--- ---  # Watch Canada's Prime Minister Cover Guns N’ Roses at a Christmas Party  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Dec 10, 2014 9:23 PM UTC   by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Dec 10, 2014 9:23 PM UTC In what can only be described as a very subdued form of letting loose, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper pulled out his best Axl Rose at the Conservative Party holiday festivities yesterday. Harper was backed by his band, the Van Cats, for a [seven-song set](http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/12/10/a-stephen-harper-christmas-pm-plays-concert-for-tory-faithful-drawing-raucous-standing-ovation/) that included covers of John Denver, The Beatles and Guns N’ Roses. Barring this [classical guitar rendition](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUm4NZ62JeY), their cover of “Sweet Child O’ Mine” is just about the least rock and roll version of the song ever to hit YouTube. Then again, this is the Conservative Party. It’s a little surprising the set didn’t feature more Canadian artists, though Harper did replace Denver’s lyric about West Virginia with a reference to western Alberta. Still, without hoping to incite any kind of North American musical rivalry, there’s really no comparison to Barack Obama’s [much too short cover](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb0r4auE7eU) of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” at the Apollo Theater in 2012\. We’re still waiting for the full song. _Read next:_ [_Please Watch Macaulay Culkin Play the Kazoo While Wearing a Pizza Mask_](http://time.com/3627878/macaulay-culkin-pizza-underground-video/?xid=time%5Freadnext) Canadian Prime Minister Sings Guns N' Roses ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3628664/canadian-prime-minister-guns-n-roses/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3628664/canadian-prime-minister-guns-n-roses/"},"headline":"Watch Canada's Prime Minister Cover Guns N’ Roses at a Christmas Party","datePublished":"2014-12-10T21:23:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:15:12.033Z","description":"A politician can only dream of rock stardom","url":"https://time.com/3628664/canadian-prime-minister-guns-n-roses/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Canada"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf91a0d620c4bf98c/69876e33e53aba52e54d67a7/stephen-harper.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliza Berman","jobTitle":"Berman is a senior editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf91a0d620c4bf98c/69876e33e53aba52e54d67a7/stephen-harper.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Stephen Harper","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3628664/canadian-prime-minister-guns-n-roses/","name":"Watch Canada's Prime Minister Cover Guns N’ Roses at a Christmas Party"}}]}] ```