Cape Breton man pens song about snowplow filling in driveway

A Cape Breton man pens a relatable tune called “The Plow Just Went By”.

Danny MacNeil of Sydney, N.S., has done his fair share of shoveling in the last few days, and like many people who clear their driveways, he has a bit of a pet peeve.

“The older you get, the more you understand that the plow driver is just doing their job and there’s nothing you can do about it,” the 36-year-old said with a laugh. “But there’s nothing worse than finishing up a shoveling job and then there it goes again.”

The Cape Breton musician and father of three-year-old twins has written a song about what it feels like when the snowplow fills in the end of your driveway and undoes some of your hard work.

It’s called The Plow Just Went By.

MacNeil says it was inspired in part by Cape Breton’s infamous “Snowmageddon” in February 2024.

“Where we were snowed in for like seven days or something and that’s when I wrote the majority of the song,” MacNeil said.

While it seems that song is simply about the trials and tribulations of a tired shoveler, MacNeil says it also has a broader meaning.

“Really at its core, it’s a song about the things in life that pull us away from our kids – life’s responsibilities and having to keep up with them,” he said.

The song will be officially released on Jan. 30.

“I hope that people can relate to it quite a bit and kind of see their own story in the song, for sure,” he said.

MacNeil said he will perform the song live for the first time during a show at On The Same Page bookstore in downtown Sydney on Feb. 6.

Until then, he’s preparing himself for life to imitate art.

“I’ve got lots of shoveling in my future, yeah, a lot to look forward to,” he said.

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