Growing Up With Canadian Bands

Growing up in Central Alberta during the 1970s, 630 CHED out of Edmonton and 1140 CKXL out of Calgary were the ultimate stations to listen to – they were 70s AM radio at it’s finest. I remember that if the weather and the night were clear, the reception from these two stations would be excellent. 630 CHED and 1140 CKXL played a lot of great Canadian content; I suspect that was because of the prevailing CanCon requirements of the day. Those two stations influenced the music I listened to, and continue to listen to all these years later.

CKXL and CHED spun music from so many wonderful Canadian bands from a time in Canadian music history I think of as special – roughly 1971 to 1974. Bands and songs I still hold near and dear all these (many) years later are:

Lighthouse

Favourite cuts: 1849, Little Kind Words, Pretty Lady

Yep, there were a lot of them in the band, but what a sound they had. Of the 13 band members (later dropping to 11 members), Lighthouse was predominantly led by Skip Prokop and Bob McBride (he of those powerful vocals). I still own a scratchy vinyl copy of Thoughts of Movin’ On, which went to Platinum sales status in Canada (for a relatively under-populated country, that’s a lot of record sales!)

Edward Bear

Favourite cuts: You, Me and Mexico, Masquerade, Last Song, Close Your Eyes

I always loved Larry Evoy’s voice: so perfect for AM radio…

Michel Pagliaro

Favourite cuts: Some Sing, Some Dance, Lovin’ You Ain’t Easy, What The Hell I’ve Got

Surprisingly very popular in English Canada was Michel Pagliaro, who hailed from Montreal. In 1975 he was nominated for a Juno Award as male vocalist of the year. Although he wrote and recorded predominantly in French, Michel Pagliaro reached international success mainly with material released in English. Michel was the first Canadian artist to score top 40 hits on both the Anglophone and Francophone pop charts in Canada. His hit Some Sing, Some Dance transports me back to the early 70s as no other song can.

Stampeders

Favourite cuts: Minstrel Gypsy, Oh My Lady, Carry Me

Ah yes, The Stampeders… Rich Dodson, Ronnie King and Kim Berly. No discussion of Canadian music would be complete without their mention. Having formed in Calgary, they were especially big in the west. The Stampeders scored a hit in 1971 with Sweet City Woman, which won Best Single at the Juno Awards, reached #1 on the RPM magazine charts, and #8 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Written by Rich Dodson, the track stayed in the Billboard chart for 16 weeks and the disc sold a million copies by September 1971, and the R.I.A.A. granted gold disc status.

Kim Berly’s powerful vocals and the lush orchestra work on Minstrel Gypsy and Oh My Lady are simply stunning, and Rich Dodson’s guitar work is haunting. My favourite album of theirs remains Carryin’ On (1971), which I still occasionally play to this day.

On November 21, 2011, The Stampeders received the Lifetime Achievement Award from SOCAN at the 2011 SOCAN Awards in Toronto. In 2015 the band received SOCAN Classic Awards for their songs Monday Morning Choo-Choo and Wild Eyes. They continue to tour Canada playing fairs, festivals, casinos, and theatres.

The Guess Who

Favourite cuts: [Lord, where do I begin on this one?] For starters, how about These Eyes, No Time, American Woman, No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature, Do You Miss Me Darlin’, Rain Dance, Sour Suite

The Guess Who. Well, it doesn’t get any more Canadian than this. These guys were big heroes on the prairies as they hailed from Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Guess Who were woven into the very fabric of AM rock radio in the 70s. They occasionally still get together for the odd gig – it was such a kick seeing Randy Bachman, Burton Cummings and the rest, regroup for the big Toronto SARStock concert back in 2003.

Five Man Electrical Band

Favourite cuts: Coming of Age, Julianna, Absolutely Right, Hello Melinda, Goodbye

The band was originally called The Staccatos when they formed in Ottawa during 1963. Their sound, image and personnel eventually evolved into the Five Man Electrical Band, and they were very popular throughout Canada during the early 70s. No one could do vocal harmonies like this group as they all sang – just take a listen to the Coming of Age album and you’ll hear what I’m talking about.

Mashmakhan

Favourite cuts: As The Years Go By

Mashmakhan formed in 1969 in L’Île-Perrot, Quebec. The band is best known for their 1970 hit single As the Years Go By. The song reached No. 1 in Canada, the Top 40 in the U.S., and was a major hit in Japan.

A Foot In Cold Water

Favourite cuts: (Make Me Do) Anything You Want

Weird name, great sound. When it comes to creating the perfect pop song, A Foot In Cold Water aced it, and then some. (Make Me Do) Anything You Want is a slice of pure perfection; it reached the top 25 on the Canadian record charts in 1972.

Fludd

Favourite cuts: Cousin Mary, Get Up, Get Out, Move On

From Toronto, brothers Brian and Ed Pilling – previous members of the Wages of the Sin – formed Fludd in 1969 with Jorn Anderson and Greg Godovitz. Godovitz later went on to form his own band, Goddo.

Painter

Favourite cuts: West Coast Woman

Formed in Calgary in 1969, Painter were more or less a one-hit act (as far as I’m aware). Their one big hit was West Coast Woman in 1973 (it went to #16 in Canada and #79 on the U.S. Hot 100). After Painter dissolved in 1974 some members went on to form the band Hammersmith.

So many of these songs are special and still give me chills when I hear them. Thank you, fellow Canadians, for all those awesome tunes. They were the soundtrack to my youth, and will stay with me forever.

“Ballet Dancer”

Every weekend my Internet radio is tuned to SOMA-FM’s Underground 80s. Every so often this (once) unfamiliar song comes on that has such a great chorus, and I love it! After checking the Underground 80s playlist I found out it’s a song from 1983 called Ballet Dancer by an 80s group I’d never heard of – The Twins. Some minor Googling told me they were a German synth-pop duo from Berlin.

Hmmmm, OK, must search YouTube and see if there’s a video for this, and of course there is. OMG, but what a video… as Ed the Sock would say PURE FROMAGE, BABY!!! So incredibly cheesy it will make you squirm, but the hooks in the chorus get to you… uplifting in a way.

So, in all its cringe-worthiness, I present to you The Twins video of their hit Ballet Dancer:

St. Joseph Street

I love walking down St. Joseph Street in downtown Toronto. The street consists mostly of 1940s-era Art Deco and/or brownstone apartments. Much of the original architecture is still in place and, thankfully, the street has not been totally overrun with towering condos. Yes, there are some condos on this street, but they have been kept low (not counting FIVE St. Joseph near the corner of Yonge Street) and styled to match the existing architecture of the original buildings. I always feel like I’m stepping back in time when I walk through this small street, which really only stretches from Queen’s Park Crescent to Yonge Street; it’s a small street with big character, and there’s a lot of gay history here as well.

Apartments at 26 St. Joseph Street
The Canadian Music Centre, 20 St. Joseph Street

A Dark Past

The street is quite idyllic until you come upon an apartment building at 16 St. Joseph. Whenever I pass by this building I always think of that atrocious murder of gay bar owner Sandy LeBlanc in September 1978, and I wonder who committed this violent murder and for what reason. This murder is famous in the annals of Toronto’s gay history, and remains unsolved to this day.

There has been a lot written on this particular murder so I won’t go into great detail here, nor am I qualified to – just Google it if you want to learn more. Basically, friends of Sandy LeBlanc became worried when they didn’t hear from him after a day or two. The friends went to the apartment building and kicked Sandy’s door in – they found LeBlanc’s bloody body on the floor. He had been stabbed over 100 times – the police called it “overkill” and I can certainly see why. Police at the time found bloody footprints leading from the carpet in the bedroom to a window overlooking the alley. Reports said the carpet was so thick with blood it squished when officers walked on it. A bloody handkerchief was also found on the front lawn of the property.

The building was known as 16 St. Joseph Court at the time of the murder in 1978

Anyway, back to the street…

11 St. Joseph Street. Home many years ago to the famous and seminal 1970s gay club “The Manatee”, and later, “The Playground”. The condo building has been rebuilt since that time, but reconstructed in the exact same design as the original.
Luxury townhouse at 10 St. Joseph Street
5 St. Joseph Street – former home of the gay club “Katrina’s”, later renamed “Colbys”, and later still became “Bachelors”. Like 11 St. Joseph Street beside it, the original building was demolished but a new one rebuilt in the exact style.
Near the corner of Yonge and St. Joseph Streets stands a sculpture entitled “Artifacts of Memory”, created by artist Eldon Garnet. It is composed of five lines of text which stretch out into interconnected yet disparate strands:
“FROM ONE NARRATIVE TO THE NEXT / IF NOT TOMORROW TOMORROW / LUCKY ENOUGH TO FLY INTO THE FLAME / SLOWLY SURELY DISAPPEARING / FOLLOWED BY MOMENTS OF EQUILIBRIUM”
Not on St. Joseph Street but right around the corner is 579 Yonge Street, home to the awesome gay bar “Cornelius” back in the day. The dichotomy of this building still amuses me to this day – in the 70s and 80s, “Cornelius” sat above the notorious biker bar “The Gasworks”. You could not possibly have found two more disparate worlds co-existing in one structure.

And… that’s about it. If you’re interested in the history of Toronto’s gay clubs from the 60s, 70s and 80s, check out the site Then & Now. There’s an abundance of detail there regarding Toronto’s gay past and it makes for fascinating reading, especially if you were in the scene at the time.

The Old Clock on the Stairs

One of my favourite places to photograph is the Toronto Necropolis, as odd as that may sound. I love the Gothic feel and sense of history there. A few weeks ago I was shooting in the Necropolis when I came upon the Columbarium. I paused to read the inscription on the tower:

When shall they all meet again / Never here, forever there

The lines were credited to Longfellow, but I was not familiar with this particular poem. As I found out later, the lines are an extraction from Longfellow’s poem The Old Clock On The Stairs. I was struck by this poem so I’ve posted the full content below.

The Old Clock On The Stairs

Somewhat back from the village street
Stands the old-fashioned country-seat.
Across its antique portico
Tall poplar-trees their shadows throw;
And from its station in the hall
An ancient timepiece says to all, —
“Forever — never!
Never — forever!”

Half-way up the stairs it stands,
And points and beckons with its hands
From its case of massive oak,
Like a monk, who, under his cloak,
Crosses himself, and sighs, alas!
With sorrowful voice to all who pass, —
“Forever — never!
Never — forever!”

By day its voice is low and light;
But in the silent dead of night,
Distinct as a passing footstep’s fall,
It echoes along the vacant hall,
Along the ceiling, along the floor,
And seems to say, at each chamber-door, —
“Forever — never!
Never — forever!”

Through days of sorrow and of mirth,
Through days of death and days of birth,
Through every swift vicissitude
Of changeful time, unchanged it has stood,
And as if, like God, it all things saw,
It calmly repeats those words of awe, —
“Forever — never!
Never — forever!”

In that mansion used to be
Free-hearted Hospitality;
His great fires up the chimney roared;
The stranger feasted at his board;
But, like the skeleton at the feast,
That warning timepiece never ceased, —
“Forever — never!
Never — forever!”

There groups of merry children played,
There youths and maidens dreaming strayed;
O precious hours! O golden prime,
And affluence of love and time!
Even as a miser counts his gold,
Those hours the ancient timepiece told, —
“Forever — never!
Never — forever!”

From that chamber, clothed in white,
The bride came forth on her wedding night;
There, in that silent room below,
The dead lay in his shroud of snow;
And in the hush that followed the prayer,
Was heard the old clock on the stair, —
“Forever — never!
Never — forever!”

All are scattered now and fled,
Some are married, some are dead;
And when I ask, with throbs of pain,
“Ah! when shall they all meet again?”
As in the days long since gone by,
The ancient timepiece makes reply, —
“Forever — never!
Never — forever!”

Never here, forever there,
Where all parting, pain, and care,
And death, and time shall disappear, —
Forever there, but never here!
The horologe of Eternity
Sayeth this incessantly, —
“Forever — never!
Never — forever!”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“Girls Just Want to Have Fun”: Excuse, Defiance, and Reassurance

This is a reprint of an article written by Lucy Mao, which appeared on the All Music Guide website, June 15, 2022. I’m publishing it here as I thought it very interesting to take a close textual analysis of the lesser-known version of Lauper’s monster hit from September 1983.

“Girls Just Want To Have Fun”:
Excuse, Defiance, and Reassurance

When most people hear the song “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” they immediately think of Cyndi Lauper’s 1983 version, released on her debut album She’s So Unusual. What they may not know is that Lauper’s version is actually a cover, as the original was written and recorded by American musician Robert Hazard in 1979. Hazard’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” was written from a male perspective, and it is a pity party full of excuses that a guy throws for himself because he can’t get a girl.

The original features roaring instrumentals, with the overpowering percussion, electric guitar, and synths drowning out the vocals at times. The hammering beat and percussion are reminiscent of someone feverishly pounding their fists on the walls, and the scratchy electric guitar imitates a hoarse voice, mimicking what a person sounds like after shrieking. These elements, as well as the fast tempo and frenzied beat, are a sonic representation of a temper tantrum, pointing to the narrator’s overwhelming anger and frustration. But what exactly is he so exasperated about? His inability to get a girl.

The narrator pleads, “I know your love for him / Is deep as day is long / …But when I knock on the door / I’m close now, you could come,” illustrating a woman refusing him. However, rather than improving himself, the narrator puts the blame for such refusals on girls, constantly using excuses to explain his lack of a girlfriend. In response to his parents’ urges to find someone, namely his dad’s “‘My boy, what do you want from your life?'” and his mom’s “‘you’ve got to start living right,'” the narrator defends himself with “Girls just wanna have fun.” He claims that girls are too focused on having fun to make time for him, so he’s still single. His excuse that “Girls just wanna have fun” (and very similar variations) constitute the bulk of the song, suggesting that he is extremely self-defensive; he would rather blame others through a plethora of excuses than take accountability himself. Not only does the narrator blame women, he is also irate at them for choosing fun over him, spitting out the lyrics in a hard, stiff tone and harshly enunciating each word. Hazard is nearly screaming for most of the song, and the pounding beat reinforces his anger; the line “girls just wanna have fun” aligns perfectly with the rhythm, as each word gets punched by a beat.

The pity party continues with Hazard’s whiny vocals. As he groans “That’s all they really want / Some fun” and “It’s all they really want / Good fun,” his voice goes out of tune and his pitch rises. Hazard’s pitch wobbles poutily, with a mesh of drawn out “Ahhhhhhh”s seeming to overlay his voice, giving listeners the impression that he is complaining. The narrator refuses to admit his own shortcomings and believes that he has done no wrong; rather, he thinks it’s the girls who have wronged him. The narrator pities himself so much that he makes himself cry; his tight-throated voice indicates that he is choking back tears and burps, but it sounds artificial and unnatural. He exaggerates his pain and anguish with contrived wails and moans, playing the victim to convince listeners that everyone is against him. The narrator attempts to console himself with “Come on, boy / Oh yeah / You are the fortunate one,” reassuring himself that yes, he can get a girl, because he has all the “tools” necessary to attract a woman. As the narrator sees it, the problem isn’t him.

But the narrator is the only one who believes this, as evidenced by the lack of harmony and backup vocals. There are no other voices in the song except for Hazard’s (and his screams and pouts). The lack of vocal support is perhaps analogous to the absence of social support for the narrator’s “dilemma”; no one agrees that he is faultless and that the women are to blame. Consequently, the narrator is left alone with his excuses, and he throws a pity party at which he is the only guest.

Hazard probably never anticipated that a piece he composed in 20 minutes while showering and deemed a “kind of silly song” would eventually become an international hit. He completely forgot about his 1979 demo until record producer Rick Chertoff came upon it while searching for songs to include on Lauper’s debut album. The lyrics were changed to reflect a girl’s point of view, so Lauper’s cover is more conscious of oppressive social practices against women. While Hazard assumes the role of the oppressor (though he believes otherwise), Lauper is among the oppressed. The line “Oh momma dear, we’re not the fortunate ones” demonstrates how society has stripped women of many rights and privileges, and “Oh daddy dear, you know you’re still number one” calls forth images of patriarchy and male control. Perhaps most strikingly, the lyrics never explicitly state that girls are actively having fun; it only reveals that “girls just wanna have fun.” Lauper’s version recognizes that repressive practices, gender disparities, and gendered social expectations have made it difficult for women to have a good time, so her 1983 cover is also a party, just a different kind; it seeks to liberate women from society’s oppressive rules and give them some well-deserved fun through a cosmic feminist party brimming with energy and joy.

Since Lauper’s version is sung by a woman, the narrator is no longer an outsider to girls’ fun; she is within it and is now the one striving to have a good time, hence the festive atmosphere the song evokes. Lauper’s “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” begins with a sparkling synth glissando signalling that the party is about to begin; it’s like the lights are flickering on as excitement pierces the air. Then, the juicy electric guitar springs into action as the vibrating, fizzy synths awaken from their slumber, shooting out bursts of energy and suggesting that the jamboree is now underway. The firm percussion coming in at regular intervals and the steady beat create a dance rhythm that amplifies the jovial atmosphere, with the sprightly tempo of 120 beats per minute and higher key adding more liveliness and dynamism to the scene. The glittering synth marimba electrifies the mood, and although Lauper uses a chest voice, her vocals are elastic and expansive; they sound luminous, radiating beams of energy and creating a spirited and feisty mood. In addition, most of the chorus and refrain, including the lines “Girls just wanna have fun” and “They just wanna, they just wanna,” are sung by a multitude of voices. There is no harmonizing, as everyone sings the same melody, establishing unity and calling forth a motivational party chant. Nearly all the voices are female, suggesting that women are banding together to live it up, in contrast with Hazard’s lonesome pity party. The music video shows Lauper chanting and dancing with other women, and the camera pans across as each dons a pair of sunglasses, reinforcing women’s solidarity and indicating that they are ready to partay.

The music and vocals’ jubilant party seeks to provide women a safe place to let loose, and the lyrics further these efforts to liberate women from oppressive social customs. Like in the original version, the narrator replies to her mother’s “‘When you gonna live your life right?'” and her father’s “‘What you gonna do with your life?'” with “girls they wanna have fun,” but unlike the original, it is not used as an excuse. Lauper employs the line as an act of defiance, challenging social expectations for women. In the music video, we see the narrator’s mother and father in a traditional home; her mother is wearing an apron and cracking eggs in the kitchen, bringing to mind the image of a housewife. Thus, Lauper’s “girls they wanna have fun” can be interpreted as resisting conservative values confining women to the home, and the line “I come home, in the mornin’ light” (presumably after a night out) emphasizes the narrator’s refusal to conform. Lauper also integrates more informal, lighthearted language, using “girls,” “momma,” and “daddy” instead of “women,” “mother,” and “father.” Although Hazard also incorporates “girls,” his usage is belittling and disrespectful towards women, while Lauper’s casual language is empowering by rejecting propriety. She declares “to hell with being a prim and proper lady,” and her fanatical, wild dancing in the music video further illustrates this defiance.

A major structural change in Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” is the switching of the first two verses. Hazard himself remarked, “She took the first verse and second verse and switched them. Why, I have no idea. Melodically, it’s exactly the same.” But here’s a possible explanation: with this change, the narrator’s interaction with her mother comes before her exchange with her father, bringing to the forefront the idea of “ladies first.” Hazard starts his song with the father (historically the head of the family), a structural choice that affirms male dominance and aligns with the narrator’s hostility towards women. Lauper’s new verse arrangement also makes “I come home, in the mornin’ light” the very first line, putting an act of defiance right at the beginning of the song. This suggests that women are tired of waiting; they are going to fight against social expectations now, without hesitation or reluctance.

Despite it being a cover of Hazard’s 1979 recording, Lauper’s version of “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” is widely accepted as the original. Hazard’s demo never received significant exposure (if any at all), and it was Lauper’s 1983 version that shot up the music charts and garnered international success. “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” became Lauper’s breakthrough single, establishing, if somewhat ironically, her legitimacy as an artist. It often serves as the basis for other covers, with more than 30 artists performing or recording their own versions. As with many other popular songs, covers eventually become covers of covers, and the musical comedy-drama series Glee’s 2011 version is a fitting example. While it is considered a cover of Lauper’s 1983 hit, Glee’s rendition of “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” is more specifically a cover of American musician Greg Laswell’s version of Lauper’s cover.

In the series, Finn (played by Cory Monteith) sings “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” for Santana, who is a closeted lesbian struggling to embrace her sexuality. He wants to assure her that he and the rest of New Directions (the show’s fictional glee club) support her coming out and all care deeply. Due to its heartfelt and emotional context, Glee’s cover is a substantially stripped down version. Acoustic piano is the only instrument used, and the vocals constitute the main presence. Glee’s version is also much shorter than both Hazard and Lauper’s recordings; it contains three verses and two repeats of “That’s all they really want… / Those girls, they wanna have fun.” The refrain does not appear as many times, and there are no extraneous refrain-echoing lines such as “they just want, they just wanna,” making this cover significantly less repetitive or showy. These stripped down elements ensure that the song is short, sweet, and to the point, exposing its tender core and creating a more bare and vulnerable experience. Glee’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” thus serves as a place of peaceful solace, seeking to soothe and comfort those who are struggling.

The much slower tempo of 66 beats per minute allows listeners to meander gently through the song, with lingering lines like “Oh girls, they…” and “That’s all they really want…” maintaining the relaxed pace. The soft acoustic piano and quiet, translucent vocals create a calming tenderness, with the delicate layers of harmony forming a halo around Finn’s voice and evoking a spiritual aura that continues to soothe. In the context of the show, these elements establish a safe place where Santana can find support for her sexuality, and, more broadly, they foster a serene environment where the listener can seek refuge and consolation.

While the refrain “girls they wanna have fun” serves as an excuse in Hazard’s original and an act of defiance in Lauper’s version, Glee repurposes it as a reassurance to Santana that her sexuality is nothing to be ashamed of. Not only that, with “fun”‘s positive and sprightly connotation, Finn assures Santana that her sexuality is awesome. Glee’s version supports listeners and validates their anxieties, affirming that the listener is loved and deserves to love themselves. Glee’s cover also, unlike the previous two versions, bridges the gender gap; all the vocalists (Finn and the boys of New Directions) are male, but they are singing for and to a woman. The guys are banding together to uplift women, a stark contrast to Hazard’s anger towards them in the original.

The little-known original “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” by Robert Hazard revolves around a defensive guy who, unable to get a girl, throws a pity party for himself. The overpowering instrumentals illustrate his temper tantrum at his “dilemma,” with the proliferation of excuses and whiny vocals revealing the narrator’s tendency to blame others (specifically women) for his own shortcomings. Four years later, Cyndi Lauper releases her version, rewritten to align with a woman’s perspective, as a cosmic feminist party seeking to liberate women from restrictive social expectations. The sparkling instrumentation, dance rhythm, and luminous vocals set the scene for energetic festivities, with the refrain reshaped into an act of defiance. The structural changes in Lauper’s cover place women’s defiance at the forefront, lifting them out of the abuse they faced in Hazard’s original. Decades later, Glee featured a stripped down version of “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” with the soft acoustic piano and gentle vocals creating a peaceful refuge, where those who are struggling can find comfort and solace. In this version, the refrain is repurposed as a reassurance, and the gender gap is bridged, with a community of guys coming together to support and uplift women in solidarity.