WATCH: New Canadian Anthem by Dan Murphy, October 17, 2014, VancouverObserver
Canada’s new national anthem debuts in San Francisco [VIDEO] Le Droit’s Guy Badeaux, The Montreal Gazette’s Terry Mosher, and former Province cartoonist Dan Murphy at Satire Fest, where Canada’s new anthem received critical acclaim by Dan Murphy, October 18, 2014
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There were a few Canadians in the mix. The Montreal Gazette’s Terry Mosher, aka Aislin, presented an overview of cartooning in Canada. Le Droit’s Guy Badeaux, aka Bado, spoke of Quebec’s role in keeping the editorial-cartoon racket vital in the country.
I decided what I’d do in San Francisco is unveil a new Canadian national anthem.
In Switzerland right now they’re having a competition to come up with a new Swiss national anthem. They’ve decided their old anthem is too stodgy, so they’re having a contest, like America’s Got Talent, only for anthems. Switzerland’s Got Anthems.
They’ve asked all Swiss ditty writers to send in their songs, they’ve got a passel of judges to pour over the entries, and a year from now Switzerland will roll out its new anthem.
It makes sense. Countries can change, and when they change they can outgrow their national anthems.
Canada’s a good example of this. Fifty years ago, Canada was opening its arms to war resisters and draft dodgers. Thirty years ago, Canada was at the forefront of the battle against acid rain.
But today’s Canada is a whole different place.
So I told the audience at the Marines Memorial Theater that when we heard we were headed to the Satire Fest, Terry and Guy and myself decided to commission a new anthem for Canada.
And – in keeping with the spirit of the New Canada – we’d outsourced the job. We found an anthem-writing factory in Indonesia that works cheap but still does quality anthems. In fact, it’s the most talented factory full of five-year-old George and Ira Gershwins I’ve ever come across.
And then I presented this, Canada’s new, more appropriate national anthem