I have exactly one problem

November 16, 2012 11:46 AM

Last summer a U.S. law professor wrote a paper analyzing the legal issues raised by verse 2 of Jay-Z's 99 Problems (about a police traffic stop). If you were going to write a similar article about a Canadian song, what would you pick?

I am thinking about writing a Canadian version of the paper linked above, but I am drawing a blank on some good subject matter.

Can anyone recommend a Canadian song that is well known and involves a fairly descriptive take on a criminal or police situation? It doesn't have to be a traffic stop -- anything with enough meat for some legal analysis would be good.

posted by hayvac to law & government (11 answers total)

Well, the song isn't written by a Canadian, or even originally performed by a Canadian, but I rather like Paul Brandt's version of Convoy.

There's a line near the end Corb Lund's Truck Got Stuck about spilling GMO seeds, which is some kind of agricultural offense. You could also maybe talk about the potential liability to the various truck owners.
posted by sillymama at 11:57 AM on November 16, 2012 [1 favorite]

Ohh...how about Bank Job by Barenaked Ladies!
posted by Captain_Science at 12:04 PM on November 16, 2012 [1 favorite]

the Hip's Wheat Kings was easily the first thing to come to mind, but that song is specifically about a legal case, so maybe that's not what you want.
posted by mannequito at 12:11 PM on November 16, 2012

Does it have to be crim law? Because you could probably write a good admiralty paper about The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Alternatively, talk about the reasonably serious provisions relating to terrorism and piracy in The Last Saskatchewan Pirate!

Oh man now I'm gonna be obsessing about this. Gonna ask my law school friends.
posted by Lemurrhea at 12:14 PM on November 16, 2012

Corb Lund's Bible on the Dash makes a pretty good counterpoint to 99 Problems, actually.
posted by drlith at 12:15 PM on November 16, 2012

Jason Collett - I want to rob a Bank.
posted by Lemurrhea at 12:33 PM on November 16, 2012

Informer by Snow.
posted by Gary at 2:13 PM on November 16, 2012 [4 favorites]

38 Years Old by The Tragically Hip is about a guy breaking out of prison and going to see his family.
posted by synecdoche at 2:35 PM on November 16, 2012

BNL - The Old Apartment
posted by knile at 3:16 PM on November 16, 2012

There has to be a Stan Rogers one. Maybe Night Guard, about a rancher lying in wait for rustlers.

He hears the wire popping by the road;
Sees the blacked out Reo coming for another load.
This time, it's not one they take but two;
Two minutes and they're through, and laughing in the cab.

And here'll be the end of this tonight,
'Cause all the proof he needs is lying steady in his sights.
It may be just the worst thing he could do
But he squeezes off a few, then make his call to town.

posted by zamboni at 4:08 PM on November 16, 2012

this might not be the sort of thing you are looking for, but interesting nonetheless; Sarah McLachlan had a song, possesion that was the subject of a lawsuit when a stalker of hers claimed that it was based on material he had written to her in love letters.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 5:02 PM on November 16, 2012