Page 27 - June Issue 2021

The Checkerlads - Shake Yourself Down
The word shake appears in the song title so you’d be correct in guessing that it’s a movin’ and groovin’ foot stompin’ garage rock floor shaker. The record moved it’s way to #6 on hometown radio station CKCK in Regina, Saskatchewan in August of 1966. Somehow, this record didn’t make it’s way to stations in other Canadian provinces, let alone south of the border. The group disbanded not too long after it’s release, but they’ve been immortalized on Canadian and other garage rock
compilations. The original 45 sells for about $100.
David Clayton-Thomas - Brainwashed
Long before his days with Blood Sweat and Tears, David Clayton-Thomas released some killer
records up in Canada that never made their way to the United States. With the Fabulous Shays, Clayton-Thomas released “Take Me Back” in July of 1965. It received airplay in western Canada and even made it to #39 on the CHUM Charts. The song was played in the mid-2000s when CHUM was still an oldies station.
It’s the July 1966 release of “Brainwashed” that got the attention of
listeners, especially in Alberta where the song hit #2 on CJCA in Edmonton.
Nationally, the song reached #11 in Canada. “Brainwashed” is a hard and
heavy Vietnam War protest song with some intentional (or unintentional?)
censoring beeps. The content is perhaps the reason that this song, as big as it was in western Canada, never made it across the border. Gordon Lightfoot would have a similar issue in 1968.
Gordon Lightfoot - The Way I Feel / Black Day In July Before having a #5 hit in the United States (#1 in Canada) with “If You Could Read My Mind,”
Lightfoot released several records up in Canada, including “The Way I Feel” in the spring of 1967. Much like Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence,” the song, which appears on his debut album, was electrified for his second album and single release. The song reached #21 on CHUM, #11 on CFOS in Owen Sound, Ontario, and hit #2 on CFUN’s All-Canadian Top 10 in June of 1967. The song never made it across the border.
In 1968, Lightfoot released “Black Day In July,” a powerful (and highly
underrated) song capturing the tension and trauma of the 1967 Detroit
riots. The song reached the top 10 on radio stations all across Canada,
but did not get played on American radio stations. Rumor has it that many
American radio stations refused to play the song in fear of causing unrest as the song was released around the time of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Celebrate Canada Day with two hours of the lost, forgotten, and classic Canadian records from the 60s and early 70s on Jumpin’ Joe’s Basement Show from 1-3pm (eastern) on Saturday June 26 on Radiodowntown.ca!
Sincerely, Joe Madigan
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