In a song induction partnership between the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (CSHF) and the Mariposa Folk Festival, “Morning Dew,” by Bonnie Dobson, will be inducted into the CSHF at the 2018 edition of the festival. Dobson will perform the song live, and receive the honour, during the event, which takes place July 6-8 in Tudhope Park, in Orillia, Ontario. Dobson performed the anti-nuke protest ballad, accompanying herself on acoustic guitar, at the very first Mariposa fest in 1961.

“Morning Dew” is a dialogue song between the sole surviving woman and man in a post-nuclear dystopia; she’s naïvely in denial; he’s the hopeless voice of doom. Radiation has turned the morning dew – yesterday’s life-giving water – into an annihilator.

At the height of Cold War tensions in 1961 Dobson, a folksinger, was performing in Los Angeles at the Ash Grove club. She’d been deeply moved by the anti-nuke movie On the Beach, and after discussing it with friends, composed “Morning Dew.” “I had never written anything in my life,” she says. “This song just came out, and really, it was a kind of re-enactment of that film in a way, where at the end there is nobody left…. apocalypse, that was what it was about.”

Over the years, the song grew into a powerful blues-rock protest anthem, with subsequent singers adding lyric variations. It’s been covered by a legion of artists, including The Grateful Dead, Lulu, Jeff Beck with Rod Stewart, The Allman Brothers, Nazareth, Long John Baldry, and Serena Ryder, among countless others. Dobson performed the song with Robert Plant at the Royal Festival Hall in the U.K. in 2013.

“The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame is partnering this year with our country’s most vibrant music festivals and events – coast to coast — to honour the songwriters and songs that are connected to each region,” said Vanessa Thomas, Executive Director of the organization. “We’re very excited to have Bonnie Dobson join us to perform and induct her song.”

Says Mariposa Folk Foundation President Pam Carter, “It’s a distinct pleasure to host this Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame induction of this important song… Bonnie Dobson appeared at Mariposa six times during the 1960s, and this will be a wonderful homecoming.”

Bonnie Dobson was born in Toronto in 1940. Influenced by The Weavers, The Travellers, Pete Seeger and Paul Robeson, she was part of the 1960s urban folk movement, appearing often at U.S. colleges and clubs, Toronto folk clubs and festivals, and on the CBC and BBC television networks. She was rated by Time magazine as second in popularity only to Joan Baez, and had hits with “I Got Stung” (1969) and “Good Morning Rain” (1970). She moved to London in 1969 and toured extensively in the U.K. and Europe until 1989, when she decided to return to university.  She studied Politics, Philosophy and History at Birkbeck College, and ended up running the Faculty of Arts until 2007. In 2013 she returned to the music business, releasing the album Morning Dew.



The success of Canada’s most accomplished songwriters, composers and music publishers is being celebrated at the 29th annual SOCAN Awards on June 18 in downtown Toronto. Canadian music legends from the last 50 years will come together to celebrate with contemporary Canadian producers, writers and publishers of rap, country, rock, film & television, jazz, electronic dance, folk-roots, pop, classical and virtually every other genre of music.

Honourees will include:

  • Daniel Caesar – SOCAN Breakout Artist Award winner Daniel Caesar has made waves in Canada and beyond, including two mentions in Barack Obama’s favourite songs of 2017, for his Grammy-nominated, JUNO Award-winning debut album, Freudian.
  • Burton Cummings – A founding member of legendary Canadian rock band The Guess Who, whose songwriting credits include “Stand Tall,” “American Woman,” “These Eyes,” “Break It To Them Gently,” and so many others, Burton Cummings will be honoured with the SOCAN Lifetime Achievement Award, one of the music industry’s greatest accolades.
  • Frank Dukes – SOCAN Songwriter of the Year. The internationally acclaimed producer’s work has been heard on countless songs with some of the world’s biggest rap and pop talents, including Drake’s “Fake Love,” Post Malone’s “Congratulations,” Camila Cabello’s global sensation “Havana,” and hits by Rihanna, Kendrick Lamar and many others.
  • Sarah McLachlan – In the fight for female artists to gain recognition as box office contenders, few artists have fought harder than Sarah McLachlan. She receives SOCAN’s Global Inspiration Award in recognition of her many contributions to the music industry, profound impact on music education for Canadian youth through the non-profit Sarah McLachlan School of Music, and significant acclaim as a songwriter.
  • Our Lady Peace – The Toronto-based rock band best known for their unique sound on albums like 1997’s Clumsy receive the SOCAN National Achievement Award in recognition of their massive career contributions to alternative rock music and songwriting in Canada.

“Canada is home to an incredibly talented, diverse and rapidly expanding group of music creators and publishers and we’re thrilled to celebrate them at the SOCAN Awards in Toronto,” said SOCAN CEO Eric Baptiste. “We’re honouring the global impact of lifetime careers, celebrating new contributors to the music industry and recognizing the astute and rewarding work of music publishers.”

In addition to performances by the multiple Grammy Award-winning Sarah McLachlan and Canadian music legend Burton Cummings, “The SOCANs” are expected to include live performances by celebrated JUNO Award-winning duo Dear Rouge; screen composer Steph Copeland will lead a special orchestral performance featuring Brett Kissel (who will also host the show) and The Launch and Indigenous Music Award-winner Logan Staats.

SOCAN Achievement Award winners are determined collaboratively between the SOCAN Board of Directors’ Membership Committee and the leaders of SOCAN’s Membership department.

More than 50 awards will be presented at “The SOCANs” for success in songwriting, composing, film scoring and music publishing, based on SOCAN data compiled over the last calendar year.

SOCAN Achievement Award winners receive “The SOCAN” – the world’s first and only music industry trophy that’s also a musical instrument, incorporating five custom bronze crotales, tuned this year with notes from “Stand Tall” by Cummings.

The full list of this year’s SOCAN Award winners will be released on the evening of June 18, 2018.

Sponsors of the 2018 SOCAN Awards are Gowling WLG, Crowe Soberman, Yamaha Canada Music, Recording Artists’ Collecting Society (ACTRA RACS), Hargraft, Long & McQuade, Music Canada, Ontario Media Development Corporation and Actra Fraternal Benefit Society (AFBS). Official charity partners are the Unison Benevolent Fund and the SOCAN Foundation

The SOCAN Awards have been held since 1990 as an annual show in Toronto. The annual Gala de la SOCAN in Montréal, which celebrates and honours the work of SOCAN’s Francophone members, will take place in October of this year.



SOCAN was a proud sponsor of the 20th annual LEO Awards, celebrating excellence in British Columbia film and television, as it has been for every edition since the beginning in 1998. The Celebration Awards One were presented on May 26, 2018, at the Hyatt Regency in Vancouver, where our SOCAN #ComposersWhoScore walked away with all eight musical honours.

Prizes were awarded as follows:

  • Best Musical Score in a Motion Picture to Matthew Rogers, for Adventures in Public School
  • Best Musical Score in a Television Movie to Hamish Thomson, for Love Locks
  • Best Musical Score in a Short Drama to Mark James Fortin, Lorna Fortin, and Ella Mae Fortin, for Sliding Away
  • Best Musical Score in a Dramatic Series to James Jandrisch, for Somewhere Between – “The Hunter and the Hunted” episode
  • Best Musical Score in a Feature-Length Documentary to Eli Bennett, for Believe: The True Story of Real Bearded Santas
  • Best Musical Score in a Short Documentary Program to David F. Ramos, for In Three Years
  • Best Musical Score in an Documentary Series to Russell Wallace, for 1491: The Untold Story of the Americas Before Columbus – “Architecture” episode
  • Best Musical Score in an Animation Program or Series to Marc Junker and David Parfit, for S.O.S.

The Music Director for the 2018 LEO Awards was winner Eli Bennett, a two-time recipient of the CBC Galaxie Rising Star Award from the National Jazz Awards, who’s been awarded the Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Award for music, as well as the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal from the Premier of BC.

The LEO Awards offer an excellent opportunity for SOCAN members who work in film and television to celebrate their accomplishments and network with producers, directors and local industry players. Attending from SOCAN were Sara Pavilionis, Racquel Villagante, and Lea Faradian.

For more information and a complete list of winners visit the awards website.