A RUSH JOB

"O Canada" was basically a last-minute party song commissioned for a French-Canadian nationalist festival in 1880. They needed a banger for Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day, and English Canada's playlist of "God Save the King" just wasn't cutting it for them.

THE UNLIKELY DUO

The music was by Calixa Lavallée, a globetrotting musical prodigy who fought in the American Civil War and died so broke his obituary didn't even mention "O Canada". The French lyrics were by Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier, a very serious, ultra-Catholic judge who was basically the opposite of a rock star.

THE MUSICAL CATFISH

The English version is not a translation; it's a completely different song set to the same music. The original French lyrics are about carrying a sword and the cross for faith and fatherland. The English lyrics, written 28 years later, are mostly about geography and promising to "stand on guard" a lot. It's the ultimate musical catfish.

100-YEAR PROCRASTINATION

For a full century, "O Canada" was just one of many unofficial anthems. The country was in a state of musical limbo, with "God Save the Queen" as the official go-to. It took Canada 100 years to officially ask "O Canada" to be its anthem.

A STRATEGIC PROPOSAL

It finally became official on July 1, 1980. This happened right after the tense 1980 Quebec sovereignty referendum, making it a powerful political gesture of, "Hey Quebec, we love your song, please don't leave us".

THE LIVING DOCUMENT

The English lyrics have been edited more times than a Wikipedia page. The line "in all thy sons command" was actually added in 1913; the original was gender-neutral. In 2018, we changed it back to "in all of us command". Meanwhile, the French lyrics are so untouched, they're still in their original 1880 packaging.