Ian Tyson Tells The Story Behind 'Four Strong Winds'

In this "I Was There" segment, Canadian folk legend Ian Tyson tells the story of how he wrote "Four Strong Winds" - a certified classic, which would go on to become a hit in Canada when he recorded it as one half of Ian & Sylvia.
Eighty years old and still going strong, Tyson is touring western Canada and the United States this summer and fall. See his tour dates here:
www.iantyson.co...
Want more Ian Tyson? Check out his Best Story Ever, about turning on Bob Dylan (who turned on The Beatles):
• BEST STORY EVER: How I...
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[@briandeschene8424]

Just got word of Ian Tyson’s passing and have been seeking out Four Strong Videos to hear it and hear about it again. Good wishes for 2023 to all from a displaced Ontarian now in Pennsylvania.

[@CastleMc]

Oh no! Hadn't heard that. Damn. Love that man and his music. Four Strong Winds is a classic.

[@user-hd1qx2bd1r]

He was born and raised close to where I was, what a good song writer! Left a love in Vernon, B.C., and we all got the legendary "Four Strong Winds", out of it. And it came all out of him in 20 minutes, amazing, Thank You Mr. Tyson, been singing this all my life since you first wrote it, I've heard it played at Funerals and it certainly touches hearts there. It's played in Canada Coast to Coast, it's an All-Time favourite in the Great White North!

[@robertwaid3579]

Thank You for Sharing the memories of Ian's family and His life before His Singing Career. I too was Born in Canada and then relocated to the State's and My Mom's Home Town when I was an Eighteen Year old young Man. IT was a little Tough at First. But over the Year's it Got pretty Easy, just because of Balladteers Such as Ian Tyson, Kenny Rogers, Gordon Lightfoot, and Many Other's such as Ann Murray. With Thier intelligent Song's and the Stories I often heard Them Tell in interviews. IT was definitely the thing that Helped Me too adjust in a Different environment from where I Grew up. Anyways Thanks again for Sharing.

[@user-hd1qx2bd1r]

Yes, Anne Murray covered Four Strong Winds and we'll, of course its terrific, @@robertwaid3579

[@Danimal1577]

Rest in Peace Ian Tyson 🤠🐴🌄🇨🇦

[@MrCanadave]

Ian Tyson and Gordon Lightfoot are Canadian treasures who will never be forgotten. Fortunately, I have memories of both of them going back to the early 60s in Toronto. It's hard to believe that they're both gone but since I just turned 80 it shouldn't be.

[@wobblewobble7330]

If played on radio today it would make many who lost someone to Covid-19 cry 😢 Thank you Keep the faith 🇮🇪☘️

[@robertthomson2701]

I have always been a fan of Ian Tyson .Great songwriter and singer.Thank you for the music

[@gordonm7038]

Beautiful, powerful song. It paints vivid images in the mind. A true classic.

[@steby123]

Thank you very much , my first and favorite song!!

[@doncherry2541]

Legend

[@LightSnowOvernight]

Nice to hear Ian explain how he wrote the song. I will remember that every time I listen to it

[@seanlong6578]

A real gentleman at a time when that meant something...and he has not changed who he always was and still is.🤗🤗🤗

[@andrewp.schubert2417]

One of my favorite songs.

[@bazthehandyman]

Such a great song.

[@CJSteffen1290]

RIP,Ian.

[@fredzag2452]

Ian looks great in his later years. I loved both of their voices . Great songs also. Thanks Ian and Sylvia.

[@willbigelow472]

I grew up on their music because of my dad. He's an old folky from the 60's.I love Ian and Sylvia's music. Now as a 38 year old I'm able go play these songs on guitar with him.

[@user-nq9gz4xf7f]

Im glad your still here...terrific song, never gets old

[@charliekucharski2079]

I always thought this was one of the best songs of any type ever written. It has been performed by countless artists also. Cool to hear that Ian was able to conjure this up in 20 minutes, because this song will last forever. Thank you Strombo.

[@tonyhemingway7980]

Bobby Bare is the singer who really nailed it.

[@casrdinks8550]

A big part of my life

[@patricklowry7001]

One of my favorite songs of my youth.

[@willbigelow472]

Me too. I'm grateful my dad played Ian and Sylvia's music for me from a very young age.

[@mistergrandpasbakery9941]

My favorite folk song!

[@두둥개]

RIP TO IAN TYSON. FOUR STRONG WINDS IS MY FAVORITE SONG. AND WILL BE MY FOREVER SONG. God bless him. From korea 🇰🇷

[@Paul11B2P]

Ian Tyson is a legend. 🤠

[@jgfinney5447]

How can ten deranged people hit the dislike button? I answered my own question-deranged. You’ve always been one of my heroes, Ian, and you still are.

[@thebigstir]

That was perfect. Thank you!

[@roberts7931]

Beautiful Song - a Canadian Classic ! 🍁 😙 * Ian actually bought a Ranch south of Calgary with the Royalties from Neil Young's Cover of this song !

[@harlodparker7805]

ONE OF MY HEROS

[@dwaynewladyka577]

The song was also a result of Blowin' In The Wind. People were amazed by Bob Dylan's songwriting skills. Four Strong Winds is a powerful song. It has a Canadian perspective to it. Ian Tyson is an amazing Canadian singer/songwriter.

[@29958867]

I'm gonna write a song called, "Blowin' In The Four Strong Winds"

[@n40tom]

james parker. I've been blown in Four strong winds , I had a sailboat for years . (^)

[@asmusubermensch5889]

Too bad the best version is on Dylans' basement tapes.

[@willbigelow472]

@@asmusubermensch5889 I love that version

[@lawrencelawrence3920]

Yes she is still there, not too far from where i live.

[@mactcampbell]

Interesting. A great musical legacy. You were right up there with the best. RIP Ian.

[@MichaelandCathy1999]

R.I.P. to a Canadian country music Icon. 😢

[@mikehaws3187]

I like this song. Great great stuff

[@johne6081]

I am amazed by the number of top hit songs that were first-time or near-first-time efforts. Other personal favorites include "Gentle on My Mind."

[@Ecksterphono]

Awesome

[@danielhiggins8798]

I think he still performs occasionally in Calgary. He’s a full time rancher in the Crowsnest Pass area.

[@roberts7931]

His Ranch is actually near Black Diamond , south of Calgary ~ He Occasionally performs in a little Bar in Black Diamond ..

[@Pestyfield]

@@roberts7931 Makes me want to pack up my van and head on up that way from CA (post-pandemic and of course in the warmer months) just on the off-chance he comes out and plays...how cool would that be? Once in a lifetime...

[@nsdtr01]

remember seeing Ian and Sylvia at the Blue Dog in Baltimore

[@GH-oi2jf]

toller retreiver - Might have been about the time I saw them in Georgetown. Late 1960s.

[@canislupis3129]

Ian: I'm proud to have loved this Albertan epic and to this day I can't hear it without getting chocked up. I worked for AGT in the 1980's out of the Calgary area and I was the tech that actually cut your phone cable from party line to private line. All was well when we left. Couple days later your phone line went out. Just great we thought. We hurried to your home and all it was was a single old wire on the box outside your home that by sheer coincidence had just rusted through from the Alberta climate after years of service. We fixed it and I remember checking your phone that had the chrome Handel on it with your name. You were not happy. If you read this somehow, I hope I made amends now and you won't hold it against me.

[@rexelagapay7579]

She's still there ❤

[@jonbenjisnomore7935]

Rip Ian Tyson. God speed as you rest in Jesus's loving arms.

[@grahamwride1240]

For me, along with some of Lightfoot's tunes, the quintessential Canadian classic ...

[@lincolnmaceachern2410]

Nanci Griffith covered Ian's other folk classic, "Summer Wages," on one of her "Other Voices, Other Rooms" CD's.

[@TheFroperson]

Wow dates me. I saw Ian when he was younger. Victoria BC

[@wryght]

Anyone know who this 'greek woman from Vernon' is, and if she ever gave an interview about her role in the song?

[@cathydouglas1576]

Evinia Pulos - Macleans mag interview

[@gipbwok2008]

I still don't know what "four strong winds" means. Does it mean he wanders north, south, east, and west, basically everywhere and anywhere?

[@GH-oi2jf]

He was just contrasting the things that don’t change - the winds and the seas - with the changing relationship between people.

[@jhamptonjr]

Neil Young heard this song on a jukebox once and decided he wanted to make music like this. Of course he redid the song himself later in his career. But Ian and Sylvia's version is just perfect too. Excellent behind the song interview! Thanks! Peace!

[@cydkriletich6538]

I have been a huge fan of Ian and Sylvia’s since I was in high school in the 1960’s. I was a singer when I was younger, and my partner and I covered a lot of their great songs. He also wrote another truly great song called “Someday Soon.” Unusual in that a man wrote a song from a woman’s perspective. I first heard it by Judy Collins; but, years later, the fabulous Suzy Boggus recorded it, and it was a big seller; Ian put in a corral for horses on his ranch with the money he made from her sales, and referred to it as “The Suzy Boggus Corral.” I believe I’ve read everything written about them and seen every video, interview, etc., on them. While I think he was a gorgeous young man with a to-die-for voice, after watching and listening to these interviews, etc., I came away from them thinking he could be a bit of a jerk sometimes. In one interview with Sylvia, wherein the subject of their marriage came up, he basically says he married her because she was pregnant…not that he loved her. He couldn’t have really loved her; he had that Greek woman on the side for years and claims she was the love of his life. It’s okay to feel all of that, but I’m sure it was hurtful to Sylvia to hear his bragging about loving another woman during the time he and Sylvia were married. I know his second marriage fell apart after many years, and I wonder if it came about when he started talking about his life-long love affair with the Greek lady. I also heard he didn’t have much of a relationship with either his son he had with Sylvia (and wrote “Mr. Spoons” for) or his daughter from his second marriage. He had really been a hero for me as far as his music talents, which were terrific. At times I’m almost sorry I saw this other side of him. I was very sad when I heard he passed, but he has left a remarkable legacy in many of his songs, particularly “Four Stong Winds,” which I understand is practically like a national anthem for Canada, “Someday Soon,” and a beautiful song my partner and I always sang called “Song for Canada,” which, though it wasn’t a big seller, is still sung, but has been renamed “Just One River.” Rest in Peace, Ol’ Ian. ❤

[@owensound1000]

He wasn't married to Sylvia when he wrote Four Strong Winds. They were just singing partners at first.

[@stevengallanter665]

"Four Strong Winds" is to Canada what "America the Beautiful," the Ray Charles' version, is to America.

[@GH-oi2jf]

But "Four Strong Winds" is a sad, nostalgic song. "America, the Beautiful" is not. They are very different.

[@sharonlenoreanderson]

that sounds like an invitation pretty greek lady

[@barontaylor7139]

He was born in Victoria

[@jakewilliams1742]

The ledgend

[@firestormlivingsolutions]

I'm from Vernon and wondering who he's talking about lol

[@cathydouglas1576]

Macleans magazine interviewed her

[@guinnesstrail6799]

I've got me a song called Four Strong Breaking Wind.

[@rongarza9488]

Few people know this. I do because I attended the University of Michigan in Dearborn, a suburb of Detroit. But even some Michiganders haven't heard about this. Right before winter, American houseflies migrate to Canada. Did you see any flies here last winter? Huh? When they get there, they turn white, to avoid predators and fly swatters. And to enhance their camouflage, their eyes turn green. This way they can be mistaken for blades of grass poking out of the snow. The locals call them "snow flies". They were immortalized in a popular song, written by Canadian Ian Tyson, and sung by American Bobby Bare. Listen carefully starting around 1:10. kzbin.info/www/bejne/eXOxh4FnZdNparM

[@l.5832]

Haha hah! That would be funny if it weren't so stupid.

[@robertwaid3579]

The Comments below all speak Highly of Ian Tysons Talent's as a Song Writer, Performer, & a Balladteer. But I do Not believe anyone has mentioned Him as a True Cowboy as Well? And at the Time of His Life. Cowboys were Kinda of a Dead or Dying Breed. In Not Only Canada, but elsewhere as Well. One True point & identity flaw, of Most Cowboys is Thier loner to Singular Personalities and they most often only Have One True Love in Thier Lives. But that's also among Many Other Casual, to Semi Serious One's as well. The Other important Thing's we're Thier Horse's 🐴🐎, Saddle n Tack, maybe a Dog, or Truck n Trailer, plus the few things they could Carry along with Them. Possibly those Year's Ian Tyson, Spent Traveling Writing/Performing His Music 🎵🎶 was Very Similar, too a Rodeo Cowboys Life, at that Time. FGD, back in the Sixty's, many People got Married. Due to the need of a Pregnancy happening. So there was No Other Alternatives for them, since the Law's forbade Abortion, the Religion ☯️☯️ was Constricting, or the Social Scrutiny was all around Also. Mind You these are just some issues that were, STILL precedents in the Seventies Also. I do Recall of it Myself 😜🙂😜 being There. So in Ending This Comment, Let's Not Judge The Deceased To Harshly, & May They RIP. AMEN 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@owensound1000]

He also taught Jack Elliott to be a cowboy.