A guide to the Canadian national anthem for Cubs fans

The Canadian national anthem used to be played at Wrigley Field several times a year, starting in 1969 when the Montreal Expos entered the National League.

But the Expos have been gone since 2004. And the Toronto Blue Jays haven’t visited Wrigley since 2005. If you’re not a hockey fan (and thus hear the Canadian anthem fairly often at the United Center), perhaps you’ve forgotten how it goes.

Thus I present one of our favorite anthem singers, Jim Cornelison, from the Blackhawks’ 2010 Stanley Cup run. This is from the CBC’s coverage of a Blackhawks/Canucks game during that run; often, US networks don’t broadcast the Canadian anthem. This video includes Cornelison doing both anthems:

Cornelison’s great. I wish the Cubs could get him to sing at Wrigley from time to time. He’s done it before, but not in several years.

Did you know that the Canadian anthem has different words in French and English?

Here are both sets of lyrics (with an English translation of the French words). As you can see, they have very different meanings in both languages. Sometimes you hear an anthem singer switch back and forth between the two languages, mostly in Quebec. You likely won’t hear anything like that this weekend at Wrigley Field.

I don’t yet have info on who’s going to be singing the anthems at Wrigley this weekend, though Wrigley favorite Wayne Messmer often sings on Fridays, and he and his wife Kathleen often sing on Sundays.

With the current interleague schedule cycle, the Blue Jays likely won’t be at Wrigley again until 2023, so this weekend you can enjoy something rarely heard at the ballyard at Clark & Addison.