Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Steve Paikin Kicks Out the Jams: Toronto Mike'd #791

Episode Date: January 26, 2021

Mike catches up with Steve Paikin before he kicks out the jams.

Welcome to episode 791 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Thank you. and Oakville. StickerU.com Create custom stickers, labels, tattoos and decals for your home and your business. Ridley Funeral Home Pillars of the community since 1921. And patrons like you!

Visit Patreon.com slash Toronto Mike to become one today. I'm Mike from Toronto Mike dot com and joining me this week to kick out the jams is Steve Pakin. Welcome back, Steve. Peace and love to you, Mike. Good to be with you. Oh, does that mean you're leaving? Not yet. peace and love to you mike good to be with you oh does that mean you're leaving not yet that's uh you know i heard once uh ringo star he this is i guess i guess it's a while ago now but he recorded

a little video because he was telling his fans to stop sending him like fan mail i guess he was bombarded with fan mail and he just wanted to say like he's he's done replying to fan mail so you can stop sending him fan mail and he closed this little video with peace and love peace and love and i've been using that ever since i thought it was great oh so thanks thanks for sharing the background of that are you kicking out any ringo star today as we kick out the gems i am not kicking out any ringo but um but Okay, look a little teaser. That's a little hint here. You know, we can't jump right into the jams until I catch up with you.

So how's it going, my friend? Fine. Things are, you know, things are the way they are. And like everybody else, I'm looking forward to the end of this thing. But in the meantime, trying to make the best of it. And you're, I mean, you're still on the agenda. For those who don't watch, by the way, you're missing out. TV Ontario, the agenda with Steve Paikin is much-watched television, must-see TV. Is that fair to say? I'd go for that. Yeah. I got to say, if you're giving me an opportunity,

I would really love to thank all the technical people who work on the program because when this pandemic first hit, I guess about 10 months ago, we were all forced to go home. And somehow, I don't know how they did it, but somehow they managed to, well, I think we might've talked about this. We use stage 10. Yes. This other platform.

So nobody was at work. I mean, I was the host. I hosted the show out of my attic where I am right now. The director directed from his home, the assistant director from her home, the executive producer did her thing from her home. All the producers produced in their homes. None of the guests of course came into the studio either. And we did that till the end of June. But in September, we were allowed to have a very tiny skeletal crew come back into the building. So it's me and one camera operator 20 feet away with a mask on in the studio right now.

No guests, of course, and a tiny handful of people in the control room. And that's it. We probably still got 95% of our people at home and we're still getting a show on the air every night. So it's a beautiful thing. And are you still live on Periscope? I, yeah, we're live on Twitter, live streamed at eight o'clock and also on Facebook and also on our website. Yeah. Okay. And the reason I brought up Periscope is because in Periscope, it's funny the semantics matter

here because Twitter owns Periscope, but they have a Twitter live stream. It's not quite as robust, but then they also have Periscope, but Per have a Twitter live stream. It's not quite as robust, but then they also have Periscope. But Periscope's actually shutting down in March. So just before we press record, you saw FOTM Ian Service on our Zoom because he helped develop a live stream at live.torontomic.com. And that exists because, as you know, uh we're gonna play some unlicensed music and i haven't yet i've searched high and low and i can't find a legal way to pay uh money in order to play these things legally on facebook live so basically live.torontomic.com is like our pirate

radio if you will pirate video it's where we can kind of go live for the fans without me worrying about the man shutting us down because, I don't know, we played a Ringo Starr song that obviously I don't have the rights to. Mike, you didn't tell me I'd be participating in a criminal enterprise today. I should warn

my guests, absolutely. Let's give it a shot anyway. What the heck? Well, just put on your pirate hat and just join the open seas with me here. I always love the idea. Arr, me buddy, arr. You know, Keith Hampshire, who sings OK Blue Jays, and you know Keith Hampshire probably

from his big CanCon hits in the 70s, like First Cut is the Deepest, et cetera. But he, you know, he was a pirate radio star in England before he came here to be a musical star. Did you know that? If Johnny Carson were here, Mike, he would say, I did not know that.

That is some weird, wacky stuff, Mike. I did not know that. Pretty good. That's like Dana Carvey doing Johnny. You're right. I'm not really imitating Johnny. I'm imitating a guy who's imitating Johnny.

But that works for me. But shout out to Keith Hampshire. And it was called Radio Caroline. That was the boat he was on off the shores of England. And he was a big deal in the 70s there on the pirate radio. But we lost a big star, a big Canadian star, since you were last on Toronto Mic'd. And I know you were a big fan.

So I wanted your take on the passing of Alex Trebek, if you don't mind. He was, well, he was simply the best at what he did, wasn't he? And, you know, if any of us could get to the end of our lives and have people say, that guy was the best at what he did, I think you'd have to think you had a life fairly well lived. So good for him. The pride of Sudbury, Ontario, went to California, did extremely well, got to the top of the mountain, left us too soon. I mean, 80 isn't that old anymore, but really worked right till the end and did great work at the end. It's funny, I did an interview with a woman who just wrote a book about Jeopardy and the behind the scenes of Jeopardy. And she talked to Alex and she said right up until his last week, he was in real physical pain behind the scenes.

He'd have to take painkillers in order to be able to get out there and do his job. So it really was a Herculean effort for him to do so. Much respect. Yeah, he was fantastic. And we're going to miss him. And I'm not going to put you on the spot here. I know you do listen to the odd Toronto Mic'd episode, but did you manage to catch the Dave Hodge

best of 2020 episode of Toronto Mic'd? I'm going to surprise you here. I listened to more than just the odd Toronto Mic'd episode. I listened to your Rick Vive episode. Oh, that's just yesterday. That was just yesterday. I've listened to that one already. I enjoyed that. Of course, I listened to your Rick Vive episode. Oh, that's just yesterday. That was just yesterday. I've listened to that one already. I enjoyed that. Of course, I listened to Dave Hodge. And I got to tell you, I am, I mean, I've always been a fan of Dave Hodge. He won't remember this,

but I met him for the first time when I was a U of T student. And he came to Hart House to, as a sort of a guest of a lunch. And I met him for the first time, I guess I was probably 18 years old or something. Wow. And I have just untold more admiration for him now, given how he kicks out the jams with you and makes his, you know, top 10, top 20, top 100 list of great songs over the year. He's just phenomenal.

I bring him up because I shared a fact I just learned from the hockey news just when Alex Trebek passed, but that when they hired Dave Hodge to be the host of Hockey Night in Canada, they were strongly considering Alex Trebek. Oh, I heard this, but he had a mustache and he wouldn't shave it off. Right. That's one of those fun facts.

I'll be dropping that little nugget for the rest of Toronto Mike's history. I think that's fantastic. How close we came. You know, for him, you know, he would have been slightly less wealthy as the host of Hockenheim Canada, but it would have been an interesting alternative history if we had, you know, Alex Trebek and maybe Don Cherry hosting Coach's Corner in the 80s.

That would be quite the... I think it worked out well both ways, right? Alex got to do his thing. Dave Hodge got to do his thing. Right. Everybody won. Speaking I think it worked out well both ways, right? Alex got to do his thing. Dave Hodge got to do his thing. Everybody won. Speaking of things that worked out well, I know you're a diehard Red Sox fan. So how does it feel as a Red Sox fan

to see that George Springer is going to be in the AL East? He's going to be playing for my Toronto Blue Jays. I think that's wonderful. I'm really surprised that actually when Springer signed, it reminded me of all of the chitchat in the lead up to Roger Clemens signing. And I remember hearing back in the day, the Jays are in on Roger Clemens. And I remember thinking, yeah, right. That is just sort of, they're trying to stride up a little publicity here, but there's no way they're going to sign Roger Clemens. And I thought the same thing when I was hearing the Jays are in on George Springer. I thought, no, they're not. They're not going to get them, but they got Clemens and they got Springer and great. It's going to make things more interesting. Well, I love that attitude. I know the Jays are your second favorite team. So of course, but a distant second, right? Like to be clear here,

it's not a distant second. I, I, I put it this way, Mike, I I've been a Red Sox fan since before the Jays were alive. So I love the Red Sox fan since before the Jays were alive. So I love the Red Sox. They're my favorite team. But I like the Blue Jays a heck of a lot. You know, they're my local team. Well said, well said. I'm going to ask you a tough question about a tweet of yours.

Do you know what it means on Twitter when you get ratioed? Does that term mean anything to you? So that basically means when the number of replies are quite large but the likes are really low it's called being ratio and so now i feel this is fair game because you did write this tweet and then you click you click submit and you were i'm guessing you were of sound mind and body when you did so here but this is about young people having to work harder uh i know and i almost feel bad doing this because we're going to kick out the jams in a moment. But this tweet was ratioed on Twitter. So congrats to you for that accomplishment. Thank you. Should I try to make the point now that I was trying to make on Twitter?

Yeah, I'm giving you an opportunity here to tell us what did you mean by that tweet? You wrote, it seems young people have to work harder to help us out. The weekly positivity rates, the weekly positivity rate increases. And then you kind of run down the list where like age nine to 13, 19.2% than age four. So you kind of show that the young people are the ones testing positive for COVID-19 at this period. And then you have a quote here, a feeling of immortality. That's a quote, uh, contributes to this that's by Ian Anderson. So here, now you have as many characters as you need to explain this because people on Twitter jumped all over you and I felt bad for FOTM,

Steve Bacon. Oh, well, thank you. I'm always happy to get your sympathy, but just if it was that the, the new numbers had just come out and young people were very disproportionately higher in terms of positive test results for COVID-19. And I tweeted that out there. And I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but I was a little bit surprised that people inferred from my tweet that they thought I was blaming four-year-olds for their bad behavior in getting COVID-19, which I think I pretty clearly wasn't doing. But anyway, that's what happened. I think it was fair to say, and there was some further Twitter conversation about that,

that if you look in the sort of higher teenage years, there is some irresponsible behavior happening in those years. Yes, when they are in schools, they are masked up. And in some schools, they are physically distanced. In other schools, they are not. But if you go to a schoolyard of any high school, you will see kids not being physically distant, and you will see them not wearing masks. So I guess I was gently trying to suggest that they might want to start doing that. And a whole ton of bricks came falling down on my head. And that's okay.

That comes with the territory. Yeah, you can handle a few barbs here and there, I suppose, at this point. I've been on this show, so you know I can. That's right. Jill. Jill is a faithful listener of... Jill, I always forget. Is it Gil or Jill?

I should know this. He's actually been on the program. But Jill LeBlanc, I believe is how you say his name. But he wanted me to ask you about the democracy agenda. So what exactly is the democracy agenda? Okay. It's a nice little partnership that we've just established with the Toronto Star. Every other week, starting last week, we are going to have an episode of The Agenda that focuses on some aspect of democracy. One of the guests on that show will be a journalist with the Toronto Star. And every other, I think it's Thursday, I think until the end of June, I will have a column

in the Toronto Star on the op-ed page, riffing on whatever the theme of that show is. So it's kind of, I mean, we're trying both in the newspaper, online, and on television to get some conversation going here. I think one of the things we learned with the attack on Capitol Hill a couple of weeks back, or more than a couple of weeks now, I guess three weeks ago, is that, you know, a lot of this stuff is a lot more fragile than we think it is. And to be sure, over the last four years in particular in the United States, democracy has been tested in ways it has not before. And John Turner, the late prime minister who died back in September, always used to say, democracy doesn't happen by accident.

You've got to work at it. You've got to participate. So we're trying to encourage people to think about it, to talk about it, to participate more in it, to understand what's required to nurture it and keep it strong. Because if you don't, you can lose it. And I don't know about you, Mike, but I kind of like living in a democracy and I don't want to lose it. So that's part of what's behind this whole initiative. And to be clear, the we that you speak of is TVO, TVO Ontario. So this is a... Yes, exactly right. A TVO Toronto Star initiative here. And it's kind of interesting because you are, I consider you the expert on Ontario premieres.

Like if I ever am going to do, if I'm going to do an episode about Ontario premieres, you're the first call I'm going to make. I need to pick it on this episode. But David Peterson, of course, is a vice chair. Is he a tour star? They're still calling it Torstar? Yes, he is. Yep.

So they're everywhere. Former premiers are everywhere. Yes, he would be the 20th premier of Ontario, having served from 1985 to 1990. And speaking of former premiers, I'm just going to ask you one more tough premier question before we start to kick out the jams. Mike Harris has gained a lot of heat, I suppose. I don't know if he's gained the heat, but there's heat because he's going to be awarded an Order of Ontario.

Now, I was chatting with my buddy Mark Weisblot about this, so shout out to Mark from 1236, but he points out, like, every premier gets this. Like, this is not, like, apparently this is just something they give to premiers like always, he says. And he would know. But what do you think? This is controversial because, of course, he's on the board of a long-term care home company. And there's some unresolved stuff from Ipperwash.

What say Steve Paikin about this controversy? Well, almost everything Mike Harris does is controversial. That just seems to be the nature of the game. He's been out of public life for almost two decades, and yet there are still plenty of people who believe he still has a lot to answer for, for his time in public life from 1995 to 2002 as Premier. But you are also right that everybody who's ever been premier of Ontario, since the order of Ontario has been commissioned, and I think it was David Peterson's government that did it, you know, they get this. This is just the way it is. If you are in politics, you can't get it. So Kathleen Wynne has not got one, but I assume someday she will. And Mike

Harris, having been the 22nd Premier of Ontario, has got one. So there's a good fight going on as to whether or not that tradition ought to continue or whether an exception ought to have been made for Mike Harris because of the controversy that still surrounds him all these years later. Oh, never a dull moment, like we said with these Ontario premiers, never a dull moment. Is that what they say? From now on, that's what we're going to say on this program, at least here. So we're going to kick out the jams. Now, when you sent me the list, Steve, you sent it one to 10. I'm guessing I play 10 first and I finish

with one. Sure. Yeah, let's go 10 to one. Bottom up. Okay. Just wanted to clarify that before I begin. Can I say something before we start? Oh my God, yeah. This was one of the most difficult exercises I've ever undertaken in my life. And I didn't think it would be because, well, I mean, let's put it this way. There's lots of music that I love, and I thought, how tough can it be to pick 10 songs? But oh my goodness, Mike, I mean, I've got a list here. There's no queen on this list. There's no Michael Jackson. There's no Chicago, Elton John,

Barry Manilow, Supertramp, U2, ELO, Michael Buble. No songs from Broadway shows. I love all of those performers. And yet I haven't picked any of those songs because I've used a very selective set of criteria. And the criteria are, of course, I love the artists that I've picked. I love the songs that I've picked. I love the songs that I've picked. But these songs have to have a particularly significant personal meaning to me for reasons I'll explain as we go along. Okay, good. And I think with that criteria, with those criteria, I've managed to kind of figure this out. But I just feel terrible at the people I don't have on this list and have, you know, just so much more respect for all the people

who've had to do this before me, particularly Dave Hodge. Now, I don't need to warn you because as you mentioned, you listen to Toronto Mike, so you get this, but I often say this because it's true that when a guest comes back to kick out the jams, I learned so much more about them than I did during the initial deep dive. Like I think just, I almost feel I shouldn't warn you, but we're going to learn a lot about Steve Paikin by hearing you tell us why you chose these 10 jams. So consider yourself warned.

Is it too late for me to get out of here? No, no, yes, yes, yes. It is too late. I'm going to do this too. Just before I press play on this first jam and you know how it works. I'm going to play the song. I'll probably give it like, I don't know, a minute before I bring it down. And then when I bring it down, heck, it's all you, man. I want to hear, I want to hear why you chose it and what it means to you. But did you get outside today, by the way? Sure did. Shoveled the snow even, straight out. Okay. Yeah. I did like a 10K bike ride at like 12 kilometers an hour with my snow tires and right by the lake.

And there's some serious lake effect going on out there, like lots of wind. And it's kind of cool. It's kind of neat. But in honor of this lake effect I was experiencing today, I'm going to crack open a Great Lakes beer. It's called Lake Effect. It's an American IPA. I'm going to crack it open because there's nothing better than listening to somebody kick out their favorite jams while drinking a cold Great Lakes beer.

So put it right up to the mic. Of course. There we go. That's a great sound. That is a great sound. And take a good swig there, Mike. There you go. So I'll be enjoying that while we kick out these jams.

Barb Paluskiewicz, she's with CDN Technologies. I just want to let people know she has a great podcast you can subscribe to. It's called No Tech Talk. And I need to spell it because it can be a little confusing,

but No Tech Talk. It's K-N-O-W, Tech Talk. So check out Barb Paluskiewicz's great podcast. She's from CDN Technologies, your outsourced IT department.

I was chatting with Anthony Petrucci. His family owns Palma Pasta. We were chatting earlier today. He thinks I'm a lunatic when I bike in snowy weather. He thinks it's like a death wish. But I am very, very careful. Not only is it snow tires, but I go very slow. And on days where it's actively snowing, I avoid

the busy streets. I'm not on Dundas. I was literally taking the trail, the Martin Goodman trail, and I did some small little streets. So thank you, Anthony, for your concern. You guys make great Italian food at Palma Pasta and everybody should go to palmapasta.com. Steve, when you were here, did you get a lasagna?

I sure did and loved it. It is fantastic. I quite agree. It's the good stuff. And I want to thank stickeru.com. They're in Liberty Village, but they're online. So's the good stuff. And I want to thank StickerU.com. They're in Liberty Village, but they're online, so it's very safe. Go to StickerU.com, upload the image, and you could, like, I got these decals behind me.

I have Toronto Mike stickers. There's one of my bike that's still in great shape, even though it's been in the snow and the sleet, et cetera. So thank you for your support, StickerU.com. And just before we kick out this first jam, Ridley Funeral Home. They're here in New Toronto. They're at 14th and Lakeshore.

And Brad Jones there has been a tremendous FOTM like yourself, Steve. Pay tribute without paying a fortune. You can go to RidleyFuneralHome.com to learn more about them. Steve Bacon, are you ready for your first jam? Ready, set, go, buddy.

The loveliness of Paris Seems somehow sadly gay The glory that was Rome Is of another day I've been terribly alone And forgotten in Manhattan I'm going home to my city by the bay. I left my heart in San Francisco High on a hill

It calls to me To be well That would be the great Antonio Benedetto. You might know him better as Tony Bennett from Astoria, Queens, New York. I Left My Heart in San Francisco, written in 1953 by George Corey and Douglas Cross. Frank Sinatra described Tony Bennett

as the greatest singer of his day. Mike, I've been lucky enough to see him four times. The first time was at Hamilton Place when I was 12 years old. This is back in 1972. And I remember many, many years later having a chance to interview Tony Bennett. And I said to him, you won't remember this, but the first time I saw you was at a concert

at a brand new, newly opened theater auditorium in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It was called Hamilton Place. And he said, forget it. What do you mean forget? Of course I remember it. I said, how could you possibly remember that? He says, how could I remember it? How could I forget it? It was a beautiful new hall and it was distant. Anyway, it was fantastic. He actually did remember it. That may not be his best song, but it is clearly his signature song. I asked him during the interview, do you ever get tired of singing that song? And his answer, Mike interview, do you ever get tired of singing that song?

And his answer, Mike, was, can you get tired of making love? So that's number 10 on my list, the great Tony Bennett with I Left My Heart in San Francisco. Heck of a start, Steve. Beautiful song. And you're right, that's his signature song. And

how many years young is Mr. Bennett now? Do you know? know oh my gosh he's got to be he's 91 easily easily 91 here we're going to the get the fact here make sure we've got it right uh he is a 94 years young are you kidding he's 94 now and now. And he's still performing. And he paints, of course. He's a great painter. Some of his paintings go for a lot of money. He is a classic talent. His choice of material, his phrasing, the enthusiasm with which he still performs. I think the last time I saw him, wasn't that long ago?

It was only maybe three or four years ago in Miami Beach. And he was phenomenal and doing spins on the stage. And you'd never guess. You'd never guess he was 90. Great start here. And I can't wait to kick this one out.

I love this song too. Here's your second jam. this one out. I love this song too. Here's your second jam. prison and time keeps dragging on but that train keeps rolling on down to san anton when i was just a baby those are the fulsome prison blues by the great johnny cash you like country music mike i like this kind of country music. I'm very specific in the country. You know, you heard that special episode I did with my mom when Kenny Rogers passed away. Yes, indeed. So I was like raised on that greatest hits by Kenny Rogers.

But I really like Johnny Cash even though I don't consider myself a country music fan. I really like Johnny Cash. Well, Johnny Cash has a particular connection with our family because my father's uncle, in other words my father's mother's brother was Johnny Cash has a particular connection with our family because my father's uncle, in other words, my father's mother's brother, was Johnny Cash's manager. He was from London, Ontario, and he managed Johnny Cash's career from London, Ontario. That Folsom Prison concert, he organized that concert.

Now, I don't think I ever met Johnny Cash. I don't think I ever saw him perform either. Now, I don't think I ever met Johnny Cash. I don't think I ever saw him perform either. But I guess, I don't know, 20, 25 years ago, maybe 30 years ago, I actually sat down with a tape recorder with my uncle, my great uncle, and interviewed him. and his son found those tapes and those tapes became the basis of a documentary done by my cousin Jonathan Holoff on his dad. It was called Me and the Man in Black. And there you go. That documentary is out there. It's played on City TV and at festivals,

film festivals all over North America. And that's my connection to Johnny Cash and that song. That's a heck of a story. Fantastic. That's probably our closest connection to Johnny Cash next to the fact that he was the pitch person, the spokesperson for Canada Trust. Remember the cash machines?

Oh, yes, of course. That's right. That's right. I'm Johnny Cash. Yeah, the cash machine. That's what I remember him from the 80s. He had the Canada Trust cash machines. Well, I also remember he was in a movie called A Gunfight with Kirk Douglas.

And I remember the proud moment I had in watching that movie was that my uncle's name came up in the opening credits. Saul Holoff was his name. Awesome. You know, associate producer Saul Holoff. And I thought, wow, isn't that cool? We just lost in 2020 Kirk Douglas, 103 years old. And what a life he lived. That's just quite the amazing story unto itself, Kirk Douglas' life.

Indeed. Phenomenal. And of course, his son, Michael, has been a great credit to him and a talented executive producer and actor himself. Not too shabby, eh? Not too shabby, Michael Douglas. We teased off the top. I asked if we'd hear any Ringo and you did a little wink wink at me. Let's listen to your third jam.

Hey Jude, don't make it bad Take a sad song and make it better. Remember to let her into your heart. Then you can start to make it better. Hey Jude, don't be afraid You were made to Go out and get hurt The minute you let her under your skin Then you begin

To make it better And anytime you feel the pain, hey Jude, refrain. Don't carry the world upon your shoulder. For well you know that it's a fool who plays it cool By making his world a little colder

Na na na na na na na na na I don't think anybody needs to defend or explain why you'd have something from the Beatles on the list. You could pick any one of 50 songs to put on the list. Hey Jude, I've Just Always Loved. 1968 it came out. I was eight years old. The song, I don't know why it speaks to me. It just does.

Paul McCartney, of course, wrote it. He's the lead singer on it. He's my favorite Beatle. I think I've seen, I think I've seen McCartney play, well, two or three times anyway, once at the Sky Dome at a concert there, which was great. And then the last time I saw him was, oh gosh, I don't know. It's probably a decade ago, maybe not quite, at what was then called the Air Canada Center. And somehow, I won't go into the whole song and dance of this, Mike, but we showed up for the concert and it was the wrong night.

I had the tickets, but he was doing two shows. And for whatever reason, I had the tickets for the next night, but I was there that night. And I couldn't go the next night. I had to work the next night and I couldn't go. So I thought, oh, my gosh, I've got these tickets and I can't go. My very quick thinking wife said, hang on, leave this to me. Grab the tickets. She grabbed the tickets rather, went and talked to a scalper, said, here, we'll make you trade.

You give us something for tonight. We've got these for tomorrow night. The scalper did so. And in the trade, we paid a little more to get bumped up to the third row, which was a lot better than what we originally were going to have. So we sat in the third row for a three-hour concert of Paul McCartney. Mike, there's a moment in the concert, he does Live and Let Die. And the pyrotechnics in that song were so phenomenal. I swear they almost burned my eyebrows off. It was amazing. His wife

sat beside me, which, and I didn't even know she was his wife. My wife leaned over to me and said, that's his wife sitting beside us. Wow. And I looked her up on Google and check. Yeah. Yeah, it was indeed. Anyway, um, maybe the best concert I've ever been at in my life in part, cause it was an ex Beatle in part because the seats were so darn good and a wonderful memory to this day. Amazing, amazing in so many regards. I mean, larger than life, the Beatles, right? And especially, you know,

like I always revisit the Beatles in the history books, if you will. Like I wasn't there, as we like to say on this program, but the fact that, you know, you're in 68, you know, you can remember listening to New Beatles, and that connection is just amazing. And we would have purchased them in a different way back then, Mike. I got that record as a 45,

which you put the little yellow thingy in the middle of. Well, you're not explaining 45s to me, are you, Mr. Paykin? Because I used to collect 45s. Okay, some of your younger listeners will not understand this, but you'd buy a 45 RPM little record, mini disc, and you put that... Oh, you're wearing it.

Look at that. That's phenomenal. That's right. That's the yellow thingamabobby you'd put in the middle so you could play it on your 33 and a third. I always called it a spider. I don't know if that's a...

They probably call it an adapter, but I always called it a spider. I just called it a thingamajigger. Thingamajigger or thingamabobby or something yeah and you could play it and that's how i first heard hey jude was on my little 45 rpm where did you buy it i bought it at hal wagoner's record store in the east end of hamilton and i did because my cousin david pakin actually owned and operated that store and i used to go down there i take the bus down there every weekend and usually buy

a new 45 record wasn't much into LPs didn't buy so many LPs I guess they were beyond my budget so about a lot of I'd buy one 45 maybe every every couple of weeks well that was it for me too uh because I am of an age where you know records and vinyl and 45s were still a thing when I was listening to Top 40 radio on CFTR growing up. And it was the affordability. Like I would go to Sam the Record Man and buy a 45 for that single I was digging. And I can't remember now, but it might've been something like, I don't know if it was $2.99 or whatever it was. Yeah, it was two or three bucks. Exactly right. And that was everything. But meanwhile, to buy a full album was like, that was like real money. Like you needed like 12 bucks or something.

Exactly. Great choice, Steve. I don't know how you'd come up with your favorite Beatles song, because I'm guessing that fluctuates. Maybe that's just because they hit you in 68 at the right age at the right time. But there's so many great Beatles songs to choose from. There would. I mean, Let It Be would certainly be on the list.

Yesterday would be on the list. Shake It Up Baby would be. Twist and Shout, you know, that would be on the list. Yesterday would be on the list. Shake It Up Baby would be. Twist and Shout, you know, that'd be on the list. Oh, a cover. You could pick, as I say, you could pick any 20 Beatles songs and you'd do fine. Where did I, I can't remember. I was reading something about how these movies,

they would always use Twist and Shout because you didn't have to pay the Beatles publishing rights because it was owned by the Isley Brothers. Ah, right, right, right. So you could kind of capture that. I think like maybe Ferris Bueller's day off, you can capture that Beatles thing without paying the Beatles rate, a clever little loophole.

You might want to have your lawyers look into that for this show. We're pirates on this show, Mr. Bacon. So on that note, here's a case. And I want to just, I'll point out a fact that I get your list and I go,

I always go to my personal collection. I have a pretty big MP3 collection from ripping my old CDs. Uh, I had hundreds of CDs and I ripped them all to MP3. So I go to my personal collection. There were only two jams on your list that I had to get from outside of my, uh, collection. Like I really did love most of the jams, but this song I'm going to play now is one of the jams I actually didn't have. But here, let's kick out your fourth jam. Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh Memories light the corners of my mind

Misty watercolor memories Of the way we were Scattered pictures Of the smiles we left behind Smiles we gave to one another For the way we were Can it be that it was all the same? Well, that's the great Barbra Streisand, of course,

The Way We Were from 1974, from the album of the same name. I somehow, first of all, she is the best female voice I've ever heard in my life. I think she's just a shockingly extraordinary talent, a massive legend, not just in the music business, but of course, in filmmaking as well. She's a giant talent. not just in the music business, but of course in filmmaking as well. She's a giant talent. I somehow managed to get through probably 55 years of my life before seeing her live. I think I just saw her, I don't know, it was five, six, seven years ago at, again, what was then called the Air Canada Center. And it was just wonderful, just wonderful to finally have a chance to see her perform in person. You know, of course, that for many years she did not do any concerts because she had terrible stage fright.

Right. But then sort of later in her career, she finally decided I've got to face this thing head on. And she did do concerts in person. And, you know, I'm just thrilled I got to see her once in my lifetime. She was great. And nothing's more subjective than the music you love. And, uh, Barbara's quite the talent, but I always wonder, uh, how you'd compare the Barbara voice, which is so, so great to let's say a Janis Joplin. I don't know if you, uh, like, like, which has just got much more, uh, like I call it sandpaper almost like textured. Yeah. They're, they're two completely different voices. Obviously Janis J joplin's actually even though she's 1960s and i'm born in 1960 she's just a little bit before my time didn't quite and you know right i mean as you can perhaps tell from the choices so far

i'm i'm you know i'm okay with sandpaper but i'm not like i'm not going nutty bananas over sandpaper necessarily well i hear you i hear you every once a while, I'll be chatting with somebody who will say, I can't stand Neil Young's voice. And I'm like, wait a minute. Are we hearing the same voice? But I totally, some voices are just different and it's an acquired, you know, not for everybody, if you will.

There is, I might also say this about Barbra Streisand. When she was just starting out, she's probably 19 years old. She did a duet, which is on YouTube video with Judy Garland. If you haven't seen it, you have to see it. It's Judy Garland, who's probably at this point, oh gosh, late forties, early fifties, not that far away from death, unfortunately. And she is sort of introducing

this fabulous new talent and the two of them sing happy days are here again together. And I'm telling you, Mike, you will be in tears by the time you get to the end of it. It's just to see these two icons, the veteran and the newcomer, and the respect they had for each other. And they're beautiful. Just, I mean, shockingly wonderful duet. Anyway, that's all. Well, that reminds me of David Bowie and Bing Crosby. Oh, the little drummer boy.

Yeah, two generate different, like kind of a passing of the torch almost, Bing Crosby. Oh, the little drummer boy. Yeah, two generate different, kind of a passing of the torch almost, different generations kind of. Yeah, and that was a great collaboration too. Well, this next jam, I should censor myself here. I'm not a Red Sox guy, but we'll play it anyways.

It's your show, Steve. Let's play this anyways. Where it began I can't begin to know Feel free to sing along, Steve. But then I know it's growing strong Maybe on the chorus. hand touching hands Here we go, Mike. Reaching out

It's the middle of the eighth. It's in my heart. Touching me Touching you Sweet Caroline The times never seemed so good So good, so good, so good I've been inclined To believe they never were

But now I know That's the iconic Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond from 1969. I saw Neil Diamond at the, was it Scotiabank Arena? It might have actually been Scotiabank by then, I'm not sure. And I guess he was probably 74 years old at the time, and he just sounded fantastic. And of course, one of the reasons why this song is so resonant for me is they do play it in the seventh inning stretch at Fenway Park. I've been I've gone to Fenway, I think almost every year for the last. Oh, gosh, how many? I mean, maybe 40 years, something like that.

And when when this song comes on, it just fills me with joy and everybody sings it. Thirty four thousand people in the park. And it's just a lovely feeling. It's just got everything that, it's got everything that takes me back to a time and a place. You know, it's that ballpark, it's that team, it's that singer, it's that moment. It's just a joyous feeling. And, you know, the best music takes us to a time and a place and recreates a feeling of joy. And this one does it neil diamond sweet caroline i kind of suspected you'd be kicking out uh sweet caroline actually by neil i didn't want to disappoint you there's another artist i had more money on actually but we'll get to that later uh i always thought maybe to go back to uh

pirate radio's own uh keith hampshire maybe he's kind of Pirate Radio's own Keith Hampshire, maybe he's kind of like Canada's Neil Diamond, the way he delivers, you know, First Cut is the deepest, etc. There's some similarity in the voice, I'll grant you that. Yeah, so it's interesting how OK Blue Jays, which is him on vocals, is our song, and now this has become sort of adopted by Red Sox Nation, if you will. By the way, are you a Patriots fan?

Like what's, do you have an NFL team? I grew up an Oakland Raiders fan. I became a Raider fan in 1974 when Kenny Stabler on fourth down, as he was being tackled, hit Clarence Davis in the end zone for a touchdown and beat the Super Bowl defending champion Miami Dolphins in Miami. And I just thought that guy is a bad-ass. I love that. And I became a Raider fan from then till, I guess probably till they won the super bowl. Um, Oh gosh,

when was the last time they won a long time? 20 years. Win baby with Al Davis, right? This is, uh, well, this would have been early 80s. Or I guess they, I guess Rich Gannon had them in the Super Bowl against Tampa Bay almost 20 years ago. I think that'd probably be the last time that I was a real big Raider fan. And I've sort of let it slip over the years. I was wondering what you thought of Tom Brady returning to a 10th Super Bowl at the age of 43. I think it's unbelievable. I think it's phenomenal. I think anytime us old guys can do something good, I'm all in favor. And yeah, that was, felt bad for Aaron Rodgers, but the Brady story and the differential in age between the old man quarterback of the Buccaneers and the young kid who wants to be the goat of the future for the Chiefs, that's a great storyline.

the Chiefs. That's a great storyline. It's all tremendous. And the whole idea that now Tom Brady has won the same number of NFC championships as Aaron Rodgers is mind-blowing, right? Like, they've each won one NFC championship game. That's incredible. Yes, that is funny. Okay. That is funny. We mentioned earlier, my mom raised me on Kenny Rodgers' greatest hits. We mentioned earlier my mom raised me on Kenny Rogers' greatest hits. I would guess this is to be, when I got married to Monica, my lovely wife, you have a first dance with your mom. This is the song. I'm about to play the song that I danced to my mom with because it's her favorite song not performed by Kenny Rogers.

So I'm glad you kicked this one out. I feel like I'm kicking out the jams now, not you. But here is one of my favorite songs of all time. Tell me I'm wrong Cause I've been watching every move that you make Heart you steal And you make up the heels Trouble for the man that you date Every time you walk in the room

I could never be sure of a smile You were never the same way twice I'm falling in love Oh, not after nine Oh, it's crazy So many people say Girl, you got nothing but time Oh, you are a shining star

Don't worry what you're leaving behind Every time you walk in the room I could never be sure of a smile You were never the same way twice I'm falling in love Oh, night after night Oh, it's crazy Oh, you've got to try

Try Try Oh, you got to try, try, try Why don't you know you got to try, baby, you try Oh And in comes the organ. That's Try from Blue Rodeo, of course, written by Greg Keeler and Jim Cuddy. That's Jim's voice doing the lead vocals

from the Outskirts album. I've had the great good fortune to see Blue Rodeo many, many times at the Ontario Place Forum, for example, where they used to perform every year. I think the Molson Amphitheater as well. I actually, Mike, I met these guys in the late 80s. I was working at CBC at the time, and I think they were doing a performance at the Forum, and I went down there to cover it. And I sort of met the guys, and I did an interview with them. And then I didn't see them for seven years. Seven years. And then at a't see them for seven years, seven years. And then at a future concert, I guess I went to the concert with somebody who knew them and got me backstage.

And I went up to Jim Cuddy afterwards and I said, hi, Jim, you won't remember me. And he said, oh, hi, Steve. And I was completely shocked, completely. shocked completely um anyways uh i ended up uh emceeing a charity fundraiser for a group called wellspring which deals with people who are fighting cancer and jim cuddy used to be the guest singer they had it every other year not every year and he was the guest singer who would come for no payment and he would come and he'd just sing some songs and he'd auction off a song that, you know, you buy the right to have Jim Cuddy sing whatever song you want. And it would raise, you know, lots of money for Wellspring. And so I got in the habit of

seeing him every few years and it was always lovely to see him. He was unfailingly such a good guy and a gentleman with a marvelous voice. I mean, the guy's in his early 60s, I guess now, maybe even mid-60s, and he's still hitting the highest of the high notes from these songs. Wow. A wonderful, wonderful guy and just a great group.

Love that tune. Ditto, ditto. Love that tune as well. My oldest, who's now 19, James, he was a timbit, and they had this thing at the, it was called the Air Canada Centre back then where the timbits could play during the first

intermission, I think it was the first intermission anyway, as the father there, you kind of have this spot by the boards where the kids wait until it's their turn to go on the ice or whatever Jim Cuddy did the anthem that night and I still remember Jim just walking by me to go on to the Air Canada Centre

ice to belt out the, you know, O'Canada and the Star Spangled Banner. And man, I always, this album outskirts, I think it was like 87, I want to say, but love the album. Yeah. Love the album. And this was the song, like when this song hit, it was like, what is this? Just so beautiful still to this day. Great choice.

Great choice. Great choice. That's my number five pick. So we're, we're topping down the top five now. Okay. Yes, you're right. That is a number. Of course, you know, your own list. So here's number, cause I'm going the other way. Number four on the Steve Paikin countdown. These eyes Cry every night For you These arms Cry every night for you These arms long to hold you again The hurting's on me, yeah

And I will never be free, no, my baby, no, no. You gave a promise to me, yeah. You broke it. You broke it. Oh, no. That's the voice

of the great Burton Cummings, These Eyes. The Guess Who, of course, was the name of the group. 1968. Again, Mike, we go back to when I was eight years old. And there's something about these songs that, you know, the stuff you listen to in the first 15 years of your life just has a very special place in your heart. It never goes away. The interesting thing was, you know, when Randy Backman and Burton Cummings wrote that song, I gather that Randy was sort of tooling around on his piano and he had the makings of a song called These Arms.

And I think Burton said something like, I don't know. I don't think it should be starting these arms. How about these eyes? And that's how it came to be. It was on the Wheatfield Soul album. I think the first time I saw the Guess Who was at a halftime show at a great cup game. And then again in Toronto, they weren't the guess who anymore at this point, they were called Backman and Cummings and they did a show together. And then I went to see Randy once at the Elgin

Winter Garden. And then I saw Burton once by himself at Massey Hall. And then Randy Backman, I don't know how many years ago, it's got to be five, 10 years ago, was a guest on the agenda. And we were supposed to do a nice 25 minute interview about a new book that he just brought out about his life. And Randy was in a mood to talk. And I wasn't going to cut him off. We were supposed to do 25 minutes. We ended up doing 50 minutes. His people are in the green room, absolutely freaking him out saying, we got to get him out of here. He's got his next thing to go to. But Randy wanted to talk.

And so we just let him go. And he was great fun. We just enjoyed it so much. But the Guess Who, one of those groups that I've just loved from childhood. And, you know, Burton's just got the voice of an angel. He just does. And even now, I don't know how old he is now he's got to be in his 70s he's just still phenomenal

I think he's in Moose Jaw now I want to say I want to say he moved to Moose Jaw but I will say about Randy I was at a Neil Young concert once when Randy jumped on stage to belt something out with Neil and I thought that was pretty cool to get some bonus Randy Bachman

when you're at a Neil Young concert. But they had that great song about Winnipeg, right? Portage, Maine, 15 below. Portage, Maine, yeah. That was great. I just looked it up. He's 73 years old. Okay.

But he can sure talk, Randy, because that CBC show, Vinyl Tap, is fantastic. I really, really, really like it so uh the 73 belongs to uh to burt he's 73 years old gotcha gotcha great choice and i actually took out my maestro fresh west 12 and see i did buy vinyl back then uh this is uh the let your back slide but of course he made uh he had a big hit with stick to your vision which is based on these eyes by the guess who so A slightly younger crowd might say, hey, there's the, I know that song from Maestro,

so good stuff, good stuff. Okay, we're in the top three now. Here's number three on the Steve Paikin countdown. Here we go. Don't go changing To try and please me You never let me down before Don't imagine You're too familiar

And I don't see you anymore. I would not leave you in times of trouble. We never could have come this far. I took the good times. I'll take the bad times. I'll take you just the way you are. Don't go trying. That's the great Billy Joel, Just the Way You Are, from his 1977 album The Stranger.

Two Grammys for that album. I've had the great good fortune of seeing Billy Joel twice in concert. One time at the old grandstand at C&E Stadium. He did a performance with Elton John. They went on the road together. I guess they'd take turns one, one week, one guy does the first half. The other week he does the second half. And the year I saw them play together, I think Elton, it must've been the Lion King year because Elton literally walked on stage with his Oscar that he'd won. I think just the

night before, I think he'd won it the night before at the Academy Awards. I guess our concert was on a Tuesday. He showed up. He plopped the Oscar right down on top of his piano, did Elton. And they had a wonderful concert that night. I saw Billy a few years ago at the Scotiabank Arena. And that was just, again, another wonderful, extraordinary experience. Every now and then, if you get Sirius Satellite Radio, they take a whole channel and they devote it just to him.

So it's been one great way to keep his music alive. And every time they do that, which they do on an occasional basis, I just OD on it whenever I'm in the car. He's become, I guess, the sort of artist in residence at Madison Square Garden and has sold out something like, I don't know, it's a crazy number, Mike. It's something like 70 concerts in a row at Madison Square Garden, where just sort of once a month for many years now, he just comes and does kind of a master class in all of his hits. And he explains, you know, why they were great and so on and so forth. why they were great and so on and so forth. Just the way you are, I have to also confess, really hits me in the heart because at summer camp in the mid-1970s,

oh, Mike, there was a girl, and that was our song, and that's why it's still got such a place in my heart, as you like. I knew it. I knew it, Pagan. There's always a girl. There's not always a girl. On this whole top 10, there's only one time that there's been a girl, and that was the song.

I'm trying to think of how to phrase this, fun fact, but I believe I'll try it this way, and you as the host of the agenda will tell me if I got it right or not. But Billy Joel's record, if you will, is the largest percentage of his catalog to hit the top 40. So essentially, and I don't know the exact percentage, that would be too awesome, but there's no artist that has had a greater percentage of their catalog reach the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100. That makes perfect sense to me. Yeah, I think so. And the funny thing is,

I don't know that that many of his songs have gone number one, right? Like there have just been many, many hits on his many, many albums. I don't know that he's had, you know, X number of number one hits. But, boy, you know, like scenes from an Italian restaurant. I mean, it's just classic stuff. Wonderful storyteller. Not, you know, in a way we talked about Neil Young earlier, not what you would call sort of classically great voice,

but just wonderful storytelling and, you know, wonderful grit. Beautiful singer. Absolutely. And, you know, you think about like New York State of Mind or even, you know, Teller about it and some of the, what's that acapella, the acapella stuff in the mid-80s I'm trying to think of? In the middle of the night, I go walking down the street. He's hit-laden.

Through the valley of hope, to the river so deep. Anyway, there we go. Well, get on your dancing shoes, Steve, because here we go. Number two. Here we are In a room full of strangers Standing in the dark Where your eyes couldn't see me Well, I had to

follow you Though you did not want me to But that won't stop my loving you I can't stay away Living it up On the nights on the roadway Back then, stay away Blamin' it on On the nights on Broadway

Singin' them bird songs Singin' them straight to the heart tone Blamin' it on On the nights on Broadway Singin' them sweet sounds To that crazy, crazy town. Now in my place. Those are the nights on Broadway and, of course, the Bee Gees off the 1975 album Main Course.

Again, apropos of what we were talking about earlier, Mike, I was 15 years old in 1975. This album, and I'm sorry for all of those of you out there listening who think disco sucked. I'm sorry. It did not. Disco was phenomenal. It, um, you know, if you were a teenager in the seventies, when disco hit, it was just a phenomenon and it took over the radio. It took over everything. And it was, uh, it was a really glorious, uh, wonderful time. I thought these guys were fantastic. I thought they were just absolutely brilliant. You know, if you weren't alive then, or you don't know much about the Bee Gees, there's a great documentary on HBO right now called How Can You Mend a Broken Heart? And of course, there's

only one Bee Gees left, right? Like the other three brothers died. Barry's the only one left. It was a great documentary this song i mean it could have picked again could have picked night fever could have picked saturday night fever could have picked uh any number of different songs um fanny b tender with my love i love that song as well massachusetts you know there was the early bgs which was much folkier than there was the disco bgs i saw them only once in concert. That was at, again, at CNE stadium. And it was after the disco era was over. So it was in the 1980s that I finally saw them and they, they kind of, you know, they got so big. And then of course, physics tells you,

Mike, that every action needs an equal and opposite reaction. So disco got so big. And then there was this, I don't know, some people felt compelled to destroy disco and these guys couldn't get a gig. They reinvented themselves as songwriters. They wrote some of the best songs for other artists as well. Barbra Streisand, Dolly Parton. And I just think they're, I think they were just phenomenal. The brothers Gibb, they're just great. I'm going to pick up something you dropped there because uh this is in that hbo doc which i second that uh i second that emotion if you will that that's a great doc the hbo doc and there was another doc i had seen years prior on disco i can't remember the name of but both made a similar point which is that this moment at comiskey park

when the local dj i think his name is Steve Dahl. I think that's his name. Anyway, they have the Bring a Disco album, and you get in for free, and then between the two games of a doubleheader, they're going to literally set them on fire because disco sucks, and we're going to kill disco, whatever. Like, the underlying homophobia and racism of this event. Now, a lot of these artists,

disco artists, were people of color, gay. It's tough to separate what is the, you know, disco sucks versus, you know, bring back the white guy yelling rock that used to dominate the charts. It's kind of a, it's an interesting way to look at that whole disco sucks event. That, that is something that emerges in the documentary.

You just talked about was the, was the notion that disco was, you know, a real favorite thing in the gay and in the African-American communities. And there was a disproportionate number of albums at Comiskey Park in Chicago that day that were done by African-American artists that got blown up in center field. And I don't, you know, I won't impugn anybody's motives here, but I just don't understand the need to destroy.

Whether you like disco, whether you didn't like disco, I just didn't understand the need to see it blown up in that fashion. I mean, lives were affected uh it was a terrible statement and i'm just glad you know all these years later we can some of us can still remember it anyway right and the band that you love there of course the bgs were a great band they were huge before disco they simply got lumped in i think barry discovers he's got this falsetto because all the earlier hits there there's no falsetto on it,

but he discovers his, he can sing falsetto and it adds this really interesting dynamic to, I know you meant you called it accidentally. You called it a Saturday night fever, but what you meant was staying alive when you were staying alive. Exactly. Yeah. But like,

I don't know if you listened to the pandemic Friday episodes of Toronto Mike, we've done 45 now, but we, I think it was last, was it last week or a couple of weeks ago anyway, we kicked out our favorite disco song. So I dove into disco, which I missed.

I'm a little bit young for disco. Like I kind of missed it, but I dove in and I realized, wow, there's some great jams, be it, you know, Gloria Gaynor or Bee Gees or Donna Summer. Like there's some fantastic music that come out of the disco genre. So this whole idea that any artist of color, be it Marvin Gaye or whatever, is suddenly lumped into the disco fire,

I'm not comfortable with any of that. But long may disco live here. Long may it live here. Here, here. Here, here. Oh my goodness, one jam to go, Steve. How has this been so far? I've really enjoyed this. I'm glad you Here, here. Here, here. Oh my goodness. One jam to go, Steve. How has this been so far? I've really enjoyed this. I'm glad you have, Mike. I've designed my list here with your care and

comfort in mind, but we've managed to get through nine of my 10 songs here without hearing from the guy who is obviously my number one fave. And on the end of this, and I probably should have kicked into it right after you set it up so perfectly, but I'm not the host fave. And on the end of this, and I probably should have kicked into it right after you set it up so perfectly, but I'm not the host you are. But on the other side, I'm going to ask you why you didn't pick a different song by this artist

that I thought you would pick. But here we go. I've got you under my skin I've got you deep in the heart of me So deep in my heart that you're really a part of me. I've got you under my skin. I tried so not to give in. Well, that's I've Got You Under My Skin, Francis Albert Sinatra, written by Cole Porter.

I think I can anticipate the question you're going to ask me. I'm going to ask it anyways here. Okay. The first time you were on Toronto Mike, you dropped this fun fact on me that I've never forgot. It's about Ruth Lowe. Ruth Lowe wrote some of

Frank Sinatra's best song, including I'll Never Smile Again. And you educated me on this, and then I know you've written about it subsequently at TVO.org and fantastic stuff, because you believe she deserves a spot on Canada's Walk of Fame. So I'll turn it over to you,

but I'm a little bit surprised you didn't pick Frank Sinatra's first number one hit, which was called I'll Never Smile Again, because it was written by Ruth. And the reason I didn't was because I already sent it to you for that show back in the day. I figured I've got to keep Mike amused. I need something new and fresh here. He knows or he's probably going to expect that I'm going to pick I'll Never Smile Again as the number one song because Toronto's own Ruth Lowe wrote it. And also Sinatra's signature song, Put Your Dreams Away for Another Day, which was the song they played at his funeral. That was also written by Ruth Lowe as Sinatra's signature song for his TV show.

And I didn't want to pick those because I thought Mike's expecting me to pick those. So I'm going to go do something different here. I Got You Under My Skin is also signature Sinatra. It's Frank the Swinging Guy. It came out in 1966 when he, for my money, was at the height of his powers. It was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song. You know, Cole Porter also, here's a little fun fact, Cole Porter and I have the same birthday.

So that's another reason I picked this song, just because of that. And this song also was a top 10 hit for Frankie Valli in the four seasons, if you can imagine. I've got you under my skin. A hugely different interpretation, obviously. But this song has got legs. There's a trombone solo in the middle by Milt Bernhardt. That is just fantastic. I had the, I mean, what word can I use?

Just the glory of seeing Mr. Sinatra perform three times in person, I think twice in Florida and once in Toronto. And, you know, I don't have very many regrets in life, Mike, but one time I remember it was in the mid-1990s, and he was performing at Copse Coliseum in Hamilton and it was an incredibly snowy blizzardy night. And I said to myself, am I going to get on, you know, two hours to drive to Hamilton, get on the highway to go see him perform. I'll catch him the next time he comes in. And there was no next time he died not long thereafter. And, uh, one regret, I should have gone, I should have just braved it and gone to see him anyway, because, uh, you could never have too much Frank Sinatra in your life.

Anyway, that's the voice. That's the chairman of the board, Mr. Francis Albert Sinatra. Now, before Lois DeLoe plays us out here, would you mind sharing a little bit about Ruth Lowe, for those who don't know that name, which I think will be, if anyone's missed your first appearance on Toronto Mike, well, shame on you.

Pause this right now and go back to Steve Paikin's debut on Toronto Mike, which was actually in person when he would be, I could, you know, reach over and touch his shoulder here. But tell us a little bit about Ruth Lowe before we say goodbye. Ruth was a, you know, she was a 20 something kid who fell in love with a guy and got married and he had to get, I think, a fairly routine operation. He went into hospital for, and he died on the table. Something went wrong and he died on the table. And Ruth was just absolutely devastated by it, of course, as you would expect. And she said to her sister, you know, he's died and I'll never smile again.

And for whatever reason, that phrase just stuck with her. And the song emerged from that. And somehow she got it to Tommy Dorsey, who made a big hit with it, Frank Sinatra singing it. And this is in the middle of World War II. And there are many young women whose husbands were not going to come home from World War II, and they also thought they would never smile again. And there was something about the war, that time, that song, it just connected. And that was chosen, I think, one of the greatest songs of the 20th century. It established Ruth Lowe as an important songwriter.

She'd followed it up with Put Your Dreams Away for another day for Sinatra as well. And yes, Mike, let me use this opportunity to push again. She deserves a Maple Leaf. I don't think you get a star in Toronto, but she deserves a Maple Leaf on the Walk of Fame down on King Street, given the role she played in music history by writing two of Frank Sinatra's biggest ever hits. I love how you're lobbying for that, which is a great cause. And I'm lobbying to get number 22 recognized at the Scotiabank Arena. When all this nonsense is behind us and we can fill that thing up with 19,000 Lee fans,

I want Rick, his wife, and I want his kids, and I want his grandchild, who's only, hopefully by that point might be almost close to three years old. I want them at center ice and I want to honor number 22 for Rick vibe. I feel we've just thrown out the eighties. Like it was all junk. And we had this guy there scoring 50 goals a season for three years. Let's recognize Rick's,

uh, contributions to that franchise here. Here. And let's get Rick on the agenda. How's that? No. Okay. Uh, I will tell anyone listening, the vast majority of listeners are subscribed to that franchise. Hear, hear. Let's get Rick on the agenda. How's that? No, okay. I will tell anyone listening,

the vast majority of listeners are subscribed to the podcast. So if you're listening on the podcast, it looks like we survived Facebook. I don't know how we played all those great songs and didn't get clipped yet, but there is a recording of this

on the Toronto Mic Facebook page, which is facebook.com slash Toronto Mic with a D at the end. I want you to go there so you can see the shirt that Steve Paikin's wearing. Old Blue Eyes.

I'm looking at Old Blue Eyes on your, is that on the hoodie? It's a hoodie, yep. Awesome, buddy. And thanks for doing this. It won't be your last appearance on Toronto Mike because I love these too much. But that was something I looked forward to for a long time. Steve Paikin kicking out the jams and it was full value. Well done.

Thanks so much, Mike. Great to be with you again, as always. And that that brings us to the end of our 791st show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Steve, remind us, are you at Steve Paken? Just first initial, last name.

At S Paken. S P A I K I N. Spaken, if you will Steve Pakin? Just first initial, last name. At S. Pakin. S-P-A-I-K-I-N. Spakin, if you will. S. Pakin. That's it. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery, by the way, that's fantastic, the lake effect. Pick it up today. Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer.

Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Thank you, Anthony, for looking out for me when I'm on those winter rides. Sticker U is at Sticker U. CDN Technologies are at CDN Technologies and Ridley Funeral Home are at Ridley FH. See you all next week. This podcast has been produced by

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