A Canadian music challenge for you

PIcked up this great collection of Canadian music today at Starbucks to add to the Canadian Studies Program‘s media library. There are only a few tracks on here that I don’t already own myself, but I was enticed by the lovely packaging as much as by the fine choices of music made by Starbucks.

I also really liked their description of Canada and its music on the back cover: “United less by a common sound than a shared spirit, Canadians from the rock, jazz, and folk realms have made their mark with music that reflects the heartiness, humor and coast-to-coast diversity of their homeland.”

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that the list of tracks is a bit conservative, but I think they strike a good balance of artists with whom Americans are familiar and those who will be pleasant surprises to them. Here’s the track list for “Northern Songs”

1. Feist – “Mushaboom”

2. Pilot Speed – “Knife-Grey Sea”

3. Cowboy Junkies – “Sweet Jane”

4. The Band – “The Weight”

5. K.D. Lang – “Constant Craving”

6. Rufus Wainwright – “Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk”

7. Sarah McLachlan – “Angel”

8. Ron Sexsmith – “All in Good Time”

9. Kate and Anna McGarrigle “Entre la Jeunesse et la Sagesse”

10. Great Lake Swimmers – “Your Rocky Spine”

11. The Be Good Tanyas – “Ootischenia”

12. Broken Social Scene – “Swimmers”

13. Holly Cole – “I Can See Clearly Now”

14. Diana Krall – “Temptation”

15. Leonard Cohen – “Anthem”

As I said, this is a pretty good list. If I had to choose 15 songs to represent Canadian music, though, I’m not sure if any of these tracks would make the cut. As I ponder just what my list would look like, I thought I’d pass this along to you, dear reader. What songs would you pick if you wanted to create a compilation of Canadian music that represented Canada’s best and brightest while still representing “the heartiness, humor, and coast-to-coast diversity of their [or our!] homeland”?

Post your 15 songs in the comments below or, better yet, write about your choice on your own blog and link back here. Let me know you’ve posted on your blog, so that I can link to it from here as well.