|
BARRIE - Grant Sauve really likes Barrie. In fact, he likes it so much he wrote a song about it.
I think this city has a pulse and I think this city deserves a song,” he said.
After The Barrie Song gained attention on You Tube, Sauve performed it at the Barrie Olympic Torch Relay celebrations in December.
“That was an amazing experience,” he said. “I think that’s when people really started to take notice.”
Sauve and his family made the move from Oakville to Barrie five years ago.
Inspired by the CBC contest that asked professional musicians to write songs about cities, and knowing how much her husband loved his new hometown, Sauve’s wife suggested he write a “I played a lot of pubs and parties. She said I should write a Barrie song, so I just kind of went at it,” he said. “After about a month of playing around with it, I came up with this song.”
After playing the song at a few business events and barbecues around the city, the song started to get rave reviews. The song then made its way to City Hall.
Sauve was then asked to sing during a Barrie city council committee meeting.
“Coun. Rod Jackson was at that meeting and he was chair of the torch celebration; he asked me to play at the torch event,” Sauve said. The song itself covers everything from waterfront festivals, snowfall and even Wal-Marts.
“The big thing was Kempenfelt Bay. It’s beautiful, but it essentially splits the town in half, north Barrie and south Barrie,” Sauve said. “But guess what? It’s OK. There is a Wal-Mart on both sides.”
While the song is meant to bring a sense of pride to city residents, Sauve also hopes it will spread a positivemessage to out-of-towners. “The first verse I wrote was about the summer traffic jams,” he said. “I wanted to let southern folks know that it’s really not our fault. You are the ones going to the cottage.”
When he isn’t belting out the tunes, Sauve is a retirement investor. “Yes, I don’t just write songs, I write retirement strategies as well,” he said.
Sauve will be donating the song to the city to be used for promotional initiatives, but he will continue to play the song at festivals and events.
Catch Sauve’s performance at the Barrie Torch Relay Celebrations on YouTube.
Article from Simcoe.com, writen by: Leigh Blenkhorn and photo by Stan Howe
Date: Feb 25, 2010
  
|
