Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Stompin' Tom Connors: Canadian Icon

The beaver.
The moose.
The Mountie.
And "Stompin' Tom" Connors.
Canadian icons all.

Since his 1969 hit "Bud the Spud" (a paeon to Prince Edward Island potatoes), Charles Thomas Connors has been a fixture on the Canadian cultural scene. At first he was a comic figure to many of us, a man with a voice like a wood rasp, dressed in black, with a cowboy hat and a piece of plywood on which he stomped his left foot.

He's not a comic figure any more.
In 1993 he received a Doctor of Laws degree from Saint Thomas University.
In 1996 he was made an officer of the Order of Canada.
In 2004 he ranked 13th in The Greatest Canadian list, determined by popular vote. Higher than Anne Murray or Gordon Lightfoot or any other Canadian artist or musician.
In 2009, Canada issued a postage stamp in his honour. A POSTAGE STAMP!

Born in 1936 in Saint John, New Brunswick, adopted by a family in Prince Edward Island, and a long-time resident of rural Ontario, "Stompin' Tom" has the public image of a tough, street-smart hustler. He is that, but he's also a fierce Canadian patriot with very good songwriting skills. His songs beat in perfect time with the Canadian heartbeat.

Since 1967, Connors has released more than 25 albums and had at least 20 singles on the charts in Canada, everything from "Tillsonburg" (about tobacco faming in Ontario) to "The Hockey Song" to "The Don Messer Story".

And who can resist a good lyric?
"It's Bud the Spud from the bright red mud
Goin down the Hiway smiling-
The Spuds are big on the back of Bud's rig
And they're from Prince Edward Island -- they're from PEI

Now from Charlottetown or from Summerside
They load him down for the big long ride
He jumps in the cab and he's off with the pride Sobagos
He's gotta catch the boat to make Tormentine & he heads up that old New B. line
Through Montreal he comes just a flyin with another big load a badadoes..."


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