One of my favorite Canadian songs, and
though I’ve never lived on the prairie,
I think anyone who’s survived a
Canadian winter will easily relate to it. It
also captures the essence of the
music/recording scene here in the late 60s/early 70s.
Prairie Town is from Any Road (1992),
and the album in fact features two versions
of the song: one, hard rock, the
other, country, both with Neil Young singing
background vocals. I prefer the mellow
country version. Click on the title below
to hear a few bars from the song.
You’ll need Real Audio Player (free
download)
to listen to it.
Born and raised in
a prairie town
Just a kid full of dreams
We didn’t have much but an old radio
Music came from places we’d never been
Growing up in a prairie town
Learning to drive in the snow
Not much to do so you start a band
And soon you’ve gone as far as you can go
(chorus)
Winter nights are long, summer days are gone
Portage and Main fifty below
Springtime melts the snow, rivers overflow
Portage and Main fifty below
Portage and Main fifty below
All the bands in a prairie town
Try to outdo the next in line
Learning records out of Liverpool
Dreams of England on their minds
On the other side of Winnipeg
Neil and The Squires played the Zone
But then he went to play
For awhile in Thunder Bay
He never looked back and he’s never coming home
Just a band from a prairie town
Sometimes we’d drive from coast to coast
One call from LA and we’d pack and fly away
But in our hearts we’re always prairie folk
Looking back at a prairie town
People ask me why I went away
To fly with the best, sometimes you have to leave the nest
But the prairies made me what I am today
Randy Bachman