A Place to Stand, A Place to Grow
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"A Place to Stand, A Place to Grow" (Ontari-ari-ari-o!) is an unofficial anthem of the Canadian province of Ontario. The song was originally created as the signature tune for a movie of the same name that played at the Expo 67 Ontario pavilion.
The song was written by Dolores Claman, who also wrote the Hockey Night in Canada theme. It was commissioned by the Progressive Conservative government of John Robarts for the Ontario pavilion at Expo 67, the World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec in Canada's Centennial year of 1967, and was used again and widely remembered in the following decades.
It was featured at that exhibit in the short film A Place to Stand, which won the 1967 Academy Award for Live Action Short Film.
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Christopher Chapman was the editor and director of this film. Most of the edit decisions were done in an accountants spreadsheet book and the pencil edit plan resembled flow charts.[citation needed] His pioneering concept of moving panes, of moving images, within the single context of the screen.[citation needed] At times there are 15 separate images moving at once.This technique has since been copied many times over, with no credit to Mr. Chapman's vision[citation needed]... most notably (and rather with less impact) on the series "24" A better use of this concept was in Norman Jewison's 1968 film "The Thomas Crown Affair."[citation needed] At least Mr.Jewison has credited Mr. Chapman as the creator of the edit style.[citation needed]
He says that at one point in the editing process he stood there in the room, bits of footage hanging from clips all around him. He felt crushed by the force of his vision and he was a breath away from quitting... Just then Steve McQueen came into the suite and told Chris that he had never seen such an incredible concept as this film. That one little moment changed Chris's mind. [citation needed]
In their early busking days, Barenaked Ladies would often perform this song, with their hometown of Scarborough, Ontario replacing Ontario.
Actor Jim Carrey made the song famous once again in 2004[citation needed], when he sang it on the Late Night with Conan O'Brien show when the show travelled to Toronto to tape four episodes.
In 2005, the song was mooted as a possible official song for the province[citation needed], which was without such a song.
[edit] Lyrics
Give us a place to stand And a place to grow And call this land Ontario A place to live. For you and me With hopes as high As the tallest tree Give us a land of lakes and a land of snow And we will build Ontario A place to stand, a place to grow Ontari-ari-ari-o ! A place to live. For you and me With hopes as high As the tallest tree Give us a land of lakes and a land of snow And we will build Ontario A place to stand, a place to grow Ontari-ari-ari-o !
