CSHF inducts 70’s chart-topper “Last Song”: Edward Bear’s hit also modernized with Matthew Barber Cover

A new month, a new Covered Classic celebrating a song’s induction into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (CSHF)!

This month we induct into the Hall of Fame the 1972 legendary Last Song made famous by Edward Bear and written by Canadian Larry Evoy. In honour of the song’s induction, Toronto singer-songwriter Matthew Barber performs his rendition of this classic song.

Last Song
Written by Larry Evoy
Performed by Matthew Barber (accompanied by Julian Brown, Jessie O’Brien, and Joel Stouffer)

Last song is the type of recording that all bands aspire to: a hit that propels them to the top of the music charts and sells over a million copies worldwide. Although Edward Bear had previously seen success with their songs Masquerade and You, Me and Mexico, Last Song was their biggest success reaching top positions in Canada, the United States and Australia. The song won them the 1973 Juno Award for Outstanding Performance by a group, and producer Gene Martynec a Juno for Best Produced Single of the Year. Last Song also won a SOCAN Classics Award in 1994.

Written and composed by Canadian Larry Evoy, the band’s drummer and lead vocalist, Last Song relates a story of unrequited love, using the lovely poetic metaphor of a burning light (“Still my light’s on”) to represent the singer’s feelings. He realizes that his girl will never feel the way he does about her, and he decides, regretfully, to move on. The universality of this emotion made the song one of the most popular of the early 1970s. More about the song

Barber’s version of Last Song has a country flavor and a ton of emotion. With a slowed down tempo, punchy moving bass line and a killer Organ/Piano combination, it’s bound to be one of your favourite Covered Classics!

Matthew Barber
Matthew Barber is a Juno nominated singer-songwriter from Toronto, Ontario. Over the course of his career he’s sold over 50,000 albums worldwide, and had song appearances on Continuum, CBC’s Heartland and Hockey Night in Canada. Barber released his 8th studio album “Big Romance” in 2014 featuring producer Gary Louris of The Jayhawks. It has soul-searching ballads, foot-stomping rockers and groovy mid-tempo tunes. The lead track, “Hold Me” features a guest performance by sister and Canadian singer-songwriter, Jill Barber.