Plume’s Stompin’ Tom tribute a hit with fans
Edmonton expat Mike Plume’s loving tribute to a Canadian legend, So Long Stompin’ Tom, is soothing wounded hearts across the country.
Stompin’ Tom Connors, the musician behind Bud The Spud and The Hockey Song, died last week of natural causes at 77.
Plume, who now lives in Nashville, Tenn., wrote So Long Stompin’ Tom hours after learning about his death. “It’s not every day that we lose a cultural icon like this,” he said in a phone interview Monday.
“Years ago, I remember reading an interview with John Lennon, where he said something like songs aren’t written, they’re just floatin’ around and if you happen to be paying attention and your antenna is dialed in, you can pull out some good songs. So, for whatever reason, (So Long Stompin’ Tom) was floatin’ around that day and nobody else was paying attention. I just happened to luck into it.
“I started to write the song at 9 o’clock in the morning and by noon, I was recording it in the little music room in the back of my house.”
So Long Stompin’ Tom feels like a classic Connors stomper and features lyrics such as: “Well the Father Son and Holy Ghost / They’re all hanging on every word / While you’re singing songs of Saskatchewan / And tobacco from Tillsonburg / And a million drunken angels are singing with you tonight.”
The video of the song, which was posted last Thursday, has more than 19,000 views. (Watch it on YouTube.com/ mikeplume.) Plume says radio stations from Olds to Fredericton are playing So Long Stompin’ Tom and the track will soon be available on iTunes. All proceeds will be donated to food banks and homeless shelters.
Plume will also perform the tune at Connors’s memorial on Wednesday in Peterborough, Ont. He admits he was stunned by the invitation.
“I got an email from Stompin’ Tom’s manager saying the family would like me to sing at his memorial,” says Plume. “You have got to be kidding me! So I got a plane ticket and I’m on my way up there … ”
Among the other guests and speakers confirmed for the memorial are Liberal MP Ken Dryden, former governor general Adrienne Clarkson, former EMI president Deane Cameron and Peterborough Mayor Daryl Bennett, with performances from former Rheostatics frontman Dave Bidini, folksinger/songwriter Sylvia Tyson, Nova Scotia countryfolk singer Cindy Church and Connors’s collaborators Dave Gunning and Juno nominee J.P. Cormier.
“It’s going to be a good mixture (of) everybody that Tom would have wanted on there,” said Brian Edwards, a spokesman for the Connors family.
A private memorial for Connors will be held Tuesday, Edwards confirmed, but it was important to Connors that a public event follow to give fans and other well-wishers the chance to say goodbye.
In fact, one Ottawa man has launched a petition on change. org asking Prime Minister Stephen Harper to hold a state funeral for Stompin’ Tom. Kenneth McGrath, who is originally from Prince Edward Island, has been a fan of fellow Maritimer Stompin’ Tom ever since hearing his music as a child. While state funerals in Canada are normally reserved for political figures, McGrath believes the time has come to extend the honour to Canada’s cultural heroes.
“Stompin’ Tom is an example from our musical industry of an artist who remained outspokenly and proudly Canadian,” he said. “His appeal spanned geography and political sensibilities as he focused on aspects of Canadian life, traditions and folklore that we can all identify with. A state funeral in honour of one of our great cultural icons would demonstrate this reality in a symbolic and dignified manner.”
Meanwhile, Plume says he’s been stunned by the positive reaction to his tribute song from fans and radio stations across the country. He almost didn’t post the song because he didn’t want people to think he was trying to capitalize on Connors’s death.
“Up until I hit the button on YouTube, I still wasn’t sure,” he says. “I thought it could be taken the wrong way. We’ve all seen tribute songs where you think, ‘You know what, man? You could’ve done with a voice of reason going Don’t do that.’ So I really was wrestling with it.”
Plume, who grew up in Moncton, N.B., was a staple of Edmonton’s music scene in the ’90s. He says Connors, who was also born in New Brunswick, was a huge part of his life.
“When I was a kid, everywhere I went, people were singing Bud The Spud, whether it was my dad in the car, or on the radio, or we’d be playing street hockey and singing that song,” he says. “He really did remind me of my dad, my uncle, they all have that same no-nonsense-but-funnier-than-hell Maritime slant on things.”