This ain't no laid-back country song. You got to remember how polite Canadians are. He repeats the first verse, because he's trying to make a point. It's the song of protest. Unless you're from canada, and have your ear to the ground politically speaking you wouldn't understand. People over in Toronto have been dictating to people in the West for decades, on how to run our lives, and in exchange, we pay our taxes to them.... Western Canada has never been more than a colony to be pillaged.... It's definitely a song of protest.
Would like to point out the rural people of Ontario are not of the same ideology of those in Toronto or Ottawa. We are just farmers too, if somewhat more pliable to the whims of government.
Man, I spent months learning to play this on guitar. Really fun. Anyway, here's what I found The darkly comical “Saskatchewan in 1881” recalls a stubborn encounter between a Toronto businessman and a steadfast farmer who cultivates the province’s land.
I’m Canadian and I have a number of friends who are of mennonite descent. The story is that they were mostly farmers who fled from Eastern Europe during Stalin’s reign of terror. A bunch of them settled in the Canadian Prairies and they’re known for being nice to the point of giving you their shirts off their backs, but they also work really, really hard. Only ever 6 days a week but with the way they work they need Sunday to recover. It’s as many hours and doing whatever is necessary.
There is also something of a political and social disconnect between the prairies and Toronto, which is Canada’s largest city and is viewed kinda like New York is in the US, and has this “centre of the universe” mentality to it. There’s a perceived arrogance to the people from Toronto that largely isn’t well received out west. Ottawa and Toronto are both in the province of Ontario and Ottawa is the nation’s capital. What it seems like in the song is the subject is living in Saskatchewan minding his own business, growing crops on a farm and some rich guy from the big city or from the government is coming and telling him how to do his job or how to live and probably demanding taxes. If I remember right I think actually 1881 is before Saskatchewan officially became a Canadian province, but they redrew the political maps a bunch of times and so basically it probably felt as though this foreign government was now showing up at the door and imposing central governance on people who were pioneers living completely independently from any government.
When I was in the PNW cities like Snoqualmie, Skamokawa, Ilwaco. In Texas we have Mexia, Waxahachie, Ysleta, Nacogdoches. Nice shout out from the Discord. Rainbow Stew - Merle Haggard... brother.. get back to the old stuff.. Colter Wall is legit. Legit Cowboy, legit singer, legit player, legit person.
I like his "I'm just a prairie boy," and that wonderful guitar picking. I believe the first song I heard by Colter was from the Brewery Sessions, probably Kate McCannon, and then 13 Silver Dollars. My first impression was that he was singing so hard through his nose and would probably ruin his voice, but I just loved him. Colter has returned to Canada and cancelled his Jan. to Feb. shows here. Some were already cancelled due to virus, and it also made it difficult for him to cross the border. I was born in NJ, but can't really think of anything that really got people mad, maybe road rage. Now in NC, where everybody says "hello," but road rage is here, too. Stay warm, Burt. It was 19 degrees here (NC) for a couple of mornings and felt like NJ again.
The cool thing about the Mennonite lyric is that those people are akin to Quakers. They're both peaceful but will straight up be perfectly assertive if you offend them Also, there's a huge Mennonite population in Tennessee
Colter Wall, Shawn James, Tyler Childers, Poor man's poison, The White Buffalo, Chris Stapleton, The Steele woods, The steele wheels, and Goodnight, Texas are really good bands they may not be for everyone but I'd still encourage a listen.
I'm a few days late to this, but if you like Colter Wall, y'all definitely need to check out Blake Berglund. He's another singer from Sask that hits a lot of the same notes as Colter, but with a little bit more of a raw/unpolished folkish sound at times. He and Colter have even performed together quite a bit! "Where Have All My Horses Gone" and "Pity Party" are great starting points for his music.
Great channel. New sub. Thanks man. You remind me of 40 years ago , my good friends cool dad. lol. He was just a damned likeable guy and well there ya have it. Have a good'n
I’m an old guy. (72). I grew up listening to my dad playing old 78’s and LP’s of old his favorite country music. (My dad would have been 100 years old next year!) I have a deep appreciation for these old songs and old style songs. Wall is a young master of a long gone yet wonderful form of music. I am also a fingerstyle guitar player. I don’t think people realize how really simple his playing style is, but how very, very hard it is play that style clean and controlled. Takes a lot of practice. PS: I live on the Texas Gulf Coast in the Houston area. I can’t grasp that below zero cold stuff either! 🥶
Dealing with the cold takes time. Controlling your breathing is vital. Hot cocoa is a miracle after shoveling the driveway. If needed, the beanie, jacket, jeans, boots combo is loyal. Facial hair helps so much, and I grow it out this time of year. Insolated gloves are key. Source: Born, raised, and living in North Dakota.
Rainbow Stew is made from beans, lentils and food like potatoes, onions, garlic and carrots or hardy apples like a MacIntosh. All the stuff that lasts over a long winter. Its not just a thing made up for a Haggard song.
As for rainbow stew. Yes there is a Merle haggard song titled that and it could be a loose reference but the songs is in the context of 1881 100 years before the Haggard song came out. In this case rainbow stew is a stew with whatever you have thrown in it. It what you ate when you dont have alot of options.
The menenites are a religious community similiar to the amish and hutterites. The reference is saying that if your being ruckus and partying while they're working the land they will tell you that your not acting right or being "sinful". Corb Lund has a reference to the hutterites in his song 'Truck got Stuck" where someone gets stuck in the mud and everyone calls their friends to come help and they all get stuck then a hutterite truck shows up and watches from a distince and corb says in a sarcastic way "mighty neiborly. Mighty neighborly." Cause the cliche is that the hutterites are all about helping their neighbor. Being from the northern plains I dont know what the southern equivelant would be.
.44 reference was probably to the .44 henry rimfire cartridge, or it could also refer to the 44-40 Winchester centrefire. Both were fairly popular rifle and revolver cartridges at the time producing similar muzzle velocites and energy from a 200 grain bullet. They were popular because you could use the same ammunition in your revolver as your rifle, saving money and prevented you from mixing up your ammunition.
@@arieheath7773 possibly, but Colter makes references to a .44 Henry rifle in another song about a different character from the Canadian praries and I am inclined to say that he is likely what he is singing about. Or at least I choose to believe
Toronto is the largest city, is well to the east, and is now the financial hub of Canada. Lots of shows set in New York are filmed there. Amusingly, Saskatchewan didn't exist until 1905. And Canola wasn't a thing until the 70s. Colter's dad was the provincial premier (like state governor). I can only imagine the ribbing his old man has given him for this song.
Over here in Oregon, out-of-staters struggle with the town name of Umpqua. Pretty much all the native American names around here people struggle with lol.
Oh don’t pick a fight with an Amish man, odds are they would not fight unless they were forced to, but them boys are strong. 12 year old Amish kids are stronger than your average man. Corn fed and farm fresh!
Mennonites have the best produce at the Farmer's Markets and the best 4x4's ... Think of them as Amish with Electricity ... Canada's Social Healthcare heartland is the Prairies, in fact our Social Healthcare was founded in Colters province by a preacher and Wheat & Canola farmers ... Saskatchewan is the moral compass of Canada.
