There isn’t a bad song to be found anywhere and it gets even better with every spin! While my personal fave is their take on the old tune “The Lakes Of Pontchartrain”, I present here, for nostalgic reasons, their first big radio single, “The Littlest Birds”. Yes, it was used in a Zellers TV commercial, but a gal’s gotta eat, right?

Even though the band hails from Vancouver, on the west coast of Canada, there are several scenes in this video shot in the southern U.S. area (New Orleans?). Great atmosphere! Crank it up and hum along!!

If you’re familiar with the original Corner Gas TV show theme, then you’ll definately notice the differences in the lyrics here, but, ya know, either way there’s still not a lot going on around here, eh?

The haunting call of the loon is a common sound around lakes in Canada and this government sponsored Public Service Announcement (PSA) was heard just as often coming from Canadian TV sets all across the country in the 1970′s and 80′s. The Hinterland Who’s Who Loons video is probably the best remembered in the series of short films, but they also made clips for beavers, bears, moose, geese and more.

Up here in the Great White North, the loon is an icon, and is even on our $1 coin, which is aptly called the loonie. They look like gold pieces but are still only worth a dollar (even less south of the border! lol). Oh well, let’s just forget about the economy for now and just enjoy this video from a time back when a buck would actually buy something…

The Friendly Giant TV show was a classic Canadian children’s program that ran from the 1950′s through to the 80′s and, along with Mr. Dressup, was a staple of every childhood memory from the east to the west coast. The shows were only 15 minutes long and featured Bob Homme as FG and puppeteer Rod Coneybeare as Rusty the Rooster and Jerome the Giraffe.

This was not your average kids show. It featured classical compositions and renaissance music that introduced many of the young viewers (and their parents) to songs they would otherwise never hear. The Friendly Giant opening theme instrumental itself is the old English folk song called “Early One Morning” (this is sung with lyrics as well). Bob Homme played the recorder while John Duncan played harp accompaniment. When additional musicians were needed Friendly was joined by Angie and Fiddle (aka “The Jazz Cats”).

I’ve posted 2 clips here because I wanted to show a good representation of the opening and closing credits, plus I wanted to include other iconic moments such as The Friendly Giant’s boot (“look up…look waayyy up!”), the chairs, his whistle to Jerome and the cow jumping over the moon. The intro video also includes some great old Canadian TV commercials for Participaction, Fraggle Rock and the popular Beachcomers show (another favorite of mine!). *Note: Youtube removed the version with the ads, so I’ve replaced it with the Halloween episode!

I hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane with The Friendly Giant and friends as much as I did…

The McGarrigle Sisters “Log Driver’s Waltz” version is a classic Canada animated vignette directed by John Weldon in 1979 for the National Film Board (NFB) and based on the Canadian folk song by Wade Hemsworth of the same name.

Sung by the Mountain City Four (which included Kate and Anna McGarrigle), it is the tale of a girl who is courted by all sorts of well to-do “doctors and merchants and lawyers”, but none of them suit her tastes as much as the log driver, who dances better than any of them. This is due to his deft footwork “birling down” on logs all day long which is why, according to the song, “A log driver’s waltz pleases girls completely”.

The Log Drivers Waltz video is a much loved piece of Canadiana that was often seen on TV sets across the country for years. I hope you enjoy watching it now as much as I did many years ago!

Probably the most famous beer commercial ever! It plays on the stereotypes that many people have about Canadians and our culture in the great white north. Joe, our hero, takes the stage and explains what life in Canada is really like, leading to him proudly shouting to the crowd “I Am Canadian!”, in this Molson’s beer ad slice of Canadiana from the past.

It almost makes me weep. Time to go pop open a cold one…