'He did sincerely hate them,' 75 years since Wade Hemsworth wrote the Black Fly Song

It's been 75 years since Wade Hemsworth wrote a song that has become an unofficial anthem for northern Ontario.

And he might have been thinking about the black flies inQubecand Labrador.

TheBlack Fly Song,tells the story of a survey crew on the Little Abitibi River being tormented by little black flies.

Hemsworth did indeed work on that project for Ontario Hydro, which led to the opening of the Otter Rapids power dam in the early 1950s,but the songwriter told CBC radio in 1971 that the inspiration also came from bugs bothering him in other parts of northern Canada.

"Naturally, they were there and I was there," said the folk singer, also famous forLog Driver's Waltz.

"They really know no boundary line. They're just as badin Qubecas in Ontario."

His great nephew, also named Wade Hemsworth, says while the song is an "amalgam of several experiences," the black flies were "universal" to his life in the bush.

As a newspaper reporter, the younger Wade Hemsworthinterviewed his uncle in 1991 when a National Film Board animated short based on the 1949 song was nominated for an Academy Award.

"He did sincerely hate them. Even though the song is a funny song, it comes from real feelings and real memories," he said.

"He loved that time of his life."

Known as "little Wade" in the family, he is responsible for the "modest" royalties from his uncle's music and is slowly building a fund to aid Canadian songwriters.

"It certainly wasn't paying the bills, but brought him a lot of pleasure, especially to hear other people playing his music," he said.

"He used to call his songs 'little boats' that he liked to set out to sea and they would go out to different places and they would return in different ways than they had left."

Hemsworth told the CBC in 1971 that like many other artists he was sometimes bugged by his hit song.

"Sometimes I do get very weary of hearing about the black fly, because I've written many another songs and I would like others to be known just as well as it," he said.

"But nevertheless, I am glad that it is well known."

Morning North17:29Black Fly Song turns 75

75 years ago, Wade Hemsworth wrote a song about black flies in northern Ontario. The song has become somewhat of an anthem for northern Ontario. We spoke with Wade Hemsworth, the singer's great-nephew, about the song and the singer whose name he shares. We also heard some archival audio from the singer Wade Hemsworth, and got some historical context from Bill Steer, a.k.a. Backroads Bill.