Media-to-rare

Because I don't have anything clever to say today, these are the lyrics in entirety (without the obligatory labeling of chorus, verse, repeat, etc., and etc.) of Five Iron Frenzy's "Oh Canada." It is available on three different discs, of which two are live and of which I think I may own all three. But I will try to recollect solely from one of the live versions, sans printed lyrics.

welcome to canada
it's a maple leaf state,
canada, o canada,
it's great
people are nice here,
there's beef and stew
if you don't like it here
man, you sniff glue

the great white north
the kids say 'blah'
hosers say 'ah
it's not that bad.'

i want to be
where yaks can run free
where the royal mounties
can arrest me

let's go to canada
let's leave today
canada, o, canada
ay, s'il vous plait

they've got trees and mooses
and sled dogs
lots of lumber and lumberjacks
and logs
don't you think that it's kind of a drag
that you have to go in [?]
and get milk from a bag
they say "eh?" instead of
"what?" or "duh!"
that's the mighty power of canada

i want to be
where the lemmings run into the sea
where the marmasacks [editor: huh?]
can attack me

can you please
explain to me
how this all has come to be
we forgot to mention something here
did we say that william shatner is
a native citizen
and slurpees made from venison
that's here [?]

Thank you. Goodnight!

You think Leanor (the girl, of course) will accept my proposal...
for ice cream?

Followed by a courtship?

Speaking of girls (ok, I don't usually use that term, but, there's always exceptions to the rule), I'm liking Mary Mary's Mary Mary (sorry, already made that joke). Several scorchers toward the beginning are instant classics and hits just waiting to happen. Of course that may never happen for a few of the songs because of their self-referential nods to the '40s and '70s, two decades definitely not in favor with the Top-40 music crowd (and I use the term 'crowd' very loosely). Except for the clean-as-a-vacuum production and some latter-era Black Gospel vocal stylings, you'd almost swear some of these songs came out of that era, although "Heaven" does parch a riff from the 1970's. And of course, I'm embarrassed to say I don't even know who they copped, and that I've never heard of them. But even the instant hits begin to fit after a while, which is not something that I say often of female pop groups, or contemporary R&B. Mary, Mary quite contemplative. Yeppers.