The Crusty Curmudgeon: July 2016

July 01, 2016

Our country reeks of trees

"Ah, trees, trees, and more trees. What a wonderfully green universe we live in, eh?"—Colonel O'Neill, Stargate SG-1

It is Canada Day once again. Today is Canada's 149th birthday, so there is but one more year the (presumably) big sesquicentennial celebration next summer.

I haven't been blogging recently—between a return to school and a change of employment, I found myself early on having little to say. At some point it became a challenge to see if I could go, say, six months without blogging. And so here we are. If nothing else, I'm not going to miss my annual tradition of posting a Canadian patriotic song each Canada Day.

This year, however, I'm feeling a little more frivolous than I usually do. This year's post came about mainly because at sometime on Thursday, the lyrics to the Anthem of the Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen came into my mind, and I couldn't get rid of them. (To their credit, they finally rid me of Styx' "Lorelei," an earworm I have been suffering for three days.)

So, it's kind of patriotic.

Additionally, it was co-authored by a Canadian: animator John M. Kricfalusi, who comes from Quebec. Kricfalusi is influenced by classic animation such as that of Tex Avery and Chuck Jones, and is best known for creating The Ren & Stimpy Show for Nickelodeon in the early 1990s. The Anthem of the Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen is the set piece of the second season's final episode.

The tune, of course, is that of the Royal Anthem, "God Save the Queen," but I imagine Kricfalusi's main inspiration was the American patriotic anthem "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" since it bears a closer lyrical relationship, most notably the wordplay in the first line.