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car tunes

LAURA LEYSHON

Who: Jim Pattison, chairman and CEO of the Jim Pattison Group, the third largest privately held company in Canada, with annual sales of more than $7-billion and global operations in such industries as food, packaging, distribution, entertainment and autos.

He says: "In my job I have many operations, so I tend to use time in my car to think. I get in the car after work and drive all night -11 hours, Vancouver to Banff."

His wheels: Since his first car, a 1937 Austin two-seater convertible, Pattison's personal auto inventory has expanded. Pattison recalls how cars helped transform him from humble student into respected businessman. "I worked my way through university. I would buy a used car for $200 to $500, and then fix it up and sell it through The Ubyssey [the student newspaper of the University of British Columbia]"

These days, Pattison drives a 1975 Pontiac convertible, a 2008 Lexus 600 LH, a 2007 Lexus SUV 350, a 1979 Lincoln Continental, a 1976 Cadillac convertible Centennial Edition, a 1957 Chevrolet convertible, a 2008 Chevrolet van, and a 1979 Dodge one-ton truck.

His most memorable drives: "Up in northern Saskatchewan, I was in a '41 Ford, and I was going from Hudson Bay Junction to Melfort, and I got stuck in the gumbo [a fine clay that becomes resistant when wet] The gumbo had no gravel, just dirt road, so rain turns it into a sinkhole. I was up playing my trumpet in different churches along with a fellow student who was an excellent violin player. We took our shoes and socks off and walked through the gumbo to a farmer's house. This was in 1947 and the violin guy and I were playing gospel music in churches in small towns in the summer at young peoples' meetings and kids camps on the Canadian prairies."

"The other memorable trip was in 2008, Christmas. I drove to California from Vancouver in a new Dodge half-ton Ram pickup and took my wife, Mary, and Fraser, our two-year-old golden retriever, in the cab. It's a 5.7 litre with lots of power. We drove down for the holidays. We came back non-stop, except for food and gas, in 22 hours from Palm Springs to Vancouver."

Tell us your top five driving tunes and let the debate begin . . .



His playlist:

(1) My Way

Frank Sinatra's version of the Paul Anka song tells the story of a man reflecting upon his life. Pattison says he relates when Sinatra sings about feeling comfortable with life's spoils earned from a life of toil while maintaining his integrity. Although the anthem was written for the other Chairman of the Board, it's Pattison's theme song. He plays it pulling into the manicured drive of Sinatra's Rancho Mirage home, which Pattison acquired in 1995 and remains a popular drive-by address for carloads of tourists who visit the desert.

Just a Closer Walk With Thee

Sung by Harry Dean Stanton in the movie Cool Hand Luke, starring Paul Newman and covered by artists from Louis Armstrong and Patsy Cline to Bob Dylan and Sarah Harmer, Pattison prefers the jazzed-up hymn of this gospel song as played in funeral processions by the brass bands of New Orleans. He says the song evokes the day he fell in love with music.

"My grade 3 teacher put on a kids Christmas concert and I played the kazoo, so my mother bought me a trumpet. I took lessons for eight years, was in the Kitsilano Boys Band and I played in the Vancouver Junior Symphony for two years. Then I quit for 25 years, and then I took it up again when I was president and chairman of Expo '86."

Country Roads, Take Me Home

Although john Denver's 1971 classic reminisces about West Virginia, Pattison says its expansive visual imagery of rural scenes and blue skies awakens relaxing memories of Canadian landscapes and his youth.

Finlandia

This expansive defiant symphonic poem written in 1899 by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius musically captures the national character, telling the story of Finland's victory over Russian censorship in the quest for a free society. The song feels patriotic. Most of the epic 9-minute piece is rousing music depicting the struggle of the Finns. "It's big, bold, has lots of feeling, brass, woodwinds." But then near its conclusion, a smooth spiritual melodic hymn plays.

Colonel Bogey's March

Drums, trombones and rapid-fire trumpets define this catchy and spirited parade tune. Composer Lieutenant F.J. Ricketts wrote this piece after his encounter with a colonel on a Scottish golf course in 1914, who whistled the musical tag instead of shouting fore. Pattison says: "I've played trumpet in the car, but it depends if someone's with you, by yourself it's OK."

Tell us your top five driving tunes and let the debate begin . . .

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