As a seventh-generation Canadian (starting from the Conquest), I received a thoroughly puréed cultural heritage full of bits of Burns, large lumps of Shakespeare, shreds of voyageur songs and a whole lot of Anglican church music, all liberally garnished with Yiddish-flavoured pop songs, boogie-woogie and Eric Clapton. To that, I have added rather a lot of barrack-room ballads, diddly tunes, hangin' songs and the oeuvre of Johnny Cash.

And yes, some of it is very important, but never the same stuff two days in a row.