Background Music Loop: Oh (That Familiar) Canada

On the sacred day of Background Loop Tuesday over at Magical Mouse Radio, I thought it was time to chat about another loop I enjoy.

I’m a huge fan of most of the Epcot World Showcase music, but it is actually the sounds of Canada that intrigue me most.

Do you ever listen to a song and feel completely sure you’ve heard it before?

That’s me + the Canada BGM.

When you get to around the 7 -minute mark, the music is all too familiar to me.

See, when I was in high school, I worked in CVS for many, many hours at a time. After awhile, you start to memorize the music playing around the place and there was also this one song I had dubbed “the wishing well” song.

If you could read my mind, love,
What a tale my thoughts could tell.
Just like an old time movie,
Bout a ghost from a wishing well.

See?

I always thought they played it at CVS because of this lyric though:

If I could read your mind, love,
What a tale your thoughts could tell.
Just like a paperback novel,
The kind the drugstores sell.

And then I was sad our drugstore never sold paperbacks.

Anyway, what does this have to do with Canada? Well, the song was written by a Canadian named Gordon Lightfoot, topped their music charts, and was Gordon’s first song to make its way on the American music charts. I can see why it may have been made a part of the background loop in this area of World Showcase, even though it is a bit boggling at the same time. The song was released in 1971, and a disco version came out in 1980. Not exactly too timely but there have been a slew of covers from artists like Johnny Cash, Don McLean, Liza Minnelli, and Olivia Newton-John. So there’s a good chance people have heard it before.

Here’s the original by Gordon Lightfoot:

Hope you enjoyed this glimpse into the music (or at least one of the songs) heard around the Canada pavilion!