The anthem singer who performed the Canadian anthem prior to the 4 Nations Face-Off championship game Thursday night changed a lyric in “O Canada” as a response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated remarks about making the country the 51st state.
Publicist Adam Gonshor in an email to The Associated Press confirmed Chantal Kreviazuk changed the lyric from “in all of us command” to “that only us command” and confirmed Trump’s 51st state comments were the reason why. During the game, Kreviazuk told the AP she did it “because I believe in democracy, and a sovereign nation should not have to be defending itself against tyranny and fascism.
“I’m somebody who grew up on music that spoke to the heart and the moment, and it shaped me as a songwriter and really as a human being. I don’t think it would be authentic to me to be given a world stage and not express myself and be true to myself.”
Wait, the lyric is “in all of us command”???
I always thought it was “in all of our command”
Because you know, that makes grammatical sense…
It doesn’t, actually! The lyrics are not saying “we have command of true, patriot love”, but rather “Canada commands true, patriot love of us”.
The English lyrics can be rewritten in prose as:
Canada, our home, compells us to feel great love for it. With great pride, we see it gain prominance, as a powerful and indendent country. From all places, Canada, we will defend you.
Please, God, we ask you to protect Canada’s beauty and soverignty. Canada, we will defend you. Canada, we will defend you.
I always interpreted it as “Canada is ours, as a group, and it’s up to us what happens to it,” which I guess is pretty much what you said :)
Remember, this is the part that was changed from “all thy sons.”
I dunno, but now I’m thinking if that’s the words now we should add an s and strike the “with” in the next line.
True patriot love In all of us commands
Our glowing hearts To see the rise
Etc etc
Don’t get hung up on the details, because they change over time. When I was in school, that line was “in all thy sons command” (I’m fine with them replacing it to be less sexist, but don’t ask me to sing the new version from memory!)
Go further back, and “from far and wide” drops out, if I recall correctly.
Most people don’t even know the first word of the anthem. Genuinely, not kidding.
I’m shocked. All I can say is O.
That’s not what that word means! It’s like ending a sentence with a conjunction!!
Yes. It uses an inversion format, and means “command in all of us”. It fits the meter and the rhyme better that way.
But, then, Ms Kraviazuk’s change isn’t as described. “That only us command” basically says “only we [have true love for Canada]”. It doesn’t speak of independence but makes me think that only Canadians can love Canada. Is it being xenophobic?