Canon

The Canon is a list of songs that are traditional and played at each dance (or every other dance). The list varies by site.

Sites not listed below may or may not have well-defined Canons. If you know yours, please add it! "American Pie," however is played last at every CTY dance at every site. The only exception involves a new tradition at Skidmore Session One in which "I'll Make a Man out of You" is played after American Pie at the last dance. Also, some newly established sites, particularly those outside of the United States, tend to fail to play the Canon.

Lancaster

At Lancaster, the Canon is divided into two sections: the "Upper Canon" or "High Holy Canon," which is played at every dance, and the "Lower Canon," half of which is played at each dance, although the Lower Canon is generally not played at the final dance, but is instead played during lunch and dinner, usually a 5/4 split the day of the final dance. Since Lancaster holds dances every Friday and Saturday, as well as the final Thursday (known canonically as Friday, since Dances can't happen on Thursdays), this means that each Lower Canon song is heard once each weekend.

The playing of the Lower Canon at lunch began in 2004 at the suggestion of RA Jeremy Orosz, who thought this system would allow for a night dance that was not comprised completely of Canon so that less traditional students would have a wider selection of music. In 2006, half the Canon songs were moved to dinner because, due to the staggered lunch schedule, no student would be able to hear all Canon songs just at lunch.

The Upper Canon songs are generally played (nonconsecutively) in the reverse of the order shown here (i.e. "Bizarre Love Triangle" is first). The last four songs of the dance are (in order): "Stairway to Heaven," a non-Canon song, normally "Mr. Brightside," "Forever Young," and "American Pie."

Upper Canon

• American Pie - Don McLean
• Forever Young - Alphaville
• Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
• In Your Eyes - Peter Gabriel
• Nightswimming - R.E.M.
• Bizarre Love Triangle - New Order
• Mr. Brightside - The Killers

Lower Canon

• Istanbul (Not Constantinople) - They Might Be Giants
• Blister in the Sun - Violent Femmes
• Oh L'Amour - Erasure
• Rock Lobster - The B-52's (Second Session only)
• Dr. Mario - Nintendo (First Session only)
• James Brown Is Dead - L.A. Style
• Birdhouse in Your Soul - They Might Be Giants
• It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) - R.E.M.
• Tunak Tunak Tun - Daler Mehndi
• The Time Warp - The Rocky Horror Picture Show
• Sweet Transvestite - The Rocky Horror Picture Show (follows The Time Warp, only on Second Saturday)

History of the Canon

Supposedly, the modern Canon began the first year CTY started (at St. Mary's in 1980/1981, theoretically; however, this may actually mean the first year of Lancaster, 1982), when the staff, who enjoyed American Pie, decided to play it at a dance. The students enjoyed it and transferred it to the following session, after which it was played in the following years as well.

There was a clear Canon at least as early as 1985 (note that Lancaster was opened in 1982), which included "Rock Lobster," "The Time Warp," "Shout" (Isley Brothers), "Louie Louie," "Good Lovin'" (Rascals), and -- of course -- "American Pie." By 1988, students expected others certain songs at every dance, too (i.e., "No One is to Blame," "Mony Mony" (Billy Idol), "Boys Don't Cry," "Forever Young," "Summer of '69," "Twist & Shout," "Bizarre Love Triangle"). Though the name of "Canon" had not yet been applied, by the mid-1980's these songs were already being played at virtually every dance.

In 1987 and 1988, a group of RAs mocked these songs, especially "American Pie." Their behavior reached its nadir when, in 88.2, they convinced the RA DJs not to play "American Pie" at all at one of the later dances. Scores of students refused to leave the dance area -- the end of quad in front of the Marshall-Buchanan porch. A student housed in Dubbs turned his stereo speakers to point out his room's windows and played the song as loud as he could. As the students heard this, they moved under his window and sang loud enough to make up for the size of his speakers. In 93.1, the RA DJs again screwed things up by omitting some important songs at a dance on the first weekend. The following Monday, students circulated a petition demanding that the DJs play "Bizarre Love Triangle," "Rock Lobster," "It's the End of the World as We Know It," "Forever Young," and "American Pie" at every remaining dance, without fail. The word "Canon" was still not applied to this list.

Between 1994 and 1995, the Digiclan and LLRT, after lengthy online discussions, finalized the Canon, cutting it down from a list of over 50 songs. By 1996, all of the fourteen modern Canon songs except for "Tunak Tunak Tun" and "Dr. Mario" had appeared.

Every few years, there is a vote at Lancaster to put more songs on the Canon. Recent votes (in 2000 and 2003) did not add any new songs, though the High/Low status of some songs slightly changed. A vote 05.2 decided to keep "James Brown Is Dead" as part of the canon and add Daler Mehndi's "Tunak Tunak Tun" to the Canon one year after kids from First Dietz hall made a CTY-Lancaster-specific dance (modeled after Daler Mehndi's music video).

In 08.1, "Rock Lobster" was voted out of the First Session Canon. The next night, "Dr. Mario" was voted into the Lower Canon by a 53% percent majority (the vote to include "Dr. Mario" only would have been conducted had "Rock Lobster" been removed first). "Dr. Mario" remained Lower Canon on a one-year trial basis due to the slim majority. At the last dance of 08.1, "Rock Lobster" was played one final time as part of the Canon, but this song was played during 09.1 and will most likely be played in the coming years. As for Session 2, "Rock Lobster" remains a part of the Canon while "Dr. Mario" is not considered to be. At the end of 09.1, "Dr. Mario" was voted and secured into Canon to be enjoyed by generations of CTYers to come.

Protest Example (05.1)

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a134/ctylan20051/3f03c748.jpg

Other Songs

Raving is very popular at Lancaster. Aside from "James Brown Is Dead," at least one techno/raving song is played at each dance, often Darude's "Sandstorm" or "Every Time We Touch." During 06.2, a new rule was instated at Lancaster that banned stringraving (and also lying on the ground after dark). This angered some students, especially since nobody was officially told that the PDA rule on hand-holding from the previous session had been lifted. Protests were planned; however, Rachel, then-Jesus, and Alexa, a onemore, worked with the site director to lift the ban. The string raving ban was changed to a restriction: that all raving be done on the hardtop. However, by the following year, the restriction had been lifted or ignored by administration.

Aside from the Canon, commonly played songs/dances include the CTY Shuffle, the Numa Numa Song ("Dragosta Din Tei"), "Cotton-Eyed Joe," the "Cha-Cha Slide," the Pokemon Theme Song, "Sexyback" (usually directly following BLT and accompanied by an [optionally] pantsless macarena line) and "Sandstorm."

The song "Mr. Brightside" by the Killers has, since 07.1, almost always been played between "Stairway to Heaven" and "Forever Young", especially in 07.1. Mr. Brightside typically involves a giant mob dancing up and down in the center.

Not completely related to Canon, but also very important, is the song "The End of the Tour" which is always the last song played at the Electric Tree after the Passionfruit.

Also, "Iris"!

During second session 2010 and first session 2011, the theme song for the video game "Robot Unicorn Attack" (Always by Erasure) was played at the last three dances, following an activity of the same name. During the song, students gallop in a circle with their index fingers to their foreheads to represent unicorn horns. However during the last dance at LAN 11.1 a few CTYers from The Biological Code took up the role of "stars" and blocked the galloping unicorns thus crushing the dreams of those ignorant of Robot Unicorn Attack. A few dashes were admonished however.

As a result of a student-led effort in 10.2, Caramelldansen was played on the 3rd and last dances. During this song, students replicated the dance from the video itself.

Carlisle

The Canon at Carlisle is over Three hours long, and therefore is never played in its entirety. The songs are arranged in order of holiness.

The full list is too long to place here. See Canon/CAR.

Saratoga Springs (Skidmore)

Saratoga Springs has 3 dances per session, one on each of the first two Fridays, then of course one on the last Thursday. High holy canon are played at every dance, the rest of the canon is played as much as possible.

This list was primarily compiled by Jon Good ('97–'00), a cult figure among Skidmore CTY students.

High Holy Canon

• Nightswimming - R.E.M.
• Forever Young - Alphaville
• Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
• American Pie - Don McLean
• I'll Make A Man Out Of You - Mulan (Session 1, last dance only)

Canon

• Cotton-Eyed Joe - Rednex
• Tunak Tunak Tun - Daler Mendhi
• Istanbul (Not Constantinople) - They Might Be Giants
• Sandstorm - Darude
• It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) - R.E.M.
• Blister in the Sun - The Violent Femmes
• Time Warp - Rocky Horror Picture Show
• Build Me Up, Buttercup - The Foundations
• Buddy Holly - Weezer
• American Music - The Violent Femmes
• Let it Be - The Beatles
• Hallelujah - Rufus Wainwright
• Cecilia - Simon & Garfunkel
• Smells like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
• Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
• Love Shack - The B-52's
• Pokémon Theme - Pokémon
• Tong Hua - Guang Liang (Session 1)
• Raver's Fantasy - Tune Up (Nevermore Rave during 3rd dance)
• Dragostea Din Tei - Ozone

Lower Canon

• My Sharona - The Knack
• Ghostbusters - Ray Parker Jr.
• Everytime we Touch - Cascada
• Ice Ice Baby - Vanilla Ice
• I Kissed A Girl - Katy Perry
• Tiny Dancer - Elton John
• Get Low - Lil' Jon
• Mr. Brightside - The Killers
• Blame It On The Boogie - Jackson 5
• Baby Got Back - Sir Mix-a-Lot

Recent Additions

• 06.1: "I'll Make a Man Out of You." It is considered to be the only song that is High Holy Canon AND an Afterdance. This tradition applies to Session 1 only and only after the last dance.
• 06.1: "Let it Be" However, instead of "Let it Be", "Synergy" is sung in honor of Bill. Session 2 also plays the song, but does not have the synergy tradition.
• 08.1/2: Pokémon Theme - Pokémon
• 08.1: Come on Eileen - Dexy's Midnight Runners
• 09.1: Tong Hua - Guang Liang (Michael Wong). This was the song sung by Peter Yang, the 2008 emperor, at the 08.1 talent show and is now played at the Session One dances in memory of him.
• 09.1: I Kissed A Girl - Katy Perry, Mr Brightside - The Killers, and Blame It On The Boogie - Jackson 5 have been added to the Lower Canon.
• 10.1: Raver's Fantasy was added as a Nevemore-only Rave at the third dance.
• 10.1: Some Canon was switched to Lower Canon and vice-versa.
• 10.1: Tiny Dancer - Elton John has been added to the Lower Canon.

Loudonville (Siena)

Note: If someone could sort out the ones that aren't played second session, that'd be great.

List compiled by RA Brendan (Loudonville 2006 Session 1 and 2)

As RAs, we got official CTY Canon CDs from ResLife to play at the dances. This is what was on them, for the curious (note that it's slightly different from the (I would assume) student-compiled list).

Upper Canon (every dance)

Played at every dance/official real Canon:

• Blister in the Sun - The Violent Femmes
• Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
• Istanbul (Not Constantinople) - They Might Be Giants (banned 2005.1 because running around holding hands is too dangerous)
• Baby Got Back - Sir Mix-a-lot
• Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
• Birdhouse in Your Soul - They Might Be Giants
• Like A Prayer - Madonna
• I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor
• Love Shack - The B-52's
• The Time Warp - The Rocky Horror Picture Show
• Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison

In particular these last four played in this order as the last four songs:

• Nightswimming - R.E.M.
• It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) - R.E.M.
• Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
• American Pie - Don McLean

Lower Canon

(on a 2nd CD, RAs had the option of playing some or all of these songs, but they weren't required)

• Hallelujah - Rufus Wainwright
• Sandstorm - Da Rude (de facto Canon)
• Come On Eileen - Dexy's Midnight Runners
• Dragostea Din Tei - O-Zone (de-facto Canon)
• In Your Eyes - Peter Gabriel
• Sell Out - Reel Big Fish
• Forever Young - Alphaville
• Piano Man - Billy Joel
• I Want You To Want Me - Cheap Trick
• Cotton-Eyed Joe - Red-Nex
• Heaven - DJ Sammy
• It's Raining Men - The Weather Girls
• Don't Stop Belivin' - Journey
• Cecilia - Simon and Garfunkel
• Build Me Up Buttercup - The Foundations
• Buddy Holly - Weezer

Other

Canon but not always played

• Wonderwall - Oasis
• In My Life - The Beatles

Traditions but not Canon

• The Freshmen - The Verve Pipe
• Leaving on a Jet Plane - Peter, Paul, and Mary
• One More Chorus - Battlefield Band

Other

• Fight For Your Right - The Beastie Boys
• Origin of Love - Hedwig and the Angry Inch
• I Touch Myself - Divynls (not played LOU 05.1)
• Here's to the Night - Eve 6
• I'm the Only Gay Eskimo - Corky and the Juice Pigs
• Paradise City - Guns N' Roses
• It's My Life - Jon Bon Jovi
• Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) - Green Day
• Cupid's Shuffle - Cupid

Notes

• "Buddy Holly" in LOU 05.1 was revived at the last dance, but was not very popular.
• "Sandstorm" is, in the opinion of the Law and Politics B Session 2 2006, Fast-Paced High School Chemistry Session 1 2006, and Mathematical Logic Session 2 2006 classes, Canon.
• "Baby Got Back" may not be true Canon.
• Thank you to everyone continuing "One More Chorus." I was afraid it died after 2005.
• Siena traditionally does not chant, "Die, Die, Die, Die! Live, Live, Live, Live..." during "American Pie" because of a student who committed suicide during session one year. At Session One, however, many students, perhaps from other sites, have adopted the chant as new tradition.

Los Angeles (LMU)

LOS Canon is becoming smaller and smaller every single year with the departure of veteran RA's, and the installment of RA's who don't give a crap about tradition. Interestingly, some of the Upper Canon songs at other sites are not played here.

Upper Canon

• American Pie - Don McLean
• Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
• It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) - R.E.M.
• Sandstorm - Darude
• Forever Young – Alphaville
• Nightswimming - R.E.M.
• Don't Stop Believin' - Journey
• Leaving on a Jet Plane – John Denver {second session}
• Seasons of Love - Jonathan Larson, Rent {first session}

Lower Canon

• Dragostea Din Tei - O-Zone
• Istanbul (Not Constantinople) - They Might Be Giants
• Time Warp - The Rocky Horror Picture Show
• Cotton-Eyed Joe - Rednex
• Everytime We Touch - Cascada
• Cha Cha Slide (remix)- Casper
• YMCA - The Village People
• Blister in the Sun - Violent Femmes
• Thriller - Michael Jackson
• Barbie Girl - Aqua

Note: Stacy's Mom is played often at the dances, and some consider it sub-canon, and others do not. Baby Got Back by Sir Mix-a-Lot was formerly considered lower canon, but is reported to have been banned by the administration in 09.2 after parent complaint. It was not played in 2010.

Recent Changes

In recent years, CTYers at LOS have shifted emphasis from certain canon songs to others, mostly based on the RAs' reaction to the popularity of some rather than others. While the distinction between Upper and Lower canon is still very vague, many Lower canon songs have gained speed with the incoming squirrels' favor.

New "Upper Canon"--what this author defines to be the list of songs consistently played at every dance-- is approximately (in order of importance):

• American Pie - Don McLean
• Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
• Seasons of Love (first session) or Leaving on a Jet Plane (second session)
• Sandstorm- Darude
• It's the End of the World as We Know It - R.E.M.
• Stacy's Mom - Fountains of Wayne
• Dragostea Din Tei- O-Zone
• Everytime We Touch- Cascada
• Time Warp- Cast of Rocky Horror Picture Show
• Don't Stop Believin' - Journey
• Barbie Girl- Aqua
• Cha Cha Slide- Casper

New "Lower Canon"-- what this author defines to be the list of songs expected to be played at least once per session-- is approximately:

• Forever Young- Alphaville
• Nightswimming- R.E.M.
• Thriller- Michael Jackson
• Blame it on the Boogie- Michael Jackson
• Istanbul (not Constantinople)- They Might Be Giants
• Blister in the Sun - Violent Femmes
• YMCA- Village People

Baltimore

Baltimore doesn't have a set, official Canon beyond Stairway to Heaven and American Pie. The following songs might not be Canon--there is no official, set-in-paper Canon (YET; see below.) The following is merely a list of songs played at most, if not all, dances.

• American Pie -- Don McLean
• Stairway to Heaven -- Led Zepplin
• Sandstorm -- Darude
• Satisfaction -- Benny Benassi
• Everytime We Touch -- Cascada
• Don't Stop Believin' -- Journey
• Hey There Delilah -- Plain White T's
• Dragostea Din Tei -- O-Zone
• Piano Man -- Billy Joel
• Cotton-Eyed Joe --Rednex
• Cha Cha Slide -- Casper
• Cupid Shuffle -- Cupid
• Waka Waka -- Shakira

N.B.-During 10.2, Tunak Tunak Tun and Istanbul (Not Constantinople) were played at all 3 dances. Canon status could soon be achieved. Also, during 10.2, Sandstorm, Satisfaction, Everytime We touch, The Cha Cha Slide, and Cotton Eyed Joe were played at all the dances. There is also a large group of students who are pushing for the theme song from the original Pokemon series, which was played at two of the dances in 09.2, and all 3 dances in 10.2, to become Canon. There is speculation that the student-ran Traditions Committee, formed in 10.2, will indeed be making a set Canon next year.

Hawaii

Hawaii doesn't really have a canon, but it does follow a few precedents from other sites. The last three songs at every dance are Forever Young, Stairway and American Pie. Other than those, I'm not sure if there even is a playlist.

Easton

Upper Canon

• Swing, Swing - All- American Rejects
• All My Life - JoJo & K-Ci
• American Pie - Don McClean

Lower Canon

• Every Time We Touch - CASCADA
• The Cha-Cha Slide - Casper & The Live Platinum Band
• Cotton-Eyed Joe - Rednex
• Hey There Delilah - Plain White T's
• Dragostea Din Tei - O-Zone
• Here In Your Arms - Hellogoodbye
• Cupid Shuffle - Cupid
• Don't Stop Believin' - Journey
• Build Me Up Buttercup - The Foundations (Quasi-canon; was played at nearly every dance in '09, but has mysteriously disappeared)
• Stacy's Mom - Fountains of Wayne
• Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana

The last two listed are always (usually) played at the second dance of session 2, which is traditionally a retro/decades/time warp dance.

It should also be noted that thanks to the departure of RA's who were present for the founding of CAA Easton, many of the lower canon songs (notably Dragostea Din Tei, Everytime We Touch, and especially Hey There Delilah) are rarely, if ever played. Sob.

Bristol

American Pie Stairway To Heaven Any random Go away find your RA song