In Ken's 1991 comp The Happy Listener's Guide to Mind Control he included a rousing defense of Americans by Canadian Byron MacGregor. Recently I found another recording of the same dang essay by similarly pro-America Canuck Robert Marshall.
Robert Marshall - Americans (4.11 MB MP3)
Although MacGregor is now most closely identified with the essay (at least among WFMU listeners), neither his nor Marshall's recordings were the original version. As the Urban Legends Website documents, "Americans" was originally written and broadcast by Canadian commentator Gordon Sinclair. Fortunately the History of Canadian Broadcasting Website has preserved the text of the original essay, along with Sinclair's 1973 broadcast of same. So now we have three versions of "Americans." Who'll be the next Canadian to record it? William Shatner? Sandra Oh? The cast of For Better or For Worse? I can't wait....
...there was also a version by Tex Ritter (!) released to the C&W market by Capitol Records...
Posted by: King Daevid MacKenzie | February 29, 2008 at 06:13 PM
This Canadian might have to step up to the plate and offer up a version...
Posted by: christopher o | March 02, 2008 at 08:31 AM