Pullin' a Hank: Songs for your goodbye party

With the return of darkness and Northern lights, August also brings goodbye potlucks and dance parties. It's send-off season. 

Good luck to students heading back to school. Bon voyage to adventurers setting sail. Best wishes to long-timers pulling up roots for a warmer climate. You'll be missed. 

Hank Snow — I'm Movin' On 

Buffalo Airways' Joe McBryan remembers the days before iPods and satellites, when Hank Snow sang from a gramophone in N.W.T. communities.

"If anyone was going to move, or quit doing something, or move further down, they were always gonna 'pull a hank.' The new generation had never heard that. So I always thought that was a neat Northern story, as people throughout the North would 'pull a hank.' Which meant they left." 

Jerry Cans — Namulimaaqsimavunga

A Northern song inspired by another Hank Snow tune, "I've Been Everywhere." Iqaluit's Jerry Cans take us on a lap of Nunavut, from community to community, and then Ottawa's Rideau Centre. "You always see Nunavummiut there," says lead singer and guitarist Andrew Morrison. 

Sharon Van Etten —​ We are Fine

Former Yellowknifer Katherine Hudson is spending her first summer down south, after three years in the North. She misses out-of-the-blue adventures, like swimming at night or spontaneous campfires. "Even in the midst of the daily grind," Hudson says, "there's this secret good time that no one outside the North really knows about." This song has been her companion and comfort. 

Old Cabin — Leaving Town

Yukon singer/songwriter Jona Barr sings, "I've been thinking a lot about moving on, I've been searching for the spot."

Trooper — Here for a Good Time (Not a Long Time)

This legendary Canadian band has performed in the Northwest Territories five times in the last decade, in Yellowknife and Inuvik. You know the Delta was rocking when they closed with "Here for a Good Time."  

Besnard Lakes — Here For a Good Time

If Trooper is the last dance at your goodbye party, this Besnard Lakes cover is for packing your bags and facing your feelings.  It's the soundtrack to "Welcome to Pine Point" a web documentary about the former N.W.T. mining town that shut down in 1988. 

Madeleine Allakariallak — Highway Free

Being away from a place you love can give some perspective. The host of CBC Igalaaq wasn't in the Nunavut when she wrote this song. She was flying in a plane above Ottawa.  It captures the freedom of movement, from "39,000 feet up in the air" to driving around the ring road in Iqaluit, kids in the backseat.

If This is Goodbye — Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris

A pick by Dene Dayalti'l host Tony Buggins.  It's a song he loves for the melody, guitar picking and Emmylou's voice. "It will take you on a nice little trip."

Have a song you think we missed? Email trailsend@cbc.ca or tweet @allisondev.