Welcome to a holiday episode from our Serenade Radio series of Steyn's Song of the Week. On the eve of America's Columbus Day (which is also Canadian Thanksgiving), Mark celebrates the Christopher Columbus Songbook, which is more extensive than you might think.
To listen to the show, simply click above.
Thank you for your enthusiastic reactions to this series. As Gail Rothesay, my fellow Ontarian and a member of The Mark Steyn Club, wrote:
Mark! I set the timer and listened to your Serenade programme. What joy! Amidst what often seems our endless travails, your music took me away, so much so, the end seemed too soon. Peggy Lee. Such a voice.....
The big band on after you [Johnny Beerling's show] reminded me of the rather interesting nugget: [former Alberta Premier] Jason Kenney's grandfather was a big band leader, based for quite a while here in Southern Ontario. It boasted the rather unusual name, Mart Kenney and his Western Gentlemen. His son, also Mart, did his Air Force flight training with my husband near Red Deer. An interesting and accomplished family, despite present troubles.
Thank you, Gail. Glad you enjoyed the show. And just for you and all other Canadians celebrating Thanksgiving in a decadent and diseased dominion, Mart Kenney is not to be confused with Mark Carney, who has a striking lack of Western Gentlemen. So, just for Thanksgiving, here is Mr Kenney's own composition, with a title that today would attract multiple Human Rights Commission complaints - "We're Proud of Canada":
Happy Thanksgiving - and these days I'll take the above song over the Arabic "O Canada" favoured by Earl Haig Secondary School.
If you didn't catch today's audio edition of Steyn's Song of the Week on Serenade Radio in the UK, do treat yourself and catch one or other of the repeats:
It airs again on Monday morn at 5.30am London time - that's 9.30pm Sunday on the North American West Coast, so kind of a late-night vibe to it, but it's early Monday afternoon in Oz, so a mellow post-prandial feel to it.
Serenade has an additional rerun of the show on Thursday at 9pm UK time. Whichever you prefer, we hope you'll tune in. You can listen from anywhere on the planet right here.
This airing of my Serenade Song of the Week is a special presentation of The Mark Steyn Club. We launched the Steyn Club over eight years ago, and in this our ninth year I'm immensely heartened by all the longtime SteynOnline regulars - from Fargo to Fiji, Madrid to Malaysia, West Virginia to Witless Bay - who've signed up to be a part of it. Membership in The Mark Steyn Club also comes with non-musical benefits, including:
~Our latest audio adventure in Tales for Our Time, and over six-dozen thrilling predecessors;
~Other audio series on pertinent topics, such as our 2019 serialization of Climate Change: The Facts and our 2021 adaptation of Mark Steyn's Passing Parade, plus our twentieth-anniversary celebration of the highly prescient America Alone;
~My exclusive anthology of video poetry - because, as I always say, that's where the big bucks are;
~Exclusive Steyn Store member pricing on over 40 books, mugs, T-shirts, and other products;
~The opportunity to engage in live Clubland Q&A sessions with yours truly (such as this Wednesday's);
~Transcript and audio versions of Mark's Mailbox, The Mark Steyn Show, and other video content;
~Advance booking for my live appearances around the world, including exclusive members-only events such as The Mark Steyn Christmas Show, assuming I'm ever again up to such events;
~Customised email alerts for new content in your areas of interest;
~and the chance to support our print, audio and video ventures as they wing their way around the planet.
To become a member of The Mark Steyn Club, please click here. And for our special Gift Membership see here.
One other benefit to Club Membership is our Comment Club privileges. So, if you feel the urge to join in the laughing at Christopher Columbus, then give it your best below. Please do stay on topic on all our comment threads, because that's the way to keep them focused and readable. With that caution, have at it.
