blog post Grant Lawrence’s Best Songs of the 2000s Part Two, Podcast #232

shhh don't tell Tariq, I'm missing some of his show!

I agree with you Grant about Elevator Love Letter, it's a perfect song in my mind as well, and still my favorite Stars song (though 14 Forever (and the whole Sad Robot album) is so close behind)

Martin

Yeah, perfect number 1 pick I think.  :)  I have to spend some time today to ponder what is my favorite song of the two thousands...  I'll get back to you!

Martin

Hey Grant!

My favourite song of the decade has to be Wolf Parade-I’ll Believe in Anything. The first time I heard this song I was laying in the grass in Ontario in the summertime with two of my best friends. As soon as it began to play, I knew that moment and that song would stick with me forever. Each instrument coming in on its own wrapped together with Spencer Krug’s enchanting voice causes this song to be the perfect theme song for my youthful disregard and romance. Being at the peak of our seemingly invincible youth, drunk with happiness and lust, combined with the setting sun beaming strongly on our faces, led us at that moment to truly believe in anything.  

doesn't Gastown count?

A beautiful, well thought out, encapsulating synopsis (and primer for those with little familiarity of the music Canada has to offer) of the decade that was the 2000's. Both parts of this podcast have served me exceedingly well these past days.

The question what is my favourite Canadian song of the 2000's is a very hard one to answer. So much amazing work in that time coupled with the vagaries of memory and bias (such as Grant's oft lamented fact that work from the first half of a given year is often overlooked in favour of more recent releases, at least when crowd sourcing these type of things) have made me over think this question. Therefore, I am going with the song that first came to mind after listening to Part 2 of this podcast.

This is a fire door never leave open off the Weakerthans album Left and Leaving is very special to me for a whole whack of reasons. In this blog thread from December (post [7]) I go over how this song reminds (in technicolour) of my childhood and my father. Further to that it is my favourite Weakerthans song. I came to the Weakerthans much later than what would have been optimal, but I'm very happy and thankful that I know them. For years my beloved CBC was trying to get me to wake up and listen to them with pokes from all over the fringes (hearing the name dropped, John K. on Canada Reads and so forth) but it took someone much closer to introduce me to them; my brother Sean. As it happens, we would listen to the Weakerthans for hours in the sauna in our backyard. That sauna no longer exists, so there's some heartache with this song too.

I always knew the title and lyric referred to the signs seen in multi story buildings everywhere, but growing up in rural Thunder Bay, ON I did not have much familiarity with them. As I was preparing to move to Vancouver I listened to this song in anticipation. Now it has been a year in this great city and hearing this song in my head makes me feel a little more at home when I get back from and walk up the stairs in my apartment building.

At the end of the podcast you thanked the listeners for sticking with R3 through all it's forms, so let me take this opportunity to thank you and EVERYONE at Radio3 for all the amazing work you put into getting the huge Canadian talent pool of musicians as much exposure as you can. Thank you for making music a meaningful and relevant part of my life again. Thank you for the portal to an array of friends that spreads across the country and continent (and further I imagine given enough time.)

My warmest regards,

Cameron Bode