It has all the elements of a Canadian pop music classic. From it's folky and hummable melody with regional southern Manitoba lyrical references to it's rousing singalong chorus Eagle and Hawk’s Another September is a song that you should know but you don't.
The recent passing of Vince Fontaine founding member of Eagle
and Hawk has caused me to reflect on their outstanding collection of Indigenous
rock and roll. For those who know songs like Sundancer, Cowboys and Indians, I SeeRed, Indian city and their cover of Keith Secola’s Indian Car are the top songs in the Eagle
and Hawk canon . And they all deserve to be heard because they are wonderful
examples of contemporary Indigenous music that speak to Indigenous issues.
Another September is a song that doesn't reference Indigenous
identity but is about love, regret, broken hearts and getting through one more
day. It’s not for kids. It’s not someone singing about how they used to go driving
back in high school. This is about a grown up who has seen some things “The
Children are all married, another Soldier’s been buried.” Then the kicker, “The
Jets moved to Phoenix too.”
There is no reference to sex in this song. It is all about
having a partner. Having someone that just wants to be with you. “We used to
drive on up to Winnipeg Beach, You used to laugh at all my bad jokes.”
Songs that work for you do so on all kinds of levels. When I
first fell for this track the opening line, which does put you in a place was
one that I didn’t like. “There's still a dark stain where you spilled your
Pepsi that day.” I got it but I also didn’t like it. As the song grew and the
images in the song and the story that was taking place within in it became clear.
I began to feel that Pepsi stain. It was a fight they had. They argued about
it. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe she was absolutely wrong. But he still had to be
such a dick about it. It was just some goddamn spilled pepsi.
If there is a reference that I feel personally is Indigenous
but is also universal it is the line. “I still wear your daddy’s old coat.”
To get the old man’s coat is a generous gift and if it is one
that is still being worn after all these years it suggest something well made
like a leather or buckskin jacket or a working man’s coat like a mackinaw. It
speaks to the larger connection that has been lost that he was once considered
worthy to walk in her father’s moccasins.
Interweaved into the song are very specific references to
municipal corruption “The city's got bigger, he's got two terms go figure” in
the beginning and “Another mayor's been busted, they still cant be trusted”
towards the end. It all adds up to
creating a complete universe. A moment in time in a real world that is so specific
in details in creates an emotional response in the listener.
The Pepsi stain isn’t just the mess in your life that you
can’t clean up it represents that piece of your life that you can’t let go.
“I still stare at the stain on the floor. And your silver
bracelet is still in the top drawer, Oh Hear me Know”.
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If Indigenous artists like Eagle and Hawk would receive the kind of radio support from Canadian and Indigenous radio that they deserve more of these songs would be known.
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