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Red Deer cowboy singer’s ‘Corona Song’ is meant to unite people in the battle against the virus

Ivan Daine’s new pandemic tune is on YouTube

Ivan Daines has written a song about the pandemic that ends with the unsettling line: “How, when, and if we win, we’ll be remembered always…”

Red Deer’s cowboy singer has tackled weighty material before, including the Fort McMurray wildfire and the deaths of a couple of his rodeo heroes.

But his new tune, Corona Song, about COVID-19, takes his subject matter to a whole new level of intensity.

Daines compares the fight against the novel coronavirus to the deadly battles that united many counties in the First and Second World War.

“The world has to come together to do what we have to do… Everybody has to look after each other to pull us through…” Daines sings in the tune that can now be heard on YouTube.

The singer, who was recently inducted into the Alberta Country Music Hall of Fame, admitted there isn’t much else on anyone’s mind these days than the coronavirus.

Friends — even his daughter, who lives in Colorado — have been calling to ask: “When are you going to write a song about the virus?”

Since Daines is spending time in social isolation at home, he thought he’d collect his thoughts about COVID-19 and turn them into lyrics.

“Like everybody, I’m very concerned,” said Daines, about the virus spreading all over the world, leading to business shutdowns and a steep economic plunge.

His Corona Song tells about “how we all feel about the thing — that it’s a war,” he added.

It’s delivered in his traditional country storytelling style, and is set to a catchy melody that makes the reality he’s recounting in his lyrics a bit easier to bear.

It was produced by Don Kletke, who worked with Alberta’s late great singer/songwriter Ray Griff.

Daines, a former bronc rider, who’s also a member of Canada’s Rodeo Hall of Fame, said he hopes listeners like the song — but he mostly wants it to give people hope by reminding them that everybody is part of this fight.



lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com

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