From ‘A Case of You’ to ‘The Hockey Song’: Canada’s National Playlist Unveiled

Despite my earlier reservations, I was curious to see the results of the CBC’s search for a Canadian national playlist. Now, more than 100,000 votes later, 49 Songs from North of the 49th Parallel has been unveiled—and, presumably, presented to an unsuspecting President Obama. It’s a mixed bag of vintage rock, classical, jazz and folkier stuff—pop music is strikingly absent, while hip-hop received only a token mention—and probably says as much about CBC Radio’s demographics as it does about Canada. Still, it makes for an interesting read (spot any artists on there that you never realized were Canucks?) and I was tickled to see a couple of my favorites—the Tragically Hip, and the aforementioned hip-hopper, Shad—included.

One final quibble: sure, they’re all by Canadian artists, but I’m not sure how many of the tracks listed here achieve that ever-elusive goal of saying something meaningful about place. The list’s most powerful song in that respect, for my money, is Neil Young’s “Helpless.” Check out video of a live, unplugged performance of the song after the jump:

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