When my daughter Suzy was a baby, I started to notice who did and didn't shovel their walks -it's the law in Toronto where we live. There was a woman who lived in a corner house near me, which meant she had a lot of sidewalk. And she never touched it. She also had a very high hedge which she never seemed to clip, and it hung out over the sidewalk, which meant that in all seasons, I'd be pushing the stroller in the middle of the street. Suzy just turned 28, I live in the same house as back then, and that woman STILL doesn't shovel. I co-wrote this song with Bob Johnston for "Momnipotent: Songs for Weary Parents".

08 Stroller Ladies

From the cd "Momnipotent: Songs for Weary Parents", recorded at Inception Sound in 1990.  This track was produced by Rick Whitelaw.  Sometimes, when a woman is expecting her second child, she feels as if the glamorous part of her life is over. This song expands on that theme! There are a few of Cohen's phrases and chord progressions in this homage. I got permission!  -nw

Leonard Cohen's Never Gonna Bring My Groceries In

This is from the 1987 cassette "Bimbolandia",and it's about Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's big spending, massive collection of shoes, expensive reno, and so forth.  I particularly liked Brian's way of saying "Nanny". He's voiced here by Ray Landry. Doug Wilde's on keys. And I play Mila. 

09 Hard On Shoes

The store where the clerk was so rude to me was "The Last Woundup" in Toronto, now gone. This song, written for "Momnipotent", ended up on "Holidays in Dementia", Dr.Demento's Christmas compilation. That cd is a big part of our Christmas tradition. 

02 It's So Chic To Be Pregnant At Christmas

This song was commissioned by the long-running CBC TV show "The Nature of Things", about ten years ago, to honour the show and the host, the brilliant geneticist David Suzuki, and Nancy White and pianist Bob Johnston performed the song on the show. David Suzuki turned 80 this week (in March 2016) and he and "The Nature of Things" are still going strong!

BIG SCIENCE

A cabaret song about a puzzle of motherhood, from "Momnipotent: Songs for Weary Parents". I have two daughters, now feminists of course, but when Suzy was little she was very girly, would NOT wear pants - a problem in a cold climate! -and so on.  This is a co-write with Bob Johnston - who also has two daughters. 

Gender UnChecked

Daughters of Feminists

A song about all the military funerals we've had in Canada since the war in Afghanistan began. The role of the bagpiper, playing "Flowers of the Forest" on the tarmac. The sadness of war. This is a simple demo, Nancy White, voice; Bob Johnston, piano.It was included on the Mariposa Festival sampler, 2009.

01 Piping Them Home

Nancy White wrote this song for "Anne & Gilbert". This pop version has a couple of lyric changes and a different feel from the show versions. The leads are shared - Maddy Wilde, Suzy Wilde and Barb Johnston are the singers; guitar Mike O'Hara, piano Bob Johnston, flute Barbara Ackerman. Production Rick Whitelaw. Contact Nancy for original lyrics and orchestrations. nancywhite17@rogers.com

A&G covers

Someone Handed Me the Moon

I wrote this song about the death of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, murdered while saying mass, March 24, 1980. Romero, a conservative who changed his views after working in the parish with the poor and the activists, is about to be canonized as a saint.  (Vocal, Nancy White, keyboard, Doug Wilde. (Oscar Romero print by Clive Booker.)

Sort of Political.1980

Hymn to Oscar Romero

Suzy Wilde is Philippa,  Nick Whelan is Alonzo, Matt Bernard is Alec in this song from the musical "Anne & Gilbert". Bob Johnston, piano; Aline Hozny, fiddle; Sam Geeson, bass. Song composed by Nancy White, arranged by Bob Johnston & Tom Leighton. info at www.anneandgilbert.com

That Little Fiddle Player

Victorian Christmas riff on "You're Island Through and Through", a song I wrote for the musical "Anne & Gilbert". Singers are Maddy Wilde, Robin Craig, Matt Bernard, Bob Johnston and Nancy White. piano, Bob; guitar Kevin Barrett. I wrote this as a possible audience extro song for the NAC production. (Didn't happen/)  (nw)

Christmas In Avonlea

This is a song about a possible reconciliation of a father and his gay son. Years of silence have gone by, but out of the blue, one November, the son gets a phone call. It's set in Toronto's gay village,  centred around Church Street. Vocal Nancy White, piano Ghislain Aucoin. Recorded by David Mooney.

Father On The Phone

This is Ghislain Aucoin singing my song "When You Fall in Love Like That" in a concert in Pointe Claire, Québec, in July 2010. He's also playing piano, and Henry Heillig of Manteca fame is on double bass. I sing a verse at the very end. The volume on the vocal is low on the first bar, but the tech boosted it pretty quickly, and there's wind and audience noise, but I love Ghislain's performance. I wrote this song in the early 90's for a documentary. It wasn't used, but I recorded it on "Nancy White:Unexpected". I've always wondered how it would work with a man singing it. Just fine, I'd say!

01 When You Fall in Love Like That

This is a song from the cd "Stickers on Fruit". It's about how your mother can embarrass you merely by existing in your world. My daughters Suzy and Maddy Wilde sang on this when they were 16 and 13. Of course our own relationship was never like this. I got the idea out of the useful magazine "Gruesome Parenting". Bob Johnston's on keys, I'm playing guitar, and engineer's Dale Koshida.

My God My Mom

Most of the songs on "Momnipotent: Songs for Weary Parents", which I recorded in - yikes!- 1990, are songs about the frustration and exhaustion experienced by new moms. "Mammas Have a Secret" is the antidote. It's about falling in love with your children. The track was produced by Rick Whitelaw.

11 Mammas Have a Secret

This is a song I wrote in 1980 about the Chilean composer Victor Jara who was murdered in Santiago during the 1973 coup. I've included a medley of some of Jara's best known songs. Vocals, Nancy White; piano Doug Wilde; guitar and charrango, Rick Whitelaw.

Victor Jara Presente

This was written for the musical "Anne & Gilbert", the sequel to "Anne of Green Gables", by Bob Johnston, Jeff Hochhauser and Nancy White. It's a song of pure joy. Because of the generosity of dear friends, Anne, a farm girl in Prince Edward Island in the Victorian era, gets to go to university. The line about the moon comes directly from the "Anne" series author Lucy Maud Montgomery. Vocal by the first "Anne" Marla McLean. (Photo of Nancy White by Suzy Wilde).

Someone Handed Me The Moon Today

"In Denial" is about our attitude to climate change. I wrote this song in   2016. Singers on this recording are Suzy Wilde, Maddy Wilde, Georgia Marshall-Klassen and me (on "taps").Piano Suzy Wilde. Production James Ervin. Canadians especially feel safe in the midst of disasters. But, oh yeah, the North.

In Denial - Nancy White

This song was recorded on "Stickers on Fruit", released by Borealis in 2002. It's the story of two young resistance workers in France in World War Two. In my story the intense love affair ended when the danger did. I don't know if that always happens. The photo I've chosen is of Yvette Lundy, a resistance worker, who died in November 2019 at the age of 103.

08 Love In Wartime

This is a demo of a song I wrote for a play-in-progress by Robin Craig (who makes a cameo appearance about half-way through). Actors in Canada often have to ply their trade in towns all over the country, in what we call "the regions". It used to be called 'doing summer stock". In this song, an actress reminisces. I'm doing the lead vocal, Ghislain Aucoin is playing keyboard, and David Woodhead engineered.

In The Regions

This is a second version of "Someone Handed Me the Moon", which I wrote for the musical "Anne & Gilbert". It's a more pop production, with a slight lyric change to make the song be about the love of a person, rather than love of friendship and learning. Vocals are by Maddy Wilde, Suzy Wilde and Barb Johnston; guitar Mike O'Hara, keys Bob Johnston, flute Barbara Ackerman, production Rick Whitelaw.

This is Nancy White's translation of "Mis Amigos del Bar", by the Chilean composer Marcelo Puente. He wrote it in the days when his band, Compañeros, was playing at the Trojan Horse, next to he Newfoundlander Tavern, on Toronto's Danforth Avenue.It's a tough, poignant song, and, of course, better in Spanish. Vocal, Nancy; piano Doug Wilde. From the 1983 cassette "What Should I Wear to the Revolution?"

10 My Friends from the Bar

The title song from Nancy White's 1990 cd "Momnipotent: Songs for Weary Parents",  a comic-tender look at parenthood, that job for which you're the least qualified. This photo (by Pat Wilde) is of Nancy and her first daughter, Suzy Wilde, at six months. in 1986.

Momnipotent

Sometimes you start to worry about someone who seems deliriously power-hungry. Sometimes you write a song about it. This is me, Nancy White, singing, with Ghislain Aucoin on (grand) piano. Recorded by David Woodhead. (Warning: relentless Canadian content.)

Nancy White

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