[MUSIC] "A Place to Stand, A Place to Grow"

[rfmcdonald]

From Wikipedia:

A Place to Stand, A Place to Grow (Ontari-ari-ari-o!) is the unofficial anthem of the Canadian province of Ontario. The song was written as the signature tune for a movie of the same name that was featured at the Expo 67 Ontario pavilion.

The song was written by Dolores Claman, who also wrote the Hockey Night in Canada theme, with lyrics by Richard Morris. Lyrics for a French version were written by Larry Trudel.

It was commissioned by the Progressive Conservative government of John Robarts for the Ontario pavilion at Expo 67, the World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec in Canada's Centennial year of 1967, and was used again in the following decades.

The song was featured at the Province of Ontario's exhibit in the short film A Place to Stand, which won the 1967 Academy Award for Live Action Short Film.

Leslie Scriverner has an article in The Toronto Star, "Forty years on, a song retains its standing", that goes into more detail about the geneses of this song and its technologically innovative film.

The song was commissioned by the Ontario government to accompany the short documentary film of the same name that was screened at the Ontario Pavilion at Expo. That film was a marvel for its multiple, moving, split-screen images, a technique that had not been used before and astounded all who saw it.

The song sold 50,000 copies. The film, which later toured movie theatres in the United States and Europe, would be seen by 100 million people, be nominated for two Academy Awards, and win an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Subject.

The filmmaker, Christopher Chapman, 80, who lives near Uxbridge, Ont., keeps the statuette as a doorstop. Noticing that the gold had faded, friends recently had it re-plated.

"I hope no one takes offence," he says. "I was honoured to win it."