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10/04/2009

They All Call It Canada

Side by side and step by step,
Our fathers were marching along.
They were building a road to the future,
With a spade and a smile and a song.

Out of the wildness,
and out of the sand,
grew the land that we live in today.
Though the job to be done,
has barely begun,
here is one thing I'm proud to say.

My Country,
is my cathedral,
the Northern sky its dome!
They all call it Canada,
but I call it home.

The mountains,
the lakes,
the valleys,
are friends I have known.
They all call it Canada,
but I call it home.

From the Atlantic,
to the Pacific!
From the pole,
to the USA!
We're one united brotherhood,
and united we will stay!

The people beyond our boarders,
and far across the foam,
they all call it Canada,
but I call it home.

14 comments:

Jean-Marie Barker said...

You can purchase choral and vocal music for this piece through Counterpoint Music Library Services' archive service, at this link: cpmusiclibrary.ca/library_detail.php?c=GRAF&cid=3

Unknown said...

Wow..we learned this song in my public school as a choir piece in I believe grade six. I like it very much. I wondered why we never hear it sung anywhere and I never knew what it was called and where it came from.

Anucker said...

I to remember this song, and have asked lots of people and no one has heard it. I have always remembered the words. Would love to hear this song again. I am not sure why I remembered all the words....

Anonymous said...

Our elementary school sang this when I was in Grade Seven. I now find that this was in the very year it was published.

Bena said...

Like Donna Nadeau, I too learnt this song in elementary school and never forgot the words. I've never heard anyone else sing it and have often wondered why when it is such a good 'Canadian' song.

Unknown said...

Hi Donna. I'm a Donna too. We sung this song when I was in Girl Guides. I'm from Toronto, Ontario but i moved to British Columbia in 2005. This song always gives me goose bumps as I walk through the many trails out here north of Vancouver. I've not heard it sung by anyone since then aside from it playing in my head and this morning I awoke and it was singing in my brain. So I immediately went to the Internet and here it is. I have ear worm so there is always music playing in my head. Look up ear worm on the Internet. Nobody understands what ear worm is unless have it too. It's cost me thousands upon thousands of good night's sleep.

Unknown said...

This song was included on an album produced for Canada's centennial celebrations in 1967, so that is where I learned it. Fifty years later, we have learned, as a society, to respect the aboriginal culture that lived in this country before the Europeans came. Perhaps this song is no longer popular because the introduction to it is disrespectful of our heritage in ignoring that culture.

armclaughlin@shaw.ca said...

Wow! I found myself awakening this morning to this tune and most of the lyrics in my head....I am 74 and learned it in elementary school in Vancouver in the 1950’s. Does anyone know it’s author, origin, year of publishing?
Russell
November 17, 2020

armclaughlin@shaw.ca said...

Wow! I found myself awakening this morning to this tune and most of the lyrics in my head....I am 74 and learned it in elementary school in Vancouver in the 1950’s. Does anyone know it’s author, origin, year of publishing?
Russell
November 17, 2020

Anonymous said...

Hi, I'm Sam Burkes, living in MS. This iconic song resonated very deeply with me when, as a 7th Grader in a Hempstead BY public school, heard reverberating down the hallways as the 8th Grade classes were rehearsing it with one Mr. Herbert Krieger, a Julliard Music School graduate and teacher, vivaciously hammered it out on the school spinet piano, the soon-to-grad. 8th Grade classes singing in unison..It was entitled "They Call It America", written by one Freddy Grant in about 1952. I was fortunate to have heard it, forever burnt in my musical memory harddrive, save for the US-adapted lyrics by Ribbon Music, 1952. This anrhemic, patriotic song deeply, profoudly resonated with me, giving me goosebumps every time it played in my musical mind's autoclave. Did not know this was originally a Canadian patriotic song till about 3 yrs ago, as I tried vehemently to reconnoiter it via the Internet. Recall one evening in NY, our family was traveling by NYC IND Subway fr. Jamaica into Manhattan to see Dads sister in law, about to marry a friend of the family, after her husband, my uncle. passed on 1960..All of this tool place in June 1962, about 10 years after this patriotic hymnal was composed, released, published..God Bless You, Mr. Fritz/Free Grand for composing such a wonderful song that not one but TWO countries can share!! Sam A. Burkes lll

Sam A. Burkes lll said...

The author/writer is one Freddy Grant, an expatriated German national, who became a naturalized Canadian citizen. Wrote several patriotic songs. This one was heralded as his most iconic. It was Americanized soon after publishing. This is how I came to know it in June 1962, 10yrs after it was written.

Anonymous said...

Russell, please see my above comment..Great taste you have!!
Sam A. Burkes lll

Anonymous said...

Hello, both Donnas, I'm Sam Burkes, grew up in Hempstead, LI, N.Y...in 7th grade, overheard our fantastic pianist music teacher Mr. Krieger, playing this great iconic sing as the 8th Grade classes rehearsed it for commncement. It immediately resonates with me as the halls' natural reverb and my then-excellent hearing (I'm oractically deaf now)helpsd burn indelubly this anthrmic song forever in my musical minds autoclave..Didn't learn the words till about 3 yrs ago. Believe it was written to be played in C major..Just a wonderful, patriotic song, Canadian or American!! Lucky you both are!!

Anonymous said...

Hi Donna, this is Sam again in MS..Yes, I totally understand what 'earworm' is..I too have it as manifested with absolute positive pitch, no lie! Became a prof. musician after moving to Tucson AZ from L.I. N.Y.Went to music cilleger,,studied theory, form/anslysis, composition, etc, dropped out after about 6 semesters..I've ALWAYS got some kind of music playing in my head, courtesy of my earworm..that's how I've been able to figure music out, since I'm a very poor sightreader!! I became very impaired from playing loud music in stage live for years, also due to firearms without proper protection..all took its toll! I have about 95% permanent loss in r.ear, 90% loss in l. ear...If only I'd have known!! Never ever curse your God-given ear worm!! It keeps you sane!!