Who would have thought it? Of all people it’s Bryan Adams – an artist not known for making big political statements – who has come out with the song that passes the harshest judgement on… well, you know who.
Adams has released Lake Ontario today (28 October). Evidently, it’s been written recently – certainly since President Trump unilaterally decided that Lake Ontario, which borders both Canada and the US, should be renamed ‘Lake America’. The song is to be added to Adams’ new album, How’s It Goin’, as a digital bonus track.
The song is straight and to the point. The verse tells how the lake originally got its name – “The lake of shining waters is what the Iroquois called her/ It’s a first nations name – not an executive order” – before the chorus goes for the jugular with references to the ongoing war in Iran and the Epstein files.
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Adams has also put out a statement about the song, saying: “Empires and regimes, dictators and kings, they all come and go. Lake Ontario is forever. This is a song for all the sane people on both shores who know that the current madness will pass, and that Lake Ontario will always be Lake Ontario.”
Anyway, How’s It Goin’ is something of a concept album about Adams’ homeland. That much is obvious from the track titles: 51st State, When Canada Joined Newfoundland, Canada’s Wild Eastern Edge.
It’s also made clear by the record company blurb that accompanies its release: “How It’s Goin’ is about Canada: its vast landscapes, the characters, the history, the humour, the resilience and the stories that make it the country that it is. It is Adams looking back at the place that helped shape him while discovering new ways to tell its stories.”
Has there ever been a patriotic concept album about Canada? We’re not sure. It’s just another unlikely thing to add to all the other unlikely things would never have happened prior to January 2025.
How It’s Goin’ lands at the end of next week (6 November). Lake Ontario is out now.
