Oscar Brand

Oscar Brand (born February 7, 1920, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, is a folk singer, songwriter, and author. In his career, spanning over 60 years, he has composed at least 300 songs and released nearly 100 albums, among them Canadian patriotic songs, songs of the U.S. Armed Forces, sea shanties, presidential campaign songs over the years, and songs of protest. He has played alongside such legends of folk music as Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger. He wrote various books on the folk song and folk song collections including The Ballad Mongers: Rise of the American Folk Song, Songs Of '76: A Folksinger's History Of The Revolution and Bawdy Songs & Backroom Ballads, the latter comprising four volumes. Brand is well known for writing catchy, themed, folk songs, including the eponymous theme to his CBC television show "Let's Sing Out" and the Canadian patriotic song "Something to Sing About," (actual title: This Land of Ours), which is one of Canada's national folk songs, if not the only national folk song, and has collaborated on a number of musicals, most notably The Education of HYMAN KAPLAN (a musical version of Leo Rosten's The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N), and A Joyful Noise.