Canadian music and American culture: get away from me

Explores Canadian music's commentaries on American culture. 'American Woman, get away from me!' - one of the most resonant musical statements to come out of Canada - is a cry of love and hate for its neighbour.

Canada's close, inescapable entanglement with the superpower to the south provides a unique yet representative case study of the benefits and detriments of the global American culture machine.

Literature scholars apply textual and cultural analysis to a selection of Anglo-Canadian music - from Joni Mitchell to Peaches, via such artists as Neil Young, Rush, and the Tragically Hip - to explore the generic borrowings and social criticism, the desires and failures of Canada's musical relationship with the USA.