Songs 39 – 44

39. Field Behind the Plow – Stan Rogers
This was written about the family farm, but it’s a story about pouring everything into a project with no guarantee of success. Nike’s “just do it” campaign becomes a shallow thing when you actually think about all the people in all the jobs across this world just doing it. That’s what this song made me think about, long before Nike was telling the world to buy sneakers.

40. Song of the Candle – Stan Rogers

I’m discovering that Lala only permits a certain number of listens before cutting off the complete play and only giving a 30 second sample. That being the case, I’ve found a video of Stan’s son singing the entire version. Acoustics are terrible, but at least you’ll get to hear the entire song. You can also go to Lala and call up the full song. If you don’t bother doing it with any other song I’ve posted, find time to do it with this song. The Stan Rogers’ version is definitive.

41. Turnaround – Stan Rogers
Yeah, I’ve got a Stan Rogers thing going. So many songs of his grabbed me by the soul and wouldn’t let go that it was hard to select only some of them for this list. It’s as if he took pages from my life and turned them into poetry. It didn’t hurt that he had such a beautifully emotive voice. If I ever do expand this list to a Salamander 100, there will be more of his music on it.

Looking for a version on YouTube I came across this video about Terry Fox’s marathon run across Canada. It uses “Turnaround” as the background music. I was unaware of this video when I created my list, but maybe it will help explain why I love the song.

42. Benedictus – The Strawbs
I am a Free Thinker. That doesn’t mean I don’t approve of religion, just that I cannot myself believe. I’ve always wondered why this song affects me so, and I don’t have an answer.

43. Changes – Phil Oches

44. Fields of Gold – Sting