Playlists: songs about the frozen north

By Marco den Ouden

A few weeks ago my wife and I and three in-laws took a 10-day Alaska vacation which spurred me to suggest this topic. The vacation was fabulous. Alaska is fabulous. The largest state in the United States and the most sparsely populated. Its natural beauty is stunning. So we start out with two songs about Alaska. 

First up is Johnny Horton’s classic North to Alaska which tells the story of the Nome Gold Rush, one of three gold rushes that drew explorers and fortune hunters to this vast territory. The others being the Klondike Gold Rush and the Fairbanks Gold Rush. 

The song references a team of huskies mushing through the snow which brings us to our second number: The Iditarod Trail by Hobo Jim. This famous sled dog race had its origins in a January 1925 race by a relay of 20 mushers and 150 dogs to deliver serum to Nome because of a diphtheria epidemic. The route followed the US Mail run from Nenana (54 miles west of Fairbanks) to Nome. Wikipedia notes that “together, the teams covered the 674 miles (1,085 km) in 127 1⁄2 hours, which was considered a world record, done in extreme subzero temperatures in near-blizzard conditions and hurricane-force winds. A number of dogs died during the trip.”

Continuing with a little history, let’s move to Northern Canada and the quest for the Northwest Passage. Show of Hands tells the tale of the ill-fated Franklin Expedition. Two ships led by Capt. John Franklin sailed away in 1845 and eventually their ships became icebound in Victoria Strait in today’s Nunavut Territory. They stayed with the ship for over a year. Two dozen of the 129 men had died and the rest decided to leave the ships in April 1848 to search for land. They vanished without a trace.

Momus gives us a more recent bit of history with Trans-Siberian Express. He sings: 

Stalag camp and satellite
Pass the captives on death row
The gulag archipelago
The skulls of reindeer in the snow
The longboat drifts, the dead float slow. 

Stalin’s infamous prison camp was eventually brought to light by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

We continue our journey through the far North with three songs by and about indigenous people. First up we have Siberia / Sibirijá by Norwegian Sami singer Torgeir Vassvik. The Sami come from the territory formerly known as Lappland. Also from the Sami is Sámiid Ædnan by Sverre Kjellsberg & Mattis Hætta. They represented Norway with the song at the 1980 Eurovision Song Contest. And then we have Canada’s Tanya Tagaq with Sivulivinivut sung in Inuktitut, an Inuit language. 

Native populations have long struggled with the effects of colonialism and the next two songs reflect these problems. First is People of the Deer by The Trews based on the 1952 book of the same name by Farley Mowat. He traveled extensively researching the Inuit people of the North. And the Techno Sound Group tell how global warming is affecting the Inuit in People of the Snow. They sing: 

But the ice is retreating, the old ways now cease,
As the world keeps on warming, they seek inner peace.
An identity in crisis, as traditions unfurl,
In the face of a future, in a rapidly changing world.

Our next three songs explore some of the features of the far North. Jenny Räisänen sings a song from the perspective of the Arctic Fox. Redgum sing of the bleak winter conditions in Midnight Sun. “You can lose your mind in the panic of snow blindness. Icy winds strike you deaf and numb at the midnight sun,” they sing. And Wire tells the bleak story of a man cast adrift on an ice floe in Marooned. 

We close our set with a reflective song commissioned by Greenpeace to Save the Arctic. The song is visually stunning as well as moving. Ludovico Einaudi plays Elegy for the Arctic, a piano solo, on a grand piano on a floating platform, an artificial ice floe if you will, in front of the great Wahlenbergbreen glacier in Norway. You can see and hear the roar of the glacier calving at 1:30 into the piece just to the right of the piano. I was lucky enough to witness the calving of a glacier on my Alaska vacation and it is a stunning experience. 

The Frozen North! Let’s hope it survives. 

The Arctic A-List Playlist:

1. Johnny Horton - North to Alaska (SweetHomeAlabama)

2. Hobo Jim - The Iditarod Trail (BanazirGalbasi)

3. Show of Hands - Northwest Passage (Suzi)

4. Momus - Trans-Siberian Express (Vikingchild)

5. Torgeir Vassvik - Siberia / Sibirijá (Traktor Albatrost)

6. Sverre Kjellsberg & Mattis Hætta - Sámiid Ædnan (Traktor Albatrost)

7. Tanya Tagaq - Sivulivinivut (tincanman)

8. The Trews - People of the Deer (tincanman)

9. Techno Sound Group - People of the Snow (Fred Erickson)

10. Jenny Räisänen - Arctic Fox (Suzi)

11. Redgum - Midnight Sun (Nicko)

12. Wire - Marooned (vanwolf2)

13. Ludovico Einaudi - Elegy for the Arctic (severin)

The Great Big Bitterly Below Zero B-List Playlist:

1. Lucinda Belle Orchestra - Northern Lights (severin)

2. British Sea Power - Great Skua (happyclapper)

3. Alan Parsons - Return to Tunguska (BanazirGalbasi)

4. Stompin’ Tom Connors - Martin Hartwell Story (Maki)

5. The Pogues - Greenland Whale Fisheries  (severin)

6. Sólstöður - Kaelen Mikla (Vikingchild)

7. Kornet - Jojk (pejepeine)

8. Billy Bragg - Song of the Iceberg (Maki)

9. Veda Hille - Tuktoyaktuk Hymn (TatankaYotanka)

10. Bill Staines - Shores of Prudhoe Bay (BanazirGalbasi)

11. Martin Carthy - Lord Franklin (Suzi)

12. John Denver - American Child (Fred Erickson)

13. Neil Young - Be the Rain (Uncleben)

14. Shocking Blue - Alaska Country (Nicko)

15. Lucy J. Dalton - The Alaska Song Fred Erickson)

16. The Church - Anchorage (Nicko)

17. Mari Boine - Guovssahasaid ájagáttis (AltraEgo)

18. Kardemimmit - Poutapilvet (Suzi)

19. Camel - Flight of the Snow Goose (AltraEgo)

20. Matt Elliott - The Kursk (TatankaYotanka)

21. Jet Blacks - Min Drøm Er Midnattsolens Land (Traktor Albatrost)

22. Alestorm - Magnetic North (Badu)

23. Gladys Knight & the Pips - Alaska Pipeline (Loud Atlas)

24. Al Stewart - Murmansk Run/Ellis Island (TatankaYotanka)

25. Johnny Horton - When It’s Springtime in Alaska (TarquinSpodd)

26. Jocelyne Dorian - Les Esquimaux (TatankaYotanka)

27. Pamyua - Seal Hunt Version A (TaqunSpodd)

28. Adam Bird’s Bowl of Fire - Dear Old Greenland (Fred Erickson)

The Instrumental Ice-List:

1. Jean Sibelius - Pohjola’s Daughter (Vikingchild)

2. Al di Meola - Land of the Midnight Sun (BanazirGalbasi)

3. Oregon - Northwest Passage (BanazirGalbasi)

4. Geir Bøhren and Bent Åserud - Svalbardtema (Traktor Albatrost)

5. Woody Herman - Northwest Passage (BanazirGalbasi)

6. Boreal Taiga - Chuckchi (BanazirGalbasi)

7. Alexander Dargomyzhsky - Chukhon Fantasia (BanazirGalbasi)

8. Australian Allstars - Midnight Sun (Nicko)

9. Finn Eriksen - Lappland (Traktor Albatrost)

10. Sun Ra - Aurora Borealis (Loud Atlas)

11. Charles Verstraete Et Son Orchestre - Polka des Esquimaux (TatankaYotanka)

12. Terje Isungset - Igloo (TatankaYotanka)

Guru’s Wildcard Ice-Picks:

At first I couldn’t think of a single song except North to Alaska which was the very first song nominated! But eventually I recalled an old poem about the Yukon and wondered if it had been put to music and it had. And then I remembered a song I B Listed for Songs About Canada. The lyrics for both are from poems by Robert Service. 

1. Hank Snow - Spell of the Yukon

2. Hank Snow - The Cremation of Sam McGee

3. Seth Boyer - The Cremation of Sam McGee

Alaskan glacier (photo from Marco den Ouden’s trip)

 These playlists were inspired by readers' song nominations in response to last week's topic: The frozen north: songs about the Arctic region. The next topic will launch on Thursday after 1pm UK time.

New to comment? It is quick and easy. You just need to login to Disqus once. All is explained in About/FAQs ...

Fancy a turn behind the pumps at The Song Bar? Care to choose a playlist from songs nominated and write something about it? Then feel free to contact The Song Bar here, or try the usual email address. Also please follow us social media: Song Bar Twitter, Song Bar Facebook. Song Bar YouTube, and Song Bar Instagram. Please subscribe, follow and share.

Song Bar is non-profit and is simply about sharing great music. We don’t do clickbait or advertisements. Please make any donation to help keep the Bar running:

Donate