By MICHAEL BAGINSKI/ With Canada Day at hand, we thought it appropriate to dust off a Can-con classic to suit the occasion. And who better than this country’s favourite snowbird, singing her first big hit, er, “Snowbird” in this special Canada Day edition of Listening In.
(Note: we considered the Gordon Lightfoot classic, “Canadian Railroad Trilogy,” but my goodness, it’s long; and Stompin’ Tom Connors, of course – which has been set aside for another day, I promise).
“Snowbird” took Anne Murray to the top of the charts on both sides of the border and earned her status as the first Canadian female artist to achieve a gold record in the U.S.
Such is the enduring popularity of the song that it even inspired a hilarious (though dark) subplot on “Family Guy” in which an obsessed Stewie tracks down Murray and holds her hostage in order to discover the true meaning of the song. (Spoiler: She doesn’t know and tells him to ask Gene MacLellan, who actually wrote it).
At any rate, here’s Anne, and happy Canada Day (in advance).
Lyrics
Beneath this snowy mantle cold and clean
The unborn grass lies waiting
For its coat to turn to green
The snowbird sings the song he always sings
And speaks to me of flowers
That will bloom again in spring
When I was young
My heart was young then, too
Anything that it would tell me
That’s the thing that I would do
But now I feel such emptiness within
For the thing that I want most in life’s
The thing that I can’t win
Spread your tiny wings and fly away
And take the snow back with you
Where it came from on that day
The one I love forever is untrue
And if I could you know that I would
Fly away with you
The breeze along the river seems to say
That he’ll only break my heart again
Should I decide to stay
So, little snowbird
Take me with you when you go
To that land of gentle breezes
Where the peaceful waters flow
Spread your tiny wings and fly away
And take the snow back with you
Where it came from on that day
The one I love forever is untrue
And if I could you know that I would
Fly away with you
Yeah, if I could you know that I would
Fl-y-y-y-y away with you
Check out our ‘Listening In’ archive at https://travelindustrytoday.com/infocus-listening-in/