Dear Friends:
My name is Bob Mersereau, and I’m a music writer/broadcaster from Fredericton, N.B. The time has come again to ask for your help with a new book. Two years ago, I emailed many of you, asking for your votes to compile the book The Top 100 Canadian Albums (Goose Lane, fall 2007). The results were thrilling, and the book was a big success. It was a national best-seller, sparked lots of press coverage and debate, and most of all, celebrated Canadian music. Now, I’m asking once again your votes, for the upcoming Top 100 Canadian Singles, to be published in the fall of 2009.
I’m looking for the country’s biggest music fans. This e-mail is going out to musicians, music company employees, broadcasters, writers, agents, managers, promoters, festival workers, roadies, instrument makers, pretty much anyone who has a deep love of Canadian music. I’m looking for your votes, for the singles you consider the greatest ever made by this country’s musicians. It’s a companion book to the Top 100 Canadian Albums, the next obvious step. By singles, I don’t mean just the old vinyl 45’s. It can be an old 78 RPM cut, or today’s equivalent, the download track. It’s getting a little tougher these days to know what a single is, but musicians still release a focus track from an album, something for airplay on radio or T.V., or for sale.
The idea is to pick the best. Criteria you might use include excellence, cultural relevance, hit status, historic importance, and simply, is it a song most Canadians know and love.
What I’d like you to do is think hard and long, and come up with your own Top 10 Canadian Singles. These should be the ten singles that you can’t live without. Rank them from #1 to #10. Your top single will get 10 points, #2 receives 9 points, etc.
Here are the rules for what qualifies:
1.) The song must have been released as a “single”, for some sort of airplay, whether radio, video, jukebox, download, etc.
2.) The artist must be either Canadian by birth, or have taken up residency in Canada before recording the song in question.
3.) If it’s a group, the band members should be more than 50 per cent Canadian by birth or residency.
4.) If there’s confusion over whether a song meets the above criteria, just ask me, and I’ll get some advice from a group of experts.
5.) All music counts, from classical to jazz, hip-hop to dance, country to folk, as long as it meets the above criteria.
Here’s a sample list of what I’m looking for:
1. Harmonium – “En pleine face”
2. The Guess Who – “These Eyes”
3. Feist – “1, 2, 3, 4″
4. Ian & Syliva – “You Were On My Mind”
5. Steppenwolf – “Born To Be Wild”
6. Hank Snow – “I’m Moving On”
7. Jean Leloup – “Johnny go”
8. Sloan – “Everything You’ve Done Wrong”
9. Bryan Adams – “Summer Of ‘69″
10. Anne Murray – “Snowbird”
Take your time, and if you change your mind, you can always re-submit the list. I’m happy to answer any questions. Please submit the list to me at mersereaubob@gmail.com when you’re done. I’d like to have them all collected by April 15, and I’ll send out email reminders close to that time. These lists will remain confidential, and I won’t reveal them to anyone in public or private. If I do wish to include one in the book, or a quote from someone, I will approach them individually for permission.
If you know anyone else who you think would be interested in the survey, please go ahead and forward the note to them, if the person is a big music fan. I’ll accept your recommendation. The more, the merrier for this survey.
Thanks in advance for considering this, and I do hope you’ll find it fun.
All the best,
Bob Mersereau
