Catherine McKay wrote: > > The Netherlands can be forgiven for its part in > syrupy > > music - they made up for it with chocolate and > cheese
Then John replied: > Are you sure? Would you still say that, if you read > our most successful > contributions to the world of popular music? > Stars on 45 > Andre Rieu > Shocking Blue (Venus) > Golden Earring (Radar Love) > Boney M (Rivers of Babylon) > George Baker Selection (Una Paloma Blanca; Little > Green Bag) > and ... of course: > Father Abraham (The Smurf Song) Catherine again: > I was blaming most of that on Sweden. I had no idea any of these people/groups were Dutch. > Here in Canada, we take great pride in being the home of Terry Jacks (Seasons in the sun - the pukey version in English.) Keep blaming the Swedes, Catherine. Nothing wrong with that. As long as you keep the Muppets' Swedish Chef out. Just thinking of him has me in stitches again. Terry Jacks? The only man on earth who managed to fuck up a Jacques Brel song??? (JB is one of my heroes, right out there with Joni, Bruce Cockburn and the French chansonnihre Barbara) Ouch, Catherine, that memory hurt. He should have been seasoned and fried in the sun. John P.S. I once was seriously wondering why it was that my most favourite 'English-language' artists came (originally) from Canada - and why I loved this underproduced, almost 'woody' style of playing so much: The Band, Robbie Robertson, Kate & Anna McGarricle, Bruce Cockburn, Neil Young, Joni, Gorden Lightfoot, (very) early Bryan Adams, Sarah McLachlan, Loreena McKennitt - and currently Sarah Harmer. You're certainly forgiven for Anne Murray. Terry Jacks ... forget it, no amount of forgiveness will be sufficient.