Oi, Canada!

Today is Canada Day. Yippee! So today's post is especially dedicated to all our loyal Canadian readers. There are 2145 of you at the last count. Or there is one of you who has visited 2145 times. Or somewhere in between.

I had thought of providing a selection of songs by my favourite Canadian performers, but there are far too many of them and I ended up paralysed by indecision. So instead, here are a selection of songs aboot places in Canada, although not all of them by Canadians. Perhaps inevitably there is a bit of a bias towards country and folk sounds, but hopefully there is something here for everyone.

P.S. For those of you whose knowledge of Canadian geography is shaky, Charlottetown is in Prince Edward Island and Logy Bay is in Newfoundland. You should be familiar with the rest of them.

P.P.S. Before we get e-mails from irate Alaskans, I know Hank Thompson is actually singing aboot (sorry, about) the stretch of the Yukon River that runs through Alaska, but the song is too much fun to leave out.

"Quebec" - Leif Vollebekk (2010)

"Moody Manitoba Morning" - The Bells (1969)

"Saskatchewan" - Red Box (1984)

"Squaws Along The Yukon" - Hank Thompson (1958)

"The Star of Logy Bay" - Sliabh Notes (2001)

"Calgary" - Chris Gheran (2011)

"The Streets of Charlottetown" - Chris Stuart & Backcountry (2008)

And finally the catchily titled...

"Chop Yourself Into Little Pieces And Mail Yourself to New Brunswick, Canada For Immediate Reassembly" - Penny Blacks (2011)

And now to the video clip. The capital of Canada is Ottawa. People from Ottawa are called Ottowans (I haven't actually checked that but if it is not true it will bugger up this already rather tenuous link completely so I am sticking with it).You know what is coming next.