‘It’s a remix’: Jully Black on why she sang O Canada differently
By Natasha O’Neill, CTVNews.ca writer
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TORONTO (CTV Network) — The subtle lyric switch in Canada’s national anthem at an NBA All-Star game was not taken lightly by Canadian singer Jully Black.
Black joined CTV’s Your Morning on Wednesday, to explain the thought process behind the change from “O Canada! Our home and native land!” to “O Canada! Our home on native land,” emphasizing the word “on.”
“As a songwriter, I didn’t want to disrespect the songwriter, but I also realize that we are on the land, we don’t own it, it’s not ours,” she said. “I wish I could kind of sit with the songwriter and say, ‘Hey, you might have got the facts wrong. And could we do a bit of a remix?'”
While Black’s rendition was her own choice, the anthem’s lyrics were officially changed in 2018, to substitute the phrase “in all thy sons command” with “in all of us command.”
Before cementing her decision to change the word, Black said she consulted her Indigenous friends.
“I knew this was the biggest stage to sing our anthem,” she said explaining her hope that the lyric-change would be the start of a bigger cultural shift. “When I sang the word, the emotion, right away tears, hands on heart.”
Noting her bridge tattoo, Black said, in her life, she aims to make connections between people.
“If I have an opportunity to help you amplify a voice I’m going to, and so that’s why I made the decision,” she said.
Many applauded Black’s performance for bringing light to Indigenous issues in Canada, including the discoveries of unmarked graves on the properties of former residential schools countrywide.
Others were not pleased with the change.
“You can’t create the sunshine without the rain,” Black said of the critics. “This bridge could start to be built and one by one we could come together and really support each other and show the world what Canada (is) and how we can be a loving nation.”
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