Canon

The sites have a variety of traditions as to which songs constitute the Canon.

Sites not listed below may or may not have well-defined Canons. If you know yours, add it! However, American Pie is played last at every CTY dance, regardless of site.

Lancaster

At Lancaster, the Canon is divided into two sections: the "Upper Canon," which is played at every dance, and the "Lower Canon," half of which is played at each dance (though the low canon is generally not played at the final dance, but is instead played during lunch the day of the final dance). Since Lancaster holds dances every Friday and Saturday, as well as the final Thursday, this means that each Lower Canon song is heard once each weekend.

The upper canon songs are generally played (not consecutively) 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, 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

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
• James Brown is Dead - LA 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.
• The Time Warp - Rocky Horror Picture Show
• Tunak Tunak Tun - Daler Mehndi

In 93.1, the RA DJs 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, End of the World, Forever Young, and Pie at every remaining dance, without fail. Though the word "Canon" was not yet applied to this list, this is the author's earliest recollection of the concept being made explicit.

Every few years, there is a vote at Lancaster to put more songs on the Canon. Recent votes (in 2000 and 2003) have not added any new songs, though the High/Low status of some songs has changed. A vote 05.2 decided to keep James Brown Is Dead as canon and add Daler Mehndi - Tunak Tunak Tun to the canon one year after kids from First Dietz Hall made a CTY Lancaster specific dance. Although most of the things on the Lancaster canon are considered by most Lancasterians to be some of the best songs in the world, some of the newer ones have been disappointing.

Carlisle

The Canon at Carlisle consists of many (insert number here)disks, and is only played through in its entirety at the last dance. The songs are arranged in order of holiness.

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

Skidmore

I would appreciate it if someone would contact the copyright owner for this page and ask for permission to appropriate the material. Otherwise, we could just paraphrase the information ourselves. Also, perhaps someone should verify to see if the information is current.

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

High Holy Canon

• American Pie- Don McLean
• Stairway to Heaven- Led Zeppelin
• Forever Young- Alphaville

Canon

• Let It Be- The Beatles
• It's the End of the World (As We Know It)- R.E.M.
• My Sharona- The Knack
• Blister in the Sun- Violent Femmes
• Brown Eyed Girl- Van Morrison
• Nightswimming- R.E.M.
• Birdhouse in Your Soul- They Might Be Giants
• Istanbul (Not Constantinople)- They Might Be Giants
• Stand- R.E.M.
• Time Warp- Rocky Horror Picture Show
• Cecilia- Simon and Garfunkel
• In Your Eyes- Peter Gabriel
• Tunak Tunak Tun- Daler Mendhi
• Love Shack- B-52's
• American Music- Violent Femmes
• Bizarre Love Triangle- New Order
• Jump Around- House of Pain
• Smells Like Teen Spirit- Nirvana
• Particle Man- They Might Be Giants
• Ice Ice Baby- Vanilla Ice
• Can't Touch This- MC Hammer
• Jump, Jive n' Wail- Brian Setzer Orchestra
• Copo Cabana
• YMCA- Village People
• Tarzan and Jane
• Cotton-Eyed Joe- Rednex
• Build Me Up, Buttercup- Foundations
• Bohemian Rhapsody- Queen
• Son of a Preacher Man- Dusty Springfield
• Sandstorm- Darude
• James Brown is Dead- LA Style
• The Skat Man

Siena

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

Played at every dance/official real canon:

• Violent Femmes - Blister in the Sun
• Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
• They Might Be Giants - Istanbul (Not Constantinople) -banned 2005.1 because running around holding hands is too dangerous
• Weezer - Buddy Holly (not played second session)
• Rufus Wainwright - Hallelujah
• Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
• They Might Be Giants - Birdhouse in Your Soul
• Madonna - Like A Prayer
• Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive
• The B-52's - Love Shack
• Rocky Horror Picture Show - The Time warp
• Van Morrison - Brown Eyed Girl

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

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

Canon but not always played:

• Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes

Played at every dance but not canon:

• Rednex - Cotton Eye Joe
• Da Rude - Sandstorm

Traditions but not canon:

• The Verve Pipe - The Freshmen
• Peter, Paul, and Mary - Leaving on a Jet Plane
• Battlefield Band - One More Chorus
• Alphaville - Forever Young
• Journey - Don't Stop Believing

Used to be canon or isn't actually canon and was on this page before this edit (somebody help with these...):

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

Was - at least during 03-05:

• Billy Joel - Piano Man
• Beetles - Let It Be

Notes:

• Buddy Holly in LOU 05.1 was revived at the last dance, but was not very popular
• I think Forever Young can be considered canon.

Los Angeles

Played at every dance:

• American Pie - Don McLean
• Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
• Time Warp - RockyHorrorPictureShow Cast
• It's the End of the World (And I Feel Fine) - R.E.M.
• Istanbul (Not Constantinople) - They Might Be Giants
• Sandstorm - Darude
• In Your Eyes - Peter Gabriel (edited from "some songs")

Some of these songs are played at some dances and not others:

• Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) - Green Day
• Brown-Eyed Girl - Van Morrison
• Cotton-Eye Joe - Rednex
• Graduation (Friends Forever) - Vitamin C
• Forever Young - Alphaville
• I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing - Aerosmith
• Baby Got Back - Sir Mixalot

Interestingly, some of the High Canon songs at other sites are not played here.