Jim Cuddy to join other Canadian celebrities at Toronto 'Elbows Up' rally

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The organizers of the Elbows Up, Canada rally earlier this month in Ottawa are following up with another at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto on Saturday. Jim Cuddy, of Blue Rodeo, will perform his new viral hit, We Used to Be the Best of Friends.   »»» Subscribe to CBC News to watch more videos: http://bit.ly/1RreYWS  Connect with CBC News Online:  For breaking news, video, audio and in-depth coverage: http://bit.ly/1Z0m6iX Follow CBC News on TikTok: https://bit.ly/3TnHioe Follow CBC News on Twitter: http://bit.ly/1sA5P9H Find CBC News on Facebook: http://bit.ly/1WjG36m Follow CBC News on Instagram: http://bit.ly/1Z0iE7O Subscribe to CBC News on Snapchat: https://bit.ly/3leaWsr  Download the CBC News app for iOS: http://apple.co/25mpsUz Download the CBC News app for Android: http://bit.ly/1XxuozZ  »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» For more than 80 years, CBC News has been the source Canadians turn to, to keep them informed about their communities, their country and their world. Through regional and national programming on multiple platforms, including CBC Television, CBC News Network, CBC Radio, CBCNews.ca, mobile and on-demand, CBC News and its internationally recognized team of award-winning journalists deliver the breaking stories, the issues, the analyses and the personalities that matter to Canadians.

Transcript

00:00Elbows up. It's become a real rallying cry across this country in the face of

00:05Donald Trump's ongoing threats for trade, for sovereignty, of course it refers to a

00:10tough brand of hockey, but it's also the name of a rally set for tomorrow in

00:14Toronto. And for that rally there will be speeches, there'll be all sorts of

00:18activities, and there will be music. In fact, if you happen to be at Nathan

00:21Phillips Square around 2.30 in the afternoon, you will hear this.

00:27Listen to the boss sing turnpike blues. Sent you an anchor for your nightly news.

00:31Happy on the highway that never ends. You used to be the best of friends. Oh no, what

00:39went wrong? You used to be the singers in a two-part song. Guess how good things

00:43come to an end, but we used to be the best of friends. Yeah, we used to be the

00:48best of friends.

00:50We used to be the best of friends, the viral sensation from the great Jim Cuddy.

00:55And it's not enough to watch him on what you probably got in your inbox. How

00:59about you watch him on our show? Good morning Jim Cuddy. Good morning Heather,

01:04how are you? I'm always glad to see you. Thank you for giving us some time. I want

01:07to talk about this song. Everyone's loving it. Yeah, it's been, it's been very good.

01:13It was very special. I mean, I've been listening to it for a long time. I've

01:17Yeah, it's been, it's been very good. It was very spontaneous thing. I mean,

01:21obviously, I, like everybody else here, is really affected by the things that are

01:26coming out of the United States. And I certainly love the way the Canadians are

01:30reacting. But I also wanted to reflect on my long history with the United States

01:35and being a kid in Southern Ontario or Montreal and just being sort of

01:39absorbing American culture all the time. So kind of like breaking up with a

01:42longtime lover. So was there, was there one moment that said this is too much?

01:46I've got to, I've got to express it the way that you do. It would go, turn to

01:50music, turn to songwriting or I just think this build up and then just sort

01:53of capping this incredible moment that we're all living. No, I think it was, it

01:59was a few moments because generally when, when we get up in the morning, my wife

02:03goes down and she gets the paper first. We actually get a newspaper delivered

02:07and the cursing that comes out of that, it's like, oh, well, can you believe this?

02:12Can you believe this? And then she would read me what, what had happened, which was

02:15usually something I'd already read on my phone, but it was a, it was a, it was an

02:19accumulation of so many outrageous, disrespectful, hurtful things that, that,

02:25that made me want to do it. And you did. And I love the lyrics. We heard some of

02:29them there, but I love the references. Dick Van Dyke and sitcoms. The anchor for

02:34your nightly news, that's a Peter Jennings reference, I'm assuming there.

02:37Canadian. Absolutely. 9-11. It is all there. And, and how did it, did it, the writing of

02:44all of it, did it come quickly, Jim? Just tell us about the process of putting that

02:47together. It came quickly, but there was a lot of editing because I think there

02:52were things that were meaner that I, I didn't want to put in. I would write, I

02:57would write a verse and it would be somehow sneering and mean and I, I didn't

03:03think that was the, that wasn't the tone that I wanted to adopt in the song. I

03:06wanted to adopt a tone of, oh, we're gonna miss you. You know, that we had a great

03:12time and you've decided to leave, okay, but we're gonna miss you. Well, and even

03:17the melody, I mean, it's upbeat. It's, it's happy. And the last few lines, because we

03:25didn't play the whole thing there, but it's, give us a call when the fever ends.

03:28And then the last line, ah, maybe we could be best friends again. So there's this

03:33hopeful note on which you've ended. Well, I think that anybody, any reasonable

03:41person must feel like we're going to have to endure four years or a little

03:46less than four years of this horrible treatment and this insane quest of

03:52expansion in the United States. And then, assumedly, cooler heads will prevail and

03:57we can put back together. I think the world will be different. Certainly the

04:00world for Canada will be different and I think that that's probably a good thing.

04:03And I like the way we're heading and I certainly like the way that we have

04:07become unified because of this. I mean, we have a lot of provincial differences

04:11that are, that we're overlooking for now to, to be unified against a, you know, a

04:16common enemy. So it does have some positive aspects to it. For sure. I want to

04:20talk about what we're seeing nationally in a second, but just in terms of specific

04:24response to that hopeful note at the end, you know, looking at some of the

04:28comments once this went up online from people, and notably from many Americans,

04:33Jim, as you, I don't know if you follow the comments, what people think, but

04:36they're all saying, let's hope from your friends in the U.S. or people who follow

04:40Blue Rodeo, been to your shows, border cities, border communities, a song of hope.

04:44Thank you. You know, they love that. So what have you heard that has been

04:50interesting to you in terms of the response to your song thus far? Well, I've

04:55gotten a lot of response in Canada from, from friends and from people that, people

05:00that are on, you know, different sides of the political spectrum. But I get a lot

05:05of apologies from, from people in the States, people I know in Buffalo,

05:09California and New York, this just completely embarrassed by, by how they're

05:14being represented. And of course, the ones I don't hear from, I assume they're okay

05:20with what's going on. So that will change that relationship too. Used to be the

05:25best of friends. So listen, what we're seeing across this country, this surge of,

05:32you know, by Canada, elbows up Canada, all of this, and the degree of engagement,

05:38you know, people writing to us, to me to express their feelings, their anger,

05:42their, their frustration, their sense of betrayal, whatever it is. What, what are

05:45you seeing? What do you think it's tapping into? And I'm just curious to

05:49think how long it's going to, to, to last, the lasting impact of this. I think it's

05:55going to last for a long time because I don't think we felt all the negative

05:57impacts quite yet. I think that the, the tariffs haven't, haven't really taken

06:03hold. But it seems to me that we are unified in our appreciation and our

06:10apprehension of, of us as Canadians with a separate identity, with a, as a sovereign

06:15country. I think what's great about it is, is that so much of the talk of, of

06:20annexing us, or even economic union with us, sort of, sort of, it, it, it doesn't

06:28take into account Canadian culture. And I think that's a lot of what people are

06:31thinking about right now. We're thinking about how, what defines us as Canadians,

06:35how we, we accept looking after each other. I mean, the things that we have

06:39that are different. And I, I think for me, one of the reckonings is, and I, I learned

06:44this long ago from touring a lot in the States, is we are not the same country,

06:48and we do not hold the same values. And we are very similar. We are akin to each

06:53other, but we're not the same. And I think that's one of the things that come to the

06:57forefront now, is that as, as, as many people that are on the right side of the

07:02spectrum or the left side of the spectrum, we still have some shared values that

07:05we're all appreciating and apprehending right now. So I think that's a, that's a

07:09good thing for us.

07:11It is. It is, for sure. Thinking on things that matter, defining what matters. You

07:16mentioned something that I wanted to ask you about just did just finally, and that

07:19is the touring. Are you rethinking anything personally in terms of solo

07:24shows, Blue Rodeo stuff? Are you, are you pausing on that with any of the concert

07:28appearances?

07:32We don't, you know, it's not like Blue Rodeo tours so much in the States. And we

07:37would have to think long and hard about that. Because I think that we all have to

07:41appreciate, right now, I think we're in a battle with the entire United States.

07:45Fair enough. There's, that's okay. But down the road, you know, half the people

07:49in America who voted did not vote for this administration. And they don't

07:55necessarily deserve a full boycott. I mean, if they make bourbon, too bad. I

08:00understand that. But I think we'd have to think long and hard. I think that

08:03there's a couple of views in the band. Some that say, well, we will not play in

08:07the States while this is going on. And some that say, I think we should try to

08:12take it concert by concert. But anyway, nothing's coming up. And frankly, they've

08:17made it so difficult to get working permits in the United States. It's almost

08:21not worth it.

08:22A moot point. Hey, listen, just interested in your thoughts on that. And

08:25always interested to hear what you have to say. Now, I didn't get you up in the

08:28morning and to get the harmonica in front of you. And I think there's

08:30something also in hand to just talk to you. This is a bit of a Canadian world

08:35premiere. You have never done the song live. Is that right?

08:39No. Oh, no, no. I don't even think I've I mean, I've played it in my room. I

08:43played it in the recording studio. But that's about it.

08:45Well, this is fantastic. To 230 tomorrow. You're part of the elbows up rally in

08:49Canada. And that'll be a big ask you a question. Do you think that elbows up is

08:57an offensive position or a defensive position?

09:01Oh, that's really interesting. I think we want it to be an elbows up offensive

09:05position. Oh, really? Yeah, I think of it as a defensive position, keeping

09:09people away from you, but but then others disagree. So I think that'll be

09:12interesting. We're gonna have to define it at some point. Well, listen, the 1500

09:16people at one of these rallies, wait a second, wait a second 1500 people at the

09:19on Parliament Hill, you're gonna have a big crowd. I'm going to get you warmed

09:21up. I want everyone to know we're going to listen to Jim, take a little break.

09:25But this is the live debut of what used to be the best of friends on CBC

09:29Morning Live. And thank you, my very good friend. I appreciate it that you're

09:32here with us again today.

09:34It's always a pleasure. And it's at Nathan Phillips Square. Oh, yeah, sorry.

09:38No, no, I said they had huge crowds on the earlier one. I'm sure you'll have

09:42the same numbers in Nathan Phillips Square. Okay, thank you.

09:44Just not lunch on TV trees. Watching the sitcoms night and day. Dick Van

09:51Dyke when you're sick in bed. He used to be the best of friends. Got sent home

09:56when Kennedy died. Watch TV is Nixon line. Why the gate shop a critic

10:02used to be the best of friends. Oh, no, I went wrong. Used to be the singers

10:09in a two part song. Guess all good things come to an end. But we used to

10:13be the best of friends.

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