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Week 743: “Ben’s Sanctuary” by Harley Card
Manage episode 432553052 series 1375605
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One of my very favourite places in Toronto is High Park.
Torontonians sometimes like to refer to it as “Toronto’s Central Park” – even though it’s not at all central and is less than half the size of New York’s famous green space.
But it’s got plenty going for it: forests, a large pond, a zoo, playgrounds, tennis courts, a swimming pool, baseball diamonds, hidden public art…just about everything you could want in an urban park.
Jazz guitarist Harley Card and his co-songwriter and drummer Dave Clark are also High Park fans. In an interview following the 2018 release of his album The Greatest Invention, Harley Card recalled a conversation the two musicians had about the park:
“Dave was telling me to go check out the bird sanctuary there, where a very dedicated and eccentric elderly man cares for the birds eight months a year. His name is Ben.”
That man is Ben Holloway, who founded High Park’s bird sanctuary. Despite living on the other side of the city, Holloway would make the trip by public transit each day to tend to the birds and make the park that little bit better for visitors.
Unbeknownst to Dave Clark and Harley Card, Ben Holloway had died in 2014, a few years before their conversation and subsequent creation of the song in tribute to his sanctuary. There’s now a bench deep within High Park dedicated to the “Bird Man” – and at some point I hope to sit on that bench and listen to this song.
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. The opening moments, as quiet as a pre-dawn forest.
2. The brushes Dave Clark uses on the drums remind me of birds’ wings.
3. At 2:31, when the guitar and bass share that haunting melody in unison. The first time through, the phrase ends on the minor third, and the second time it ends on the major.
Recommended listening activity:
Finding a quiet spot.
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