A Place to Stand, a Place to Grow

A Place to Stand, a Place to Grow (Ontari-ari-ari-o!) was an unofficial anthem of the Canadian province of Ontario. The song was written as the signature tune for a movie of the same name that was featured at the Expo 67 Ontario pavilion.

The song was written by Dolores Claman, who also wrote the "The Hockey Theme", with lyrics by Richard Morris and orchestrations by Jerry Toth. Lyrics for a French version were written by Larry Trudel.^[1]

It was commissioned by the Progressive Conservative government of John Robarts for the Ontario pavilion at Expo 67, the World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec in Canada's Centennial year of 1967, and was used again in the following decades.

The song was featured at the Province of Ontario's exhibit in the short film A Place to Stand, which won the 1967 Academy Award for Live Action Short Film.

Cultural resonance

• In their early busking days, Barenaked Ladies would often perform this song, with their hometown of Scarborough, Ontario replacing Ontario.^[2]
• Actor Jim Carrey made the song famous once again for a short time in 2004, when he sang it on the Late Night with Conan O'Brien show when the show travelled to Toronto to tape four episodes.^[2]
• An episode of Rick Mercer's Monday Report uses this song during a report on the massive grow-ops in Ontario

See also

• Anthems and nationalistic songs of Canada
• Expo 67
• Canada (1967 song)

Notes

1. Konder (caption)
2. Leslie Scrivener, "Forty years on, a song retains its standing", Toronto Star April 22, 2007.

External links

• Konder, G. C., (2004) A Place to Grow Accessed January 28, 2007
• Scoutxing, Lyrics Accessed January 28, 2007
• The Toronto Star, 22 April 2007, Section D, page 4, "Forty years on, a song retains its standing"

Multimedia

• Whelan, J., Expo 67 in Montreal Real Audio link to the song Accessed January 28, 2007
• Video on YouTube