CI2 - Canadian Railroad Trilogy

[satexguy1]

I happened to come across this because I missed the US X factor this week. All of these kids have stronger voices than just about anyone I've seen on US or UK talent shows - X Factor, got talent, Idol or the voice. Send this to your friends in US and UK ( and Australia). Amazing showcase for all, including GL and his music.

[Merrier15]

i wanna do the girl in green shirt O_O

[wblakesx]

Masterpiece, that's it, that's what it is :)

[WHOAHOE321]

they all did really good, but i think Jacob and Jason did the best!

[hotbbojbud]

That Hedley idiot still sucks.

[mikeharrrt]

0:53 Time has no beginning and this mandolin has no strings. She could at least do a better job faking it.

[basinc1]

thank you for sharing..knowing him personally, I loved the tribute to him on an incredible song that celebrates Canada and its heritage.

[mightymissk]

Geez the kids did a good job eh? No doubt.

[yamahonkawazuki]

Was that Gordon lightfoot in teh crowd?

[skilski2003]

The best I've heard on any "Idol" show!! So glad I found this!! Lightfoot looks proud:):)

[lwarteman]

Wow! That curly headed kid (Kalan Porter?) sounds almost identical to GL! Great performance. Never seen anything this cool on American Idol. With one exception, the girl on Mandolin never played. Someone mentioned this in an earlier post.

[martinrosskerr]

Great performance. I don't think Theresa actually played that mandolin at any point though, did she?

[onlyrock1]

WHAT! That was great!!!

[FloridaLawDawg]

Canada is so cool

[MrSatchboogie33]

Well even Neil Young said that Gordon is the best songwriter that ever was in any culture

[yamahonkawazuki]

@MrSatchboogie33 seems everyone has covered him at least once in their career. this was an amazing cover in my opinion

[phaedrus44]

Wow, didn't know they had hot Asian chicks up in America's Hat.

[stina2bina]

Thank you so much for posting this :) This is definitely my favourite Canadian Idol performance of all the seasons.

[yankeeshogun]

Those Canuck sheelas are hot!

[bogquan]

They jacked it up.

[PamaLaLi]

Not often do I like the rendition better, but this was an incredible performance... And a great season on Canadian Idol - I don't think they've had a group with chemistry like this since. Wonderful. Beautiful. And Canadian!

[buubacous]

As a longtime fan of Gord , I personally think that these kids did a fantastic job on this classic song ! I was born in America and got hooked on Gord Through my cousins who I used to spend summers with in Nova Scotia. That was many years ago. In my opinion , he is the best singer/sogwriter I've ever heard !

[AlexGudesblat]

Gord is a living legend.

[YOumeanMe]

This should be the canadian nat'l anthemn .. If it's not unofficially after this performance.!

If paul mcCartney can get the a medal from the queen.. gordon lightfoot should be honored for this contribution.. as an ' epic ' Canadian Saga.

[12345karebear]

this is sapy

[unclebobunclebob]

please don't put Celine with Gordon...he is a great writer as well as singer...she is all about herself, not whomever song she's singing.

[Free2Fly2gr8ness]

..............................­......AWESOME!

[Free2Fly2gr8ness]

awesome!

[babajii321]

I was of the opinion that all of today's "musicians" are shit. Dubbed, choreographed, scantily clad, flash in the pan, here today gone tomorrow cogs in star making machines.

These guys have changed my opinion somewhat. Outstanding performance.

[belladonna411]

I love that CI was the first Idol show to let the singers play their instruments. The rest followed.

[SapphireBlue09]

Thank you so much for this video - the memories it brings! I watched this season and Jacob was my favourite. He brought so much fun on the show like no one did in any Idol franchise - week after week everyone looked forward to what he was going to sing, do, and wear LOL I love the blue suit for the Bowie number. He came in 3rd - but he is the most successful from this group. Hedley is an amazing band and Jacob is a brilliant songwriter as well.

[stdeclan]

I was choked up, seeing Gordon Lightfoot in the audience. I have always loved his music. They did a good job. i suspect Canadian Idol has more to do with Canada than American Idol has to do with American schmaltz, er, I mean, US pop music.

[hhorkoff]

Make sure you all watch CTV Regina if you have a sattelite dish... this is our song as this town wouldn't be here otherwise.... Hudson Bay Jucntion was the town beforre... but we still have the train junction to Churchill and to Hudson Bay....... Monday June 7th at 6PM Alberta time. 7 pm Manitoba to ... CTV Regina is coming and I want all to be as excited as I am!

[FloridaLawDawg]

Holy crap Canadians are awesome!

[Mamakel1959]

I must admit I have never followed any Idol shows whatsoever. But did I seem to miss the boat on this one.  God Bless You for posting this Gordon Lightfoot tribute! I get goosebumps no less that 10 times throughout this video. The singers weren't 100% perfect, but it was a joy to see their talents, and their own contributions to this timeless classic. Isn't that what the artistry of music is all about? A fabulous job by both the established talent, and all of the emerging generation.

[Picardy]

Why are people screaming - are they on fire??

[jenevastorme]

@Picardy : Yes! ;-)

[Picardy]

@jenevastorme Ha ha! Well I had to wonder. I don't think I've ever screamed for anyone in my life, not even the Beatles when I saw them in 1964. I actually went to "hear" the music, not cover it up.

[jenevastorme]

@Picardy :  I completely agree. The screaming would detract from the performance for me.

[yamahonkawazuki]

Very nice work my friends

[hellusbattus]

started idols allowed to play instruments ...... set canada apart very unique humble talented musicians  well done uniquely canadian

[Buzz011]

Oh my!! So so SO much better than American Idol and the UK version. Now that really is bad

[themoley91]

Canadian Idol was always a lot more interesting than American Idol imho... I found it to be a lot more authentic and somehow they were always able to get more contemporary and not as cookie-cutter popstar song selections for the contestants. Never forgot about this performance and it's nice to see it again. Thanks for uploading. :)

[94donnacone]

can any body tell me what happened to those singers they sounded really good. i hope they all got contracts.

[illyriajem]

@94donnacone Jacob - just performed at the olympic closing ceremonies with his band Hedley. Kalan - working on his third album... slowly, lol. Theresa - two albums, still doing gigs and such. Jason - second album came out last Sept.. Shane - self-made albums with his wife and had a couple kids. Elena - went the theatre acting route.

[charleybrown77]

@illyriajem Thanks for that update! I was wondering too! That was one of the best seasons ever of Cdn Idol!

[BigblockMercury]

I heard every mile of rail laid, there has been one Chinese person that has died

kudos to my grandpa and to eveyone else who has worked on the railway

[94donnacone]

you should be proud. i think thats pretty cool

[YYC403NOYP]

@94donnacone The one with ACADIA on his shirt is Jacob Hoggard who is now the front man for a Canadian band name HEDLEY.. Can check him out here on YT..

[brendan881]

@94donnacone i dont know but i live in Australia and thought they were brillant

[comeonfolks]

A bit gayer than Gordon's original, but cool concept for an Idol show.

[bigd522524]

i can see why Kalan Porter Won !:D

[fordranger797]

Had to watch that

[fordranger797]

Poor Gordon

[angel224488]

thats cuz he is

[klaytoon16]

the guy wearing white kinda sounds and looks like the lead singer from hedley

[RainbowXOXColors]

umm..it is him haha

[klaytoon16]

@RainbowXOXColors haha wow i'm an idiot lmfaoo

[RainbowXOXColors]

haha i looked at ur comment and i was like...uh is she serious? lol :P

[kalandra1]

It was awesome of Gordon Lightfoot to come see Kalan in concert when he performed at Massey Hall.

[jodee54]

just doesn't have the same effect on me

[sheltv100]

The CBC has an archive of Gordon Lightfoot performing this same song on January 1, 1967. BTW Gordon Lightfoot is from Orillia, Ontario.

[Mojabby2]

GO KALAN

[YOumeanMe]

younger voices i heard the words..to this epic monumental musical Canadian masterpiece.

the video clips were a plus.

[10samm10]

Me like lol

[nancypo1]

This was always one of my favorite songs of Lightfoot's, a great, epic song suite...

[SeeYouinHollywood]

Jacob from Hedley actually did a decent job on this one.

I would be interested to see him do a legit cover

[graidstin]

ok, they freakin messed up this song. Especially that one stoner guy with the blonde curly hair and that chick in the green shirt. I really hope Lightfoot wasn't happy about this cover

[azpiri12]

lol, because i took the time to LISTEN to this (i am a HUGE Lightfoot fan) i "found" Kalan Porter...

those contestants did a good job with this song, it's not supposed to sound exactly the same! geesh!

yay Kalan Porter!

and God bless Gordon Lightfoot, a treasure of the world!

[fukimotoz]

I've said it before. The Canadian Television Industry has a severe case of "Jan Brady" complex. "Marsha! Marsha! Marsha!" Seriously?! Canadian Idol? So you think you dance Canada?! Who wants to be a millionaire Canadian Edition?! What ever happened to "original Canadian programming?" How lame have we become?

"Marsha! Marsha! Marsha!"

[fillmore12321]

the guy with the acadia shirt screwed up the whole performance

[havefun102030]

OMG i have to do a entry in mi jurnal on this for history and this is so cool i love it dude!!! :D

[ddrose06]

good lord! if this was the only song he ever wrote.....then, if you added the wreck of the edmund fitzgerald. that would be a nice career. now, add everything else, and what have you got?

[MrBysa]

1:27 pee-wee noooooooooooooooooooooooo

and whats up with that chick?

[ohioweatherguy]

I may be American, but this was a pretty sweet performance. I don't know that I'm much of a fan of Jacob's voice for this type of group number, but overall I found this very enjoyable. Combining it with old footage of the railroad being constructed was a nice touch as well.

[AndrewNeilFalconer]

That was a great group performance.

[kjcaldar]

almost totally butchered this song...

[wheels069]

no they butchered it . what an insult to this song. BOOOOOO!!!!!

[skydome29]

not even good i agree, i hate when they ruin great songs with these clusterfucked montages that butcher classics. Doesnt sound right at all.

[ara133photography]

This is SERIOUSLY AWESOME, everyone did a fabulous job!!

[mrklavin]

didn't expect this!! The kid with the curly hair actually sounds like Gordy!!

[RhinoRyan91]

they just handed her a mandolin and said here just hold this.. ????

[winterdreams80]

The man behind the music indeed !!!! What he did for Canadian music is remarkable !!!! One of our greatest treasures !!!! Bravo Gordon !!!!

[MrBysa]

the four greatest things canada gave the world

4 Canadian bacon

3 beer

2 hockey

and of course #1

Gordon the greatest 12 string player ever lightfoot

[DrKlopek]

More banjo.

[Peppi94]

Oh, my Canadian heart is just bursting!!  Gordon Lightfoot, you are A TRUE CANADIAN TREASURE!!!

[nikku13]

This rocks! wouldnt have thought it could have been an 'idol' show. Well done Canada...and GL of course

[skydome29]

didnt like it

[wheels069]

me too.

[dziedzic2009]

the best CI season ever. These top 6 are way better than the current AI top 5... in every aspect of being performers.

[Chilibeerman]

yes but none of them have distinct voices as the AI do

[karengurl101]

Are you kidding? Jacob has a punk, rock voice while Theresa has that certain indie vibe in her voice.

[stina2bina]

This was my favourite Idol season ever!!!

[kentuckythursday]

me too!!

[selatik1]

The song wasn't in a good key for the girl singer..

[picklexis]

CI2 is the best Idol season from any country to date. Love love love loooove

[kentuckythursday]

@picklexis I agree. It was my fav canadian idol season. they were all so good. No season has been as good as this one for sure!

[ramona7609]

There is something about a Canadian voice singing any song. So distintive and honest. I loved this season of CI.

[HaloMythicFilms]

THEY RULE!

[mariacide]

WOW! there is hope for our youth! I'm moving to Canada! Thanks for the uplifting upload! God Bless!

[warszawianka]

I'm not Canadian but I have great respect for your country and its people. I love this song so much, and I'm so impressed by how this was performed - very true to form for Gordon. Thank you, Canada, for bringing us this music.

[DramaQueen1297]

thanks! i had to listen to this song formy homework it helped a lot!!!

[coracleman]

Can't imagine this kind of thing being done on X Factor in the UK. Over here we seem to be obsessed with everyone having to sing like Mariah Carey, Whitney or similar in order to win. That's how the likes of Leona Lewis get to win really. They may be OK to some but it would be great to hear something like this in the UK instead of the usual drivel that only seems to appeal to Simon Cowell.

[pilotqueen]

Greatest Canadian Idol group performance ever!! Hearts the violin playing by Kalan ....

[JaniceJolo]

this is awesome! I love Kalan's violin playing..

[staballemo]

how Canadian is this eh?

[HilaryMG]

These guys and gals were EXCELLENT and did the great man proud! fantastic performance! Hilary

[daysfan15yrs]

By Far the best Season of Canadian Idol!

[SaskBirdies]

This is THE MOST AMAZING of any song of any season of Idol anywhere.

[uncleartie]

At 6:14, Ben refers to the Top Six as 'kids'. No doubt, he'd take that back if he could. This was a masterpiece.

[generalwbush]

Awesome. Simply awesome. Why do we not get Canadian Idol in the UK? I would have loved to see this. And he was actually there, too. You canadians have some great singers... Gordon, Bryan, Celine... To name but a few.

[HotelGuyORF]

We don't get Canadian Idol in America, either. At least not in Virginia. Canadian Idol always starts up right after American Idol ends. I wish FOX could air it.

[HilaryMG]

Im proud to say Im half Canadian and spent a lot of years in Canada, the Canadians DO have some amazing singers, a lot of which you dont hear of.I to wish Canadian Idol was shown here,

Hilary

[illyriajem]

I wish they would air international Idols. The only reason I saw some of CI in the States is because I was going to college close to the border and got CTV.

[123OBrown]

YouTube sustains my international Idol yearnings! I'm in Australia, sans cable, and I get my fill. This group performance was really something. Ah, I love Canada's folk pride.

[JaniceJolo]

yes, we're really proud of this! CI2 was great!

[JustBecause44]

i like how they all wear what thy want and dont get to fancy unlike American idol

[HilaryMG]

Oh so true!

Hilary

[operagirl89]

I personally feel that this was a spectacular version of this classic. I loved it then, and I still love it. However, I don't think that this was the best top 10 C.I has ever had. I think that honor goes to this past season's show.

I mean, yes, this season had Jacob and Kalan, but this past season had Theo, Earl, Mookie, Mitch, etc.

[kalandra1]

There are still a lot of people who will agree that season 2 of CI smokes any other season even this past season of CI. Sure Theo, Mookie and Drew where very good, but Kalan, Jacob, Theresa, Shane still are much better IMO

[mollymabel]

thanks for posting! i loved this performance!

[spunktacular]

omg if you seriously think thats "butchering" the song, you need to get your ears checked buddy

[Saddler1234]

Have you ever even heard the original? It's sung likea folk song not a high pitched pop song... God even the women could sing it lower.

[spunktacular]

Of course I've heard the original!!

I knew it before I even watched this show- Im a huge Gordon Lightfoot fan.

Well, whatever, agree to disagree, because I think they ALL did a fantastic job.

[wheels069]

way to go Saddler1234 they totally buchered this song. They turned a good folk song into a fruity pop song. F***K Them. F***K Canadian Idol.(It's only us making another copycat show of a horrable american one!!!!

[jgradynj]

This is truly amazing..US idol would never even attempt something like this...US is way too commercial ever even try something like this. Awesome, awesome, awesome ! Rock on !

[rakshasa7]

U.S. Idol couldn't attempt it (much less an entire night of one-person-only songs) because the U.S. doesn't have anyone like Gordon Lightfoot.

[jgradynj]

How about a night of Barry Manilow !!

[wishingstar22]

They tried that on AI3. Not half as good as this.

[yamahonkawazuki]

@rakshasa7 cmon now lets trash teh US again. BUT i agre on the singer part. and idol in general. most of them to me are meh whatever. this song/group and a few others, england has had a few. us maybe 1, are apart from teh crowd in general Eh?

[BlastFurnaceCanada]

There have been about 200 covers of the song -- everyone from John Mellencamp to Rank & File -- but this one ranks near the top for me. It really was an emotional night given just two years before, Lightfoot almost died.

[seankolker]

didnt mean to put from the Canada,from Canada

[seankolker]

definately have to be from the Canada to sing this song,dont take that persoanlly i`m from Minnesota,i love my neighbors to the north!

[billeegoat]

I love how American Idol tried to do the same thing the next year but not even half of them played instruments. It was just a piano and two guitars.

These guys were majorly MAJORLY talented, and this was by far the best year on Canadian Idol, and the best show on idol EVER.

[spunktacular]

the whole top ten that year was amazing

[spunktacular]

This just proves the amount of talent that Canadian musicians have

[uncleartie]

It was four years ago tonight . . . August 19, 2004. It remains a masterpiece, and the best thing Canadian Idol has ever done.

[protectoroffaith]

ok maybe i need to stop dissing the idols the pulled this song of really well i like it lol

[lovesmallville7]

omg jake play the guitar here is so amazing not to mention hot!

[PalofCyruss]

I was in the audience that night... it was so moving. This, to me, was THE best Canadian Idol show ever.

[iluvgcsomuch]

this is better than american idol

[dreamloud]

this gave me chills.

firstly, that song is a MASTERPIECE.

and...this was definitely the best year of canadian idol.

i miss CI2.

[sweetangel42]

omg kalan is sooo good at playing the violin and hes soo hot

[joancamo]

Best Season of CI

[littleremy2007]

Thank-you so very much for posting this. Greatly appreciated.

[pfqueen2007]

Awesome - especially the guy with the violin! Kalan Porter yay!

[emjpa]

I am beyond words. The best ever Canadian Idol show. Everyone is worthy to be there - awesome Top 6.  I especially love the violin accompaniment

[CrueNRoses]

Did she even play the mandolin? I didn't hear it or see her playing it?

[uncleartie]

Yes. You can see it at 0:55 to 0:58 and again from 4:21 to 4:25.

[kalanlove11]

this is so awesome, kalan porter is so hot! and he has such a rich and powerful voice.

definitely the best canadian idol ever!

[azpiri12]

What a pleasant surprise this was!!!!

I listen to Gordon Lightfoot almost every day and had been wishing that the American Idol would do a Gordon Lightfoot week, you know, expose the contestants and the HUGE audience to some of the best songs ever... I think the world needs more of this!!

[brookewhitefan4ever]

This is so great! I wish I'd watched CI2!

[uncleartie]

Haul out the superlatives: this was a masterpiece. The finest CI group number ever, and quite possibly the finest anywhere ever. Thanks for putting this up. :)

[o0sum1udontknow0o]

it sounded like a cough or a cheer

[o0sum1udontknow0o]

what was the background sound at 3:21 while jacob was singing

[belladonna411]

I think it was Jason G off mic setting the rest of them up for the next part of the song.

[openroad88]

Awewome..from Michigan..

[mrspayne13]

The best Canadian Idol show. The best Canadian Idol season. The best Canadian Idol top six. Thanks for posting. You made my day.

[o0sum1udontknow0o]

gordobn lightfoot is the only true canadian idol

[rakshasa7]

Then that doesn't say much for Stan Rogers, now, does it?

[statikcx]

great performance...I love this song.

[Babylon9]

thank you so much for adding this back! I love this :)

[shadylane411]

thansk so much for adding these!!!! CI2 was my fav season!