I remember the first time I heard Stan Rogers sing. It was a song from this LP called The Field Behind The Plow, and it was in 1985. I was working as a reporter at the time for the local newspaper in Timmins, Ontario, and I was driving home from the newsroom one miserable and really stormy summer Saturday afternoon. CBC was broadcasting a special program dedicated to the music and life of Stan Rogers, and the instant I heard that song I became a fan.
When I got home I sat in my car in the driveway until the show was over because I didn’t want to miss a single note. I remember being absolutely shocked and so disappointed when the radio announcer informed me that Rogers had died a couple of years previously in an Air Canada plane fire. I bought this record the next day, and I’ve worn out a couple of copies since. And I must have bought it in bulk because I found two more sealed copies buried in the record collection, which I traded.
There are several stand-out tracks, including the title track, which has become something of an unofficial Canadian national anthem. But my favourite is The Field Behind The Plow. It's a perfect song. Many years later I met Garnet Rogers, Stan's enormously talented brother who was a member of his band and later a solo artist in his own right. I gave him a copy of The Field Behind The Plow that someone had recorded on banjo. He'd never heard it before and it's a really nice interpretation. I can't remember who does it, though, and I lost the original CD.
Northwest Passage, the title track of this record, is one of the best-known Stan Rogers songs. It's done a cappella and features Rogers singing the verses alone, with several guest vocalists harmonizing in the chorus. The song recalls the experiences of the early explorers who were searching for a route across Canada to the Pacific Ocean, particularly Sir John Franklin, who along with the rest of his crew lost his life in the quest. It also references the geography of Canada, specifically the Fraser River on the western coast and the Davis Strait in the east.
The song's narrator sings about taking the "passage overland in the footsteps of brave Kelso," a reference to English explorer and fur trader Henry Kelsey, who was apprenticed to the Hudson's Bay Company in 1684 and commissioned to explore westward over the plains in response to competition from rival French traders. In an interview in 1982 Rogers admitted that during the writing of the song he'd been unsure of Kelsey's name and wrongly guessed it was "Kelso". Well, that's OK. It fits the song better, I think.
This LP, released in 1981, was the high water mark of Rogers' career. Former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson quoted the song in her first official address and also later in a speech at the dedication of the new Canadian embassy in Berlin.
Northwest Passage also appeared in the final episode of the television series, Due South, and has been covered by many other artists. In addition, it was used by the BBC World Service's World Today program during a story about the expansion of Canada's efforts to confirm its sovereignty over the arctic region through which the Northwest Passage runs.
I remember the first time I heard Stan Rogers sing. It was a song from this LP called The Field Behind The Plow, and it was in 1985. I was working as a reporter at the time for the local newspaper in Timmins, Ontario, and I was driving home from the newsroom one miserable and really stormy summer Saturday afternoon. CBC was broadcasting a special program dedicated to the music and life of Stan Rogers, and the instant I heard that song I became a fan.
When I got home I sat in my car in the driveway until the show was over because I didn’t want to miss a single note. I remember being absolutely shocked and so disappointed when the radio announcer informed me that Rogers had died a couple of years previously in an Air Canada plane fire. I bought this record the next day, and I’ve worn out a couple of copies since. And I must have bought it in bulk because I found two more sealed copies buried in the record collection, which I traded.
There are several stand-out tracks, including the title track, which has become something of an unofficial Canadian national anthem. But my favourite is The Field Behind The Plow. It's a perfect song. Many years later I met Garnet Rogers, Stan's enormously talented brother who was a member of his band and later a solo artist in his own right. I gave him a copy of The Field Behind The Plow that someone had recorded on banjo. He'd never heard it before and it's a really nice interpretation. I can't remember who does it, though, and I lost the original CD.
Northwest Passage, the title track of this record, is one of the best-known Stan Rogers songs. It's done a cappella and features Rogers singing the verses alone, with several guest vocalists harmonizing in the chorus. The song recalls the experiences of the early explorers who were searching for a route across Canada to the Pacific Ocean, particularly Sir John Franklin, who along with the rest of his crew lost his life in the quest. It also references the geography of Canada, specifically the Fraser River on the western coast and the Davis Strait in the east.
The song's narrator sings about taking the "passage overland in the footsteps of brave Kelso," a reference to English explorer and fur trader Henry Kelsey, who was apprenticed to the Hudson's Bay Company in 1684 and commissioned to explore westward over the plains in response to competition from rival French traders. In an interview in 1982 Rogers admitted that during the writing of the song he'd been unsure of Kelsey's name and wrongly guessed it was "Kelso". Well, that's OK. It fits the song better, I think.
This LP, released in 1981, was the high water mark of Rogers' career. Former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson quoted the song in her first official address and also later in a speech at the dedication of the new Canadian embassy in Berlin.
Northwest Passage also appeared in the final episode of the television series, Due South, and has been covered by many other artists. In addition, it was used by the BBC World Service's World Today program during a story about the expansion of Canada's efforts to confirm its sovereignty over the arctic region through which the Northwest Passage runs.
BONUS TRACK
The following appeared in the Hamilton Spectator's 170th anniversary special edition …
"In the early evening of June 2, 1983, an Air Canada airliner was forced to make an emergency landing because of a major electrical fire on board. By the time the horrible ordeal was over, 23 passengers were dead, including Dundas-based singer-songwriter Stan Rogers.
The McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 was flying between Dallas-Fort Worth and Toronto when the fire developed near a lavatory. The pilot made an emergency landing at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, but by then the cabin was filled with highly-toxic smoke. Rogers was returning home after performing at music festival in Kerrville, Florida.
Rogers was only 33 when he died and was making great headway in a career writing songs about Canada. Compositions such as Barrett's Privateers, Mary Ellen Carter, Fogarty's Cove and Northwest Passage were gaining attention, and have since become Canadian classics.
The tragedy led to changes in aviation regulations around the world to make airliners safer. Smoke detectors and emergency lighting leading to exit doors were made mandatory. Flight crews today receive greater firefighting training and have better equipment to deal with on-board fires."
Rogers died alongside 22 other passengers, most likely of smoke inhalation. There were initially no visible flames, and after attempts to extinguish the fire were unsuccessful, smoke filled the cabin. Upon landing, the plane's doors were opened, allowing the five crew and 18 of the passengers to escape, but approximately 60 to 90 seconds into the evacuation the oxygen rushing in from outside caused a flash fire. Rogers was one of the passengers still on the plane at the time. Some say he was helping others exit the aircraft. His ashes were scattered in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Nova Scotia
The following appeared in the Hamilton Spectator's 170th anniversary special edition …
"In the early evening of June 2, 1983, an Air Canada airliner was forced to make an emergency landing because of a major electrical fire on board. By the time the horrible ordeal was over, 23 passengers were dead, including Dundas-based singer-songwriter Stan Rogers.
The McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 was flying between Dallas-Fort Worth and Toronto when the fire developed near a lavatory. The pilot made an emergency landing at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, but by then the cabin was filled with highly-toxic smoke. Rogers was returning home after performing at music festival in Kerrville, Florida.
Rogers was only 33 when he died and was making great headway in a career writing songs about Canada. Compositions such as Barrett's Privateers, Mary Ellen Carter, Fogarty's Cove and Northwest Passage were gaining attention, and have since become Canadian classics.
The tragedy led to changes in aviation regulations around the world to make airliners safer. Smoke detectors and emergency lighting leading to exit doors were made mandatory. Flight crews today receive greater firefighting training and have better equipment to deal with on-board fires."
Rogers died alongside 22 other passengers, most likely of smoke inhalation. There were initially no visible flames, and after attempts to extinguish the fire were unsuccessful, smoke filled the cabin. Upon landing, the plane's doors were opened, allowing the five crew and 18 of the passengers to escape, but approximately 60 to 90 seconds into the evacuation the oxygen rushing in from outside caused a flash fire. Rogers was one of the passengers still on the plane at the time. Some say he was helping others exit the aircraft. His ashes were scattered in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Nova Scotia
