Tuesday, October 02, 2007

late night Can-Con and other Southern Ontario Gothic dreams

Last night I fell asleep with the TV on (the TV being an adorable, 4-inch little black and white number that requires a less-adorable amount of effort to receive a signal).
On a good day, I get two channels. Last night it was just me and the CBC.
Sometime between three and four a.m., I woke up with a start. A fuzzy orchestral version of "Oh Canada" was blaring, sounding rough and embarrassingly grandiose through the tiny speakers and a bit of static. It took me a minute to figure out its origin; the bathroom was my first thought.
The camera was wildly swooping over boldy "Canadian" scenes. I think I saw a moose, but definitely water. Maybe a Group of Seven/Georgian Bay tree? I leaned over and turned it off.
This morning, I complained to a friend. "What's with the CBC?"
I was reassured in the only way Canadians know how. You're not the only one, and someone's already written about it. Better yet, you've probably heard it on the CBC (that glorious factory: source of our greatest disdain, our greatest consolation).

See the chorus of Joel Plaskett's "True Patriot Love."

We all go out
Then we all come home
But I fall asleep with the TV on
At 3 AM they play "O Canada"
True patriot love and lalalalala




When I woke this morning, I swore there was a scene from Expo (you know the one) or maybe the Montreal Olympics. There's not. (See Mama Sheff's comment below). I'm just crazy.

8 comments:

Beth said...

nope, you were right in the night - at the 34 second point is the expo '67

Northumberland Independent said...

Oh CBC, busting with patriot love. I always thought that the one great trait of Canadians was showing very little patriotism (except for international hockey). But now with the support our troops ramblers it seems to be changing, which is very very unfortunate.

megsheff said...

This video was made in the 1990s, long before our troops.

And the words "true patrot love" were written 1880.

L.Bo Marie said...

lol... there seemed to be an aweful lot of Ontario in that...

please tell me they played the log driver's waltz after ??

Northumberland Independent said...

Knew the video was from the 80's, and knew the song was from the 1800's. My comment was made about modern patriotism with no reference to the song or the video.

megsheff said...

I don't think it's about patriotism at all. I think it's about identity and our rabid search for it. Or maybe our constant need to rabidly search for it.

BK said...

As a kid, I actually loved the log-driver's waltz animation and song. It's not coming to me now, but I remember a part where the log-driver has some kind of intimate moment with a woman and I was young enough that this either bothered me or confused me or something. Like I said, it's a super vague, abstract memory right now, but I have some awkward early-childhood memory about it. Weird.

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