Music & Lyrics: Marie-Lynn Hammond
Oh I met him at an ice rink in Flin Flon
’twas a mild night, just 20 below
as we skated in circles he reached for my hand
but what it felt like i’m not sure I know
for I had on two pairs of mittens
and he wore a thick sheepskin glove
but if the trembling I felt wasn’t due to the cold
then maybe perhaps it was love
Oh Canadian love, Canadian love
it’s either 40 below or it’s 90 above
and though it’s hard to be yearning
when you’re freezing or burning
like the dollar we keep falling—in Canadian love
So we ended up going to his place
where I peeled off my mits at the door (both pairs)
and after 10 minutes of struggle my boots and my socks
lay in a pool on the floor
then he tenderly took my wool tuque off
and he rolled down my leg warmers too
by now it was 10 to 11 and we
still had a lot left to do
Oh Canadian love, Canadian love
it’s either 40 below or it’s 90 above
and though it’s hard to be yearning
when you’re freezing or burning
like the dollar we keep falling—in Canadian love
with a sigh he unknotted my muffler
then he stopped for a much needed rest
I could tell he was getting discouraged—with reason!
For he was still fully dressed
but when he finally unzippered my parka
I caught sight of the clock and cried “Oh!
It’s quarter to 12 and I promised my mother
I’d be home an hour ago!”
Well, he looked like a man who’d been broken
but it wasn’t emotional pain
it was just that he couldn’t stand having to watch me
put all that stuff back on again
Oh Canadian love, Canadian love
it’s either 40 below or it’s 90 above
and though it’s hard to be yearning
when you’re freezing or burning
like the dollar we keep falling—in Canadian love
Well, we met the next summer in Wawa—
An only slightly more hospitable clime—
and if it hadn’t been for the black flies and the heat wave
we might just have made it that time
Oh Canadian love, Canadian love
it’s either 40 below or it’s 90 above
and though it’s hard to be yearning
when you’re freezing or burning
like the dollar we keep falling—in Canadian love
Two True Stories About This Song:
1. In the old days of folk festivals, guys always seemed to get the sexy workshops like “Rebel Songs That Changed the World” and “Really Fast Train Songs with Lots of Instrumental Breaks So the Guys Can All Try to Out-Solo One Another,” while the gals got stuck with “Lugubrious Lullabies” or “Interminable Ballads about Masochistic Women Who Die on the Scottish Moors of Broken Hearts.”
When an artistic director asked me what workshops I’d like to be in for one festival, I said, “Anything but ‘Love Songs.’” On arriving at the festival, I found I was to host a workshop called “Canadian Love.” In mock revenge I dashed off this ditty.2. The first two lines of the chorus actually made it into John Robert Columbo’s The Dictionary of Canadian Quotations, so, God help me, this may be the only thing that I’m remembered for.
Oh, and it was written during a recession, hence the line about the dollar falling; and before Canada went all metric, hence “90 above.” I came across my quote again in one of those teeny stocking-stuffer books of Canadiana and found the same two lines there, but an editor had amended the 2nd line to “It’s either 40 below or it’s 40 above.” Tsk tsk. That’s just editing gone anal!