(many songs ended up in the poetry anthologies)
(fun stuff: I asked Bruce to sign his poem after one of his concerts)
There are many innovative aspects to my old textbook work (25 textbooks, 23 guides) that stand out in retrospect. Thematic structures for the most part. Early on, we aimed for 50% Canadian writers and, later, 50% female authors and 50% non-caucasian authors. We also used many visuals including cartoons from the get-go; later, color photographs.
But, given my musical background, it was not surprising that I selected many poetic pop-song lyrics. Teachers and students were often pleasantly surprised by and took to the songs that culturally and entertainingly expanded traditionally dry and conservative book-publishing.
(N.B. Songs fit various themes and some of them were strong enough to use more than once in different books.)
1982: Connections 1:
The Circle Game (Joni Mitchell)
The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill (The Beatles)
Sympathy for the Devil (The Rolling Stones)
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (Gordon Lightfoot)
Connections 2:
Like a Rolling Stone (Bob Dylan)
A Most Peculiar Man (Simon & Garfunkle)
Everything Put Together Falls Apart (Paul Simon)
Home from the Forest (Gordon Lightfoot)
At Seventeen (Janis Ian)
Connections 3:
I Am a Rock (Simon & Garfunkle)
Going to the Country (Bruce Cockburn)
Wooden Ships (Crosby, Stills, & Nash)
You’re So Vain (Carly Simon)
1984: Inside Poetry (1st ed)
A Child’s Song (Murray MacLauchlan)
King of Pain (The Police)
Wonderful Tonight (Eric Clapton)
We May Never Pass This Way Again (Seals & Crofts)
The Logical Song (Supertramp)
Both Sides Now (Joni Mitchell)
Silver Wheels (Bruce Cockburn)
She’s Always a Woman to Me (Billy Joel)
Leader of the Band (Dan Fogelberg)
Pinball Wizard (The Who)
Puff The Magic Dragon (Peter, Paul & Mary)
A Horse with No Name (America)
Don Quixote (Gordon Lightfoot)
Wired for Sound (Cliff Richard)
Circle of Steel (Gordon Lightfoot)
Wondering Where the Lions Are (Bruce Cockburn)
Amelia (Joni Mitchell)
She Remembers (Shari Ulrich)
When You Gonna Wake Up? (Bob Dylan)
The Mary Ellen Carter (Stan Rogers)
The Gambler (Kenny Rogers)
1990: Connections 1 (2nd ed.)
Small Blue Thing (Suzanne Vega)
Message in a Bottle (The Police)
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (Gordon Lightfoot)
Goin’ to the Country (Bruce Cockburn)
Puff The Magic Dragon (Peter, Paul & Mary)
Luka (Suzanne Vega)
Connections 2 (2nd ed.)
A Most Peculiar Man (Simon & Garfunkle)
At Seventeen (Janis Ian)
Allentown (Billy Joel)
Connections 3 (2nd ed.)
The Logical Song (Supertramp)
The Boy in the Bubble (Paul Simon)
9 to 5 (Dolly Parton)
Fast Car (Tracey Chapman)
1995: Choices
Cats in the Cradle (Harry Chapin)
He Thinks He’ll Keep Her (Mary Chapin-Carpenter)
2000: Crossroads 10
Superman’s Song (Crash Test Dummies)
Goliath (Melanie Doan)
2002: Between the Lines 11
Candle in the Wind (Elton John)
Shamaya (Susan Aglukark)
What a Good Boy (Barenaked Ladies)
Between the Lines 12:
If a Tree Falls (Bruce Cockburn)
Fast Car (Tracey Chapman)
Cold Missouri Waters (James Keelaghan)
The Hockey Song (Stompin’ Tom Connors)
I Am a Rock (Simon & Garfunkle)
2002: Inside Poetry (2nd ed.)
The Sound of Silence (Simon & Garfunkle)
Ironic (Alanis Morissette)
The Music of the Night (from Phantom of the Opera)
Wondering Where the Lions Are (Bruce Cockburn)
Like a Rolling Stone (Bob Dylan)
2008: jr. high anthology
O Siem (Susan Aglukark)
added: 1982: Connections 3:
If You Could Read My Mind (Gordon Lightfoot)