History Music / StompinTomConnors

[[caption-width-right:350:[[CanadaEh So wait, where's he from again?]]]]

Canada has certainly produced its share of CountryMusic legends, but absolutely none have been quite so proudly [[CanadaEh Canadian]] as Stompin' Tom Connors, a blue-collar icon and almost certainly one of the most successful independent musicians in the country's history. Over a career spanning almost half a century, Stompin' Tom traveled constantly across Canada, celebrating its land, its people, and its stories, in song. He wrote his first song at only 11 years old, and went on to write over 500. In the process, he recorded 51 albums and sold over four million copies, which is pretty impressive given that he rarely, if ever, promoted himself outside his beloved home country. Stompin' Tom was instantly identifiable by a black Stetson hat that he almost never removed. He's also famous for the piece of plywood he always carried around with him - he had a habit of stomping his foot to keep time while performing, and he started using the plywood so club owners would stop complaining about him marking up their floors. That little extra percussive element became a trademark of his music.

* CanadaEh: Meet the godfather of this trope. Tom sang about a lot of things - working class struggles being a favorite topic, such as miners and farmers - but it all came back to his love of his country. Tom wrote a song about every town, city and province he visited during his career, and immortalized some Canadian folklore in his music. Even the famous "Bud The Spud," ostensibly about a potato trucker evading police, is not-so-subtly an ode to the potatoes of Prince Edward Island.

# ''The Northlands' Own Tom Connors'' [[note]]Re-released on A-C-T Records in the mid-1980s as ''Northland Zone'' due to a printing error[[/]] (1967)

# ''Love & Laughter'' [[note]]Later released as ''Stompin' Tom and the Moon-Man Newfie'' in 1973[[/note]] (1971)

-->--"Sudbury Saturday Night" [[note]]Inco is a mining company in Sudbury, Ontario, reflecting Stompin' Tom's affection for the working class.[[/note]]

Dominion Records eventually scooped him up, and he put out four records for them in rapid succession - ''The Northland's Own, On Tragedy Trail With Stompin' Tom Connors, Stompin’ Tom Connors Sings Bud The Spud And Other Favourites,'' and ''Stompin’ Tom Connors Meets Big Joe Mufferaw.'' Tom wasted little time in establishing the love of the country he’d crossed so many times over the years - "The Maritime Waltz" and "Roll On Saskatchewan" to name just a couple examples - and the third album would give him one of his most enduring classics, "Bud The Spud," a song celebrating the "best doggone potatoes that’s ever been growed" from Prince Edward Island. Tom would found his own label for much of his future releases, Boot Records (and really, what else could it be called?). He actually wound up forming three labels - Boot, Cynda and A-C-T - and he released early records by such luminaries as vocalist Rita [=MacNeil=] and classical guitarist Liona Boyd, amongst many others.

Tom’s other big enduring classic, "The Hockey Song," was released in 1972. The song is three verses, designed to mimic the three periods of a game, and it ends with "the puck is in, the home team wins!" which he’d change to a local team depending on what city he’d perform the song. The Ottawa Senators began playing it during games in 1992, and it spread to Toronto from there, and ever since, it’s been an inescapable hockey rink standard all over Canada and America. In 2004, when Creator/ConanOBrien did a week of ''Late Night With Conan O'Brien'' in Toronto, Stompin' Tom was invited to perform "The Hockey Song" to a boisterous Toronto crowd, who gave him a hero's welcome. This is one of the ''only'' times he was on American television.

Tom’s other big enduring classic, "The Hockey Song," was released in 1972. The song is three verses, designed to mimic the three periods of a game, and it ends with "the puck is in, the home team wins!" which he’d change to a local team depending on what city he’d perform the song. The Ottawa Senators began playing it during games in 1992, and it spread to Toronto from there, and ever since, it’s been an inescapable hockey rink standard all over Canada and America. In 2005, when Creator/ConanOBrien did a week of ''Late Night With Conan O'Brien'' in Toronto, Stompin' Tom was invited to perform "The Hockey Song" to a boisterous Toronto crowd, who gave him a hero's welcome. This is one of the ''only'' times he was on American television.

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: As mentioned above, Tom wasn't shy about putting Canadian folklore and major headlines into his music. For example, "Fire in the Mine" is about the Hollinger Mines fire in Timmins, Ontario that killed 39 miners in 1928. "Erika Nordby (Canada's Miracle Child)" references a 2001 incident where Nordby, then a toddler, was somehow revived after two hours with no heartbeat due to hypothermia. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stompin'_Tom_Connors#Songs_referencing_Canadian_historical_events That just scratches the surface.]]

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: As mentioned above, Tom wasn't shy about putting Canadian folklore and major headlines into his music. For example, "Fire in the Mine" is about the Hollinger Mines fire in Timmins, Ontario that killed 39 miners in 1928. "Erika Nordby (Canada's Miracle Child)" references a 2001 incident where Nordby, then a toddler, was somehow revived after two hours with no heartbeat due to hypothermia.