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Four Strong Winds
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Four Strong Winds
"Four Strong Winds" is a song written in 1961 by Ian Tyson and recorded by Canadian folk duo Ian & Sylvia on their 1963 album Four Strong Winds. Tyson has stated that he wrote the song in about 20 minutes in the New York apartment of his manager at the time Albert Grossman. Tyson said that he was inspired to write it after hearing Bob Dylan sing.
"Four Strong Winds" is a significant composition of the early 1960s folk revival, and has been recorded by numerous artists, including Bobby Bare, whose 1964 rendition was a hit on the U.S. country chart, and Neil Young, who has performed the song frequently throughout his career.
The song is a melancholy reflection on a failing romantic relationship. The singer expresses a desire for a possible reunion in a new place in the future ("You could meet me if I sent you down the fare") but acknowledges the likelihood that the relationship is over ("But our good times are all gone/And I'm bound for moving on ...").
The song has a clear Canadian context and subtext, including an explicit mention of the province Alberta as well as references to long, cold winters. In 2005, CBC Radio One listeners chose it as the greatest Canadian song of all time on the program 50 Tracks: The Canadian Version. It is considered the unofficial anthem of Alberta.
"Four Strong Winds" was the first song Ian Tyson wrote; before it, he, as well as the duo Ian & Sylvia, had played only covers. In the autumn of 1962, Tyson encountered Bob Dylan, whom Tyson recalled as "this kind of little grubby kid", at the Greenwich Village bar Kettle of Fish, and Dylan played for him a song he had just written; Tyson would later say that he believed, though he was not sure, that the song was "Blowin' in the Wind". Tyson decided he could write a song as well, so he asked Albert Grossman, who managed both Ian & Sylvia and Bob Dylan, and "who was the only one [on the local folk music scene] that had a roof over his head:"...'Can I use your apartment tomorrow, cause I want to try and write a song?'"...I went over there and it was a funky, little apartment. Took my guitar and just opened up the case and started to fooling around and strumming. And it took half an hour" to write "Four Strong Winds".
Later, Tyson played the song for his fellow folk musicians at the local music venues Kettle of Fish and The Bitter End, and was surprised to see that the song "blew everybody away."
Tyson would later credit Dylan with giving new impetus to Ian & Sylvia's career by inspiring the duo to follow his lead in writing "original folk songs". As Tyson put it, "We had to go in some direction, because we had used up all the real roots music from the Delta on north. Bob blazed the trail into the wilderness, into unknown territory."
The song was included in Ian & Sylvia's second Vanguard LP, Four Strong Winds (stereo: VSD-2149; monaural: VRS-9133), released July 1963. The album entered the Billboard Top LPs chart at number 150 the week of September 28, 1963. The song was a hit in Canada, making number 9 on the single charts there in October 1963.
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Four Strong Winds
"Four Strong Winds" is a song written in 1961 by Ian Tyson and recorded by Canadian folk duo Ian & Sylvia on their 1963 album Four Strong Winds. Tyson has stated that he wrote the song in about 20 minutes in the New York apartment of his manager at the time Albert Grossman. Tyson said that he was inspired to write it after hearing Bob Dylan sing.
"Four Strong Winds" is a significant composition of the early 1960s folk revival, and has been recorded by numerous artists, including Bobby Bare, whose 1964 rendition was a hit on the U.S. country chart, and Neil Young, who has performed the song frequently throughout his career.
The song is a melancholy reflection on a failing romantic relationship. The singer expresses a desire for a possible reunion in a new place in the future ("You could meet me if I sent you down the fare") but acknowledges the likelihood that the relationship is over ("But our good times are all gone/And I'm bound for moving on ...").
The song has a clear Canadian context and subtext, including an explicit mention of the province Alberta as well as references to long, cold winters. In 2005, CBC Radio One listeners chose it as the greatest Canadian song of all time on the program 50 Tracks: The Canadian Version. It is considered the unofficial anthem of Alberta.
"Four Strong Winds" was the first song Ian Tyson wrote; before it, he, as well as the duo Ian & Sylvia, had played only covers. In the autumn of 1962, Tyson encountered Bob Dylan, whom Tyson recalled as "this kind of little grubby kid", at the Greenwich Village bar Kettle of Fish, and Dylan played for him a song he had just written; Tyson would later say that he believed, though he was not sure, that the song was "Blowin' in the Wind". Tyson decided he could write a song as well, so he asked Albert Grossman, who managed both Ian & Sylvia and Bob Dylan, and "who was the only one [on the local folk music scene] that had a roof over his head:"...'Can I use your apartment tomorrow, cause I want to try and write a song?'"...I went over there and it was a funky, little apartment. Took my guitar and just opened up the case and started to fooling around and strumming. And it took half an hour" to write "Four Strong Winds".
Later, Tyson played the song for his fellow folk musicians at the local music venues Kettle of Fish and The Bitter End, and was surprised to see that the song "blew everybody away."
Tyson would later credit Dylan with giving new impetus to Ian & Sylvia's career by inspiring the duo to follow his lead in writing "original folk songs". As Tyson put it, "We had to go in some direction, because we had used up all the real roots music from the Delta on north. Bob blazed the trail into the wilderness, into unknown territory."
The song was included in Ian & Sylvia's second Vanguard LP, Four Strong Winds (stereo: VSD-2149; monaural: VRS-9133), released July 1963. The album entered the Billboard Top LPs chart at number 150 the week of September 28, 1963. The song was a hit in Canada, making number 9 on the single charts there in October 1963.