Sunday Sessions: Circle Game
Among all the other things going on in the world, it is,a season of graduations, endings of academic year classes. changes, moves, and all sorts of thoughts brought on by those circumstances.
photo by Joshua Choate
That is a reason to listen to the song Circle Game.
It is certainly as song about seasons and change.
It is also a song about growing up, about renewal perhaps, and, as is sung, “we can’t return, we can only look behind from where we came...”
Circle Game was written by Canadian singer and songwriter Joni Mitchell.
This recording is by Ian and Sylvia Tyson.
Ian and Sylvia met in the music scene in Toronto, he from British Columbia, she from further south in Ontario, in Chatham.
Soon they began performing together, releasing a number of albums, appearing at the Newport Folk Festival and other top festivals and venues in the US and Canada.
Both talented songwriters themselves, they often recorded music by other Canadian artists who went on to top careers as well. Among those musicians were Joni Mitchell and Gordon Lightfoot.
After Ian and Sylvia went their separate ways, they each created careers which included music as well as other pursuits. They also, together and separately, continued to receive honors including being inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and being made members of the Order of Canada.
Sylvia produced television projects for CBC, wrote and recorded with the group Quartette, has published books and continues to write songs.
Ian returned to the west where he ran a cattle ranch and recorded a number of acclaimed western and cowboy themed albums. Ian passed away several years ago.
You may also wish to see
Several more musicians from Canada to know about in this story at Perceptive Travel
Natalie MacMaster, from Cape Breton, and Donnell Leahy, from Ontario, talk about their duo album Canvas
Another Canadian artist to know: Catherine MacLellan from PEI talks about her own music and about adding her father Gene MacLellan’s songs to her performing and recording
A Sunday Sessions episode with a song from Anne Murray
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