Stompin’
and kickin’ and gougin' - plywood
by Robert
LaFrance
After the recent death of Stompin’
Tom Connors, many of us mourned him as a truly great Canadian. Whatever you may
think of the way he played ‘G’ chord, broke time in just about every song he
sang, ruined lumber from Nanaimo to St. John’s, he WAS a Canadian, and very
proud – even pigheaded – about it.
How the man lasted 77 years although
smoking 3,455 cigarettes a day is a mystery that medical science will be
looking into for some years to come, but the real reason, as we know, is that
he was tough as old shoe leather.
I wish I had some story about Tom to
relate. I could invent one, but the fact is, I only saw him in person once, and
that was only for about ten minutes, at the famous Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto.
Since I was at the back of the tavern and only had one glass of lemonade before
I had to catch the streetcar for Downsview, I am guessing he didn’t notice me.
I just wanted to see the Legend of Skinner’s Pond. I wasn’t disappointed, but I
was disappointed to find out the next day that he had moved on to Timmins.
That was the place he got his start,
the Maple Leaf Hotel tavern in Timmins. He was drifting around one day – I can
identify with that – and found himself in Timmins with not quite enough money
to buy himself a glass of beer. Unlike me, Tom drank beer and not lemonade. The
bartender asked him if there was a musical instrument in that case he was
carrying, or was that just a guitar-shaped suitcase? Within a short time Tom Connors,
as he was then, was singing and playing for his beer and lodging.
By the late 1970s he had won many
awards, but in 1978 he did what we Tilleyikers call ‘throwing a spell’ and gave
them all back as a protest against most of the awards being given to Canadians
who had left Canada. He stayed, and never wanted to go anywhere else.
People like Stompin’ Tom, Gordon
Lightfoot, Wayne & Shuster, Gordon Pinsett, Anne Murray, and dozens of
others chose to keep their homes in Canada rather than move to the U.S.A. to
further their careers, or to just have careers. We can’t blame them. They had
found they couldn’t make a living in Canada, and so they went to L.A. where
assault rifles are much cheaper and the people are always right.
The thing is, once you pull up
stakes and move to the U.S., you are pretty much an American and the only time
you drift back home is to pick up an award or to host a Canadian show once your
own career is on the skids. An exception: The best comedians on the planet are
Canadians, and they spend a lot of their time in Canada, because we have
wonderful comedy festivals all across the country and the Americans are so
obsessed with politics and invading other countries that they have lost their
senses of humour.
Many comedians have moved from the
U.S. to Canada, a fact about which Stompin’ Tom would be very happy. One former
U.S. citizen’s routine includes the story about going to an ATM machine in
Saskatoon at 3:00 am and being terrified of being robbed. Rushing away from the
ATM, he dropped some bills, and a guy walking by said: “Hey, buddy! You dropped
some money!” In the U.S., he said, I would have been shot before I could get
back to my car. You can only get cash from an ATM at noon hour and with four
bodyguards – if they could be trusted.
He also said that watching the
Olympics on Canadian TV was quite a revelation. “Up here,” he said, “I learned
there actually were other teams competing.”
So was Stompin’ Tom right to be such
a hard-rock about loving Canada and wanting to stay here? Absolutely. I cannot
imagine him in any other country in the world. The only knock I have against
him is that six or eight year tantrum when he refused to perform. Think of the
songs he could have written! As it was, he wrote hundreds about Canada and in every
one we can see and hear Canadians going about our business. Tillsonburg? My
back still aches when I hear that word.
Last word to J. P. Cormier: “May losing this man, the greatest intellect and patriot I
have ever known, force all Canadians everywhere to unite in pride and love and
conviction and lift up our artists, our culture and our values like a burning
flame for the world to see.”
-end-
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