Sometime around ’92, I was aboard HMCS Saskatchewan and we were doing a refueling and resupply at sea. As we came up to the resupply ship, this was played over the loudspeakers.
Roll on, Tom, roll on.
Sometime around ’92, I was aboard HMCS Saskatchewan and we were doing a refueling and resupply at sea. As we came up to the resupply ship, this was played over the loudspeakers.
Roll on, Tom, roll on.
The Hockey Song…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8zeB7b1uFY
All of the “Across This Land with Stompin’ Tom Connors” documentary here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTLlREVZvQQ
Rest In Peace.
BTW, I just proudly added Stompin’ to my Firefox spell-checker dictionary.
Back in the day, I was embarked on the Constellation out of San Diego. I bunked with the Marines.
I forget the hour but the speakers called for all hands on deck.
When I reached the flight deck, the vastness of the compliment was obvious….perhaps about 3-4,000….
Apparently the custom was to take aboard a used car and about a day out, it was put on the catapult and launched. It flew but the tires failed long before the end….one of my then associates estimated that because it likely only weighed about 1 1/2 tons it was doing about 200 mph when the tires blew.
Good for morale….
Likely discontinued now because the Donkeys are like Muslims…no sensa fun….polution etc….get a grip!
Stompin’ Tom Connors dead at 77….
RIP……..
…29 boot marks and they’re signed with love…, classic Stompin’ Tom.
While doing volunteer work at the hospital (in BC), we were asked how to call for PEI tourist info and both my wife and I broke out into, “Eight double zero five six five seven four two one, that’s the magic number, free to every one, so make this fall the best of all for Prince Edward Island fun, eight double zero five six five seven four two one”. Dang, Tom had a way of making things stick, now on to “Bud the Spud from the Bright Red Mud…” RIP, Tom.
A Great Canadian. So long Tom.
Tom is singing for God. Sing long, Tom, sing proud. RIP
“Oh yes! we are the people. Running in the race. Buying up the bargains at the old market place. Another sale on something!! We’ll get it while its hot. And save alot of money saving money we don’t got. (bis).
Tom was our finance minister before his time.
Thanks for your songs Tom.
RIP
RIP, Stompin’ Tom. With your passing, the mold’s broken. Sad day for Canada.
Someone deserving of a State funeral. RIP, Tom.
Tom you made my parents backyard on sunny, summer, Sunday afternoons; a pretty cool place to be. Thanks !
Back in the mid 90`s i was overseas with the Army in the former Yugoslavia. We were expected to spend another Christmas away from Canada. In a desperate bid secure some entertainment for the boys, I wrote Stompin`Tom and invited him over to our Platoon House for Christmas. Wisely, he graciously declined, but he did send us a pretty cool package. I had sent a list of all our platoon members and he personally signed pictures to every one of us (over 30) and wrote us a lengthy handwritten letter. He thanked the boys for their service and wrote eloquently about how noble the Canadian soldier is to everyday Canadians. It was a huge morale boost and most importantly, it was something that he could have had a staff member write – instead he sat down and hand wrote a letter to a bunch of lads he had never met. That is exceptional and Stompin`Tom was an exceptional Canadian. If only there was an exception to have him to lie in State…we all know exceptions are possible in that honour!
A moment of silence for you today, Tom.
I forgot to mention that Tom’s death will be tough on the plywood industry. 🙂
Damn right! And a lot more deserving than some who have had State funerals!
Tom Connors was the last of a breed of entertainers, like his hero Wilf Carter,who lived a real life,then put his experiences to music, unlike the current trend.
Canada has lost it’s poet laureate and as Tom himself said,there doesn’t appear to be anyone taking up the torch,writing about Canada,and the people of this Country.
I’m going to write CBC and ask them to rebroadcast “Stompin Tom’s Canada” which I first saw in the mid 70’s, featuring the great fiddle playing of Alfie Myhres.It was only 8 episodes long,but was the best Canadian music show I’ve ever seen.
The best part of a true Canadian narrative is now silent.
Tom embodied an era in this nation in which it was growing up. There was an industrial and resource boom the like of which we will probably never see again. Millions of displaced Newfies, Bluenosers, Brettoners, Spud hoppers and sundry east coasters filled the factory, mining, and capital project jobs in Ont. and the west. It was an era Tom brought to life by singing about the common people and places that made it happen – and quaffing a few drafts along the way.
He was a great Canadian of humble beginnings whose love for this country was unconditional. If we lived in a civilized nation these days, he’d get a state funeral.
Tom is riding the rails across Canada and singing about its beauty for eternity. I hope he gets all the tavern draft beer, ketchup and spuds he wants.
I never much cared for Tom’s music but I always appreciated him as a Canadian patriot and a good person. I met him once at a house party in Torontoa nd was privileged to have had a good conversation with him…what an engaging and interesting guy. And what you saw was what you got!
RIP Stompin’ Tom…the world is a lesser place as a result of your departure…
Fun guy, but his geography seems a bit sketchy! Unless he was talking about the river.
One bright day in the early 70’s, Stompin’ Tom came into the studios of CKOM in Saskatoon to do a live-mike interview on the afternoon country music show. For whatever reason they didn’t use a delay\delete system, but just took calls live after screening them. How well did it work?
Well, the third caller came on, cheerful, friendly and articulate, and said, “Now, I’ve got a question for Tom, and also a question for the Dj. My question for Tom is, they tell us you always travel with a piece of plywood. Why is that?” Tom happily trots out the old stompin’ story, everybody has a chuckle, and then the caller says, “Thanks, Tom, that’s a great answer. Now I’ve got a question for the DJ. How big is your c**k?” And the DJ, who was apparently distracted, didn’t quite hear him and came barging in: “Sorry there, caller, I didn’t quite catch that. How big is what? Could you repeat that?”
And Tom handled it so well. He was relaxed and calm and seemed very slightly amused and he goes, “Ah, now, I don’t think we need to worry about that. You know, that reminds me of another story…” He must have been about to piss himself laughing – I was just about pissing myself hearing this live on the radio – but if you hadn’t actually heard it you’d never have imagined that anything the least bit untoward had gone on.
I’ve never forgotten how gracefully and good-naturedly Tom saved that DJ from himself. I’ve regarded him ever since as a good guy. And he certainly brightened my life more than once. Bless him.