Lake Ontario Bowser & Blue Photo Credit Don Graham
Montreal based duo, Bowser and Blue, known mostly for their satirical political songs, have addressed the renaming of Lake Ontario to Lake America with the newly recorded song “My Name Is Lake Ontario.”
Watch on YouTube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5zKelDsuf0&feature=youtu.be
Their song, “This Land Is Our Land (Don’t Try And Grab it)” written by Montreal-born, Toronto-based singer/songwriter Don Graham addressed the 51st State nonsense from the United States administration and received a good deal of attention.
When the attempt to rename a Lake, that was named 400 years ago came up, it was time to speak up, so George Bowser and Rick Blue teamed up once again with Beacher and Lake Ontario resident songwriter Don Graham. Graham explains it this way, “‘I called George and Rick and said, ‘you guys need to speak up on this subject, your fans would love to hear your take on it.” George agreed and we decided all three of us would write something. As a concept I wondered what the Lake would say if it could talk? I think it would say ‘my name is Lake Ontario, that’s all it’s ever been.’ And from there, we put our heads together and with George’s melody, the three of us put together a coherent 3 minute song, explaining what we thought the Lake would say.”
Long time resident of the Beaches area in Toronto, Don Graham lives steps away from Lake Ontario and watches the sunrise over it's waters daily (photographs of the Beach are featured in the video) so he feels a special affinity to the waters.
Rick Blue also grew up in the Beach neighbourhood from the ages of 4 to 9 years old. “I grew up with the Lake as my backyard and playground so it definitely holds a place in my heart. This song is a “Crie de Coeur. It will always be Lake Ontario to me.”
George Bowser had this to say “Rick and I were rehearsing, and Don called. He said, “I’ve got this idea. What if Lake Ontario sang a song?” He had some lyrics. I had a guitar in my hand. A song starts with an idea, and ideally a title. He had both. We took it from there, and I’m glad we did. I always pick up the phone when Don calls. He called me decades ago and sold me his 1960’s Telecaster for $250. So, you never know … “
Once it was recorded Don sent the song to his friend, iconic American singer/songwriter, The Songpoet, Eric Andersen, who said after listening to it at his home in the Netherlands, “Catchy, beautifully produced powerful song with an excellent message. Thank you! The audacity of trying to hijack the name of our Lake!”
And finally, a quote from Lake Ontario itself, “My name is Lake Ontario that’s all it’s ever been, it’s the only name I know. I was here before you came here, I’ll be here when you are gone, my name is Lake Ontario.”
