The blackfly song

[cstoczyn]

GNARLY!!!!

[cstoczyn]

GOLLY!!!!

[cstoczyn]

GADZOOKS!!!!

[cstoczyn]

Long Live Wade Hemsworth!!!!

[cstoczyn]

RIP Wade Hemsworth

[cstoczyn]

LOL

[cstoczyn]

Long Live The Oscars!!!!

[cstoczyn]

Long Live The Academy Awards!!!!

[cstoczyn]

The Cartoon Was Nominated For An Oscar

For Best Animated Short

[UnanaOne]

My Dad was part of the construction crew building one of the dams in that region. Oh the stories he would tell. And he'd sing me the Blackfly Song! Good memories! Thanks!

[cstoczyn]

@UnanaOne HUZZAH!!!!

[cstoczyn]

@UnanaOne You're Welcome

[theladylikespot]

Yes, the little bastards WILL follow you underwater >.<

[cstoczyn]

@theladylikespot FTW

[pigglywiggly1984]

frickin love this vid!



[cstoczyn]

@pigglywiggly1984 Me 2

[AslandAuxano]

Haha! I grew up in North Ontario. 12 miles from Wawa. Moved to B.C. when I was 11. I remember my Mother would cut our hair as short as she could and shave my brothers' heads so we didn't have to deal with the black fly tangles in the summer. They were terrible. We'd have contests at night counting to see who had the most bites that day. They'd be in the hundreds:0)

[cstoczyn]

@AslandAuxano I Understand

[imbrod]

I remember this cartoon as a kid, from Zagreb animated film festival. I started learning guitar with this song.

[cstoczyn]

@imbrod Not Me

[AkirenDarkAngel]

humm I don't understand why they say north of ontario when abitibi is in north of quebec lol

[Ironman1o1]

@AkirenDarkAngel No its not. 

[AkirenDarkAngel]

@Ironman1o1 lol, I think it is, pretty sure about it too, that's where i'm from. Lived there over 20years

[AkirenDarkAngel]

@AkirenDarkAngel did some research, the abitibi place is bigger than most know, and it's right on the border between quebec and ontario, so, is in both province

[cstoczyn]

@AkirenDarkAngel O I C

[Ironman1o1]

@AkirenDarkAngel I'm looking at the map right now. Abitibi Canyon Generating Station is in Ontario. Abitibi river doesn't even leave Ontario, let alone go into Quebec. 49.877778,-81.570833 Plug these into Google earth to find it.

[AkirenDarkAngel]

@Ironman1o1 yep, thats the canyon, if you look a bit at south east, you'll see Little Abitibi provincial park, follow the line to Lake Abitibi, Lake Abitibi goes in Quebec as well, then do a search in google for Quebec region 08, you'll find Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Abitibi is the top half of that region, including the Lake Abitibi, and having the same environment as the ontario part, we got big flies too ;)

[cstoczyn]

@AkirenDarkAngel I Don't

[cstoczyn]

@Ironman1o1 OK

Thanks

[cstoczyn]

@AkirenDarkAngel I Don't

[cstoczyn]

@Ironman1o1 Too Bad

[farmzombie]

I remember O Canada with great fondness.

[Pichustrikesback]

This is awesome! Thanks a lot for posting the lyrics, I've always wanted to know what Wade was saying but the song is too fast and my english bad and I could not catch. It even made me want to go to the northern Ontario to experiment in real life what the song is about ;)

[frs24ru]

Greetings from Siberia ;)

[CrazzyOntarian]

I'm so Canadian Even my Blood Cell are RED and WHITE, and I'll bet Mr. Hemsworths were too! Fantastic song, Thank You so very much for posting the video to go along with it Holtyre :D

[michelledawnxoxo]

Awesome song

So Canadian, so awesome, so true

[Luckystar8088]

This is one of the best songs of all time.

[Bednesti38]

Canada for the win!

[Bednesti38]

3:33 AWESOMENESS

[ShawnaSmoke]

Oh my GAWD I sing this song like, at least once a week, ever since i was a kid, but I havent seen this in YEARRSS! I cant believe how well we can remember songs from being a kid >.<

[johnny4smith]

If you like this, you definitely have to watch The Big Snit. Classic Canadian animation!

[Pichustrikesback]

@johnny4smith Ohh yeah, I have been fan of Richard Condie's work since I first saw The Apprentice. Terrific animations at the NFB

[itisblart]

ahhhhh canada :)

[MrGbroderick]

theme to my childhood at camp

its pretty fun to sing this with other Canadians in different countries .. unity !

[brickarmsbattles]

I watched this for years.:) Never gets old.

[bravedogg]

I come here alot to watch the polar bear on the violin. The best solo ever.

[SirDamienGrieves]

AWESOME!! this is the best vid I have watched in a looong time, just a great song and video

[roofpirates]

oh my god I miss home :(

[RetroCaptain]

Good day

Yes those nasty little buggers crawl in your ears

& BITE!

Thanks for posting this!

[Lookup108776]

all i can say is lol, and amazing animation

[orlando108]

this song scared me when i was little D:

[RavenandSparrow13]

I remember seeing this when I was very little and I was terrifyed cause I thought that balck flys were gonna eat me :O

[blue1cows]

@RavenandSparrow13 ikr i was in grd 2 wen i saw this and it scared me to death

[RavenandSparrow13]

@blue1cows Finnaly someone who understands!!! lol I got so scared and my brother would always make fun of me :( Did it have to show them eat that guy :O that freaked me out the most! Now I find it funny :D

[cstoczyn]

@RavenandSparrow13 OMG!

[KatieScheper]

hitchhiking across Northern Ontario in the early 1970s I got to meet those big black flies.

[MountainQueen]

I live in North Ontario and yes, those black flies are annoying! Hahaha great animation I remember seeing it when I was little

[Matkaizer08]

Damn! those are some mean ass flies

[mrdann42]

i remember this on TV when i was like 10!

[hplexmark1]

i like the accordion playing snake....

the first time i ever heard this song was on a bizarre record my parents owned...it was by the musical group "the travelers" and it was made for the 1967 expo in Montreal ( it also included a song about how Toronto's city hall looked like a "urinal for the friendly giant"

[tezcatbus]

5 people are actually dozens of blackflies jumping up and down on the "dislike" button.

[syngar99]

@tezcatbus why does every fucking song have some little unoriginal twat making a comment like this?

[icychap]

Classic

[altrondragon]

Man does this bring back memories from childhood.

[Akins560]

at first i thought the song went "I'll die with the black fly a-pickin' my balls" becuz the song sounded kind of weird. lol

[girljammers007]

I love imitating the skeleton at the end!

[GayPornStuntman]

are there really that many flies in canada?

[canadaloveswhiskey]

@GayPornStuntman They can be especially in the summer.

[girljammers007]

@GayPornStuntman Did you really ask that? Poor Wade Hemsworth even wrote a song about it.

[GayPornStuntman]

@girljammers007 Sadly, I'm American, so I wouldn't know first hand. That's why I asked haha.

[syngar99]

@GayPornStuntman america has em too sparky

[girljammers007]

@girljammers007 Ahhh, I see. ahah

[ManuscriptRe]

A buddy sang this at a camp I was just at, good song. I think it's crap when people say Canadians have no culture, they're just not looking hard enough.

[CrazzyOntarian]

I Just got back from a week up north about 1/2 hr west of Kapuskasing and then an hour and 45 mins down a logging road to Rufus lake Outfitters, the fishing was spectacular! But the bugs were mother fricken vicious!!!!!!!! Even in the boat you had to make sure you were at least a couple hundred feet from shore or theyyyy'dddd findddd youuuu!!! The only thing that seemed to help was either standing in the smoke from a smudge fire covered in grass, or Muskol! But I'll be going back next year.

[Iwasateeninthe80s]

Brilliant piece of Canadian culture. Check the survey crew at the beginning, there is a moose standing there with the guys. And the fiddle solo at 2:22, it's Canada, so of course it's a bear playing the fiddle. If it were USA, it would be an old guy with a beard and a straw hat. This stuff seems small, but it points directly to Canadians' relationship with the natural environment. A beautiful fiddle part by the way. Makes a guy proud to be from the Great White North.

[MrDakns]

Canadian goddamflickenfukem misery monsters!

[TheBuckWhisperer]

i gotfcking eaten alive, so much more meaning to me now ahah

[n8line1978]

NICE!

[zangetsu802]

lol , polar bear on the violin

[gaurdianAQ]

I'm wondering, why did the cook put bacon grease and balsam gum on them?

[giovanniboydbonanno]

@gaurdianAQ he did it to keep the flys off them, just like putting mud on ur arms face ect it covers it so the little fuckers cant bite you

[gaurdianAQ]

@giovanniboydbonanno but I would think bacon grease would just attract them...

[giovanniboydbonanno]

@gaurdianAQ sure but the point is so they cant bite you not to keep em away really if you get my meaing

[gaurdianAQ]

@giovanniboydbonanno I get it now

[rdvqc]

I miss Wade - great local song writer close to the McGarrigles

Ontario or Quebec north the damned black flies make late spring and early summer a misery no matter how beautifull the country.

[alyshaandtaylor1]

Ontario is he best counry in the world

[gaurdianAQ]

@alyshaandtaylor1

ontario is a province not a country

[gaurdianAQ]

I'm just imagining how long it would take to draw this since they have to redraw every single frame...

[ReachFTW666]

Great old Canadian song i was taught in grd 5 :D

[RaveNeveRaven]

O Canada! old school Cartoon Network

[101prabhjot]

omg love this had fun singing along to it when michael came to our school :)

[hogtownbro]

3 people live in north ontario

[Kidcommito]

@hogtownbro you're ignorant

[hogtownbro]

@Kidcommito sorry let me clarify i was reffering to the 3 dislikes under the total views...im from ontario and i i personally believe that northern ontario is the most beautiful place ive ever had the pleasure of seeing

[URALPROm1]

Crazy!

[Drakenwolf1]

What's the animation called with that fire that burns everything?

[ArcticWolf131]

Love this song, all these years later and it's still great!

[ILOVECANDYGIRL]

This was MY FAV SONG when I was little! LOVED the tune!

[FoxyMamaRox]

This song made me itch for days after I heard it. O_o

[Xenonpow]

Why are the Black Rhinos endangered but the Blackflies are everywhere? It doesn't seem fair. :P I love the video though.

[Kylekorversgirl88]

this scared me when i was little :(

[jesica1203]

they used to play this song to us in grade 2 and we had to learn all the words and everything,it scared me soo much!...but its a good song

[ANTIANTHROPOCENTRISM]

guh. if i were a little kid, this song would be nightmare fuel

[Katchyagirl]

Not as good as Mad Dog Mcrea's cover, type them up, they are pretty awesome :)

[georgegillette]

@Katchyagirl Thanks for the suggestion. I checked that version. Good band. This version right here is head and shoulders better.

[Katchyagirl]

@georgegillette I have to disagree with you there, but hey, we also have different tastes.

[georgegillette]

@Katchyagirl Preferences, we both have... %")

[NHACummins]

I grew up in the deep south USA and we had big mosquito's But when I worked up in the northern bush country there where millions of the little tiny mosquito's. So I feel for anyone that has delt with the "black flys"

[georgegillette]

YYYEEESSS!!! holtyre, THANK YOU! This masterpiece got pulled from YouTube a few years ago. I just love the harmonious vocal dexterity. I'll echo MopsusHears' sentiment - the musical ensemble's tear-to-the-eye beautiful. Great lyrics. And the animation's a nice dedication.

[aaronpapanos]

I lived in Ontario for awhile. They bite real good!

[MopsusHears]

Wade Hemsworth + McGarrigles + NFB = Perfection

[kaila625]

Micheal came to our school today for a concert :P

[EdouardDubois]

lol, God... when he comes out of the rocket, gets me every time.

It's absurdly funny.

[EdouardDubois]

YES!  I LOVE this one!

[TheArandooka123]

so hilarious! lol lolz lol lolz!

[Dainathian]

...AND WADE HEMSWORTH!!!

[Dainathian]

whatever god bless whatevr person put this up for us all to see and hear again :)

[seangrie8]

First saw this in Canada and the song rattled around my head ever since.

[paragshah2112]

still one of my all time favs :)

[WHQODJYSingers]

I love the national film board of Canada. They support such wonderful things.

[kirstybobirsty]

i like the scuba diving blackflies :)

this is classic.

[barracal3]

i saw this when i was8

[MrSwiftframe]

Only a genius could create animation like this.

[CrazzyOntarian]

@MrSwiftframe  EXACTLY! I couldn't of said it better myself. I can still remember watching my Dads copy of the National Film Boards VHS they put out with this song and animation on it when I was a kid...pure genius!!

[noelx44]

it was funny when the blackflys eating the bones

[damnedlioness]

LOL! I remember this song from when I was ten. a very long time ago indeed. :)

[GhettoDiner]

The bear and the violin! LOVE IT!

[GoodbyeSandfly]

Thank you, added to favourites in Goodbye Sandfly, amazing mix of desperation and humour.

[MikeGauld]

i remember listening/singing this song all through my younger years in elementary school.

[BootPatrol]

I really enjoy this song, as it is based on a true story, and this is also one of my favourite cartoons from the NFB. Very good song, and very good work!

[JoRobfolk]

Wonderful!

[julanenova]

Thanks for posting this classic. I grew up in NW ontario ... there seem to be quite a few blackflies in the Maritimes too ... or maybe I just can't tolerate them any more!!

Remember the Log Driver's Waltz and the one starting off with a mosquito bite (man in canoe) and zooming into the microbial world then zooming out to the universe - can't remember the name of it. How about those (no) smoking commercials!? Where is Holtyre btw?

[YungReg88]

Thanks for posting the lyrics. With the singer's thick accent, it was hard for me to understand what he was saying...and what the deuce is "balsam gum?"

[qwertfre]

heather7774: I assume you live in Toronto... or another urban centre. It is NO JOKE! This song is not a joke! You go to Algonquin, ok... Not many blackflies there because it's BUSH COUNTRY!!! And by-the-way, Algonquin is not Northern Ontario! Try going to Kapuskasing, Hearst, Cochrane, Long Lac, etc.. The real Northern Ontario, then you'll know what blackflies are! You poor, inconsiderate people of the south, *sigh*.....

[angelfreak95]

@qwertfre omfg this song totally a joke, but it's meant to be funny, I'm sorry you can't understand that -sigh-..

I live in north ontario, so I know what they're like

[mystikogat222]

catchy tune n dancing skeleton in the ending was a nice touch: D

[TheJaniejane]

like the fancy foot work at the end... tap until you you croak

[kittycatblue100]

this song is hilarious! It was stuck in my head today.

[markdenis37]

And the flies swarmed heavy, it was hard to catch a breath

As you staggered up and down the trail talkin' to yourself

I feel itchy

[Supermusicisloveable]

Love this cute little catchy tune. It's been a long time since I've heard this. So true about the black flies in this part of Ontario. Don't like the flies at all, but sure love Canada! :)

[heather27774]

okay. This song is meant as a joke so people stop bashing Canada.

Who cares. Your not in it. You've never experienced it. I think its great.

Its joke. Dont take it seriously.

[icequeen56]

@heather27774 Absolutely right...a joke and a great one if you have ever lived through blackfly season in Northern Canada. I recall not being able to see the color of my clothes through the bugs. It takes a good sense of humor to survive:)

This was written by Wade Hemsworth in 1949... from his personal experience and this video was nominated for best animated short film - Academy Awards 1992. Thank God for Canadian Folksong writers!!!!

[heather27774]

@icequeen56

EXACTLY!

I go up north to Algonquin every summer and I get that.

Its irratating at first but when the trip is over and your home...you can make great jokes off it and it gives funny memories!

[Karoleyna]

this video is disturbing

[dinorwicdan]

may you die by the bite of a million black flies! yankee doodle!  Canadian dinorwicdan in north ontario io, in north ontario!

[dinorwicdan]

why do you think our hockey players skate so fast? This is how we train to kick your yankee ass at hockey!

[Spetsop]

@Shadowrod9909

LOL Sorry for being the "worst kind of people in the world" and looking at things from a positive point of view and laughing at our "troubles"!

Thanks for your input :)

[handofstand]

@Karoleyna so was Ren and Stimpy, but people loved it for some reason

[gdgest]

5*^ Awesome video. National Film Board Canada makes their films accessible to all Canadians. Thanks for sharing. :-)

[melledoe]

always loved this song and watched it everytime, along with the cat came back...classic!

[afroschlan]

I find those songs horribly addictive..