"Canadian Railroad Trilogy" is a story song that was written, composed, and first performed in 1966 by Canadian singer-songwriter

Gordon Lightfoot Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. (November 17, 1938 – May 1, 2023) was a Canadian singer-songwriter who achieved worldwide success and helped define the singer-songwriter era of the 1970s. Widely considered one of Canada's greatest songwriters, ...

, who released his original recording of it in 1967. The song was commissioned by the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian Public broadcasting, public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its E ...

(CBC) to celebrate the

Canadian Centennial The Canadian Centennial was a yearlong celebration held in 1967 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation. Celebrations in Canada occurred throughout the year but culminated on Dominion Day, July 1. Commemorative coins were m ...

in 1967. "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" describes the building of the trans-Canada

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

, the construction work on which was completed in 1885. The CPR was incorporated in 1881 and merged with the

Kansas City Southern Railway The Kansas City Southern Railway Company is an American Class I railroad. Founded in 1887, it operated in 10 Midwestern United States, Midwestern and Southeastern United States, Southeastern U.S. states: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Ark ...

in 2023 to form the

Canadian Pacific Kansas City Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited, Trade name, doing business as CPKC (known as Canadian Pacific Railway Limited until 2023), is a Canadian railway holding company. Through its primary operating railroad subsidiaries, Canadian Pacific Railw ...

Background

This song was commissioned from Lightfoot by the CBC for a special broadcast on January 1, 1967, to start Canada's

Centennial A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century. Notable events Notable centennial events at a national or world-level include: * Centennial Exhibition, 1876, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...

year. Writing and composing it took him three days. It appeared on Lightfoot's album '' The Way I Feel'' later in the same year along with the song "Crossroads," a shorter song of similar theme. The structure of the song, with a slow

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

section in the middle and faster paced sections at the beginning and end, was patterned more or less opposite to

Bob Gibson Robert Gibson (November 9, 1935October 2, 2020), nicknamed "Gibby" and "Hoot", was an American baseball pitcher in Major League Baseball who played his entire career for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1959 to 1975. Known for his fiercely competi ...

's and

Hamilton Camp Hamilton Camp (born Robin S. Camp; 30 October 1934 – 2 October 2005) was a British-born actor and singer, who relocated to the United States with his family when he was a young child. He is known for his work as a folk singer during the 1960s ...

's "Civil War Trilogy," famously recorded by

The Limeliters The Limeliters are an American folk music group, formed in July 1959 by Lou Gottlieb (bass violin/bass), Alex Hassilev (banjo/baritone), and Glenn Yarbrough (guitar/tenor). The group was active from 1959 until 1965, and then after a hiatus ...

on the 1963 live album ''Our Men In San Francisco.'' In the first section, the song picks up speed like a

locomotive A locomotive is a rail transport, rail vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front. However, Push–pull train, push–pull operation has become common, and in the pursuit for ...

building up a head of steam. While Lightfoot's song echoes the optimism of the railroad age, it also chronicles the cost in sweat and blood of building "an iron road runnin' from the sea to the sea." The slow middle section of the song is especially poignant, vividly describing the efforts and sorrows of the nameless and forgotten " navvies," whose manual labour actually built the railway. Session personnel for the 1967 recording were these: Gordon Lightfoot on 12-string acoustic guitar, Red Shea on lead acoustic guitar, John Stockfish on Fender bass guitar, and

Charlie McCoy Charlie McCoy (born Charles Ray McCoy, March 28, 1941) is an American harmonica virtuoso and multi-instrumentalist in country music. He is best known for his harmonica solos on iconic recordings such as " Candy Man" ( Roy Orbison), "He Stoppe ...

on harmonica.

Legacy

Lightfoot re-recorded the track on his 1975 compilation album, '' Gord's Gold,'' this time with full orchestration that

Lee Holdridge Lee Elwood Holdridge (born March 3, 1944) is a Haitian-born American composer, conductor, and orchestrator. An 18-time Emmy Award nominee, he has won two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Daytime Emmy Awards, two News and Documentary Emmy Awards, and o ...

arranged. A live version also appears on two of his live albums, first on his 1969 album ''

Sunday Concert ''Sunday Concert'' is Canadians, Canadian singer Gordon Lightfoot's first solo live album, released in 1969 on the United Artists Records, United Artists label. Lightfoot's last recording for United Artists, it was also his first live album and un ...

'' and again on the 2012 release '' All Live,'' which consists of songs recorded during the live concerts Lightfoot gave at Toronto's

Massey Hall Massey Hall is a performing arts auditorium in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Opened in 1894, it is known for its outstanding acoustics and was the long-time hall of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. Although original ...

between 1998 and 2001. According to Lightfoot,

Pierre Berton Pierre Francis de Marigny Berton, CC, O.Ont. (July 12, 1920 – November 30, 2004) was a Canadian historian, writer, journalist and broadcaster. Berton wrote 50 best-selling books, mainly about Canadiana, Canadian history and popular cultur ...

, author of '' The Last Spike'', once said "You did more good with your damn song than I did with my entire book on the same subject." In an interview with ''The Telegraph'', Lightfoot indicated that upon meeting

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

, she had told him how much she enjoyed the song. In 2001, Gordon Lightfoot's "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" was honoured as one of the Canadian MasterWorks by the

Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada The Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada (or the AV Trust). originally the Alliance for the Preservation of Canada's Audio-Visual Heritage,John Mellencamp John J. Mellencamp (born October 7, 1951), previously known as Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, and John Cougar Mellencamp, is an American singer-songwriter. He is known for his brand of heartland rock, which emphasizes traditional instrumentation ...

and

George Hamilton IV George Hege Hamilton IV (July 19, 1937 – September 17, 2014) was an American country musician. He began performing in the late 1950s as a teen idol, switching to country music in the early 1960s. Biography Hamilton was born in Winston-Salem, ...

(#3Can), among others. James Keelaghan performed the song on the Lightfoot tribute album, ''Beautiful.'' In the summer of 2004, the song was performed by that year's ''

Canadian Idol ''Canadian Idol'' is a Canadian reality television competition show which aired on CTV, based on the British show '' Pop Idol''. The show was a competition to find the most talented young singer in Canada, and was hosted by Ben Mulroney. Jon Do ...

'' Top 6. The song was the inspiration for the song "Canadian Snacktime Trilogy" on the

Barenaked Ladies Barenaked Ladies (BNL) is a Canadian Rock music, rock band which was formed in 1988 in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, Ontario. The band developed a following in Canada, with their Barenaked Ladies (EP), self-titled 1991 cassette becoming th ...

children's album '' Snacktime!''. The song features many celebrities sharing their favorite snacks, including

Geddy Lee Geddy Lee Weinrib (; born Gary Lee Weinrib, July 29, 1953) is a Canadian musician, best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Rock music, rock band Rush (band), Rush. Lee joined the band in September 1968 at the request o ...

, Janene Garofalo, Mike Smith (as

Bubbles Bubble, Bubbles or The Bubble may refer to: Common uses * Bubble (physics), a globule of one substance in another, usually gas in a liquid ** Soap bubble * Economic bubble, a situation where asset prices are much higher than underlying fundame ...

Sarah McLachlan Sarah Ann McLachlan (born January 28, 1968) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. As of 2015, she had sold over 40 million albums worldwide. McLachlan's best-selling album to date is ''Surfacing (album), Surfacing'' (1997), for which she won two G ...

"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American comedy musician, writer, and actor. He is best known for writing and performing Comedy music, comedy songs that often Parody music, parody specific songs by contempo ...

, and Lightfoot himself, who states his favorite snack is pasta. "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" has become one of Lightfoot's signature songs, and for years he concluded many, though not all, of his concerts by performing it.

References

External links

CBC video clipAVTrust.ca - Gordon Lightfoot's "Canadian Railroad Trilogy", MasterWorks recipient 2001 (video clip)
{{authority control 1967 songs Canadian Centennial Canadian patriotic songs Gordon Lightfoot songs Songs about trains Songs based on Canadian history Songs written by Gordon Lightfoot Rail transport in Canada

Background

Legacy

See also

References

External links