Well today's "Stuff Cody Likes" will be about one thing, and one thing only. Music!
Well I'm a big fan of songs about citys, towns, municipalities, points of interest. The song "Runnin' Back to Saskatoon" on Live at the Paramount by The Guess Who is one of Canada's most celebrated songs about places that Canada has ever seen. Since then, there have been songs about almost all over Canada, from small town, Saskatchewan to big town, Ontario!
Here in my "hometown" Brandon, Manitoba (well I'm from a farm near Pipestone, Manitoba) there have been a few songs written about the community over the years. Musician Rick Neufeld (famous for the song Moody Manitoba Morning) wrote a song called Souris River, featuring Burton Cummings, Garry Peterson and Bill Wallace of The Guess Who accompanying him. Some suggest The Hundredth Meridian by The Tragically Hip could possibly be about Brandon, since Brandon is ON the 100th meridian.
But.. let's not get ahead of ourselves. I believe it's time for a new song about Brandon. Brandon is small town atmosphere that meets big city desires. People from Brandon feel like the unappreciated child where the attention-needing Winnipeg gets all the praise and glory. People have never heard of Brandon, but yet.. if they have ever taken the Trans Canada Highway across the prairies, they've been to Brandon. This is a community that is forgotten by musicians, they never tour here, but they sure stop here often enough for gas or to stretch their legs. However, Brandon is an amazing underrated community that is proud of its past, proud of its present and proud of its diversity. People in Brandon apparently are some of the biggest volunteers in this nation. If any event needs volunteers, people young and old will always volunteer, even if they do not know what the event even is.
We take pride on being a hockey town, having one of the best music departments at a university in Canada, and for being able to drive from one end of the city to the other in fifteen minutes, and that even includes during the construction of a new 4-lane bridge!
A few years ago the cast of Royal Canadian Air Farce came to Brandon for a season finale for their show. Throughout the show they poked fun of Brandon, like having a skit from "CSI Brandon", where a major crime is where a police officer has to ticket a car. Us Brandonites can always take a joke, because we know we may not be a big town, but there's always a bright side to anything.
Air Farce also did a skit where Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman (not the real guys, unfortunately) were on the "Noon Show" on CKX TV (our beloved television station that shut down as of last friday), and they sung a song about Brandon titled "Brandon, in the middle of it all!". (Video can be seen here: LINK)
So what I would love to see is a song about Brandon, we may be overlooked by travellers who travel east to west, west to east, and by musicians when they tour Canada.. but in the end, "Brandon is in the middle of it all!" Now if only Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings would sing about this town!
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