Home for a Rest voted favourite song by a B.C. artist in informal online survey

A staple of weddings and karaoke nights in B.C. has beaten out a pop megahit beloved by the queer community, as Home for a Rest by Spirit of the West was votedthe favourite song by a B.C. artist over Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsenin an informal poll conducted on Twitter.

More than 100,000 votes were cast on the social media platform over a week-and-a-half during the #bcsongbracket, run by CBC B.C.'s resident ranker-of-things, municipal affairs reporter Justin McElroy.

It was a photo finish on Tuesday, with Home for a Rest edging out Call Me Maybe by less than two per cent of votes cast. More than 20,000 votes were cast in the final round alone.

Home for a Rest was produced in 1990 by folk rock band Spirit of the West, originally from North Vancouver. The song, considered a Canadian classic, details a rowdy drinking session in London, England.

Jepsen's 2011 hit Call Me Maybe, from her EP Curiosity, was produced in Richmond. The song about flirting with a stranger catapulted the singer originally from Mission in the Fraser Valley to international stardom.

"There's this real sense of identity and linkage towardthese bands and these songs, which has been fun to see," McElroy said.

"[It's] partly a fun distraction, but partly a thing that just links us all together and has been a joy to watch people debate about it through the last week."

While it was a fun, informalexercise, the Twitter poll was thorough, with over 700 nominations considered and meticulous seeding conducted to determine the 32-song bracket.

Songs were separated into "classic" and "modern" sections, with the year 1995 serving as the cut-off point between the two categories.

Geoffrey Kelly, one of Spirit of the West's founders and co-writer of Home for a Rest, described the win as "heartwarming."

"Considering the song is 33 years old now and it still has this resonance with folks it's really uplifting," he told Gloria Macarenko, host of CBC's On The Coast.

"I think Justin did a terrific job of including so many different styles of music so kudos to him for organizing this whole wonderful thing."

WATCH | B.C.'s favourite song by a local artist, as voted for by Twitter users:

Kelly describes his biggest triumph of the bracket as Home for a Rest beating out Baby Beluga, the 1980 children's song by entertainer Raffi, who moved to B.C. in 1990.

Baby Beluga had something of a fairytale run through the bracket, beating out established hits like Summer of '69 by Bryan Adams, Making It Work by Doug and the Slugs, and We're Here for a Good Time by Trooper.

"It was really cool to include a kids song, especially an iconic one like Baby Beluga. It was lovely to have that balance the field," Kelly said.

The song was frequently given a boost in votes by Raffi tweeting about it a phenomenon also seen on the final day, with Call Me Maybe co-writer (and Marianas Trench lead vocalist) Josh Ramsay's tweet leading to a rush of votes for Call Me Maybe.

But ultimately, the nostalgia swirling through the flutes in Home for a Rest beat out Jepsen's toe-tapper.

McElroy has promised to "do it again soon."

WATCH | Carly Rae Jepsen's 2010 hit is one of YouTube's most watched:

Here's a look at the list ofrunner-ups:

• 5th: I Will Remember You by Sarah McLachlan.

• 4th: Baby Beluga by Raffi.

• 3rd: I'm Like a Bird by Nelly Furtado.