The People's Anthem

Hey! I found the music to the Canadian national anthem (and I didn't even have to type it on a typewriter)! This is probably a good anthem to know. After all, it might be the only way to get over the border some day. ;) The history of this anthem is actually quite hysterical. Apparently, it didn't really catch on until 100 years after it was written. Several different people wrote lyrics for it at different times. It was originally written for a banquet in Quebec City in 1880. The tune went with French lyrics, and was enjoyed by all on that evening, but it's fame was short lived. In 1901, some school children sang an English version for the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall when they toured Canada. Also, about this time, the song was published with French and English lyrics: the English was translated from the French by a doctor in Toronto. It was performed by the Mendelssohn Choir, who used Dr. Richardson's lyrics, and the media complimented the doc on his words: O Canada! Our fathers' land of old/Thy brow is crown'd with leaves of red and gold./Beneath the shade of the Holy Cross/Thy children own their birth/No stains thy glorious annals gloss/Since valour shield thy hearth./Almighty God! On thee we call/Defend our rights, forfend this nation's thrall,/Defend our rights, forfend this nation's thrall. Later, in 1908, Mercy E. Powell McCulloch won a contest to write lyrics for the tune, but her words weren't used for very long. A poet wrote a verse, a critic wrote his own version, there were those put together for the tercentenary of Quebec City, while different lyrics were popular in British Colombia. The words sung today, though, were composed by a lawyer and poet by the name of Robert Stanley Weir. He wrote his poem in 1908, it was officially published in 1927, and, with slight alterations, the first verse was made into the Canadian national anthem in 1980.

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.
http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/sc-cs/ocanada_e.cfm
(This goes to the sheet music!)