Ian Tyson ROBBED – of Winning Iconic Alberta Song
In the search for Alberta’s quintessential song in a Twitter poll launched by Senator Paula Simons, Constant Craving by k.d. lang was voted the winner – beating out the other finalist: Insensitive by Jann Arden.
Both of these songs are problematic. Constant Craving is a great song by a great Alberta artist, but is this how we want people to view Albertans? As constantly craving? Never satisfied? The other issue is that while many people consider k.d. lang an Alberta icon, she might not feel the love back. She was the target of some unfortunate homophobia during her early time in the early ’80s in Edmonton, along with backlash from the “Meat Stinks” campaign the vegan singer did for PETA in 1990. Alberta cattle ranchers were not pleased. Lang became world famous for her music shortly thereafter with the release of 1991’s Ingenue, and the hit Constant Craving therein.
Insensitive was the runner up in this poll. Again, no complaints about another great song from another beloved Alberta icon, but again consider the message: Are Albertans insensitive? Don’t answer. Rhetorical question. Also, the song reads like a passive aggressive burn of an ex-lover: “I thought that you might have some advice to give, on how to be insensitive,” and so on, and perhaps a little too personal to be the quintessential Alberta song.
We could commission someone to write a new Alberta song – wasn’t this tried before? – but we already have the perfect one.
The correct answer is of course Four Strong Winds, by Ian Tyson.
In an email, Senator Simons says she was surprised by the result: “Ian Tyson’s Four Strong Winds had been the putative frontrunner. But the voters spoke, and Four Strong Winds came third.”
Like most fun things, this started as a joke – a reaction to CBC Vancouver’s informal online poll in January to determine the “favourite song by a B.C. artist,” and whose entrants for some reason included Ian Tyson (he was born in Victoria). “I joked to my daughter that I should do my own version, to reclaim our Albertans, if nothing else,” Simons says. The contest grew from there. “I included 32 songs to start the bracket, from a very wide range of genres and generations. I wanted to choose songs that were legitimate contenders, but which reflected the incredible diversity of Alberta’s music scene: country, folk, punk, hard rock, pop, techno, etc. We had everything from Mart Kenney and the Western Gentlemen, to the Emeralds, to SNFU to Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie to Northern Cree.”
But it’s Four Strong Winds that represents the perfect storm of Albertaism. First, it’s by Ian Tyson (written in 1961, and originally recorded by Ian & Sylvia in 1963) – who is not only from Alberta, he IS Alberta. Sure, he worked for a time in Toronto because he had to, but moved to Southern Alberta in the ’70s and never left. Works with horses.
The Edmonton Folk Music Festival has a special place for Four Strong Winds – at the very end of the weekend, the climax, the finale. All available artists gather on stage to sing it. Ian Tyson himself turned up one year. Interesting that such an oasis of liberalism in a sea of red (or blue or whatever) celebrates a song by a real rural cowboy. Every year it’s the same. The crowd stands, candles in hand, swaying to and fro, singing along, especially to the famous line, “Think I’ll go out to Alberta, weather’s good there in the fall” – after which the protagonist of the song finds work, and friends, and decides to stay despite the fact “those winds sure can blow cold way out there.”
Of course Four Strong Winds is the true iconic Alberta song. It could be our anthem, if provinces had anthems.
In B.C., Home for a Rest by Spirit of the West was chosen the winner of the CBC Vancouver poll – and that’s also pretty obvious.
Lest we criticize Senator Simons and her Twitter poll, remember that this result is in no way legally binding, so no, we won’t have to sing Constant Craving before every Oilers game. Though it might help. Maybe Simons could use her appointed senatorial powers to reverse the decision? She’d never do that. Besides, this was just a diversion.
Simons says, “I take a bit of a political risk, as a senator, whenever I try to do anything a little bit fun on Twitter. I always hear from a certain number of critics who don’t think I should be using social media in this lighthearted way. But I think it’s part of my role as a senator to engage with people, where they are. And I think it’s also part of my role to celebrate Alberta’s arts scene, and to encourage conversations about Alberta identity and Alberta’s place in Canada. In the end, thousands and thousands of people took part in the voting, over the better part of a week. I think it gave us all a lift, in a month that was cold, dark, and difficult for so many.”
