Time For Five:

The News asked Jimmy Rankin for comments about some of his memorable songs that he has written and recorded over the years. Following is what he had to say about each of them:

Followed Her Around

Rankin wrote this with fellow Cape Bretoner Gordie Sampson. At first, Sampson didn’t want to use the song for his own record, but later changed his mind and asked Rankin if he could use it.

“I said, ‘I’ve got my heart set on using this (for Rankin’s first solo album Song Dog).’ We wrestled

over the song for a period of time, and I won.”

The distinctive Hammond organ was so striking that when they put the finishing touches on the track, “we took the Hammond up in the mix and it became the signature instrument on that song.”

“I said, ‘I’ve got my heart set on using this (for Rankin’s first solo album Song Dog).’ We wrestled over the song for a period of time, and I won.”

The distinctive Hammond organ was so striking that when they put the finishing touches on the track, “we took the Hammond up in the

mix and it became the signature instrument on that song.”

Tripper

Never a single, Tripper, which was on Song Dog, is based on a true story of someone Rankin knew when he was growing up in Cape Breton. The haunting song is a favourite of Rankin die-hards. “He was a bit older, in and out of trouble with the law,” Rankin remembers.

Tripper’s character, and the true-to-life person it was based upon, met an early demise.

“He was murdered in a parking lot in Toronto, on his way back home

from out west. People know that one, it’s kind of like a cult song for me.”

You Feel the Same Way Too

The stomping party song was released in 1995, and when the track was being mixed in the studio, “the engineer turned to me and said, ‘you’ve got a #1 song.’ I don’t remember (if it went to #1) but if it didn’t, it should have,” he joked. “It’s a sing-along — everyone knows the words to it. It’s one of the songs I do every night in my shows.”

Mull River Shuffle

From The Rankin Family’s album

North Country album, the song name-checks some of the people who were in Rankin’s life when he was growing up. “It started to take on a different arrangement every night,” he says now. “God, I think it became a 20-minute song by the end of it.”

The Rawleigh Man

From his upcoming album Moving East, The Rawleigh Man is about someone who made a living selling Rawleigh products doorto-door.

“He was selling liniments, salves,” Rankin said. “J.P. (Cormier) came in and put some Celtic banjo on it.”