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Golden Spruce

by Mark Perry

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about

Golden Spruce will be part of Mark Perry's upcoming album, due for release winter 2021/22

‘Golden Spruce’ is about the legendary story of Grant Hadwin, who felled Kiidk’yaas (also known as “the Golden Spruce”), a Sitka Spruce tree located on the Haida Gwaii archipelago and considered sacred by the Haida people.

"In January 1997, Grant Hadwin, a Canadian forester, fell a 300 year old tree on Haida Gwaii," says Perry. “It's unique colour, appearance, and size made it a celebrated and valued tree, and was considered sacred by many Haida people. Grant did it to bring attention to the decimation of the massive old-growth forests. It provoked a lot of mixed emotions, far and wide. On February 13th of that same year, he left from Prince Rupert in his kayak, headed towards Masset for his court appearance. During the 100 km trip over, he disappeared. In the early 2000’s, Alaskan coast patrol still considered him a missing person of interest."

lyrics

Golden Spruce

He’s gone
Where did he go ?
Out on the North Pacific
There’s places we’ll never know
They found pieces of his kayak
Washed up on the shore
They say if anyone could have survived
He’d done it before
He cut down that golden spruce
A legend fell and the earth shook
He said now these trees have your attention
I did what it took

And the ghosts of the Haida paddlers
They talk about the old ways
Before the Spanish and the small pox
And the price they payed
And the golden spruce grew tall

He said we’re part of something here
Not the driving force
We have to find our place
Let nature run it’s course
One golden spruce tree falls
Everybody sees and hears
But nobody seems to notice
When a whole forest disappears

There are rumours that he ran off to Russia
Or he was seen in some Alaskan bar
Young men drinking beer in a Rupert hotel
Say he never would have made it that far
*-Some Haidas say that tree – could trick your mind
People die out here searching – for what they’ll never find
Chorus - tag -seeds fall, maybe one day it’ll rise again

© Mark Perry, 2020 | www.markperry.ca

credits

released May 21, 2021
Mark Perry - lead vocals, acoustic guitar
Jordy Walker - electric guitar, lead acoustic guitar, percussion
Tobin Frank - bass, accordion
Mip - harmony vocals

Produced and mixed by Jordy Walker at Stackwall Sound, Whitehorse, Yukon
Mastered by Philip Shaw Bova at Bova Lab Studio, Ottawa, ON

Cover photo: Mike Beauregard via Wikimedia Commons

Supported by Creative BC and the Province of British Columbia

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Mark Perry Smithers, British Columbia

A dozen albums strong, Mark Perry is deeply loved in Canada for his good-humoured and thought-provoking songs that get festival audiences up on their feet and make theatre crowds feel like they’re in his living room. “New Jersey has Springsteen, New York has Billy Joel, northern BC has Mark Perry. These are the storytellers of their times and places.” Watch for Perry's next album in 2021 ... more

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