less worse

I got some nice email from a man who left the US as a Vietnam draft resister. (He's actually the father of someone I work with in the Haven Coalition. Way to feel old!) He says:

There's a tradition here that any band with any kind of sense of humour offers up their ideas for a new Canadian national anthem. There's a very funny group called The Arrogant Worms whose potential Canadian  anthem includes the line "I know that we're no better, but I'm sure that we're less worse".

Googling The Arrogant Worms, I discovered lots of cool stuff, including these lyrics, from "Canada's Really Big":

When I look around me

I can't believe what i see

it seems as if this country

has lost its will to live

the economy is lousy

we barely have an army

but we can still stand proudly

because Canada's really big

 

We're the second largest country

on this planet earth

and if Russia keeps on shrinking,

then soon we'll be first!

(As long as we keep Quebec)

 

The USA has tanks,

and Switzerland has banks

they can keep them thanks,

they just don't amount

cause when you get down to it,

you find out what the truth is,

it isn't what you do with it,

it's the size that counts.

 

Most people will tell you

that France is pretty large

but you can put fourteen Frances

into this land of ours!

(It'd take a lot of work, it'd take a whole lot of work...)

 

We're larger than Malaysia,

almost as big as Asia

we're bigger than Australia

and it's a continent

so big we seldom bother

to go see one another

but we often go to other countries for vacations

Our mountains are very pointy,

our prairies are not

the rest is kinda bumpy,

but man do we have a lot!

(We've got a lot of land, we've got a whole lot of land)

 

So stand up and be proud and sing it very loud

we stand out from the crowd,

cause Canada's really big.

I thought that was pretty amusing. (Our mountains are very pointy?!) Apparently these guys sing "O Canada" at CFL games and hold goofy Canada Day celebrations. If any Canadian reading this can correct me or fill me in about this, please do. You know, it's OK to leave a comment. Be brave! Be the first!