Alex Berthelot, Jr. of Elliot Lake, Ont., has won a songwriting contest sponsored by the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame. The lyricist, who was one of more than 40 contestants, was presented with the award at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony, held recently in Toronto.
Berthelot won in the category of original lyrics set to an existing tune for his song Boom Town Blues, which highlights the history of Elliot Lake and area. He also took home $500 for his efforts.
A colleague of Berthelot who worked for Rio Algom saw the advertisement in The Northern Miner and suggested he enter. The song is contained on a CD called Boreal Passages, which Berthelot produced in 1999. It is sung to the tune of The Wabush Cannonball and is based on an account of the discovery of uranium in Elliot Lake in the 1950s.
According to the account, a journalist asked the chief of the Serpent River First Nation what he thought of the discovery and subsequent development.
He responded:
“Four hundred years ago the French came, took all our furs, gave us some trinkets and went away.
Then the English came, cut down all our big trees and they went away.
They came back later to build a pulp mill in Espanola and they cut down all the small trees.
Soon there was nothing left except for the rocks. And now, by God, they’re back for the rocks.”
Meanwhile, Jack Meade of Revelstoke, B.C., won in the category of best original lyrics set to original music for Living in Thompson, a look at life in a lonely mining town in northern Manitoba.
Other winners included Tony Moniz and Richard Overton, from Wawa, Ont., as runners-up in the original melody category for the song Small Town Breakdown. In the same category, an honourable mention was given to Carol Teal and David Joyce of Newmarket, Ont., for their song Highway 17.
In the category of best parody, Ruth Ward of North Bay, Ont., was runner-up for Another Cobalt Song. Walter Moffat, of Redbridge, Ont., was also runner-up for Farewell to Premier. An honourable mention was given to Peter Massi, of Englehart, Ont., for Oh Lord, it’s Hard to Keep Mining.
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