"Bud the Spud" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter

Stompin' Tom Connors Charles Thomas "Stompin' Tom" Connors, OC (February 9, 1936 – March 6, 2013) was a Canadian country and folk singer-songwriter. Focusing his career exclusively on his native Canada, he is credited with writing more than 300 songs and has rele ...

. The song is an account of a trucker who hauls potatoes from

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has seve ...

, Connors' home province."Canada's troubadour sang of everyday lives"
. ''The Globe and Mail'', SANDRA MARTIN, March 9, 2013

History

"Bud the Spud" was released in 1969 on Connors' album ''Bud The Spud and Other Favourites''. It was written about his truck-driving friend, Bud Roberts. Connors crisscrossed Canada, performing it along with his many other songs about Canada, at first in small venues. In this way the song became known through

word-of-mouth Word of mouth, or ''viva voce'', is the passing of information from person to person using oral communication, which could be as simple as telling someone the time of day. Storytelling is a common form of word-of-mouth communication where one pe ...

as well as through radio airplay on

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

. The song was turned into an illustrated children's book in 1994 featuring Bud the truck driver, and his dog. The song was made available digitally for the first time on

Canada Day Canada Day (french: Fête du Canada), formerly known as Dominion Day (french: Fête du Dominion), is the national day of Canada. A federal statutory holiday, it celebrates the anniversary of Canadian Confederation which occurred on July 1, 18 ...

in 2008.

Popular culture

In 2008, "Bud the Spud" was the first song played on the new Spud Radio station in Pemberton, British Columbia. In 2013, a group of

New Democrat New Democrats, also known as centrist Democrats, Clinton Democrats, or moderate Democrats, are a centrist ideological faction within the Democratic Party in the United States. As the Third Way faction of the party, they are seen as culturall ...

Members of Parliament performed the song in the Canadian Parliament Building on their way to Question Period.

Chart performance

"Bud the Spud" peaked at number 26 on the ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' Country Tracks chart on February 28, 1970.

References

External links

*
"NDP sings Bud the Spud"
''CBC News'', Mar 07, 2013. {{authority control 1969 songs Stompin' Tom Connors songs Songs about truck driving Songs about Canada