Chapman, Mary - This Land

Tracks

Side 1

		Track Name	Length
	1	This Land Theme	02:47

Side 2

		Track Name	Length
	1	This Land Theme (Instrumental)

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Information/Write-up

In the mid-1970s, CBC’s long-running documentary series This Land had already become a fixture of Canadian prime-time television. The program, which began in 1970 as a successor to This Land of Ours, explored the country’s natural resources, environment, and conservation issues at a moment when Canadians were beginning to see environmental stewardship as part of national identity.

To accompany its sweeping images of forests, lakes, prairies, and coastlines, CBC turned to composer Paul E. Mills to craft a theme song that would capture the vastness and warmth of the Canadian landscape. The result was This Land—a stately and melodic anthem whose lyrics praised “Canada, wondrous lady that you are” and invited listeners to “look ahead and dream… a place to watch the stars.”

The song was recorded by Mary Chapman, a Toronto vocalist who also co-hosted the series during the mid-1970s. Her delivery was gentle yet powerful, anchoring the music with sincerity and emotional clarity. In 1975 CBC issued the theme as a 45 RPM single, backed with an instrumental version arranged in three shorter movements. The single bore the catalog numbers ST 57103 (Side A) and ST 57104 (Side B), with the etched runouts matching the labels.

Though never widely distributed, the single became a treasured artifact among those who grew up watching the program. For many, Chapman’s voice at the start of each episode was inseparable from the breathtaking footage of John and Janet Foster, Tommy Tompkins, and the other contributors who brought Canada’s wilderness into living rooms across the country.

Today the This Land single stands as both a rare collectible and an enduring piece of cultural memory. More than just a theme song, it distilled the hope, pride, and natural beauty of Canada in the 1970s into a simple, memorable refrain—an unofficial anthem for a generation of viewers.
-Robert Williston

Mary Chapman: vocals

Composed by Paul Mills
Produced for CBC Television Series This Land

Lyrics:
Well, I've travelled countless miles of road through countless cities and towns,
from the majesty of mountains to the wealth of prairie farms,
from the cities of Ontario to the beauty of Quebec,
from a fishing boat off Labrador, I've watched the red sunset.

Canada, wondrous lady that you are.
We will praise your beauty and your future,
this is your hour.
It's a place to look ahead and dream, a place to watch the stars,
it's a home that's filled with happiness.
This Land.

I find you rich in people looking for a place in which to grow,
and richer still in dreams to feed them more than I could know.
I've got a vision of tomorrow like I've never known before,
you can see it from the Rockies to the Nova Scotia shores...

Canada, wondrous lady that you are.
We will praise your beauty and your future,
this is your hour.
It's a place to look ahead and dream,
a place to watch the stars.
It's a home that's filled with happiness.
This land.

So look across her mountains and her prairies and her plains,
her countless lakes and rivers and her forests yet untamed.
And if by chance you hear the sound of children playing near,
listen for tomorrow's dreams for they will soon be here...

Canada, wondrous lady that you are,
we will praise your beauty and your future,
this is your hour.
It's a place to look ahead and dream,
a place to watch the stars.
It's a home that's filled with happiness,
this land.

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