College song updated

Musician Danny Bronson supercharges Let the Deed Show song for Fleming College’s 50th anniversary celebrations Friday

The songwriter of Fleming College’s official song revamped his original piece in honour of the school’s 50th anniversary.

Danny Bronson was first commissioned to write a song for the school in 1992, in celebration of the college’s 25th anniversary.

He created Let the Deed Show, a song that details the life of the late Sir Sandford Fleming, the college’s namesake.

While researching Fleming for the song, Bronson visited the Hutchison House. The inventor stayed with Dr. John Hutchison when he first arrived in Peterborough.

Bronson, 61, plays the song every year at all seven convocation ceremonies at both Peterborough and Lindsay campuses. (He’s only missed one in 25 years).

To mark the college’s 50th, school officials thought it would be fitting for Bronson to do a rendition of the song.

The original piece was loaded with orchestration, a choir and was a touch slower.

“We sort of wanted to supercharge it,” said Bronson, adding they also modernized it a bit.

The Crestwood Secondary School graduate recorded the song at Haggarty Sound Studio in Cavan Monaghan Township, with Toronto-based Gary Craig on drums and Peterborough’s Andrew Afleck on bass.

They kept the song’s melody and intro but added percussive sounds, reminiscent of the hammers swinging on the railroad tracks, as well as a big clock ticking.

Fleming was the chief engineer of the Canadian Pacific Railway and invented standardized time.

Bronson said he enjoyed being back in the studio to tweak the piece.

“It’s always an adventure too, because you’re trying to think what are you going to make it just a little bit different and maintain the integrity of the song.”

A family services co-ordinator for Little Lake Cemetery by day, Bronson has been a professional musician and entertainer for more than 40 years.

He’s the musician for the Citiots Improv troupe and was inducted into the Peterborough Pathway of Fame’s music and entertainment category in 1999.

The father of four will be at the college’s 50th anniversary celebrations at the Sutherland Campus on Brealey Drive on Friday. The event runs from 3 to 7 p.m. and the public is welcome to attend. NOTE: View the video of Let the Deed Show at www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com or on Fleming College’s website at www.flemingcollege.ca

CLIFFORD SKARSTEDT/EXAMINER Local musician Danny Bronson plays a few notes on his guitar on Tuesday at Fleming College's Sutherland Campus. Bronson remastered the song he wrote for Fleming College 25 years ago to mark the college's 50th anniversary this year.