Oh Canada

Album: Out of My Province (2020)
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Songfacts®:

  • This uncharacteristically jaunty Nadia Reid song is about traveling and desire, underpinned by the singer's restless unease.

    I would like to go to Canada
    I would like to go there with you
    All of the loving that I have done
    I don't know what I am waiting for


    Reid explained to Uncut magazine: "Canada is a metaphor in that song for all places and everywhere, but the title phrase came to me after I was getting excited about artists like Andy Shauf, Leif Vollebekk and of course Rufus and Martha Wainwright and Joni Mitchell. I really would like to go to Canada!"
  • Reid told Mojo magazine she came up with the title when she "was enjoying all this music and realizing, so this is another Canadian artist!"

    She added that the Canada reference is metaphorical as her "greatest learning has been on international tours. The newness of everything allows you to reflect on your life."
  • Reid released "Oh Canada" as Out of My Province's third single. It reached #16 in New Zealand.
  • Reid took the album title from an interview with one of her favorite New Zealand authors, the late Janet Frame. During the interview, the author is asked if she's ever considered that she is one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. Frame uncomfortably replies, "That question doesn't reach me. It's out of my province." Reid explained to Mojo: "I was so moved by her response for some reason. So ever since... out of my province, that phrase has never left me."

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