The Man Of A Thousand Songs Trailer
While growing up “Sonny’s Dream” certainly was a song which I had enjoyed to the full extend that only a young child could without knowing the deep underlying message of the song and the battles that the songwriter Ron Hynes had faced through his career. To this day there are still many family stories of me belting out that song when it was played, maybe it was the fact that growing up on the shore’s of Prince Edward Island, the closeness of working the land and the love of this small part of the world I have always had the utmost respect for the art that Ron Hynes creates in his music and this film could not have captured him in any better light.
Having met Ron on multiple occasions at the various music festivals that take place around Eastern Canada including one of the best performances I have seen yet at the Stan Rogers Folk Festival when he warmed everyone’s heart indoors while the rain came down throughout the Canada Day weekend and once sharing some great conversation during an elevator ride at the Delta Hotel during the 2007 East Coast Music Awards you could always tell that he was an artist who did not let others into his live that easily.
Having attended the awards that year doing videography I also got to spend a good bit of time working along side the editor of “The Man With A Thousand Songs” Andrew MacCormack while documenting some of East Coast Canada’s upcoming artists and can say that they could not have selected a better crew to work on something of this size and importance.
To see this project come together to celebrate the vast impact of such a staple in East Coast Music who has faced so many uphill battles throughout his career but who still has held onto being one of the greatest song writers certainly should be enough to have this be on your ‘To be watched’ list of films for anyone with even the basic interest in local music.
The film was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival with great celebration which comes as no surprise and had recently been screened on December 2nd at Empire Theaters in Atlantic Canada.
Official Description
An intimate portrait of Atlantic legend Ron Hynes, William D. MacGillivray’s The Man of a Thousand Songs is also a complex account of the personal costs of obsession, loneliness and substance abuse. A singer-songwriter whose work has been covered by countless performers, Hynes met with early success, getting a recording contract at sixteen and featured later in a long-running television series. But the cost of this success was dear. His ego ran amok, his relationships eroded and his onstage meltdowns overshadowed his songwriting talent.
The film focuses on Hynes as he recounts and makes sense of his life. A fascinating character, Hynes comes across as sincere, but he’s also decidedly guarded. Though one senses reservoirs of regret in his eyes, Hynes chooses to address these issues almost abstractly. He refers to himself as three different people: himself; a singer-songwriter; and the man of a thousand songs – “a total creature” who took over his life and nearly killed him. Joel, the person who probably knows him best, reluctantly confides that he’s impossible to reach and that you never know which side of him you’ll get. Of course, part of his alienation from himself is directly related to his work, which demands that he blur the line between truth and myth.
The Man of a Thousand Songs also opens a compelling window on the songwriter’s craft, and the self-doubts that come with the profession. Hynes shelved his best-known song, “Sonny’s Dream,” for almost a year because the melody felt so familiar he thought he had stolen it. As a corollary, the film explores the costs and benefits of an artist staying within Canada. Hynes admits he could have made far more money if he moved to Los Angeles, but would probably have never written his most heralded work. Perhaps best of all, the film features Hynes performing in numerous venues – a pleasure to watch regardless of how familiar you may be with his work. His cracked and wispy voice imbues his songs with profound emotional weight.
Steve Gravestock
CBC footage of The Wonderful Grand Band performing Sonny’s Dream
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