49 from North of 49: update

The votes are in the CBC radio's 49 from North of 49 contest to select a definitive "all Canada" playlist of song selections in honour of Barack Obama's inauguration today.

Readers of this blog may recall that I set out my own list on this blog a while back. In comparing the CBC's listeners' consensus list to my list, I note that 5 songs from my playlist were also included on the CBC list and that a further 6 artists with selections on my list were cited (for other song selections) on the CBC list. Considering that the CBC list included French language selections (which my list (unilingual anglophone that I am) excluded) the artist overlap is actually close to 50%.

Among the song selections that made both my personal list and the CBC list:

American Woman - The Guess Who
Canadian Railroad Trilogy - Gordon Lightfoot
Suzanne - Leonard Cohen
Closer to the Heart - Rush
Four Strong Winds - Ian & Sylvia

Among the artists named on the CBC's list that also made my list (for other song selections):

Joni Mitchell: cited on the CBC list for A Case of You and Both Sides Now (even though the Judy Collins cover version is better known) while I cited her recording of Help Me

k.d. lang: cited on the CBC list for her cover of Hallelujah (I cited Leonard Cohen's original) while I cited her for Constant Craving

Neil Young: cited on the CBC list for Helpless and Rockin' in the Free World while I cited his recordings of Old Man and Heart of Gold

Oscar Peterson Trio: cited on the CBC list for Hymn to Freedom and Place St. Henri (from Canadiana Suite) while I cited their recording of Night Train

Barenaked Ladies: cited on the CBC list for If I Had $1,000,000 while I cited One Week

The Tragically Hip: cited on the CBC list for Wheat Kings and Bobcaygeon while I cited New Orleans is Sinking

Another five of the selections I included on my personal list were also included in the CBC's top 100 vote getters (position 50 to 100) including Raise a Little Hell by Trooper, Snowbird by Anne Murray, Takin' Care of Business by Bachman-Turner Overdrive and Try by Blue Rodeo. Interestingly, many of Canada's most popular international superstar music exports (including Celine Dion, Shania Twain and Avril Lavigne) were totally shut out of the CBC list.