Some years later I met Queen Elizabeth II, in our capital Ottawa at a Canada Day celebration. David Foster and I were doing the show and we both met her afterwards. She told me how much she loved the Canadian Railroad Trilogy. She looked at me and said, "oh, that song", and then said again, "that song", and that was all she said.

Be calm in the face of all common disgraces.

Sometimes a broken dream will make you sad or make you mean. Sometimes things ain't bad as they seem.

Will you gather daydreams or will you gather wealth? How can you find your fortune when you cannot find yourself?

There is always something wrong with a song, you can't be perfect.

Give me a wave I can ride upon, come and show your strength to me.

A lot of people influenced me as I was learning but probably Bing Crosby was the most influential, because I would hear his Christmas albums, which my parents played a lot.