk community who occupied some land that the town wanted to convert to a golf course. I remember this event like we all remember 9/11. ruclips.net/video/7yP3srFvhKs/видео.html
Thanks so much for this. I really appreciate when Canadians want to show me the warts as well as the beauty of your country. It shows real character.
Have you lisened to Black Day in July?
Yes, so interesting to hear Gord sing so genuinely and sadly about what happened then in Detroit. A bit like Neil Young’s Southern Man but much more specific.