The participants were lucky enough to participate in songwriting workshops and sing-a-longs with Murray and his Great Big Sea band mates Alan Doyle and Bob Hallett. There are two videos on Facebook, one of Alan Doyle talking and singing about songwriting and doing a bit of singing and one of Bob Hallett singing one of my favourite Great Big Sea songs Follow Me Back. Bob really has still got it after only appearing a couple of times on stage since the Great Big Sea hiatus. I really enjoyed the reference to Newfoundland. I have circulated a copy of the original recording of Follow Me Back from the Safe Upon the Shore on my Google + page.
Then there were the fields trips in and around St. John’s during the day and at night including Signal Hill, Quidi Vidi, George Street and Bob Hallett’s pub Erin’s and his restaurant Tavola. From the posts I read the whole program looked totally awesome. I really regret not doing it. I have shared a couple of screenshots of Murray, Alan and Bob from the official social media pages of the Toronto Songwriting School. No copyright infringement intended.
Prior to returning to Newfoundland Murray wrote a post reflecting on his time in Great Big Sea and Newfoundland. I thought this post was really interesting for several reasons. I have been to Newfoundland I can see how different Newfoundland is from the rest of Canada. I have heard Newfoundlanders talk about and write about how different they are and the similarities they share with mainland Canadians. But I have never heard anyone speak about or read anything from mainland Canadians with a genuine connection to Newfoundland.
I decided to keep a copy here. I have edited the post for copyright reasons. The post is from the official Toronto Songwriting School webpage. No copyright infringement intended.
“…In two weeks, I fly to what in a weird way feels like my ancestral home – St. John’s, Newfoundland. Any Newfoundlander reading that (a Mainlander referring to St. John’s as ‘home’) will probably immediately resent it – but, I hope, immediately get it as well.
When I joined Great Big Sea in 2002, I was a pure Torontonian. I spent my time cracking witty jokes (nothing wrong with that) and going to parties where I would try to figure out who I should be to impress everyone there (something a bit messed up about that). Newfoundland changed that for me. It’s not that Newfoundlanders aren’t witty – they’re very funny people – but their humour and their way of being is based on being exactly who they are. For a Torontonian, that was a revelation – I was suddenly surrounded by people who weren’t trying to figure out who to be, they were trying to project who they were as loudly as possible, usually for comedic effect.
For several years, I struggled to navigate these two cultures. I’d jump on the GBS tour bus and feel like I was surrounded by people who talked too much, drank too often and laughed too loudly, then go home and have conversations with smart, well-dressed alien robots. But eventually I figured it out, like a kid who speaks English at school and Urdu at home. I also figured out the advantages of being a Torontonian in Newfoundland and a Newfoundlander in Toronto – I’ll let you in on some of those tricks over a beer sometime.”
So in two weeks I go back to St. John’s for the first time in four years. It’s a city that married its fortunes to the price of oil, and has discovered itself to have a rather moody wife. But I’m sure the spirit lives on – it always does.”.
