Rest in peace, Dal Richards

[shayman]

Dal Richards is a legendary bandleader from Vancouver, known for performing for 80 straight years on New Years Eve until he just couldn't do it any more. He passed away yesterday at the age of 97.

http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/richards+vancouver+king+swing+dies/11625321/story.html


Dal created the legendary "CFL Songs" album in 1968. You probably know the songs it popularized - at least the first one, I hope

• Go Argos Go
• Roar you Lions Roar
• On Roughriders
• The Eskimo Fight Song
• the Ticat Marching Song

And many more that we still hear at CFL games to this day. We've collected the songs and some notes on their creation here -

http://www.argonotes.com/CFLSongs


I was honoured to meet Dal in 2014. My wife took me to a surprise lunch for my birthday (in Vancouver) - I had no idea why we were there, but then Dal and his lovely wife Muriel joined us at the table. What a treat! I told Dal a little about our band and asked him all about his experiences leading the BC Lions Band in the 1950s. Dal was just the nicest guy, full of stories, and autographed a copy of "CFL Songs" for me. A few months ago, we donated that album to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, where it belongs.


Here's Dal performing "Roar you Lions Roar" on an Argonotes kazoo -

https://twitter.com/Argonotes/status/683038921316421632

Rest in peace, Dal. Generations of CFL fans love your contributions. We'll try our best to keep them going.

[paulwoods13]

Thanks for writing such a nice tribute, Steve. Dal was a true legend.

[Argo57]

Sad news shayman, I can tell by your comments that Dal had a positive influence on you and many other CFL fans.

[Will]

Great tribute Shayman. I hope the Argos play the fight song he wrote more often next year.

[jerrym]

Here's the album cover and a full list of its songs by Dal Richards.


http://rymimg.com/lk/f/l/5f4c89f5922a996a8b646f9794deeaf3/2304679.jpg

Track listing



<tbody>

</tbody>

A1Football is Fun2:02
A2Roar, You Lions, Roar!1:47
A3Ye Men of Calgary1:37
A4The Eskimo Fight Song1:58
A5On Roughriders1:20
A6Bombers' Victory March2:25
B1The Tiger-Cat Marching Song1:58
B2Go, Argos Go1:55
B3The Rough Riders March2:02
B4The Alouette March2:05
B5The Day of the Grey Cup2:40
B6The Grey Cup March2:15
Total length: 24:04

(http://www.amazon.ca/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.ca%2Fs%2F%3Furl%3 Dsearch-alias%3Dpopular%26field-keywords%3DDal+Richards&tag=rateyourmus04-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=211045&creative=374009)http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/dal_richards/cfl_songs/

[1argoholic]

Not a great last week for the music industry. Dal, Lemmy, Natalie Cole plus some country dude all died.

I'd love to get my hands on that album. I have a few songs taped. Love that CFL logo under the cutie.

[paulwoods13]

Yeah, Dal and Lemmy in the same week -- what a bizarre coincidence.

[shayman]

I'd love to get my hands on that album. I have a few songs taped. Love that CFL logo under the cutie.

MP3s of all of them can be found at http://www.argonotes.com/CFLSongs (click on the song titles)
The album shows up on ebay occasionally.

The CFL paid tribute to Dal today too - http://www.thesnap.ca/dal-richards-cfl-music-legend-dead-at-97/

[ArgoGabe22]

MP3s of all of them can be found at http://www.argonotes.com/CFLSongs (click on the song titles)
The album shows up on ebay occasionally.

Dal only recorded the record right? I'm sure the songs are much older and some even songs have a similar sound to college fight songs.

[AngeloV]

MP3s of all of them can be found at http://www.argonotes.com/CFLSongs (click on the song titles)
The album shows up on ebay occasionally.

The CFL paid tribute to Dal today too - http://www.thesnap.ca/dal-richards-cfl-music-legend-dead-at-97/

Very cool Shayman!!

[shayman]

Dal created the record so radio stations would have something to play for each team. Some of the songs - eg. Go Argos Go - were actually created just for this record. Others are new words added to existing tunes. I have notes on the history of each song at the link above.

[Double Dare]

Not a great last week for the music industry. Dal, Lemmy, Natalie Cole plus some country dude all died.
Lemmy could have sang "Football Is Fun". : )

[shayman]

PS. I finally got around to uploading a picture of the back of the CFL Songs album. More great info about this record here - http://www.argonotes.com/CFLSongs/Back.jpg

[Neely2005]

Sad news but a very nice tribute Shayman.