“It’s a company town, a company town,
looks like the company going to let you down.
Here for the profits and gone for the loss,
People behind left paying the cost.
– Murray Boal
The first Canadian indie musician I am proudly going to feature here is Murray Boal who died a few days ago. His music embodies the authentic and sincere spirit of this land; uncensored and from the heart.
Murray was part of the back to the land movement in the 1970’s, a soft rebellion that flourished in BC against the corporatization of our culture that was happening under the term, globalization. Him and a dozen other people dropped their 9-5 jobs in the city and started Dragon Mountain Farm in Quesnel, BC. If the topic interests you, BC author Andrew Scott wrote a great book about the movement called, The Promise of Paradise, Utopian communities in BC. There were hundreds of these communities in BC at that time. The commune faded but the spirit of it lived on as Murray, his partner Janet and their two sons, Henry and Sparky, continued to grow organic vegetables and raise organic sheep. I had the good fortune of spending some time on their farm. Their spirit embodies the true grit of the Canadian soul I love so much; non-pretentious, kind, and living respectfully with the earth.
This is the song I always wanted to make a music video of and am honored it will be part of the film’s soundtrack. It is called, Company Town. He wrote these lyrics 20 years ago and they are as true today as they were then.
I was told by an elder that it takes 7 generations to bring about change. These folks planted seeds that are growing, we just all need to keep tending the garden. Shine on Murray. Blessed be.
This song reminds me of the story of the Pacific Logging Company, one of the take-aways from a 2nd year environmental philosophy course. Happy to be introduced to Murray; sorry to hear of his passing.