Ode to Northern Ontario

© March 2011 Fort Creek Songs

Here's a song with no home.  I'm not going to push to play it in Porter because 

it's out of my vocal range (I do that a lot - write vocal parts that have notes I can't 

reach - high and low. - It doesn't help that my singing range is very limited and 

my melody ambitions can be too large) .

When I tried to get people together to record it last summer with Julia on vocals and 

Anthony on drums, it just didn't get off the ground.  Maybe I'll try again this summer.

It's written in the style of a Joel Plaskett song (The Day You Walked Away) with 

some similar falsetto parts.

Bizarre footnote to this one:  The first verse is about being protected from earthquakes

by the Canadian Sheild.  I wrote this 8 days before the 9.0 earthquake that caused 

the Fukushima nuclear disaster.  Dun dun DUN! 

March 3rd
E               C#m          G#m.           B
Canadian shield protect us with your rock
E.                       C#m
When other lands tremble and shake
G#m.                   F#m
you will hold still stock
E.              C#m.                     G#m
Your bones exposed are sliced to bring
A
our veins forth
E.                C#m.             G#m
And take us back to our home in the
E
familiar north

Chorus:
E
All the voices call from all around
G#m      C#m        B
bringing peace to this our native
F#m
ground
Reaching higher to become our dreams

                                                            E 

And standing up for those without the means

 
Red Sugar maples feed us with your stock
While other trees soft and frail your branches, strength aloft
Your limbs are stripped and carved
into the neck that plays
the songs of our country
throughout our salad days

Chorus

All the voices call from all around
bringing peace to this our native ground
Reaching higher to become our dreams
And standing up for those without the means

 
Great Lakes waters slake our
  thirst upon your shores
Mishibeshu's home in ancient peoples lore
While other bodies dry
  your face shines brilliantly

Fortune's children spend summer nights cooling in its breeze
 
Chorus
All the voices call from all around
bringing peace to this our native ground
Reaching higher to become our dreams
And standing up for those without the means