Tomorrow at the George Bell Arena in Accordion City’s west end, I’ll be playing (and singing) Canada’s National Anthem at the start of the Toronto Roller Derby match between the Gore-Gore Rollergirls and Chicks Ahoy! I’m working on a rendition that respects the proud heritages of both Canada and roller derby.
If you’d like to hear my rockin’ accordion rendition of O Canada and enjoy some roller derby (the motto is “Real Women. Real Hits. Real Heart.”), it’s all happening at the George Bell Arena (215 Ryding Avenue, in the “Junction” neighbourhood). Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 at the door and kids under 7 get in free. The doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the game starts at 7:30, which is when I figure I’ll be playing.
For those of you who can’t remember or don’t know the words to our anthem, here they are:
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.
I’ll post my chord arrangements later.
And, as further enticement, here are the Gore-Gore Rollergirls:
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Remember back to our childhood when the last verse started with "Oh Canada" instead of "God keep our land"? I think you should sing the old lyrics that kept religion out of our national anthem. Or substitute "Flying Spaghetti Monster keep our land".
Gordie Johnson's version is a pretty good example of a rocking rendition too…
AWESOME!!!!
Will you be singing the official words? You know, with the French Language verse included?
Hey Joey!! I'm so glad you have a website, and even more glad I found it!! Nice to see your'e still rockin'.
Damn it! That's just around the corner from me and I missed it.
Posted your performance on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKInAZToO1c
You were great and so was the crowd at the bout.
Caught your blog the other day and saw the poster for the Toronto Roller Derby. The wife and I checked it out and had a blast! I gotta say, the guy that did the anthem was pretty good too! I was going to say hi, but you disappeared before I could. Love the blog, keep up the good work.
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