Music can define a destination. Two Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) radio shows compiled playlists of essential Canadian music which you may wish to download to your iPod to enjoy before or during your visit.
50 Tracks: The Canadian Version
In 2005, the summer series 50 Tracks: The Canadian Version chose a playlist of the 50 most essential songs in Canadian pop music history based on suggestions by panelists and listeners.Here are the top 10 choices:
| Ian and Sylvia (Tyson) | "Four Strong Winds" |
| Barenaked Ladies | "If I had $1,000,000" |
| Neil Young | "Heart of Gold" |
| Stan Rogers | "Northwest Passage" |
| The Guess Who | "American Woman" |
| Gordon Lightfoot | "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" |
| Joni Mitchell | "Both Sides Now" |
| Leonard Cohen | "Suzanne" |
| Joni Mitchell | "Big Yellow Taxi" |
| Gordon Lightfoot | "Early Morning Rain" |
Wikipedia has the complete list.
Obama's Playlist
In the fall of 2008, after the election of U.S. President Barack Obama, 49 songs were selected by CBC listeners and panelists as an "inauguration gift". The musical selections were meant to both entertain and educate the president-elect. This playlist (formally called 49 Tracks From North of the 49th Parallel) featured a variety of genres; here are the top picks from each group:
English Rock Pop Folk etc.
| Rush | "Closer to the Heart" |
| Gordon Lightfoot | "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" |
| k.d. lang | "Hallelujah" |
| Leonard Cohen | "Democracy" |
| Stan Rogers | "Northwest Passage" |
Jazz
| Oscar Peterson Trio | "Hymn to Freedom" |
| Michael Bublé | "Home" |
| Oscar Peterson | "Place St. Henri" (from Canadiana Suite) |
| Diana Krall | "Departure Bay" |
| Moe Koffman | "Swingin' Shepherd Blues" |
Classical
| Glenn Gould (performer) | Goldberg Variations |
| Measha Brueggergosman (performer) | I'm Going Up a Yonder |
| Marjan Mozetich (composer) | Affairs of the Heart |
| Ben Heppner (performer) | We’ll Gather Lilacs |
| James Ehnes (performer) | Barber Violin Concerto |
French Rock Pop Folk etc.
| Gilles Vigneault | "Mon pays" |
| Malajube | "Montréal -40C" |
| Marie-Jo Thério | "Évangéline" |
| Harmonium | "Pour un instant" |
| Daniel Lavoie | "J'ai quitté mon île" |
The full list is on the CBC Radio 2 Blog.
And a couple of bonus tracks from Youtube
Julia Bentley & Andrew Gunadie - "Canadian Please"
Gene Pitney (1974) - Trans-Canada Highway (a song which was never released in North America but was a hit in Australia)
