Best opening lyric

“She said, ‘Andy, you’re better than your past’
Winked at me and drained her glass
Cross-legged on a barstool like nobody sits anymore ... ”

It’s the start to a story that could go so many ways, and to me, the best illustration of how Jason Isbell is just a level above every other songwriter right now. “Elephant” is a song that could just as easily be told as a short story in the classic Southern writer tradition. And, like a great journalist who crafts stunning ledes, the first lines to almost all of Isbell’s songs are fantastic.

 

My ten:

1. Gordon Lightfoot
2. Anne Murray
3. Burton Cummings/The Guess Who
4. Alan Doyle/Great Big Sea
5. The New Pornographers
6. BTO
7. Stampeders
8. The Fables
9. Chilliwack
10. Glass Tiger

 

A lot of shit-talk about Rush, but the boys could play ...

 

"One likes to believe in the freedom of music
But glittering prizes and endless compromises
Shatter the illusion of integrity ... "

(Not an opening lyric. But, without question, one of best lyrics I know. Back on topic ... )

 

Alanis Morrissette
Sarah McLachlan

 

Sarah McLachlan is only behind Rush on my Canadian list (well, at least among the commercial sorts ... there are some of us who have heard HC and would put her on the list, too).

 

Who is HC?

My Canadian list is going to be pretty predictable near the top.

Neil Young
Lightfoot
Joni
Cohen
Tyson
Blue Rodeo

Three O’Clock Train is the first dark horse that comes to mind.

I don’t count The Band because Levon was too big a part.

 

HC is one of our posters. Had the good fortune to meet her during a SJ.com meet up in Toronto some years back.

Incredible voice. Better person.

 

She was at one of our games one night when the third-place finisher in a karaoke contest at a local bar - who demanded to be introduced by his "stage" name - totally butchered the anthem (our goalie that night told me he was in is crease thinking, "That's not how it goes."). She was not happy and told me in no uncertain terms she would do it for free (or an autographed puck) if we didn't have a school choir or something. Best anthem singer in hockey, bar none.

 

Get your motor running, head out on the highway.

 

Fantastic choice.
Here's another Kristofferson song that blows me away. For the Good Times.

Don't look so sad
I know it's over
But life goes on
And this old world will keep on turning
Let's just be glad
We had some time to spend together
There's no need to watch the bridges
That were burning

 

We could go all night long on KK.

This is one of my favourite lyrics, as cited by Larry Gatlin in the Ken Burns series:

Then I headed back for home
And somewhere far away a lonesome bell was ringin'
And it echoed through the canyons
Like the disappearing dreams of yesterday