Ian Tyson passed away this morning (Thursday, December 29, 2022). A great Canadian legend. Thank you, Mr. Tyson. This song helped me at a very dark time in my life. It was that ray of hope. God bless you. May you rest in eternal peace.
Ian Tyson is the real deal. A rodeo cowboy seriously injured, he learned to play the guitar. As a songwriter he managed to be acclaimed by his peers as one of the greatest in country music. His performance is amazing, his vocals and guitar on stage, so polished, so Canadian, so country. I love my country (Canada) and I’m so proud of the Tysons and their musical legacy.
"not a country music fan " : > } ... That's funny, don't let the cowboy hat and the pedal steel guitar in the band fool you, this duo was a mainstay of the late 50's early '60s FOLK MUSIC era. Many genres are so closely related, i.e., Ray Charles doing a country album or "classical composers" using folk songs of their country as the basis for themes within their symphonies. Good well written music transcends categorization and can been performed any old way.
Ian and Sylvia wrote this on same day Bob Dylan wrote,Blowin in the wind.They were both in New York at the time,and were friendly.Two absolute classics written on same day.
Ian performed this at the funeral(s) for the four RCMP officers slain near Mayerthorpe ... words are inadequate to describe what that song accomplished in this setting ... Blessings Ian !!!
Drove home from a substitute teaching assignment in Kipling, Saskatchewan in the Spring of 2018. The sun was shining bright. I was passing bison on the left and other farm animals on the right near Candiac, Saskatchewan. This BEAUTIFUL song came on the radio at this exact moment! The scene was set and the conditions were absolutely PERFECT. I couldn't believe how incredible and appropriate the timing was to hear this most excellent song at this exact time! I thought oh my goodness, I could die and go to Prairie Heaven about now! I never had such a perfect rural country prairie experience such as this before or since this time. It was absolutely surreal. I had the most natural Canadian prairie high I have ever experienced!
This song brings tears to the eyes of this proud/stubborn Albertan man who won’t give up on his morals & values. Well done Ian, Sylvia, Gordon, Anne & Judy. Thank you for such a lovely song.
I'm not sure exactly why I'm still trying to figure it out. But every time I listen to their version of this song the original it brings tears to my eyes. It's like something in this song speaking to my soul.
7th generation Texan, met my Canadian wife in Costa Rica , then married her in Alberta where i first heard Ian Tyson. Spent a year in Alberta and yes, the winds sure do get cold up there.
My father and older brothers used to play this together on their guitars and sing. My mother would join in singing it as well. It was sung so often, it was like one of our family's songs. I was just little, and the sound of my whole family singing together made a big impression on me. It is so moving and nostalgic, and very Canadian. ❤
What a great song that too many people have never heard. I first discovered it when Neil Young covered it in 79, but didn't really look into Ian and Sylvia until decades later. Then realized what I had been missing.
@@maurasniffen4877 He's a conceited arsehole. F him. He turned into everything he said he was against. Canada can have him. Joe Rogan is the best thing to happen to radio in 'Decades".
Boy, this has to be the most truly Canadian song of all time. It's never failed to bring a tear to my eye and a huge lump to my throat. Thank you Ian. And you too Sylvia.
Summer of 61, tired of Arizona, loaded a two horse to my 51 GMC and with two pals took off following the rodeos, made it up there at the end of Summer and was turning to cold so we went on back home. Had a great time following the small rodeos, won some, met some girls, got in some fights, did some stupid stuff, (a lot) but got a life time of memories. This song brought back a lot of them memories.
What a wondeful, story of your life!! I am a Female Canadian Medical Officer , been so long away also from Home, this Song means so much & the words you sent !! Bless You.. Time means nothing, whether we are young , or as time catches up ,,only the experiences , we all share.. Thank-you for yours !! You belong in Our Books!!
I started playing the guitar in the early sixties when the folk music explosion occurred. Ian and Sylvia were my favorite group. Great music. I wish that they had stayed together longer.
Amazing how some tunes stay with you. I played this in High School on my guitar in 1966. I first heard the album that year as recorded by Canadian folk duo Ian and Sylvia, from their 1963 album Four Strong Winds. My guitar went with me through six years of Navy service in the south and western Pacific on the USS Hornet, including recovery of Apollo 11 and 12. I still play, and heard the version by Neil Young today while driving, and had to find the original. So I sat down with my guitar friend tonight to play it again. Great memories.
We sang this song in my family when I was young, just sitting around singing for the joy of it. It fits right in with all the classics of folk and traditional music from the last several hundred years. It's a true classic, and will never grow old. As an American, I never doubted that the song spoke to me just as a fellow traveler along life's long, sometimes cold highway. Great songs cross all boundaries, break down walls, build bridges of understanding among peoples. Songs are the way of peace.
I’m not a Canadian and I’ve never been to Alberta, but I’ve loved Ian and Sylvia since I was a kid. Mom gave me this album for Christmas, and I about played it to death.
I remember Neil Young singing This song in 1978 and I fell in love with it. I had no idea until now that Ian and Sylvia were the first. This is new to me and it is phenomenal! Music is such a magical medium to make our lifes complete. Thank you for posting this!
This song was on the jukebox in the Mutual Coffee Bar on Robson Street in Vancouver when we were hanging out there in the fall of 1965...great song, great memories.
Went on tour in Canada in 2022. The guide played music as the bus rolled. I requested Four Strong Winds by Neil Young. Just today heard Ian’s version. A beautiful song. Alberta is grand! I adore Lake Louise. It may be one of the most beautiful places in the world. I live in US, but respect how Canadians protect their environment and treat others with such respect! Big fan!
When I was 24 I took the chance to leave graduate school and go work in Alberta on a farm owned by some of my dad's relatives. I spent the month of September helping with a variety of farm tasks, even herding cattle on horseback. It was a wonderful experience and this song came to mean a great deal to me. I had heard the song several years earlier, in college, when I borrowed an album from a dorm friend, but it became meaningful only after I went to Alberta.
Nice personal story. I grew up in Chicago area, but ended up working on a ranch in Colorado, on the way near the Wyoming border one summer. All I did was help the owner build a new corrall, but have great memories of getting there every morning and just doing that.
I KNOW JUST YOUR FEELINGS. I WAS 19 & WENT TO NORTH CAROLINIA WITH MY BROTHER & HIS FAMILY. HE WAS IN THE MARINES. THIS WAS A SONG I LOVED THEN & STILL DO NOW THAT I AM 73 years young. GOOD LUCK Phil Hanna.
I have lived here in the US for 25 years now, but grew up on the Canadian prairies. About twice a year, someone says to me, "Hey, I had an album by Ian and Sylvia as a kid." (Kid meaning teens, 20's). Anyway, we'll chat a bit about it, and then they start humming Four Strong Winds.
I've followed Ian & Sylvia since their first album. My older sister was a friend of theirs in New York and she introduced me to their music. I still love their sound - 50 + years later. Though we are all much older, it still saddens me when our icons slip away.
Yes, I agree, They, just a Gordon Lightfoot was !! ~~ Although born yrs. after their Popularity, They were Great Canadian Icons for so may of Us, that Served & Still Serve Overseas.. T.Y. for your comment :))
Came of (dating) age with this song. We lost a good one today. Brings a bit of mistiness to my eyes remembering back then and the wandering of time since. Guess I'm growin' old. RIP Ian Tyson.
I just seem to have an issue with people referring to an original songwriter as singing 'a version'. To me, the original songwriter WAS the songwriter. And what he or he sings IS NOT " a version". It's the actual song that he wrote. !! These people struggled in the earlier years against a whole lot of odds. Please think. And give them credit when you speak.
Ray Charles' America the beautiful is better than the original. The RCV ... I.m a Canadian transplant to u.s. but can feel Ian and Sylvia in my soul. Please delete that silly spat over trump. Take it outside boys.
I specially like that Gordon Lightfoot there on the left. He turned 80 in November (2018). I don't mean to take away from Ian Tyson, because he is a genus in his own right; big time !!!
Ian Tyson! One of the most underrated singer composers of my generation. He started out in the sixties singing with his ex Sylvia, and Then he wrote another hit (Someday Soon) that most of the country music artists covered.
Wow I learned something today. Did not know he wrote “Some day soon”. Heck I used to play both songs on my guitar but never thought about the songwriter 👍🏼❤️
I 'grew up' with Ian and Sylvia, as a Canadian kid, if you will, and when I learned how to play the guitar, 'Four Strong Winds' was one of the first songs that I learned how to pick. Canada has an amazing group of artists who are now considered to be synonymous with classic 'folk music.' Joni Mitchell, Gordon Lightfoot, Murray McLaughlin, Bruce Cockburn et al. In 1984, I was appointed 'official liason officer,' representing the Canadian navy, for the Queen's visit to Canada, and while in Toronto, she stayed on board her ship, the Royal Yacht 'Britannia,' and in addition to me receiving an invitation to meet the Queen at a reception on board her floating palace, I put together a party on board my ship, 'HMCS Annapolis.' My best friend at Queen's University, David Alan Eadie, after we graduated, he became the bass player for Stan Rogers, and his East coast folk group. Stan, now long gone, in a tragic airplane tragedy, was an incredible folk artist in his own right. You'll find lots of Stan's music here at RU-vid, if you are curious about him! Anyhoo, I did some advance stuff prior to Britannia's and Annapolis's arrival in T.O., looked David up, (he was then working for CBC radio), and he put me in touch with Sylvia Tyson, whom he knew personally. Long story short, she agreed to come to our party on board Annapolis one evening, and she brought as her guest, Ricky Turofsky, a famous Canadian opera singer. I got MUCH MORE of a thrill meeting Sylvia, than I did the Queen, the night before. And I was much more nervous. But alas, she was an angel, put me immediately at ease, and the whole evening was really enjoyable. Truth! Listening to 'Four Strong Winds,' this morning, here in MFN! brings tears to my eyes. Enjoy!
Sylvia Tyson, CM (born Sylvia Fricker, 19 September 1940, Chatham, Ontario, Canada), is a musician, performer, singer-songwriter and broadcaster. From 1959 to 1974, she was half of the popular folk duo Ian & Sylvia with Ian Tyson. From the late 1960s to the early 1970s, she and Ian also fronted the country-rock band Great Speckled Bird. More recently, she has been a member of the all-female folk group Quartette. Perhaps her best-known song was "You Were on My Mind", which was originally recorded by Ian & Sylvia in 1964. The song became a massive hit single in the mid-1960s for the San Francisco-based folk-rock band We Five and also for the British pop singer Crispian St. Peters. It has become a rock and roll standard which has been covered numerous times. She married Ian Tyson in 1964; they divorced in 1975. During their marriage, they had one child, Clay (Clayton Dawson) Tyson. Sylvia has contributed offstage to the Canadian music scene as a board member of FACTOR and the Juno Awards. She also established an independent record label, Salt Records, in the early 1980s. With Tom Russell, she was an editor of the 1995 anthology And Then I Wrote: The Songwriter Speaks
magical but our good times are all gone?God bless Ian and Sylvia and Canada a wonderful country...... Greetings from IRELAND 😉 salamat for the memories. ......thanks for making our best and brightest welcome.....
I remember watching Ian Tyson's Canadian television show. In the early seventies Ian was a huge star. He continued to make great music all these years residing in Alberta. Last year in 2018 about this time he cancelled shows as he was having major heart problems. I haven't heard a lot about his health since, I hope he has recovered and quite possibly will be able to do some limited performing. After all Ian is 85. I wish him all the best. I still love his Martin d-45, that he's playing in this re-union show and he used it on his television show as well back in the 70s.
Ian and Sylvia- Four Strong Winds. Ian Tyson wrote this song in my province of Alberta, Canada. He still lives here on a farm. Since he and Sylvia divorced. I have met him in person. A wonderful voice.
Joanna Egleton Thanks for your comment Ian Tyson wrote this song referring to his home here in Alberta, Canada. Where he was born and lived most of his life except for doing shows all over the globe. He's not doing too much of anything now except for caring to his farm here in Alberta.
At the age of 30 I left for the West for employment leaving behind my family,friends and my love. Ten months in isolation changed my life and I RETURNED a different person. Four strong winds bring a tear to my eye every time I fly to Alberta.
I have loved this song since the first time I heard it, It is quintessential Canada. Ian, I hope you are feeling better....and I hope Sylvia lives forever. This song, shall.
wow, he sings this exceptionally well this time, and he's looking exceptionally good too. That man has one of the most beautiful voices I've ever heard. Knows just when to sing softly on certain words. Amazing.
This reminds me so much of folk Irish songs. So heartfelt and sad but real. Absolutely beautful and timeless. Seems ppl dont sing like this anymore often
+blinderII Still love this stuff, and it's been around long before I was born. Our country has its redeeming qualities--and it's got nothing to do with government! :) Hehehehehehehehe
+Paul Moniz Agree, the best. Nice Camera Job, give him credit. I can feel what Silvia is thinking .I play guitar and know she's thinking ahead in the song. Her eyes mesmerize me. Music is an Art.
@taijiman7777 Wow. What I wouldn't have given to see that. I would have flown across the country to be there. The two of them together are powerful. I would have reacted like you and the rest of the crowd. Thanks for sharing.
2 of the most under rated artists of all time. Bobby Bare had a smash hit with this in 1964. Ian also wrote "Someday Soon" for Judy Collins. Sylvia under her maiden name Sylvia Fricker wrote "You Were On My Mind" for the We Five. Rest in peace Ian.
Updated Dec. 29, 2022 4:27 p.m. EST Published Dec. 29, 2022 3:22 p.m. EST TORONTO - Ian Tyson, the Canadian folk legend turned cowboy storyteller who penned "Four Strong Winds" as one half of Ian & Sylvia, has died at age 89. The Victoria native died Thursday at his ranch near Longview, Alta., following a series of ongoing health complications, according to his manager Paul Mascioli.
my dad would get my sisters to sing this song to guests....they got tired of doing that but it is still one of my favorite songs. I also saw Ian on film with his cutting horses....amazing!!! A true Canadian cowboy......
