disenor@utcsrgv.UUCP (Donald Isenor) (07/14/83)
Maybe this should be in net.trivia, but here goes.... I remember being taught at least two, maybe three, verses to 'O Canada' when I was in grade school. The first verse is the one everybody is familiar with, but the others are never sung. I have completely forgotten the words, except for a vague memory of a reference to pine trees. Does anyone in netland know the complete song? How much of it is included in the 'official' version?
dave@utcsrgv.UUCP (Dave Sherman) (07/15/83)
I sent this by mail to the original inquirer about O Canada lyrics, but since there seems to be more interest, here goes... ------------------- Current official words (revised a couple of years ago): O Canada Our home and native land True patriot love In all thy sons' command With glowing hearts we see thee rise The true north strong and free >From far and wide, O Canada We stand on guard for thee God keep our land glorious and free O Canada we stand on guard for thee O Canada we stand on guard for thee (generally unknown second verse): O Canada Where pines and maples grow Great prairies spread And lordly rivers flow How dear to us thy broad domain >From east to western sea Thy land of hope for all who toil We stand on guard for thee God keep our land (etc., same as first verse). This verse is SO unknown that when someone sang it at a Toronto Blue Jays game (Pearson Cup exhibition against Montreal a couple of years back) he was booed roundly by the crowd who thought he was changing the words. Even the news reports were mostly wrong - reporters didn't know about the second verse. I seem to remember there's even a third verse with something about wheatfields, but I'm not sure. The words were changed a few years ago from the somewhat repetitious: O Canada Our home and native land True patriot love In all thy sons' command With glowing hearts we see thee rise The true north strong and free O Canada, we stand on guard We stand on guard for thee O Canada, glorious and free We stand on guard, we stand on guard for thee O Canada, we stand on guard for thee Up until not that long ago, our "official" national anthem (not the one every played at events, though) was still "The Maple Leaf Forever". Dave Sherman Toronto
mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor) (07/17/83)
I don't think the Canadian national anthem was ever "The Maple Leaf Forever". Like the Union Jack, we used the British anthem, "God Save the Queen". It may not have been official, but it was used in the way of anthems, at Government functions, movies, sports events and so forth.
citrin@ucbvax.UUCP (07/18/83)
A friend of mine, John Gross, recently of the University of Waterloo, send me this message: Here are the French and English lyrics; the French were written first, long before the English. The anthem was only recently made official (in both languages, I assume). The new official version included a few changes to the English lyrics; the phrase "From far and wide" has replaced the repetitive "We stand on guard" in one place, and one of the "O Canada"s has been replaced by the somewhat controversial "God keep our land". In the French lyrics below, capital E's represent an e with an accent aigue, and are pronounced the same as "eh". (as in, "How about those Blue Jays, eh?") I do not guarantee that the French lyrics are correctly spelt, being merely a "maudit anglais". o Canada, terre de nos aiyeux, ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux. car ton bras sait porter l'EpEe, il sait porter la croix. ton histoire est une EpopEe, de plus brillants exploits. et ta valeur, deux fois trempE, protegera nos foyers et nos droits. protegera nos foyers et nos droits. o Canada, our home and native land. true patriot love, in all thy sons' command. with glowing hearts, we see thee rise, the true north strong and free. from far and wide, oh Canada, we stand on guard for thee. god keep our land, glorious and free. o Canada, we stand on guard for thee. o Canada, we stand on guard for thee. Wayne Citrin (ucbvax!citrin)