When did I become an Albertan?

It must have happened over night. While I was sleeping.

 

I grew up all over – the Yukon, the NWT and Alberta. I never really felt that I had a “home”. I did have many homes and different stages in my life but nowhere that I would say “Yeah, I’m from ….” My family is from Nova Scotia and, when we weren’t rolling down the Dempster Highway (“rolling” being a euphemism from trying to get the 1975 Ford Elite and tent trailer through the mud) we were travelling out East to visit Aunts and Uncles and Black Brook beach. I was always convinced that I was destined to be a maritimer. I was convinced that I was one. There was more Rita McNeil in me (if she fit) than Ian Tyson.  But somewhere between “We Rise Again” and the Rise and Follies “shark, Cecil! Get out of the waaaater Cecil!”, I fell asleep and woke up thinking about the prairies. Oh crap. I’m an Albertan. What if start voting Conservative?

 

I think this happened while I was in Africa because, as you do, I realized that the land of Big Sky, Big Oil and Big SUVs is not so bad after all. (Big SUVs and Big Oil aside). Despite what the Guardian Weekly has been saying about Canada lately:  How we messed up the Olympics and Alberta’s beloved tar sands (okay, perhaps a blight on the face of the north and not so beloved), I still believe there are some real gems to be found and, when you’re half a world away, missed.

 

I’m like the Quebecois who might call himself/herself a Canadian abroad. I’m beginning to admit, folks, that I’m an Albertan. (Seriously…what if I start voting Conservative?)

 

Since I’ve been here I’ve become homesick for all of those Alberta (with the exception of the aforementioned tar sands, SUVs and with the addition of Ralph Klein and the lack of public transit). See Alberta also has its “Big Five.” But it’s not the lion, elephant, rhino, buffalo and leopard. It’s Calgary, Edmonton, Grande Prairie, Lethbridge and Red Deer. (Sorry Medicine Hat. You didn’t make the cut). And of the five, I’ve lived in four. So, I’m Albertan.

 

And as I’ve been preparing to make a visit home next week, I’ve been listening to a Playlist I made around Christmas for my brother who was contemplating moving to Vancouver. “Remember your roots,” I wrote. We’re not all about Ashley MacIsaac (even though he is amazing and his dad gave my family one his son’s tapes from the trunk of his car in the early nineties) or Rita MacNeil (even though we met her in Big Pond – no, not her nickname – after she stepped on my brother’s toe!). So I’ve been listening to this playlist and dreaming of stepping off the plane into the cold. But a dry cold.

 

1.     Western Skies – Blue Rodeo

Not popular as Gordon Lightfoot’s Alberta Bound, I think this one sums it up better. “I’d rather”….be by the Bow River, watch the sun behind Saddle Mountain, walk about Lake Louise, listen to the wind whisper my name, at a Starbucks…(okay, that’s not part of the song).

 

2.      (Gonna) Shine Up My Boots – Corb Lund Band

See, I lived in Lethbridge and did some work in Taber and, besides corn, I’m pretty sure Corb Land put this little western town on the map.

 

3.     Can I Take My Gun To Heaven? – Cracker

Can I? If vote for the Wild Rose Alliance party then maybe. Just maybe.

 

4.     Yellow November – Darrek Anderson

“Yellow November, Alberta highway. Roll the windows down and just go straight.” I remember my countless drives around Lethbridge in November when the wheat would peak through the blanket of snow. (I also remember the white out conditions that the snow caused when hurricane force winds would blow….)

 

5.     Leaving Edmonton – David Francey

"I“ I was killing time ‘till the fall of night. Looked in all the windows, took a walk down Whyte.” Really – is there a better place in Alberta than Whyte Ave?

 

6.     Four Strong Winds – Ian Tyson

Of course, the version I have is by Blue Rodeo (everything goes better with Blue Rodeo) but the message is the same: head to Alberta to look for work. We may be less boom lately, but weather’s still good there in the fall…..or at  the end of March. Whatever.

 

7.     Alberta Bound – Gordon Lightfoot

The quintessential returnee tune.  Seriously, next time you’re abroad, put this little ditty on your IPod and you’ll want to be catching the first flight to YYC. Even if you’re not an Alberta, it will make you wish you were. (Unless, you’re from Saskatchewan. Those fans are crazy!) “The Rocky Mountain sunset. It’s a pleasure just to be Alberta bound.”

 

8.     Countrywide Soul – Jim Cuddy

“You sure walk along slow. That’s the only speed I’ve ever seen you go.” Oh. Wait. That part is about Rwanda….. But driving at night under Prairie stars is pretty beautiful.

 

9.     Streets of Calgary – David Francey

Okay, I’ll be honest. This song is about looking at a prostitute on 3^rd Ave high from a hotel downtown. So maybe it’s not all that favourable about returning home, it does bring back fond memories of living in the East Village. (FYI – the non emergency number for the Calgary police CAN be memorized and dialing 911 is not always necessary).

 

10. Take Me Home, Country Roads – John Denver

Okay, okay. Maybe West Virginia and the Blue Ridge Mountains are exactly Alberta but you get the idea.

 

11. Alberta Bound – Paul Brandt

“Rocky Mountains and black fertile ground”. I tried to avoid putting “real” country music on this playlist but, sadly, it was unavoidable.

 

12. Wheat Kings – The Tragically Hip

This song isn’t even about Alberta but rather, about David Milgaard and his wrongful conviction (there’s a bit about the CBC) but I remember listening to this song driving through the prairies near Camrose on our way to Road Side Attraction concert to see the Tragically Hip in 1997. As we turned onto one road that was lined on both sides by acres of wheat the beginning of this song came on “Sundown in the Paris of the prairies…..”

 

So, there it is. The twelve songs that will have you putting on a Stetson and cracking open a Pilsner. OR just admiring the beauty and splendor of the Rocky Mountains as the sun rises over the prairies. There really is nothing quite like it. And if you’re too worried about admitting that you’re Albertan, don’t worry. It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to have a truck. But if you do, things would better if your bumper sticker said “Friends don’t let friends vote Conservative.”