Outgoing CBC Yukon journalist Nancy Thomson shares her favourite music
Long time CBC reporter Nancy Thomson shares some of her favourite music
Nancy Thomson is sifting through precariously stacked piles of paper and notebooks as she cleans out her desk at CBC Yukon.
The phone is still ringing as people call to suggest a story to chase, but Thomson is going to have to pass on another scoop because this is her last day on the job.
We had one more assignment for her before she turned in her microphone: share five of her favourite songs.
"My first selection is from La Bohème," she said. "My Dad was a huge Puccini fan and played piano quite well ... In Ross River in the late sixties when it was 55 below, my two older sisters and I would be in bed and then mom and dad would listen to La Bohème. So I remember Ross River in the depths of winter and this amazing, amazing music.... it was the best way to go to sleep."
For her second pick, Thomson chose a song that reminded her of her mother, who sang professionally with an orchestra in Victoria.
"She sang jazz, Sarah Vaughan, Ella, Peggy; those were the staples of my childhood."
Thomson's third choice is the spacey track Fly Like An Eagle by the Steve Miller Band.
"This was something my boyfriend and I used to listen to," she said. "He had a '69 GTO, we'd be out at Long Lake in the summertime ... and we'd be driving back, hot, hot summer days, and we'd be rocking out."
Thomson's third choice is the British patriotic hymn I Vow To Thee My Country.
"In these pandemic times, you think about all of the people who have given their service to their country," she said. "People may say that's very sentimental stuff, but at its core it's about the dignity of public service.... That's something that, these days, maybe we should pause and give some thought to."
Thomson's final choice was always going to be something by composer Burt Bacharach, the only decision was what tune. She went with I Say A Little Prayer by Dionne Warwick.
"I thought I'd end on more of an upbeat note," she said. "Her voice and the pairing with Burt Bacharach ... I think go perfectly."