I really like folk music, and Stan Rogers' music specifically has such unique and beautiful themes and tones that I can't help but feel a bit caught up in it all. Stan sings mostly about martime life in Nova Scotia and the struggles of a changing world, but his music does not shy away from other aspects of folk music such as farm life, poverty, and the endless grind of labor. Below I will write a bit about each of his songs that I really like, but Stan as a person seemed like a really cool guy. As I am doing research to write this, I found out that he died at 33 from a fire in a plane which is incredibly tragic. Cut down in his prime, the world will never again see a man like Stan Rogers. What a shame...
The subdued, and gentle instrumentals really give off a sense of something lost. Yes, there is a tagedy here, but it's not a sudden and violent one, instead it is the slow death of a way of life. Now a days, only the older fishermen, too tied to this place to let it go are willing to keep their traditions alive. Stan's vocals pair well with the intrumentals to sound like an old man reminiscing on what once was, and I especially like the strings in this. They just emphasize the idea of heartbreak for me, such deep and sombre notes feel like they come right from my chest.
Free in the Harbour takes almost the extact opposite approach as Make and Break Harbour does when talking about a dying fishing town. Before the mood was sombre, and mournful. We are watching a culture die, and it takes the perspective of an old fisherman watching it all happen around him. But this song is a lot more upbeat, with swelling instrumentals, as Stan sings about almost the exact same themes. One interesting aspect is that Free in the Harbour flips the perspective to that of the whales, specifically Blackfish (orcas) on the west coast of Canada. The whales to me feel like an analogy for the rest of society in that they don't care about the town, they just keep going on as they always have. Something else I really enjoy about this song is how he characteriszes the young men who leave their homes as naive or immature. These guys are bragging about the pay their going to get as they turn away 300 years of family history and let their hometown turn into dust.
This song is about farming and the poverty associated with it, and I think this is really interesting in today's day and age because so much has changed over decades of constantly pushing out the poorest and smallest farms. The song paints this picture of a small family farm that every year puts a ton of money into the crops, hoping that maybe this year they will get enough money to pay off all the loans. It's a very real feeling, the idea of being tied to the land, and being almost powerless in a world that demands value while trying to pay you as little as possible. I love this song, and I think the vocals do a great job showing how economically risky farming is (was). But what I think is even more interesting is that farming today doesn't look like this anymore. Most farming is a much larger scale, dealing with government buyouts for bad crop years, and lobbying to politicians. This song shows an industry at a completely different point in time and it is wretched to think about how many farms like the one in this song were pushed into cities by how the industry has evolved over time.
Bluenose is one of those songs where Stan just sings poetry at you and it fucking slaps. This song holds a lot of the same themes as the Free in the Harbour and Make and Break Harbour, but I really like how he talks about the work and joy he feels when he's sailing on one of those older fishing boats. He also does the classic sailor thing of personifying the boat, but I thought it was unique how he describes the boat as something that flies and a vague "living thing" as opposed to a person. It makes the boat feel more like an animal or some wild beast, which I imagine is more accurate to how sailing a large boat is.
The Idiot is a song about leaving home in search of work and the thoughts associated with such big decisions. The central theme of the song focusing around the choice being idiotic because protagonist misses so many things about his home. I think this song pairs really well with a song like Free in the Harbour, because Stan is able to give the perspectives of both the young and old as they move through a changing world. On one hand, the protagonist in The Idiot wants to be free, not tied down to a dying town where he knows that he would have to suffer through poverty. It's understandable that he would want to escape the harsh reality of rural life on the East Coast. But at the same time he holds onto the idea that he really hates life on the West Coast in the oil refineries. He sees no nature around him, the cities are dirty and he doesn't like cowboy clothes! The protagonist in The Idiot is being ironic when he calls himself an idiot, because he knows that he doesn't love the decision he made but he feels that he was forced into the choice. And this contrasts really well with Free in the Harbour where the older folks watch younger people leave, thinking of them as naive and childish, prioritizing money and comfort over traditions.
Unlike a lot of Stan's other songs, Workin' Joe feels kinda timeless. Stan died in the early '80s, so if I had to guess this song probably was written in the '70s, but the idea of being overworked and missing out on time you want to spend on family rings true today. This doubles up with some of the other ideas the song explores like realizing that he has more bills that he cannot keep up with as he goes through life. It's a bit jarring to hear Stan sing about such a normal mundane life, but I think it also gives it a bit more bite. I tend to associate Stan's voice with dramatic events, almost mythiologized in moments of sailing in a world that no longer exists. Crashing waves with intense imagery of tragic ship wrecks and naval battles. But even a man steeped in rich history gets ground down by a 9 to 5, goddamn that cuts.
The last song for this vague category of Stan Rogers songs that I want to write about is all about modern life and mirroring it onto the sailor mythos that Stan loves to sing about. For those unaware, work songs or shanties were super common on sailing boats as a way to boost moral and keep sailors in time for pulling up the rigging. This is of course not necessary for a white collar job like the one in the song. In fact, the entire song is about how monotenous and boring his job and life is. In some ways it feels like a cry for help, but I can't help but see a bit of pride in the way Stan sings, as I'm sure sailors felt back in the day. "It's tough work, but such is the life of a sailor!" type energy. I also appreciate that there are back up singers in this song, it ties in the idea that these ideas aren't just one guy, but everyone wanting something different but being stuck in their work. I'm like 1000% sure that sailor had these same feelings when they signed contracts to work on boats for like 6 months.