The Tragically Hip Podcast Series

The Tragically Hip Top Forty Countdown: Song Thirty-Four – Tyler from EtobicokeHey, it’s jD, and this week I’m joined by Tyler from Etobicoke — a Hip historian with a well-worn cassette copy of Road Apples and a tale or two from the Phantom Power tour in upstate New York (plus a Barry Manilow origin story we didn’t see coming).Tyler’s Hipstory is a slow burn that turned into a full-blown obsession somewhere between Cheapies Records, a GO bus, and a shitty hotel in Albany. We trace his path from summer school soundtracks and Tom Petty tapes to finally seeing The Hip live in ’98 — and we get into the bittersweet reality of missing out on shows you wish you’d seen while still holding deep reverence for the ones you did.This week’s song gives us the perfect excuse to dive into We Are the Same, the “Bob Rock era,” and what it means to wrestle with a band’s evolution — especially when that band means as much to you as this one. Tyler brings a literary, layered read to a song that’s not just long in runtime but rich in emotional nuance. If you’ve ever tried to parse your way through The Depression Suite or wanted to scream “don’t you want to see how it ends?” into the void, this one’s for you.We talk fandom gaps, rediscovery, studio tensions, and Gord’s poetic range — and somewhere along the way, we start to unpack how music helps us process the messiness of growing older. Also: Opiated love, Rochester weirdness, and one surreal morning-after sighting of The Watchmen at a budget hotel breakfast.🎙️ Next week: It’s Greg from Toronto — a Fully & Completely co-host and long-time Hip podcaster who knows his shit and never skimps on a good anecdote. Don’t miss it.💬 Pull Quote“The first CD I ever bought was Road Apples… and I didn’t even have a CD player yet. I just knew I wanted that to be the first one I played when I did.”👤 About Our GuestTyler from Etobicoke is a regular voice on the Toronto Mike podcast’s quarterly FOTM Cast and a lifelong music nerd with a soft spot for The Hip and a sense of humor that lands somewhere between dad joke and deep cut. He’s been to half a dozen Hip shows, including a fateful night in Albany where Gord stopped the encore mid-song to protect the crowd — “Enough tomfoolery,” he said, and walked off. Legendary.📬 Get Involved🎙️ Drop your hot take: castfeedback.com/tthtop40📧 Send your Hipstory: tthtop40@gmail.com💸 Support & join the membersHIP: buymeacoffee.com/tthtop40📡 Follow + StreamListen on: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube | dewvre.com/tthtop40Follow us: Instagram: @tthtop40Join the group: facebook.com/groups/tthtop40💸 Support the ALS Society of CanadaThis countdown is raising $25K for the ALS Society of Canada in memory of our friend Matt Rona. Every donation helps. Support the cause and join the community at buymeacoffee.com/tthtop40.Transcript follows below.The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown2025-05-23, 6:28 PMThe Tragically Hip Top 40 CountdownArtist: jDYear: 2025Transcript[0:00] A member of the DATC Media family. Previously on the Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown. It isthe second track and fifth single from the 1992 masterpiece, Fully Completely. Bill from Kingston,we are talking about looking for a place to happen. What are your initial thoughts about this song?A little late to the party, falling in love with this track. It wasn't the week it was released. It mighthave been years later. Where, and this is the beautiful thing about the Hips catalog, you know,good luck picking your 10 favorite hip songs. Right. Problem with that is it changes, constantlychanges. There are new songs that you, you know, I'm on a pigeon camera kick right now. And tome, it's one of the greatest songs they've ever done. But it didn't really register the first time I heardit. It wasn't until years later. And this is the beautiful thing about their catalog. Like I said, is youcatch moments of brilliance in every song.[0:56] Music.[1:04] Hey, it's JD here, and I'm ready to go. The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown is now underway.Week over week, we're going to count down the 40 essential tracks by the hip that you selectedwith your very own top 20 ballots. I then tabulated the results using an abacus and a Pentium III-powered Malarkey Wagon. You should also meet Malachi, the Malarkey Wagon's newest feature,AI. How will your favorite song fare in the rankings? You'll need to tune in every week to find out.So there's that. This week I'm joined by the Tragically Hip superfan, Tyler from Etobicoke. How thehell are you doing on this haptastic day, mister? I am doing well. It is good to be with you. Thankyou for having me on. Thank you for doing this. You do all the heavy lifting here. This is a breezefor me. I love these podcasts. I am ready to lift some heavy things. All right. Enormous things, infact. Enormous things. Oh, perfect. Well, let's start at the start. Take me through your Tragically Hiporigin story or your hip story. Sure. Yeah. So I think the first song I ever heard by the hip was NewOrleans is Sinking. I think it was being played on much music. I was at my friend Dave Froder'shouse in Stony Creek, Ontario. Beautiful Stony Creek, Ontario.file:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20607.htmlPage 1 of 15The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown2025-05-23, 6:28 PM[2:31] And I remember him being very excited about it and watching it with him and thinking, yeah,that's cool. But it didn't really stick with me. I didn't immediately run to Sam's and pick up up tohere. I was just like, yeah, that's a cool song. And then I just kind of forgot about it. Um, it didn't, thehip didn't really connect with me until the summer of 1991. Uh, I was, uh, attending summer school,my, my everlasting shame, uh, cause I failed grade 12 math. I was not a good math student. Uh,and so I was taking the go bus in from Burlington every day to attend Scott Park high school, rightby Iverwind stadium, the, the, the year departed Iverwind stadium. Scott Park's not there anymoreIt's been leveled Probably for the best.[3:21] And one day after Summer school I was downtown Hamilton And I was in Cheapies Recordsand Tape Also I remember Cheapies The Dear Departed Cheapies Yeah And I bought I bought twoalbums I believe One of which was Into the Great Wide Open By Tom Petty, And the other wasRoad Apples On cassette Oh boy.[3:46] Yeah uh and so i remember sitting on the go bus and popping in road apples and just beingabsolutely riveted um and i listened to the the petty album a fair bit but i listened to road applesevery morning on the way in every afternoon on the way home i could not get enough of it uh andfrom that on i was i was hooked so what prompted you to make that purchase i honestly don'tremember um okay i i i don't know if it was a whim or if if i'd been talking about it with my friendsbut whatever it was um i i grabbed it and i never looked back yeah it was the first cd i ever boughtis that right yeah and i didn't even have a cd player yet i knew i knew i was i knew i was getting oneand i knew what i wanted to christen the cd player with and it was the tragic that's that's anexcellent choice uh my i'm i'm sad to say that the first cda i ever owned was a compilation uh ibelieve it was a columbia records compilation called hard and heavy which had uh among otherthings uh frankenstein by the edward winter group it had uh uh i think ted nugent there's a tednugent song on there might have been cat scratch fever um so that was the first cd i didn't buy it ithink somebody gave it to me with the cd player that i got for Christmas that year. Nice. Uh, yeah.Oh yeah. A classic.[5:10] Columbia house bringing back memories. Yes. So where do, where do we go from there?You, you spend a summer with road apples, uh, definitely a great summertime companion. Um,where do we go from there as we roll into the fall and grade 13, presumably? Yeah. Yeah. I was, Iwas actually going into grade 13. Uh, and you know, Road Apple stuck with me.[5:32] The next album I got obviously was Fully Completely, which was the next one that came out. Ididn't get that. That was the first hip album I had on CD. My good friend Derek Ma gave that to mefor Christmas in 92, I guess. Um, and the thing, the thing that I, that I regret constantly is that Ifile:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20607.htmlPage 2 of 15The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown2025-05-23, 6:28 PMdidn't see them live until 98. Um, I was not for whatever reason, I was not a big concert goer in mysort of late teens, early twenties. Um, it just, I just didn't go to concerts and I, and I don't for the lifeof me understand why. Cause I, I, I love concerts. I, I love them then. Uh, it just didn't, it didn't occurto me that it was a thing I could do. Like I was an only child, so I didn't have like the, the influenceof a, of a sibling to say like, check out this music or sort of this show. Um, so it was kind of my ownweird winding journey where I, I was sort of listening to my parents' music for the longest time. Likethe first concert I ever went to was actually Barry Manilow. Get out of here. Oh, actually you saidthat in the chat the other day, didn't you? I did. Yeah. I was a huge Barry Manilow fan when I wassix years old. I would like bring in Barry Manilow songs to show and tell and like lip sync to them.And it was, I should have been. Amazing. I should have been severely bullied as a child, butsomehow I wasn't. But that voice, that voice kept the bullies at bay. Oh yeah, exactly. Exactly.[7:00] Yeah. So I, I, I didn't get a chance to see them until the Phantom Power Tour in 1998. Greatrecord to see them on. Oh, it was, it was a fantastic tour. But, you know, I so I I cruised throughmany albums and, you know, I bought them the day they came out, day for night, Trouble at theHen House, bought them, absorbed them immediately.[7:22] But it wasn't until 98 when I was working, I was in a relationship and a good friend of minesaid, hey, the hip are playing in Albany, New York. So what do you think? We we take a road tripdown there. Um, we got two other couples together. Uh, we got a shitty hotel in Albany that I recallbeing right next to the expressway. Like the cars were inches from the hotel room. Uh, and we sawthem at, uh, the palace, I believe it was Thanksgiving weekend of 1998, uh, in Albany, New York.And it was a fantastic show. Uh, it was like a small ish theater. Like maybe, maybe if, you know,maybe a thousand seats, not, uh, not huge. Huge um and you know probably 80 to 90 percentcanadians who had made the the trip down as as were uh many of those sort of new york stateshows right um but it was fantastic i i recall uh, the gourd stopped the show right before the encorebecause somebody was crowd surfing and whacked their head on the edge of the stage.[8:32] So that was that. He was a great, he was a great lighthouse for that, for that front heroes ofpeople. He always was looking out for them. Yeah, he really was. And, and yeah, he just was like,okay, that's enough. Tomfoolery. Good night, everybody. Uh, which I think probably the right call. Iremember it being clearly, they did not do an encore. Damn. Yeah. Yeah. I think it was, I think theyplayed 18 or 19 songs. I mean, I still loved it and felt like I, I got my money's worth. Um, but yeah, itwas kind of a, kind of a shitty ending to a, to a great show. Any highlights you remember other thanthat low light?[9:11] Um, just, I mean, obviously just seeing the band in person was just mind, mind blowing for mefile:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20607.htmlPage 3 of 15The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown2025-05-23, 6:28 PMhaving, you know, listened to them for seven, seven years at that point, uh, them having been in myears for, for that long and that consistently. Um you know and see like the the big songs like poetsand and fireworks and and bob cajun were just you know they just sounded they were really at theirpeak i think on that tour um and it was it was a real experience for me the the watchman were thethe opening band uh and they were fantastic as well um they they actually stayed at the same hotelas us so we saw them at breakfast the next morning, which was exciting. That's so wild. Yeah.Yeah. Yeah. They stayed at the shitty hotel. I'm sure the hip had slightly better accommodations inAlbany. Yeah. I would hope so. I mean, Albany being the crown jewel of New York State. Oh, it'sbeautiful, especially in the fall. Are you being sincere? No, I'm not being sincere. Okay. Fairenough. I mean, Albany is, I have nothing bad to say about Albany. If anyone is listening fromAlbany, I have no beef with your town. It's a lovely place. That's right. Mimico will not be facing offagainst Albany anytime soon. That's right. That's right. Yes.[10:33] So where do we go from there? Once you see them live, does that break a floodgate andyou start to see them live? A little bit. So yes, yes and no. So I saw them six times total. That's agreat number. Yeah. It's pretty good. I mean, I, I curse myself for not having seen them at leasttwice that many times. Um, you know, I saw them after that, uh, Albany show, I saw them again.Uh, it was the same, it was still the Phantom Power Tour, uh, at the ACC in Toronto, uh, in Februaryof 99. So it was the first.[11:03] The weekend that the ACC opened, there were two hip shows. Wow. Yeah. And then I thinkthe Leafs played maybe the next night or something like that. I can't remember if I'm getting thatright, if the Leafs played first and then there were hip shows or if it was vice versa, but it was the,they were the first shows at the ACC. They were definitely the first concert at the ACC. Yeah. I don'tknow. Yeah. I don't know like you, whether or not it was, uh, before or after the Leafs game, butthey were definitely the first band to play. Yeah. Yeah. That's special. So that was, yeah, that wasgreat. That was great. Um, and then I saw them again on the music at work tour. I saw them inRochester, New York. Uh, again, it was like this weird little. Massey, but they played Massey inToronto for that. Yeah. I never saw them at Massey. Um, I, we were at this weird little, it was almostfelt like a high school auditorium in Rochester. Uh, it was a very strange venue. Um, but it was agreat show. You love your upstate New York venues. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. It was the samefriend, actually, who had suggested the Albany show. He just liked taking road trips to New York, Iguess.[12:09] And then also on that tour, I saw them in Hamilton at Copts Coliseum. And I remember thatshow being extremely happy that they played Opiated from Up to Here, because I always lovedfile:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20607.htmlPage 4 of 15The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown2025-05-23, 6:28 PMthat song. I don't know that I ever heard them play that. I'll have to look it up on my set list. I don'tthink they played it that often, but that was definitely a highlight of that show. Oh, I love that song.yeah so do I so do I um and then after that cop show which was I believe spring of 2000, I didn'tsee them again until 2015 oh on the day for night tour yeah uh the fully completely the fullycompletely tour that's right that's right I said for night but I meant fully yeah um and I don't again Idon't know why it's not like I fell out of love with the band uh you know I went through some stufflike I had a kid in there so that kind of uh kept me off concerts for a while, Um, I, I got divorced inthere. So that also kind of kept me off concerts for a while. Um, but, uh, yeah, no, there, I, I just, I, Ididn't see them. I think there was a time kind of maybe following we are the same in, in that sort oflate 20s.[13:20] 2000s period where it's not that I didn't love the band, but I was certainly kind of exploringother musical options and, um, they were just kind of there for me. They weren't something I waslike, yeah, like I got to go see them. Um, and again, I, you know, I do regret that because I think Imissed, missed out on some, some excellent shows. Uh, but that's, you know, it's just the way itgoes. Were you still buying records on the day they came out during that? I was, I bought every,every single one of them, um, the day they came out. Um, see, I don't know that I did. I don't knowthat I did after in violet light, uh, in between evolution. I did not for sure. Yeah. Um, yeah, I won'tbore anybody with my, with my thing, but yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm pretty sure it was, it was all the wayuntil, uh, Greg turned me on to now for plan a probably five years after it came out. Oh, really? Sohad you, had you sort of parted ways with the hip entirely during that period? Similar to you. It wasa fallow period. Like it was just, you know, it was like, I listened to things here and there, but in noway was it the same as in my, in my early thirties and twenties and high school for that matter.Yeah. Like I was.[14:33] Yeah. And I think part of that is just, you know, the, the age and stage thing. Like whenyou're in your late teens, early twenties, you've got all the time in the world to, to go deep on, onmusic and, and bands that you love. And then as you get into your late twenties, early thirties, youstart having, you know, career responsibilities family responsibilities and and the time you have tospend on kind of digging deep on music is is those times are few and far between, Now, there's aninteresting confluence that has been revealed through the docu-series, and that is that the bandthemselves weren't that impressed or blown away by their output during that period. So you get thatcombined with the fact that the main cohort of their fans being Gen Xers were all going through thatperiod at that time, give or take. And it did lead to an incredibly fallow period. Now, I know there arediehard hit fans that didn't waver and continued to see them and saw them hundreds of times, butthat was not me, unfortunately. And yeah, I, like you, have regret.file:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20607.htmlPage 5 of 15The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown2025-05-23, 6:28 PM[15:37] Yeah, no, exactly. But, you know, we all have to make choices and I don't regret the choicesI made, but I do wish I had seen them a few more times in that period. And it's not like I don't likethose albums. I like them very much. Um, but yeah, it was just the, the, the, the way the, the, theuniverse was, was working and speaking to me at that time. It just, uh, just wasn't happening. Tyler,I, I, I think for me, it was a wonderful, it was a wonderful mistake that I made and, you know, quoteGord, why search for perfection when you're making successful mistakes? Uh, and, and mysuccessful mistakes were, you know, not listening to several records in the catalog at the time of,but the benefit of that is in my forties, I've got to explore all this music that I wasn't overly familiarwith. And I've done that with, with you all through these podcasts. So it's been a lot of fun. Yeah,no, I mean, I, I think, I think we've all benefited from that. Um, certainly from, from hearing you and,and, and the various co-hosts that you've had on your, on your podcasts, uh, it's allowed us to kindof look back.[16:47] And maybe find some things that we didn't find the first time around, uh, and, and, and kindof re-examine our, our love of the early stuff too. So that's, uh, that's been really exciting for me.Oh, thanks. Yeah. Yeah. So, um.[17:03] So do you have like a go-to record at this point? Is there something that you'll put on likerecord-wise? It really varies. And I, and I still kind of go through periods where, yeah, I go throughperiods where I don't listen to the hip at all. And then I come back to them and I listen exclusively tothe hip for a couple months at a time. It's kind of feast or famine that way. There are really, youknow, probably five or six records that, that I would put on. On a regular basis day for night isprobably the one that I, that I go to the most just because I love so many of the songs on thatalbum. And it really, for me, kind of holds together as a, as a full statement, like an end to end, noskip classic album.[17:51] And it takes you back too, right? Oh yeah. Yeah, exactly. Like I was in university when thatcame out. There was just so much exciting stuff going on in my life. Uh and it was really yeah itreally does take you back to to being 20 years old again um, but but yeah i could i could definitelymake a case for at least half a dozen other albums and even the ones that don't make that case uhyou know i still put on fairly regularly so it's they have a really spectacular catalog with you know idon't think there's a dud in it you know Even the EP, it's not something that I go back to often, butthere are some really special songs on that as well. So they're a unique band in that way that youdon't look at an album and say, oh man, that was a real dud.[18:42] No, I agree. Like even when I first listened to, we are the same, I thought it was very beige.And now I listened to it and I'm like, what was I thinking? What was I thinking? This album is rich.file:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20607.htmlPage 6 of 15The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown2025-05-23, 6:28 PM[18:55] This album is, you know, but again, then watching the documentary and you hear that it's noteven really like a band album, you know?[19:03] Um, yeah, that's troubling to me a little bit. it is it is it really it really kind of makes mereconsider those albums and again not in a negative way but it just helped me kind of understandwhy they sounded the way they did and and kind of what the why those songs came out in the waythey did um you know but i i for me there's kind of a stopping period and i think one of the guys inthe band i can't remember who even said it in the documentary that phantom power is kind of theend of the classic hip period right like yeah everything from from the ep up to phantom power is iskind of in that in that range and then that's right music it works still has elements of classic hip butthey have started to go in a different direction it's around the same time as gorge's writing is writinghis solo stuff so he's exploring some new areas um they bring in kate fenner and chris brown whoas we learned from the documentary the band was not thrilled about um not that they they don't likekate and chris but it just changed the dynamic of the band um and then every album from then onis really a departure from from that original sound and i think a departure from the album previousthere aren't really many through lines that that connect those those last albums maybe the the bobrock albums are a little bit more connected uh just sonically um but it's it's really interesting to to goback and look at those later period albums to see kind of where the band was at.[20:31] What their relationship was with Gord, what their relationship was with each other. And it's areally interesting exercise, especially now that we have seen the documentary and have the insightthat the band provided us with to show us that maybe things weren't that great with the band. Thatwas so crushing watching that because our whole lives we've grown up that these guys, they throwaround the word brothers. And, and it's the perfect term really, because I guess I was just taking itin the positive sense the whole time, but with family, we do have conflict and, you know, um, and it'sokay. You work through that conflict and you become stronger at home.[21:19] Yeah. And I mean, I, I think as the documentary showed the, their bond was strong enoughthat they were able to work through that stuff and, and kind of have it out. And, you know, Gord,Gord was, it's so funny because Gord on his own, his solo stuff, which I love, um, Gord wouldprobably have, well, maybe not a hard time filling the horseshoe, but he would have a hard timefilling Massey hall, let's say with, with just with a solo tour. Uh, whereas the band could fill theRogers center, like Taylor Swift style, you know, like the, the. How about Rogers stadium though?Could they, could they sell out that? I bet they could if, if, you know, assuming it gets built, uh, we'll,we'll see.[22:04] Um, but where was I going with that? I guess, you know, we saw that the, the band dynamicfile:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20607.htmlPage 7 of 15The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown2025-05-23, 6:28 PMand Gord was kind of off on an island, um, because he was exploring his own stuff. He was workingwith other musicians, uh, and the rest of the guys in the band were like, well, Hey, what about us?You know, what, aren't we a band? Aren't we still doing this? Um, and, and it's, it really issomething very, um, fascinating to, to look back and, and again, see those albums through thatlens. Yeah, I agree. Yeah, definitely agree. Well, should we look at the song of the week through adifferent lens? Let's do it. All right. We'll be back right after this to talk about this week's song. Hey,this is Paul Langlois from the Tragically Hip saying hello. Now on with the countdown. 34.[22:53] Music.[32:23] That's right, today we're revealing a standout on The Hipp's 11th studio long play, We Arethe Same. Today's song is the absolutely gorgeous, The Depression Suite. Tyler from Etobicoke,what are your initial thoughts about this song when you first heard it?[32:44] Yeah, so, I mean, this album, We Are the Same, is such an interesting part of their catalog.You know, we talked about the Bob Rock albums a little bit in the previous segment. And, youknow, sonically, it's a very, you can hear the hallmarks of Bob Rock if you've heard any other BobRock albums that he's produced. There are certain hallmarks that you can hear the way the drumsare tuned, the way the mix is done, where the focus is at any particular time. Uh and so those outthose two albums um world container and and we are the same really kind of stick out a little bit inthe catalog as being separate from everything else and kind of their own little chapter um we arethe same as probably my favorite late period album um there are just so many songs on it that thatstand out for me and i think part of it is the the lyrics that that gourd's writing at that time they'revery personal they're very introspective uh and they really kind of resonate with me i'm i'm verymuch a lyrics guy when i listen to music and and those, songs those lyrics really connected with methe the first time i i heard the album and i think yeah and and the depression suite for for me is justsuch a beautifully crafted.[34:12] Multi-part story.[34:15] That has probably the broadest scope of any Tragically Hip song. And we'll get into some ofthe intricacies of that in a minute. But the first time I heard it, I think it really, It really almost, itstartled me because it was so different from anything else the band had done to that point. Andsince really, there's nothing else like it in the catalog.[34:41] And so I remember hearing it and I remember thinking, man, that is, I wasn't sure if I liked it,but it really caught my ear as something very, very different. Yeah yeah i i think so too um just it'sfile:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20607.htmlPage 8 of 15The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown2025-05-23, 6:28 PMthe longest song in the catalog yeah so right right away it stands out just you know before you evenput the needle on the record you're looking at the liner notes and you're like wow nine minutes oreight minutes and change this is uh this is substantial i wonder what is contained within and thenyou lift the lid and you get all those, uh, uh, for lack of a better word, goodies. What do you think of,um, those segments in the song, the way it's broken down and, uh, you know, that good stuff. Yeah,no, it's again, very, uh, very unique composition of the song and, and, you know, reading about it,um, Bob Rock had suggested they take three different songs that, that were sort of on the table forthe album and combine them into one. And according to Gord, Paul Langlois had suggested theseparticular song to be used. And there's three songs that make up the sweet. So the first part iscalled The Rock. The second part is called New Orleans World, which again, Gord loves goingback to New Orleans.[36:07] And the third part is called Don't You Want to See How It Ends. Oh, my fire alarm is goingoff. Sorry. Oh, good timing. Give it one second. I don't know how long it's going to go off for.[36:19] That never happens. Do you remember where you were? Yeah, I do. Okay. You're talkingabout The Rock. Yeah. In New Orleans. In New Orleans. Yeah. Yeah. Breakdowns. Okay, itstopped. So. Okay. I don't know what that was. Yeah, weird. Okay. Should I just start that part over?If you would, please. Sure. Yeah, okay. Yeah, so. According to Gord, Paul Langlois had suggestedthese particular songs be the ones that they combine into this one song. The Rock is the song thatthey used for the first part. The second song was New Orleans World, which again Kurt loves goingback. It's New Orleans references. The third part is Don't You Want to See How It Ends. And.[37:11] There is a through line that connects these songs. If Paul Langlois was thinking lyrically thatthese were the three songs that should fit together, he made an excellent choice. I agree.[37:24] Yeah. Lyrically, again, this album feels very, very intimate and introspective. Again, we knownow that the band is going through some real struggles. I'm not sure how tuned into those strugglesGord was at the time, though, because he and Bob Rock seemed like they were sort of off on theirown island doing their own thing. Literally, they're on Maui, right? Well, yeah, exactly.[37:48] And the rest of the band was kind of sitting there going, okay, what's going on with thisalbum? So, you know, Gord's lyrics are very personal, very introspective. Uh and and gourd hasalso said that that bob rock he i think he he viewed bob rock almost as like a coach or a guru of ofsorts um you know i think bob rock really pushed gourd uh lyrically i think he pushed him as amusician and a vocalist um but but again you know so i think those things really helped gourd and ii think they really i think the album benefits from it um but obviously the the band, uh, felt the impactfile:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20607.htmlPage 9 of 15The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown2025-05-23, 6:28 PMof that, uh, that isolation. Um, the interesting thing also is that they only ever played it, uh, inconcert on that. We are the same tour in 2009. Uh, so I think they played it like 82 times, but only in2009, never again. Um, wild. Yeah. Yeah. You would think a song like this would have made its wayback into the catalog, at least even for the, the, um, the farewell tour, but, uh, yeah, Only, only in2009. Wow. Um, so I wonder, I wonder.[39:05] It just makes you wonder, the alternate universe where, you know, glioblastoma isn't a thing,and Gord is still around, it just makes you wonder how many of these songs would have becomelive staples or live classics, you know, over the years that it takes to marinate, you know?[39:26] Yeah i i agree with you um and i think this is this is one that that would have made its wayback around um just because i think there is a segment of the fan base that that really, gravitates tothis song and and and sees it as something special i think there are a lot of hip fans that probablyhate this song because it's very very different from anything else that uh that the hip has has doneuh and it's also very long and some people just don't like long songs which fair enough well it couldcome off as indulgent i suppose but it's so earnest that it it's hot yeah exactly exactly the the theway that that gourd kind of spins this tale of i think it's a tale of depression i mean the the title saysit but um the scale of the song is really i think what sticks with me um it's it's such a grand sweepingtale that i i i couldn't help but be drawn into it yeah you do become i mean it's long enough that itenvelops you like a blanket uh you can wrap yourself in it and really get caught up in the lyrics iknow as somebody who struggles with mental health um i found myself listening to it and being alyrics guy as well uh listening to it and really um really digging in on those lyrics and having them uhresonate in my bones you know.[40:50] Yeah. And it's a song that I go back to if I'm, if I'm having kind of a hard time, um, you know, Ilike to not necessarily wallow in it, but I like to hear songs that are kind of speaking to me and howI'm feeling in that moment. And, and this is certainly one that I go to when, uh, when I'm not feelingmy best.[41:09] Oh wow yeah i can i can see that there's an emotional through line in the song as well that italmost would take you through a spectrum of emotions through the song like from feeling sad andmelancholy to ultimately being sort of you know the the final chorus don't you want to see how itends is somewhat uplifting the way it's the way it's sung right that's exactly how i see it too I thinkit's a tale of depression in three acts. I think it examines the feelings of depression through the lensof some very common human reactions to the experience of depression. I think it starts at a placeof avoidance. It moves to a place of kind of stoicism and quiet reflection. And then it ends on kind ofa note of hope and a little bit of a glimmer of light for the future. Um, which is, which is why by thefile:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20607.htmlPage 10 of 15The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown2025-05-23, 6:28 PMend of it, I feel, I, I feel good about things again because, uh, you know, it's, it's, I've been able tokind of sit in my negative feelings for a while. And then by the end kind of draws out the hopefulside. Oh, that's lovely. I think that's absolutely fucking great. Yeah.[42:23] So is there anything else you want to say about the depression? Sweet Tyler. Well, yeah,there are a few things I'd like to say about it. Please, please do. You know, yeah, I wanted to dig ina little bit on those three topics because I think, I think they're really important to, to examine. Um,so act one for me, the rock, um, it's again about avoidance. It's someone, the narrator is kind ofparalyzed, feeling paralyzed by their depression and just kind of wants to avoid everything. Youknow, they're, they're burying their head in the, in the pillow. Um, they're finding some comfort inbeing kind of locked away in their, in their bed. Um, and he's hearing some sounds in theenvironment that to him feel like empathy, like, you know, are you going through something? He,the, the sound of the siren, the sound of the, of, of the, the, the bustle outside, what he's hearingfrom that is, are you going through something? And so he's, he's feeling like the world, even thoughhe's feeling kind of isolated and depressed and wanting to avoid everything and everyone. He'sfeeling some empathy from his environment and it causes him to maybe sort of reach out tosomeone else in his life, a loved one to ask them the same question. Are you going throughsomething?[43:38] Whoa. Yeah. Okay. I like that. I like that idea of the, of the sounds representing the question.Are you going through something? I think that's a really astute observation, Tyler from Etobicoke.Nice. Thank you. See, this is me, uh, this is me going back to my English student roots and, uh,you know, let's, let's do a really close read on this poem and tell me, you know, tell me what it'sabout. Let's write an essay about it. Um, so this is, this was kind of the exercise I went through. Um,so that takes us to act two. Yeah, Act 2, New Orleans World. So again, Gord has gone back to NewOrleans so many times. Obviously, New Orleans is sinking. If New Orleans is beat, the band, theydidn't start out in New Orleans, but they recorded some of their early work there. And it's clearly animportant place for Gord. It's a place with a lot of mystique, a lot of history. But he's also put thenarrator of this section in a very boring setting. And the way I read the lyrics, it seems like he's aworker in a windowless casino or some kind of environment like that. Like it's very boring, verysterile.[44:51] But as he's going through this job, he's dreaming. He's thinking about what else is there inthe world? What else is there out there for him? Uh and i think what that thing is for this thisnarrator is being a songwriter and the the question that he poses to himself you know what it i thinkit's the song or the question that that every dreamer asks themselves is what if this song meansfile:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20607.htmlPage 11 of 15The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown2025-05-23, 6:28 PMnothing like what if i do this what if i follow my dream and it has zero impact what if nobody cares ornobody listens so it's he's going about his work-a-day job and dreaming, but at the same timethinking, well, maybe I shouldn't because maybe it'll just end up being nothing. That soundsremarkably similar to somebody who might be procrastinating and. Absolutely. And I mean thatdeep procrastination that comes with depression and anxiety. I don't necessarily mean, oh, I shoulddo this later. But, uh, you know, the, the narrator of this song is really, um, that, that's reallypowerful to, to, to think of them as putting something off that they're dreaming about.[46:06] Because it might not mean anything. Exactly. Yeah. It's, it's kind of the fear of success andthe fear of failure all wrapped up in one. And, and you're exactly right. Like, I think anyone who hasstruggled with those feelings of depression or procrastination has gone through that thinking, well,you know, I could do this, but what would be the point? You know, what, what if I do this? What if Iinvest all this emotional energy in it? And it's, it just falls flat in its face.[46:34] Okay we're good now because you finished the thought i don't know why this is normally thisis on wednesdays oh really i don't yeah they do what the last wednesday of the month but this isnot even close to that okay it just went once again i don't know what's happening so this takes thisthis was at the end of act two oh that's the end of act three now okay yeah so let's go let's go to, uh,the, the final act act three, where I'm really curious to see how you put this together becausethere's a couple of phrases in this and this one that throw me right off the trail. Yeah. There, there issome, uh, some ambiguity, let's say in, in lyrics in this final section. Uh, and I, I spent a long timethinking about it and, and trying to, to make sense of it. And I have a theory, but there's some of itthat's just like over my head and I can't even get into Gord's psyche for this stuff. But I think in thisthird act, our narrator, and I'm not sure if this is the same narrator through all three pieces or if it'sthree different people. I don't think it matters that much. I think it's three vignettes that could beconnected, certainly connected emotionally. But our narrator in this third act is a frontiersman. Andit seems like he's in Fort McMurray, or as he refers to it, Florida without the ocean.[48:03] And he's pondering the Canadian dream, moving somewhere that's full of promise,establishing himself, being the man on the moon, finding his little slice of heaven. Um, but it's astruggle between settling for that or continuing to push for, for something more. Um, and thequestion that he repeats over and over is, don't you want to see how it ends? Which to me feels likehe's asking himself, shouldn't I keep going? Shouldn't I keep pushing and not settle for this?Shouldn't, isn't there more than this? And for me, this part of the song is about that feeling of whenyou're coming out of a feeling of depression and you find a little bit of hope, a glimmer of light in achoice. And you're able to find the courage to bet on yourself and to feel comfortable in your abilityfile:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20607.htmlPage 12 of 15The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown2025-05-23, 6:28 PMto move forward. And I think it's a really powerful message. And it's something, again, that when I'mfeeling down and I listen to this song, this is what kind of pulls me out and says, yeah, you knowwhat, I can do this. I can push myself forward. I don't have to be stuck here in this mire. I have theability to move past this.[49:20] I really appreciate the optimism in your reading of that final. Because it could be, you know,you could read it very, um, sadly, I suppose, you know, like it could be like that this person is, youknow, ready to take their life by suicide, uh, ready to die by suicide. And, you know, they're havingthat inner monologue. Don't you want to see how it ends? But I really liked the optimism in, in yourtelling of it, because it does tie into that feeling that we all have when we listen to the song ofhopefulness yeah and i think i think the first several times that i listened to it that that negativereading of you know i think maybe he's considering killing himself um is how i saw it but the more i ikind of listen to it and and look deeper into the lyrics i think it is a message of of optimism and andhope um you know And I was looking also for literary inspiration for this part of the song because ofthe three segments, this feels the most literary. And as we know, Gord drew a lot of inspiration fromliterature and poetry.[50:34] He makes a reference to Farley Mowat, Lost in the Barrens. And he talks about Athabasca.And Athabasca is a place in Alberta. It's south of Fort McMurray, but there's Lake Athabasca. Uh,and it's, it's been used in, uh, writing in particular by a Canadian poet named Robert service. Uh,and he has a poem called the man from Athabasca. Uh, and he doesn't, Gord sometimes would,would draw almost verbatim from poetry. He doesn't do that here, but there is the, the last verse ofthe man from Athabasca kind of speaks to, I think what Gord's going for here. So I'll just, I'll readthat last verse. For I've had my fill of fighting, and I've seen a nation scattered, and an army swungto slaughter, and a river red with gore, and a city all a smolder, and, as if it really mattered, for thelake is yonder dreaming, and my cabin's on the shore, and the dogs are leaping madly, and thewife is singing gladly, and I'll rest in Athabasca, and I'll leave it nevermore.[51:39] So i think you know i don't know if he was if that was on gord's mind when he wrote this itcertainly wouldn't surprise me but i think for the narrator the idea of athabasca is settling as it is inin that poem these people were literally and that when i say these people i mean people who weresort of original pioneers and settlers out west but even the people now who who have gone intoFort McMurray to, to kind of work in the, in the oil fields. You know, these people are literallysettlers. Um, and he's pondering the cost of staying in place versus seeing how it ends and pushingforward. Um, so I, you know, again, I don't know if there's, there's a connection to that poem, but,but I found something kind of very, um, you know, the, the, the settling side of things in that poemfile:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20607.htmlPage 13 of 15The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown2025-05-23, 6:28 PMversus the, the pushing forward that Gord speaks of. Yeah i like the gordian read of that that is uhthat is uh very well done thank you gordian read.[52:41] Anything else about um the depression suite this this gem of a fucking song uh Uh, it, and byall rights, it shouldn't be, it comes from this record that is, you know, in some ways, uh, divisiveamong the Tragically It fans.[53:04] Um, it's, it's Bob rock. It's got, you know, gang vocals. It's got strings. It's got, there's just alot of stuff that should make it not work. And yet it works beautifully. It does. It does. Yeah. I love thesong very much. Um, and I think, and we talk about the Bob rock sound. I don't even reallyparticularly like the Bob rock sound. It, to me, it sounds a little over engineered, uh, it does. Itseems sterile sometimes. Yeah. Sterile. Um, so I, you know, we can't do this, but it would beinteresting to hear what this album would have sounded like with a different producer. Um, butobviously that, that opens up a whole other can of worms of would we even have gotten in the songwith another producer and probably not. I wish they had worked with Steve Berlin for the remaining,remaining part of their career, because it seems like he really understood them and got a lot out ofthem. I, I agree. I agree.[54:00] Um, and yeah, you, you, you mentioned the, the gang vocals and, and one of the things inthe documentary again, that, that, uh, they talked about was the fact that Gordon Bob are off doingtheir thing on Maui. Uh, and then they brought in, uh, Paul Langlois and Gord Sinclair to do vocals,I think on two or three songs. And I assume this was one of them because you can hear them onthe third act doing just, I think, personally, some of their most beautiful background vocals. Justreally gorgeous, those ah-ahs in the chords.[54:36] Um but you know clearly they were going through something uh because you know theythey were not sure what what their involvement in the album was really going to be beyond youknow just playing on the songs it certainly was less than than it would have been on on any of theirprevious albums so well St. Clair's disdain is palpable in the dark when he says I've never been I'venever been fired from a job until now and it's from my own fucking band exactly yeah oh yeah yeahbut uh yeah so i don't know if it's my favorite hip salt uh there are certainly others that i probably goto more often or would would mention before i mentioned this one but it's up there uh and it'sprobably the one that i've spent the most time thinking about trying to to kind of peel apart andunderstand, And it's really just the scope of it. It's such a different, grand, unique set of stories orvignettes that just, I think, tie together so beautifully. So it's one that I will always love. Well put.Tyler from Etobicoke, do you have anything you would like to plug?file:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20607.htmlPage 14 of 15The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown2025-05-23, 6:28 PM[55:48] Do I have anything I'd like to plug? Not really. Oh, you know, a quarterly podcast. Yeah,quarterly. I appear on the Toronto Mike podcast with my good friend Cam Gordon and TorontoMike. And we we do a thing called FOTM cast, which is a look back at the previous quarter ofshows of the Toronto Mike podcast. So if you are a listener of Toronto, my podcast, I recommendthat you check out FOTM cast. If you're not, uh, I would probably not start with FOTM cast becauseit's, uh, it's pretty meta and you probably will listen to five minutes of it and say, what the hell is this?So, uh, anyway, yeah. Quarterly, uh, check it out. Thanks so much, Tyler. And that's what I've gotfor you today on this, the seventh episode of the tragically hip top 40 countdown as usual subscribeshare rate and review the podcast tell your friends let them in on the fun thanks for stopping by pickup your shit.[56:53] Thanks for listening to the tragically hip top 40 countdown to email us send an email to tthtop 40 at gmail.com we're social find us on all the socials at tth top 40.[57:22] Podcasts and such.file:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20607.htmlPage 15 of 15Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/tthtop40/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

jD, Pete, and Tim are back and this week they're listening to the 2002 release In Violet Light.TranscriptTrack 1:[0:00] As I sit at my computer to write this introduction, I've really had to rack. [0:05] My brain for anything specific about In Violet Light. It has nothing to do with the brilliance of the record, but I had pretty much left the missionary zeal phase of my hip fandom and was now, sadly, just a casual. Even something as cool as The Hip Club, which was included with the CD release on the June 11th, 2002 CD didn't suck me in, and it's a damn shame too. When I see you out there with cards still in your wallet, I'm jealous and forlorn. [0:40] Something that was so essential in my life was now being left behind because I was focused on the lo-fi experience of bands like Pavement, Silver Jews, Guided by Voices, andSebadell. I did, however, make it out for the In Violet Light summer tour at the then Molson Amphitheater and was blown away by the new songs I heard live. Lake Fever, Silver Jet, The Dark Knuck, they all rocked live. But there was one song that captured my attention and bled through all the noise I was experiencing at the time. It's a song that I still hold close to my heart today, and it's remained a beacon, like a lighthouse leading a lost vessel homeward in more recent years. It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken is a masterpiece in the hip-souvra. Everything just works, and it straight fucking cooks as an ominous-sounding live jam. [1:40] I was working at Starbucks downtown when a barista, now my wife, asked me what I thought of the new album and particularly that song. I don't have the words for it, I told her. She agreed. This was supercharged hip at its best. Now it's time for Pete and Tim to experience A Heron Outside in Violet Light. They both were floored with music at work, so IVL has to be a slam dunk, right? Have to wait and see on this episode of Getting Hip to the Hip. Track 4:[2:37] All right, so welcome back to Getting Hip to the Hip, I'm your host JD and every week we talk about a Tragically Hip record with two budding fans of the Tragically Hip butformerly completely ignorant of the existence of the band and I don't mean I mean ignorant in the dictionary definition you guys are both classy gentlemen but you just it had never it hadnever made it to your ears before. So, we've got Tim and we've got Pete, and we're doing In Violet Light this week. Tim, Pete, how you doing? Hey, guys. How's it going? It's going. It's good. We are back for another week. I'm just, you know, I'm just so pleased that somebody's listening to this. I'm just sure of it, right? Yeah. Well, we're selling tickets for the finale event. We can announce that Tragically cover band 50 Mission are going to be playing, we're gonna have local comedian Pete Van Dyke there, there's gonna be some silent auction items, one ofwhich was donated to us by the Tragically Hip themselves, which is fucking spectacular we also have some items coming to us from David Bustito, so I'm real excited about that becausehe was their official tour photographer for a long time I'd be Curious to see what he what he might what he might donate excellent. [4:07] So yeah, that's pretty I was thinking this week if we make it to the end of this podcast like get through all the records Without a like a seriously like hardcore diehard to actually hitfam you're killing Tim or I And I think we've it's been a success But yeah, it won't happen. Hopefully it won't happen after today's recording. There may be like an Oswald Jack Ruby incident at the finale. [4:38] But you guys don't have guns in Canada, so that's good. I had already plotted... It's really hard though. Oh God. I had already plotted, you know, a disguise for the event, so it's not really me that's there. No, I'm not Pete. If you see somebody with a goatee and a mustache and another mustache on top of that mustache, that's probably Tim Lydon Maybe two mullets The glasses with the nose and themustache Yeah, so let's start off like we always do and get a sense of how you guys took in this record Where you did your listening? Did it heighten or expand that experience? All that good shit. [5:26] I went into it right away. I mean, after our last pod recording, I kind of jumped right into it. In Violet Light because I was excited and wanted to keep the momentum going and the work going and I listened to it all over the place. I was, well, the first listen was cleaning out the garage and I was driving and I was at physical therapy for a portion on the train headed to Seattle. It was, I was kind of all over the place listening to this and I gotta say it was a more fragmented listen than past albums in that I had a hard time. I know about you, Pete, you might be the opposite of a feeling, but I had a hard time going from first song to last song and just listening to it straight through. It was because of a myriadof reasons, but sometimes because of the music. Yeah, sometimes because of the music. Huh. You know, I mean, I hear what you're saying, Tim. For me, I too jumped right into this one immediately after we finished, like, maybe even that night, finished the recording or the very next day. As is with everything with this band, I started to listen and was just wildly unimpressed. [6:48] And then just, it like, as the time went on, I just was like, so wrong and like, I, I mean, literally, I'm glad I've, I've been saving my notes now in my like notes section of my computerbecause I didn't save the notes from the first one, because they just now have gotten longer and longer and longer. And like, by the time we get to the final record, it's going to be a Dostoyevsky novel, dude. [7:18] It's just super, yeah, it's ridiculous, man. I enjoyed the shit out of this record. I would say my listening places, mistake, I started at the computer, which is maybe why I was unimpressed, but I'm just going to say this, there's nothing better than driving in my car,listening to this record. I did a lot of driving this last week, a lot of driving, and this record just, especially on the sound system I have in my car, I think that I'm a... Premium premium audio system in my car. Yeah. [8:00] You know laugh while you want to Just I love it And I think it's my laugh is like 96% joy because you know for all of us Out there and in the interwebs land listening to this It's somedude named Pete He's got, you know blonde hair and blue eyes and he's from California and he lives in fucking Spain driving around in some cool car Which I don't know what it is. So don't tell me No, you don't some cool car with some cool sound system this dude from LA gets a drive around fucking Spain And I'm you know at time of recording While we'repromoting our event coming up. It's you know, just fucking snowed 11 inches in Portland in 24 hours and it was the most snow in 24 hours since 1943. And here's Pete just driving around, do, do, do, do, do. It's not snowing. It's snowed. It snowed this weekend, too, and where I was at. Oh, wow. Envy and joy. Envy and joy. OK, I'll take it. Yeah. I'll take it. Yeah. So. J.D., what do you think? Yeah, J.D. This was a record. This was the last record that I saw a tour for until the last record. [9:15] So I was starting to like wind down my extreme, like this is my number one band fandom. And if you'll note the year, you guys will recognize that's when, you know, like I found pavement and I just was getting caught up. Like, you know, the 2000s for me were getting caught up in everything that I'd missed in the 90s for singularly listening to the Tragically Hip. And of course, a bunch of other stuff. So I resented that a little bit, but when Greg and I were doing the podcast and I came back to this record, it was like, what were you thinking? What blows my mind is that this is 2002. [10:04] This means they've released six records in less than 10 years and they keep getting better, like they keep getting stronger or different at the very least. And I, I just don't understand how they were able to do that. You know, I just don't. Aye, aye. I second that emotion, Smokey, certainly. I have a feeling, I don't know what your all music rating you saw was. I didn't look that up. But I feel that at this point, the past few albums and this one have been highly influenced by who's helping on the production side. You know, this one we had Hugh Pagum. [10:53] Yeah. who did police albums and XTC and split ends and, you know, albums with beautiful sound. He invented gated drumming. The sound of drums in the 80s. Think of In the Air Tonight, the drum sound. [11:13] He invented that sound. And that sound is so prevalent in like, Like, you know, especially like, well, like highly glossed 80s, you know, artists, right? They were, they were all playing with that stuff. And there's... Sorry, go ahead. No, no, no. I was just gonna, it's crazy you mentioned the drums just because, and I didn't hear the gated sound in this, but in a lot of my notes, I mentioned the drums, the sound of the drums in thisparticular record are they really, really, really stand out, really stand up. Yeah. For a drummer that's not flashy, you know what I mean? Right. Not flashy at all. He's so, and this is going to sound like I'm damning with faint praise, but I'm not, when I say he's so competent, I just mean workman like, you know, Johnny Fayeis just workman. Like it's, it's just, he knows what the song needs and he goes in there and gets it done and that's what you get, you know, but he, he really, In my opinion, he rises above on this. He's a bit of the cream that comes to the top on this record, man, for a lot of reasons, but we'll get into it in the songs. I might agree with that, but just to circle back, I think that the production side of this one. It's more. It feels less. [12:32] Band driven and more like who produced this album. That's how it felt to me and Sometimes that that feels awesome with sometimes that is awesome. And sometimes it's like whoa. Yeah, okay That's the that's the album that you tag him if I'm saying his name, right pageant pipe edge I'm happy on the hue pageant produced and in thatYou know, I felt this on this one. It's just to continue my food analogies It's like showing up at a restaurant and there's like there's you still got everybody in the kitchen But somebody else, you know kind of wrote themenu like it's like where'd that where'd our where'd our house cheeseburger go? You know, it's just missing and we have some something else. So this one felt a little different to me and I mentioned this the Pete a few days ago But even on the sound side, from my car to my headphones, everything, this album is fucking bright. It's as if somebody came into my equalizer and pumped up most the levels, especially mid to highs, because it's fucking bright. [13:39] So much that I was turning down my shit to make it more tolerable. It was over-the-top produced in on the sound finish side. It was different than the others different than yeah Well one last anecdote about Hugh Padgham That's sort of funny is Johnny Faye was of course a big Stewart Copeland fan. [14:07] So He ended up skipping his grade 13 exam one of his exams to go and buy a police record the day it came out. And I forget which record it is. [14:25] Oh man, you, God damn. Yeah, I'm not 100% certain what record it is. That's amazing. Yeah, so he was absolutely stoked to be working with this producer. And this was their first sort of, Like he says their first sort of get, you know, in terms of producers. So I wonder if they were performing and they just, they were performing for him. And they also were sort of like in reverence, just lifted their hands off the wheel and just said, you know, take us home. I don't know. That's crazy. You know, I swear this is going to be the last quick anecdote, but just cause you brought up the police. Do you guys both know that the record Synchronicity, which is easily my favorite police record, I had 32 different covers. [15:18] No, no, look, that's a fact. No, no, but some are more valuable than the others. So they did last time. So they actually produced all of them. No, they just the covers themselves. Yeah, different. Yeah, that's amazing. That is amazing. Yeah, they just they were like different pictures that they had taken. And they just made multiple different covers and put it out. And so some people have like, a blue and yellow stripes. Some people have the red, the yellow and the blue. Some people have more red. It's just really unique. I love that. Yeah. Random people. Just because we're talking about the blue. Cool factoid. Yeah, this album, just if I could keep going a little bit, it felt... [16:01] One of the words that came to mind was, and it's not, but it was like sophomoric or homecoming. Like, it felt like the band had gone on, you know, this... how many years are wetalking now? It's 2002, right? How many years are they in the game? 84. Yeah, so 618. That's a lot of years. And I feel like if you're a band and you're at it for that long, to me, you're going to have this kind of album that's going to come out. You're going to find a producer that's amazing or someone you've looked up to forever, and you're going to just go hit the go button with them. And that's kind of what this album turned out to be, to me, in my opinion. It feels like professional accomplished. [16:54] I'm really trying not to go to the word generic or standard TH, but some of it does feel that way. And then there's these little glimpses in there of Gord still doing his thing. The last album, if I could circle back to that like, There's no Tiger the Lion on this album for me. That's kind of my statement. Like the music at work, when I hit Tiger the Lion, it was like, oh shit, what is this song? And I was really searching for that on In Violet Light, and it was hard to come up with that. It was hard to get there. Oh, wow. I've got two Tiger the Lions on this record, and they're fucking back to back. Ha, ha, ha. Ooh, man, I'm interested to hear what these are, too. Let's go. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Alright, well let's go song by song then. Are you ready? Fuck yeah. I'm ready, man. What's the first song? Are you ready? [17:52] See, I was waiting for that though, I was waiting for that all week. That's in your notes, isn't it? It is in my notes. Say, ask JD, tell JD, no. [18:01] Dude, I'll take this one, Tim, just because I want to kick it off, man. I mean, what a fucking song to open up a record with. It's just, it's the band taking the fucking golf ball, putting the tee between their pointer and their middle fingers, sticking the fucking ground, and then looking back at you handing you theclub and going, so, are you ready? It's just fucking, the chorus is amazing. Johnny Faye's drums on this, I'll say this just off the top, but this is like many songs I heard his snare is so bright. Mm-hmm. His snare is so bright. It's a fucking bright out this It's yeah, it's just it's you could it's standout for sure The the cool way it starts with the guitars I think Paul Langlois, am Ipronouncing his name right finally? You nailed it. So Paul Langlois guitar He's playing like a like a dissonant note in there because when Rob Baker comes in with his little guitar licks he's not playing anything dissonant he's playing likea like a happy sort of major lick and it works great with what what Paul's playing but it's just it's just fucking Cool. [19:27] I have a halftone guitar lick, the solo. I love this. I just, I love this song. It just got me ready for the next shit to come. This is a plane taking off. And you know, we get Silverjet down the line, but it is a Silverjet just fucking going a thousand miles an hour up into the air right now. I fucking love it. What about, let's say you, Tim. You know, I thought it was a super starter also. [20:04] It reminded me, just the whole, are you ready? Reminded me right away of the English beat, are you ready to dance? Or are you ready to ska? There's like this old, that got covered a few times too. It's just Similar lyric that it just brought me back to which is always fun. I thought gourd sounded Like cleaner and brighter, of course, I'm gonna stop using that word in a minute Higher in tone like he sounds a little cleaner like almost He's really mastering histool Yeah Like also as if perhaps he you know Quit smoking for two weeks up until recording or something like there was just he was he was cleaner or less growly. At the same time, the song compositionally was like, pretty basic, let's get going and see, kind of see what's next. You know, it's not an embracer, it's a, let's put it in first gear and get this car moving down the road, you know. I have a question for you. What do you guys think of the first four lyrics, the first four lines of lyrics? Here the old whistle blowing, they're pulling the plug, Doug, we got to get going, they got our whole Doug. [21:24] I think this record's riddled with Gord Downie Canadianisms, all just chock full of it. It's a reference of something, shit I don't know, being an American who doesn't even live there.No, no, this isn't a Canadian one. This is just interesting. Lyrics to me that I just wondering like when I heard it I felt it was like self-referential like it was like you know like oh like they're we're done guys they were could be it they were startedfalling out of favor a little bit at this point just the diehards really started to cling on you know for the next two or three records. After this it's still like a giant cohort like a giant cohort. Yeah, like I mean they were still doing stadiums and things like that, but But it was so those lyrics really stuck out at me, you know, like and then it's like are you ready? You know, it's like fuck it all like are you ready? You know what the balls of the balls of gourd down in a fucking call at the fan base like that. That's fucking I I Mean, I don't know. Yeah, just like it's like hey, I guess I guess we're not the fucking We're not the the sweetest maple syrup in town anymore fellas. So let's they got ourfucking holes Doug. Let's just play our shit Yeah, let's do it Yeah, I think I had some image of like getting out of your factory job The end of the day Friday, maybe got paid It's like we got to get the fuck outof here because these guys are gonna kill us eventually but not tonight I don't know it felt very working-class to tie back to what you said Pete. You know this this album is riddled with Gordisms and and sorry and There was so much to look at and rabbit hole, and it was it was like fuck these guys Maybe you know part of it isthey were Pulling out lots of stops for Mr. Hugh on the production side. Yeah, fun there. So we move next to track two use it up. [28:01] So I thought we went from like, okay, this is a fast-paced, let's get moving song, to kind of a slowdown quickly. I mean, I found this happening. I know, JD, you comment sometimes on my, you know, look at albums as if they're books or chapters or what have you, but this one, you know, it was a little bit slow and darker andthere's a message or a lesson, there's like a teaching happening, the chorus of this super sing-along chorus with a way going, you know. I was like, okay, is this a radio hit or, I don't know. [28:48] This is the one with the Bruce Springsteen reference, is that right? Yeah. You know, I had quickly wondered if this one felt a little too like scripted to reach USA audience. I don't know. I was a little bit confused, a little bit like started off strong and then went into the slow dark kind of let's pull on the heartstrings quickly here. Interesting. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, well, we'll go to Pete. What do you think, Pete? It's again, like the plane has taken off with Are You Ready? And now it's just it's ascending into the fucking cosmos, dude, this song. Fucking just it cooked. I got chills. And And the hairs on my arms stood up, thinking and dreaming about hearing this song live.". [29:52] Like literally, the way the drums are, Paul Lanois' guitar in this song is the drums, the way he holds the rhythm to it. Rob Baker must have, I don't know what, I mean, here's the thing, I think I said this maybe the last podcast, but his talent as a guitar player has become exponentially better as each recordgoes on. Not just like all the cool effects that are in this, it just is fucking awesome. I mean, just hearing the licks, Gord commands this song like a fucking admiral commands an aircraft carrier. I mean... [30:39] When he goes, I love the chorus, music that can take you away, and it just, there's like an echo effect or there's some sort of effect that just lets his voice ring out, but there's a partwhere he goes back into the second verse, I think, or maybe the third verse, and he goes an octave higher and he goes, instead of, use it up, use it up, and he gets really high. And it just, it's like watching the kettle on the fucking stove about ready to fucking explode. That's what I think of this song too. I think of it as like, just a builder. And like, I don't think of it as a slow song at all. [31:23] You know, like, like, like, there's some, some, some real hot water bubbling away here, getting ready to boil over. You know, you guys are almost making me want to listen to this album, but not in order. Not in order. I feel like I should go back to it and put it on random and see what happens. See what happens, yeah. Because I just, I wish I had the same sentiment. I went from, like, the car is moving to, oh, who are we trying to grab here? I mean, these lyrics are heavy, fairly simple, compared to some other hip songs, you know, lots of repeated chorus but like I just wasn't exactly yeah just didn't just didn't grasp me so thethe the way the guitar starts once the drums kick in it's got that kind of like bluesy bar rock sound to it just like I just imagine the fucking crowd just just just thumping at that live showwhen this song is played live. I mean. [32:31] And Gordon singing out, somebody pushing the fucking sustain button on who's ever working the board and just away! And it just, everybody losing their fucking mind and Rod Baker doo doo, doo Just, sorry man, I fucking I sound like a douchebag fanboy on this podcast You know I'm cool with it Theother day I was like I'm gonna come in maybe not sounding the most positive about this And I was like, I bet Pete's going to hold it up for us. But that's kind of a tough part. Part of this assignment is really difficult in that we're listening to albums and albums and albums by a band, hours and hours. And we should add up the hours by now. [33:20] And we've watched some videos, and we've never attended a show. I mean, I've never seen The Rolling Stones. I've listened to every one of their albums. There's tons of examples like that. But I haven't sat down and gone through song by song by The Stones, nor do I want to. So nobody invite me to go do that. But anyways, it's like we've not seen the hit play. And I know that many of their songs are probably just amazing live. Yeah. They're built for live, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it's just a facet of my hip career that I'm missing. But this next one, the darkest one, which I'm mostly going to let Pete talk about because it has to do with it, you know, a little bit with his favorite TV show. But this one, this is my JD karaoke request, this one. Oh wow. I want to hear JD belt this one out. That's what I heard when I heard this song. I was like, oh, this is good. Oh, this would be cool to hear JD sing karaoke. [34:31] Have you ever done karaoke to this song, JD? I never found it at a karaoke place. Usually they have the bigger hits, but they don't have the deeper cuts. Well, maybe you could just send me your own video recorded version. I'll do it. I mean, just to share with me. [34:52] Yeah, this song contains one of my favorite sets of lyrics ever, like ever, by anybody. You know, the wild are strong, and the strong are the darkest ones, and you're the darkest one. Are you fucking kidding me? Yeah. Like, that build to describing somebody in that manner, oh, it just makes me grin. just makes me grin. Oh, God, dude, the song. First of all, I love that it was the the track of the trailer. That's how I recognized it initially. You know, you know, I mean, we have to talk that kind of guy. It really cooks the opening. But I mean, just Gord Sinclair's bass is like holding this song up and help pushing it up and get it off the ground. I agree that the chorus, we're the strong or the darkest ones and you're the darkest one. I mean, it's just how he repeats it, how Gord repeats it, you're the darkest one and I can't sing like him. The melody just goes up and down. It's just fucking amazing. [36:15] There's the line, it's funny because like initially all I thought it was like that horrible show they used to have on. God, I can't even remember the name of it, where the guy would like, God, what was the name of that show? It was the Chris, not Chris Matthews, he was on NBC. Remember the guy would, the police would be checking those people, the people that were trying to hook up with young kids or something. And he said, why don't you come in and have a seat, right? Remember that? Oh, yeah. He's like, he busts people like, Yeah, he busts people. Yeah, I don't know what you're talking about. Oh, God, I can't remember the name of the show. Yeah, whatever it's called either. If you if you remember it, send us an email. JD at gettinghiptothehip.com What that horrible show is. I think Pete at gettinghiptothehip.com. That's for Pete. Yeah, I know. All right. Anyway, he would always say, like, why don't you come in and have a seat? But like, that's like a really demonic, horrible version. This was like,so like, Gord was like inviting everybody, come in, come in. It's warm and it's safe in here. Like, it was just like, like, we're already, we've walked through the door with these first two songs on this record. Now he's saying, like, hey, come in, makeyourself at home, have a seat on the couch. You know, it's so personal. I don't know, I got a really personal vibe from this record. [37:44] Lyrically, the way that the band played together so beautifully. [37:49] I feel like, yeah, you already mentioned the chorus, JD. You can really feel the band come together on this there. Everybody's now at the same level. Like, it's not the... No offense to Gord Downie, because he's, you know, he's just what it is he's amazing but like I feel like it's not just the gore downy show I like feel like if you took any member of thisband out of the band it would be equally as devastating. Equally as devastating. 100%. The last thing I will say is I don't know how I'd ever confirm this, but I feel like Rob Baker has maybe switched out the pickups on his Fender Strat duringthis one. He's maybe using some of those Fender Tex-Mex ones instead of the delay sensors. And I was just... because that solo at the end sounds really twangy, it's hard to use Tim's term, bright. [38:42] And it pissed me off so much that the song faded out. But the more I thought about it, the more I was like, dude, you can't end this song with a raging solo, such an amazing song, you just have to let it fade out. You can't compete with the rest of this song. So Rob Baker or the producer, they were in the right to just let the song fade out because You can't one-up yourselves in the same song. It's just so good. I didn't have an issue with the fade-out on this one. I think, in part, it's just the total tone of the song and the lyric. You're the darkest one. I mean, you're right. How would you end that? I didn't question it. It didn't cross my mind. But we got to talk about how fun the video is. I didn't see it. We don't. Oh, I got to see it. [39:35] Yeah, that part, you know, we had just to add to that we have not talked about their videos much and at some point it'd be You know side note here it'd be fun to uh Maybe I don'tknow what riff on this later Watch their videos and have an episode where we each talk about our favorite video they produced or something Yeah, because this video This one jd knows. Yeah, it's a hoot like I watched it like six videos Come on, you've seen the video with bubbles and everybody. Oh, this is the one. Oh To me. [40:24] Like Actor that like you forget that like, oh, that's core Johnny from the tragedy. He just looks like he belongs, right? Right, the video is so good, it feels really true. He could be Trevor Roy's cousin or something. I have a teenager at home that watched that whole series enough times so it was on in our basement regularly. I never saw that episode until through research found that, but the video is so fun. I seriously watched it six times, it's just so good. and made me love the song more, and it made me come back. You know, of course, in order of going through, in Violet Light, it just made me come back to this song as like, this song's a stopper, you know? It could just be its own single, you know? It's just, it's just one of those songs. Yeah, I mean, just give it to me on a seven inch and I'll just play that on my turntable. It's just a good, good song. God rest Jim Lange. [41:31] Yeah, poor lady So that takes us to The next track on the record, which is it's a good life if you don't weaken Yeah, no, I'll go so this from what I found this was the most played forthe album on Spotify by far The song has been played a ton for this album was like four million listens or something which I. [41:55] Think is huge There was one question Yeah, this song for the single. Okay, so that to me, that was kind of a surprise. Like why this one? Why do people glom on because it's awesome. But I might add a question of it around. I didn't do a deep dive. But Gord said it was this phrase, Molly Lorimer use life on the road when discussing life on the road. And I couldn't find much on this Molly Lorimer. I I don't know if you guys did. That was gonna be a question to you. Yeah, I don't know. It's just attributed to her. Yeah. It's a good life if you don't weaken. Yeah. It's a graphic novel by singularly named artist simply known as Seth. I don't know, that's all I've got. Yeah, but that line came from Molly. So, yeah. The piece itself was brought to the attention of the band by one of the staffers, Molly Lorimer. Okay. As Gord wanna explain, was fond of using the expression when discussinglife on the road. [43:01] Yeah, I mean, I love that part about it and that reference as far as literary references go on many of the songs, you know, was a little bit more mysterious, especially even differentsince it's based a bit on a graphic novel, which I don't think Gord has done yet. It seemed kind of like a love song or a, I don't know, a separation song or figuring out life, coming back together. You know, it was, it was, it was, there were lots of question marks on this one for me. It was kind of like, why is it so popular? What am I? I don't think I'm missing something here. I think I get it. I think it's just, I don't know, another, another heartstrings puller. That's kind of where I was left. What about you, Mr. Pete? [43:52] I did not like this song when I first started listening to it. The first run or two of it, the first thing I wrote was, this song is the cover of this record. So you listen to the guitar and you look at the cover, you're just like, oh, this is like the title track of the record. And then it just, I don't want to say it's my favorite song on the record, but it's pretty close man. I mean it's so good. The way this song builds, the keyboards come in and it just layers so nicely. I feel like when the chorus comes in and the harmonies hit, It's just, oh God, it's just beautiful, man. It's so good. The bridge is like butter. Sometimes bands, because they feel the need to put a bridge into songs, because in Newsflash, not every song needs a bridge. And sometimes bands just put it in and they sound like shit. And this is just not one of those cases. It's like such a beautiful extension of the song. I don't know why I wrote in here. [45:22] Rob Baker's Fender accompaniment is wretched. And I don't think I meant that as an insult, because I loved it. I thought it was really good. But the build before the chorus of the song is just because it starts out so soft. so yeah that finger-picking guitar and then it just builds to this climactic. [45:46] Saga Wonderful. I don't know man. I can't say that enough fucking good things about the song. I loved it. Well, you answered my question I think that's that's great. I'm gonna go back and listen to it I was you know, I wasn't it wasn't so Wasn't so feeling that I I I am invasive how it grew on you. I think that's Make that's wonderful. I would say it's a lot of people's favorite song. Yeah record. As far as the singles go. [46:16] Because this record's full of deeper cuts, too, that that fans are really big on. One in particular I'll get to when we get there. But these are the these last two songs. The Darkest One and It's A Good Life If You Don't Weekend are my two favorite songs on this record. I love those songs. Pete, with Silver Jet, did you long for a bridge in that one or some sort of change up or how'd you feel about the long ending fade out of this one i love i mean i liked it i the song and theway i to be honest with you the the song first when i first first heard the song a couple times i didn't like the um that lick in there it just sounded i didn't like it it was pissing me off did itsound like a little it sounded almost like a little bit hairband to me. Like there was some kind of, I don't know. It totally did. Yeah. Reminds me of like Van Halen or something, you know? Yeah. It made me wonder if this was a a music-first song. [47:25] I just think that you can only get away from your roots so much, you know? At the end of the day, we all return to, you know, just as we're born, begging and screaming and crying for your mama, you die the same way. And so we all have that in us throughout our lives and like, they have that history. It's like it or hate it. That's part of their history as a band. But I chose to embrace it and I really liked it. I thought one of the coolest things was this song and one other one I think we'll get to. There's a lot of like harmonic plays with the guitar. That. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I'm pretty sure it's it's it's Rob Baker, but it could be Paul and Juan just playing those those those repeated harmonics on the guitar with that heavy distortion andit's just fucking cool. And I don't know that this is one but it feels like a like a a Gord Downie Canadianism song. [48:34] It may be about something in history. I just seem too random to be talking about a silver jet. This is one record I didn't look at any of the lyrics. I just listened I listened intently. On your first listen or what do you mean? On any listen, which I think it served me well because I paid much more attention to the music and the band and like Gord doesn't need toimpress me with his lyrics, I don't need to fucking read his lyrics to to be impressed by them so, I think the fact that I didn't look at any lyrics for this record made me appreciate it a littlebit more, and I'm glad I did that. [49:16] Process-wise, definitely the first six listens or something, I'm not looking up really looking up lyrics much at all. It's just at the end is where I love to do the deep dive where I've really taken in the album and what makes me, I don't know, just completes my wonderment of where this album is goingor where these songs are going. And this one, you know, I love the roars overhead You know, it's it really I talked about this before but that one felt super REM Michael Stipe to me I just totally couldn't completely hearMichael Stipe in that one and it's And it's also, you know, this is 2002 and that reference to me is more like 88 You know late 80s, maybe early 90s. Sorry. Um, so Yeah, dude, I didn't think Tim you're you're spot-on with that Michael Stipe reference Oh big time big time, and you know, I I don't say that in a negative way. I just circle back to Wishing I could be a fly on the wall and the tour bus to hear what these guys are listening to or sharing, you know because it's it's There's definitely some some threadsthroughout all of it the the ending was the ending and I thought this one was um, I I don't know just long They're starting to now have like one song where there's an ending of like aminute or more of just music just instrumental. [50:42] You know, which which I I dig sometimes I wish there's like for this song in. [50:48] Particular there was Maybe there was room for a Stronger bridge or some sort of change up in it. I think I think this this song. I don't know I. [50:58] Maybe this is one of the songs I need to hear live but this one like it was really close to being one of my favorites on the album there just was something wow something in therethat was just a little bit missing like I first few times I listened to this one I was like oh what is it about this song there's there just wasn't enough salt on it or something there wassomething in there so I want to go back and hear it again and maybe find some live version to see what's different about it. Yeah, it's definitely a banger live. [51:36] I think some great lyrics. I think one of the coolest vocal deliveries on the record. Like he's barely opening his mouth. He's like grinning these lyrics out almost. [51:51] A rock star using the word archipelago. Oh yeah, that's a great point. Like throwing words like that in there from a phrasing perspective is just a nightmare. And yet He does it and he does it with ease It's so crazy My father-in-law mentioned we're telling on because my wife's gonna Ibiza Ibiza Ibiza He beat that um next week and And or twoweeks and I was like asking where it was and like thinking about it Is it over here? Where's that? He's like and he said He said archipelago on, but he said it in Spanish, but I knew what he was saying, because it's a very similar word. And it made me think of this song, and I was like, oh yeah, Silver Jet, like, just to hear, I mean, how often do you hear the word archipelago? Never. On a given week? Yeah. On a month? No. And I heard it, like, the same day I was listening to this song, he said archipelago, and I was like, that's fucking weird. There's a glitch in the matrix somewhere, man. Yeah, totally. There's lots of great one-liners in this song. It's, it's, it's, it's chocked full. It's, it's a really, I don't know. Again, this was one I kept coming back to and kind of couldn't get enough of, you know, that I'm thinking it through. Your father-in-law's going to Ibiza? Is he going to a rave there? What's he, what's going to, does everyone know he's going there? [53:20] No, he's just going, she's going to a, just with her friend to visit. Oh, she's going this way. But I was going to say a minute ago, all the cheeseburger references by you, Tim, we're going to start calling you Randy. You start having to do this podcast to get your shirt off. [53:39] I don't know, Mr. Leahy. We haven't had a cuddle in a long time. I gotta say, I gotta say one thing, dude. I don't know, God, if she listens to this podcast, she's never gonna ever want to talk to me again, but my sweet, great and wonderful colleague, Barb, who lives on, um, I can never say hername. Canada is such a huge, huge country. It's more on the West Coast. But every time I just see her name, she sends me an email. I don't see Barb or Barbara. I just see burp. It's actually, I just see it spelled B-E-R-B. I just hear Randy saying, burp. [54:29] Like, it's just, and I know she would find it funny because she loves that show. She's a huge, ridiculously huge head fan. I think that's the booze talking, Pete. I think he might need to lay off of the booze. That's my best advice. Probably. So, uh, looking gla- throwing off glass. [58:21] Like, right when this one, maybe it had to do with me microdosing throughout the week, but wow, it was like, turn down the levels. There are some serious drums and cymbals and big, big loud king of pain, kind of. There's some serious production happening with this one. You know, it's overall, my comments on this one are super basic. It's a beautiful song In general, you know, I got the the dad vibes from it the teenage kids It's kind of like The daughter song. I don't know JD. I was like, oh this seems like to me this might be You know JD's song for his his girls, you know, it's just a beautiful beautiful song There's just wasn't a whole lot more toit than that for me. It's just like whoo. Okay Okay, that's a mouthful. I love this track. It was a great, like, in-between. [59:26] It was a great palate cleanser. I know that's like a negative connotation to say, in-between this song and the next, but it just was so needed and it was so well placed in the order of it.I love the way it's just, it was a super spacey track. Vocals were just echoed all over the place and yeah I don't have a ton to say about it other than I really really enjoyed it. I thought again this is the other one where Rob Baker's harmonics really really shined on it like they just drive the song and I'm like it's just Just awesome. [1:00:06] Loved it. Just loved it. Really, really good chill out song to kind of go, take a break, lower the blood pressure a little bit. You've been rocking out. We're only on song six. Yeah, it was kind of serene. It was its own movie, this one, I think. You know, it's definitely stands on its own. Yeah, the next song All tore up. Yeah, I'll tore up. Okay. So here's another really Gonna this is the last time I'm gonna talk about about holy shit the drums and the cymbals the high hats on this one It's just like whoa Turnit down guys. Like this is a this is my final call out on the production side of this one. It's just, Kaplow in my ear holes. So there you have that. But the there's Tim is Tim is Huey Lewis in that firstscene of Back Feature one. Sorry, guys. Just too loud. Next, please. Sorry, Tim, I didn't mean to cut you off. Love it loud. I just you know, I have. [1:01:23] Yeah, anyways, that there The bridge in this one, you might make it, right? You know, that really smacked me. This is just an amazing change in this one. I felt like this one stepped out a little bit more than previous songs and kind of was leaning a little bit more in a direction that I had been looking for, just musically, just tragic, hip-esque,you know? This one kind of brought me back to, I don't know, just what I want in a hip album. [1:02:00] I liked the finding, the reference towards Dottie Cormier, famous Canadian bluegrass singer. So kind of went down a rabbit hole and checked out her stuff and gave her a bunch of listens. Yeah, I mean, she's mentioned in there and she's one of the more famous bluegrass people of Canada, which is awesome. I'm not a huge bluegrass fan, but I definitely appreciate it when Icome across it, and it's great. But I thought it was a song about going for it, living life, just appreciating things, looking for moments of biggest impacts or things that matter. You know, I typed in, you just need to be you and keep moving. It's inspirational. This is a good, to me this is. This is a good hip song on this album. If somebody's going to say, what should I listen to? This would definitely be one of the songs. Oh, yeah, I liked it. Aside from the bright, fucking bloody. All right. Happening. [1:03:13] Well, to back that up, I will say one of the things I've written in my notes here is Johnny face snare is boosted. It is. And I love I do. Yeah, I love it, like for me, it fits with the album, like, I could see how you could look at it as a, as maybe a, like, I would do this differently, but like, I just feel like they did that onpurpose, and it fits with the record and I think it's done well. It's noticeable. That's the problem, though. But you know what, like, maybe, like, here's the thing, maybe it should be noticeable for a lot of reasons because the drums in a lot of these songs really, reallydrive the momentum of the tunes. The opening lick that I think is, I want to say it's Rob Baker playing, that opening lick with the double stop, just how he just, I'm like, wait, how do you play that again? Because it just, it doesn't stop, it doesn't stop and start where you think it's going to stop and start. It's really, and the drums come in at a different tempo, and it's just cool as fuck. Question JD, I have this written out, what are the school buses in Canada? Do you guys have like yellow school buses like we have in the States? [1:04:36] Because I mean, I don't know, are they big school buses like the big long ones? Yeah, Bluebird, which is like one of the big school bus manufacturers, used to have a plant in the town, like 20 minutes from where I grew up. And I worked there every summer building school buses. Yeah. Okay. Well, maybe you would have seen any bass player in the whole of Canada that was worth their salt getting on that school bus because literally Gordon Sinclair takes anybodylistening to this record who plays bass to fucking school on a bus. I mean, it's a master, it's a master's degree, it's not a master class, it's a fucking master's degree. I mean, the way he fucking goes up high with the bass in this, I'm just like, I listen, this is one of the very few songs where I like stopped and and clicked back and was like listening to itand going, what the fuck is he doing, dude? Like, I don't know anybody that can play that shit. I've met a few bass players in my day, but just so smooth and so cool, I mean, I loved it. [1:05:51] The only other thing I will say about this song is that the lyrics and the vocal phrasing by Gord, and I say this and I feel like people hate me for saying this, but if they hate methen they're not true Canadians, because it's very much a lot of Alanis phrasing the way Gord sings the lyrics on this. I listened to Jagged Little Pill last night, as a matter of fact, on vinyl. It's a fucking record that still stands up so great. But yeah, anyway, very much got some Atlantis vibes with the phrasing on it. It was a great song. So wild that you hear Atlantis all the time. Oh, I love that. It's Atlantis and Michael Stipe. I think those are the most referenced singers. [1:06:45] Yeah Yeah, that's far out let's keep moving so with leave JD did you ever hear this one live? Do you recall? I don't recall. No, I just this is this was definitely one right away I was like, oh, this is probably great life you know, I just I go there so often just because I've been to so many shows and I know theSerotonin boosts that you have when you leave a concert or hear a song you love, you know it's just this this one was me reaching for that um it felt uh oh just introspective anddeliberative and it it i the only thing about it is kind of towards the end i felt like it could go another minute you know i felt like we could have and have had another verse in there if it's ifthere's a live version of it being longer or if they mix it up because this song just compositionally felt like there was opportunity to play around and change it a little bit so it's I thought itwas a pretty cool song. How about you Pete? I thought it was really cool. I mean the way it started was very like spacey and mm-hmm like almost like Wait, what? [1:08:10] Did my Spotify malfunction or whatever? Like it couldn't have happened before with CDs, but really, the way it's like a shuffle, it kind of feels like a shuffle, you know, the waythe beat is. And the phrasing again, this is another one where Gord's phrasing is super, super diverse. [1:08:36] The chords are really... I got some heavy Stone Temple Pilots vibes. Oh, totally. Completely. Yeah. Really? Like, those guys from... I think I was almost going like Alice in Chains or something. There was something in there from the 90s. 100%. 100%. There's a part where Paul Langlois' guitar comes in, and the song, it starts to form, And there's a line that says, a routine flight for this bird tonight, more worms for earth in the afterlife. [1:09:15] Like, what the fuck, dude? Look at that. After that line, the song just like explodes open. [1:09:26] I love the chorus. It's just, yeah, I'm not displeased with this song at all. There's nothing. I'm trying not to wrap up the whole album, but you know, if you guys haven't figured out already, I really liked this album. There's not much negative shit I can say about it. So if you're looking for negative shit, just turn off the podcast and wait. Or just call me, you know, I have throat pain. Because this next one, if we can get into it. Yeah. Yeah. A beautiful thing. You know, it's kind of this cute start sing-along-y feeling. Definitely XTC. Definitely R.E.M. You know, like it's the bridge, the guitar solo kind of bridge that happens in there. When I heard that, I was like, oh, what happened? This song, it was the first time I heard it, I couldn't finish it. This was one of the few songs that this has happened to me. And I was like, God damn it. Here's the song that I need to talk about that it took me a handful of times to get through because it just, it wasn't a beautiful thing for me. It was, uh, I just, I just, I know I was totally questioning it. It was like, are they, were they trying to make a wedding song or like, what is, what is this song? I was like, what the fuck? This didn't need to be on the album. It just kind of... [1:10:52] Sorry, sorry hip fans. Yeah, I mean I hope you guys don't kick me off the pod, but this one I was like FF fast-forward with next week. We'll be joined by just We found Tom from Seattle who's gonna join us next week we sent him a supply of happy pills and Definitely told him he's not allowed to have any indica beforehe gets on the pod Tim, I felt you with this, man. I mean, here's the thing, though. At first I felt you with this and I was like, I started listening to some more and I was fucking love this. First thing I like, I thought this was the father daughter song when I heard it first. [1:11:42] But the three, four, this is a dance song. You can, there's definitely people, There's the guy, you know, with his arms behind. Somebody or the girl on his shoulders or whatever it is, swaying back and forth with this song at the concert. 100,000 percent. The chorus is super strong. The way they go, Beautiful thing. Toot toot toot. Exactly. This is the second song I've noted that I think Rob Baker switched out as his pick-up song. God, I, I, I, I, I, I, I hesitate to scour the internet for, for those, um, you know, when the musicians do those pedal reviews or they're like, it's like the Amoeba what's in your bag thing. Often like interview guitar players and be like, what's on your pedal board? Or like, what's the kind of guitar you're using? And like, I know if I find one of Rob Baker, my life's over. Cause I'm going to be like, Hmm, spending more money on shit. [1:12:49] I thought this song was a beautiful song, just fucking awesome to be cheesy and tie it up that way. It's basically one of three of the fewest listens on the album. I know Spotify isn't everything, but I take it as, you know, a guiding point. The last three songs are the three least listened to on this album. So and I felt like the album did take a little bit of a turn for me with that. All right. Well, let's move on to Dire Wolf then. Um, dude, drums, opening lick, a guitar solo, fucking clean as hell. It, it, it, it, this is going to sound weird, I got to phrase this properly. Because the opening, these last two songs are really unique because they change so much. The first part of the song made me feel like I'm going to phrase it properly. [1:14:00] Like I was in a wheat field during a cold, a cool summer day. The opening was so cool. I think Pauline Waas is opening up with the guitar. And this seems certainly like a Gord Downie Canadianism song, lyrically is it? Yeah, big time. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And what I want to know, Gord talking about what he loves themost, his country. And I wrote this down because I was thinking about it driving home yesterday. And it almost brought me to tears listening to this song. So I was like, dude, what a gift. [1:14:43] Sorry to get all serious for a second, like what a fucking gift this guy was to his country. Absolutely. I never got it before. Like my friend Barb, who I talked about earlier, I was making a joke about. Barb? Barb, yeah. And then you, JD, and then other people in my life who've mentioned The Hip to me have been super passionate. I'm just like, it's almost kind of like, God, okay. Hey, I just didn't get it. And this is a song where it just really hits home. And the more research I do about the band, the more I get into them, the more I look at interviews with Gord, I'm just like, like, I don't think Americans have anything as an equivalentbecause I know there was that hockey, the guy on like SportsCenter Canadian Hockey who said like, you know, If you took Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, all those things, you know, thatquote, JD? Yeah. Yeah. Like you'd like sort of get like what? Because like, yeah, we don't have that. Like this guy had plenty of criticisms for his government. But at the end of the day, it was like a really unifying force for Canada. [1:15:57] I don't know, man. This song just got me all fucking weebly eyed and loved it. That's awesome. I mean, I agree with all that. I feel like this song you could easily write a 15-page dissertation about there's so maybe 150 like there's so much in here this to me was another song that could be a movie or a book Idon't know. This song is so loaded and, you know, it's... [1:16:31] I don't know. It's just quite poetic. I could go on about the lyrics or things I looked up and all the literature references. I mean, it's just it's too much to even get into but I feel like there's also this yin-yang sort of to the song with the music versus the lyrics like it's the music to me at times feels like I don'twant to say pretty or cute, but the music has kind of this positive feel while the lyrics are kind of out here on their own. It's wild. It's just a huge song. And I agree with you, Pete, on Gord versus all of our USA stars. [1:17:20] You know, just this last weekend, the Boss played in Portland, and I saw lots of footage of the Boss playing live at our arena and, you know, sold out show, of course. And we have one close friend who is a major Bruce Bringsing fan, like flies all over the place to see him and all that. [1:17:43] And just in watching, I mean, I get them musically and everything, and I've read up on Bruce and his whole upbringing and his struggle to success and watch his interview withObama and all those things, but at the same time, I'm like, this is nothing comparative with Gord in his lyrics and what he goes after. He's not talking about the struggle of just working at the factory. Talking about like that all the way back to hundreds of years before and you know just it's, it's so much more and i commented on this a little bit ago but there are a couple pods ago butwhen i met with a couple fairly important indie rock dudes in portland and mentioned i was doing this they didn't know either like they both had not still i mean guys our age not listenedto the tragically hip and when I mentioned that they're, you know, this beloved facet to the country of Canada and how just how important they are, you know, they didn't really even getthat because who do we talk about in that regard? Elvis? I don't know. All these all these different things that that just don't measure up to me. [1:19:06] But even so too, you're right, Tim, because like you can sit there and say that about any other country on the planet. Yeah. You could probably say that about Spain. You could say that about Japan. You could say that about South Korea or China or all these places. Oh, they're really big there. But literally, it's right next door to the roof of the United States. And the fact that those indie rock gods, who I know you're talking about, had no idea who the hip were. I was just fucking... I mean, they do, but they absolutely don't. Right, yeah,exactly. [1:19:38] You know, like if I could have played a song right then and there, in the moment, before even mentioning them, and said, who do you guys think this is? They would have gone like, oh, this is maybe something from the 90s I glossed over, because, you know, just, I'm not sure. Maybe I was too into, you know, rare indie rock during that decade, I don't know. It feels like something I skipped over and that's exactly I think what has happened with the hip in the US but to circle back up also on this album and the production of it and you HughPadgham, I don't know why I'm tripping on my Little knowledge of Italian when I see his name, which is not Italian Hugh Padgham when I look at you know of his signature statement onthis album, I think, this is O2, and this is another grasp at getting a global audience, like really trying to get people outside of Canada to embrace these guys who have this super specialthing going. I think by this time, the band is, I don't think it's the band, the machine might've been that way, but I think the band at this point where they're making records. [1:20:57] And they hope as many people hear them as possible, but like, you know. But from a producer standpoint, a producer can definitely be going for that. I mean, if someone's gonna sign their name as I produce this album, especially in this era of still going for album sales, I feel like there's a bit of that on this one. And I thought when I heard the whole album, I thought, okay, we're probably getting a little bit more raw on the next album. We're probably getting a little bit more Tiger the Lion. I hope, you know, there's gonna be another turn and that's kind of in the wave of listening to the hip so far as we started off like all over the place and then we found some roots where wewere just like flowing through and then there's some highway changes, you know, so much of this has been about life on the road and we're hearing all the different examples in thedifferent decades of time, so. [1:22:06] It's a fucking cool experience. I love you guys! And to sew it up, the guitar solo just really puts you in an emotional tailspin at the end of this tune. And by the way, I looked it up while we were earlier when we were chatting, Hugh Pagin did in fact produce Synchronicity. [1:22:29] I think it's that record. I think it's that one. Yeah, he did. And he skipped the exam and he had to go to summer school as a result. So it was like such a good record just for that record. All right, let's wrap up this record with the Dark Canuck. [1:26:42] Okay, I loved this song because it's two different songs, if you haven't noticed. It's not the same song. I mean, I don't know what to say about this song. I focus mostly on like, how the song starts off with like just a simple four-four beat and then it goes, like I spent most of the timelistening to the song trying to figure out what the time signatures were because they were just so random. And I think I boiled it down to it goes 6-4 and then for every phrase it goes 6-4 and then 2-4 and it just repeats. [1:27:35] Goes, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. [1:27:40] 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3,4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1 playing like this really cool licks, like, I don't know, harmonic minor shit. And just, it's just, they just, I don't know, maybe they didn't know they had like, okay, well, we got one more song we're gonna throw on the record. What do you guys wanna do? Let's just fucking... It's just taking a bunch of paint, throw it against the fucking wall and see what happens. Yes, yes. And they got a fucking awesome song, dude. It is a trip of a song. I can listen to this song a thousand times. It's a fucking cool tune. Honestly, it was the kind of the one I was waiting for in that same regard, you know. Right away, this was another one where I was like, oof, right away, oof, this is a banger life. Lucky people got to hear this one live. Oh yeah, for sure. I mean, there's, and then this huge transition halfway through, yeah. Two songs feel, it felt like we just moved into a new song. It was just shoved into us. We went from, I have this note, we went from, um, the idea of a soldier returning home to feeling like we're on a bad holiday, like it just, it's just full of like facesmacking. [1:29:08] I don't know. It's just the build-ups and this felt like, okay, Hugh's gone, guys, let's finally report on Canucco. Well said, well said. You know, they finally got what they wanted to do. And I really adored that 30-second drum machine ending, whatever that was, like, I just thought it was cool. I was like, okay, I'm gonna keep going with the podcast because a couple songs ago, I was like, what do I send JD an email what do I do oh no just kidding no this one was fun it was itwas i, i longed for gourd to sing more angrily which is why i thought about you know the live version of this but um yet i should say it was just still just worked right and uh, it was kindof like a Whew, okay, there's Envy. I didn't know what a Canuck was. I didn't know what a Canuck was until I looked it up with this song. I just thought they were a fucking hockey team. Wow. What is a Canuck? I don't know that I know. It's like a lumberjack, right? No, it's just a term for a Canadian person, I think. Yeah, it's a derogatory term. I don't know that it's derogatory. I think it's just a slang. It's like Yankee for a, you know? [1:30:34] Yeah, that's the way I've always heard it. People call us Yankees here a lot. That's the way I've always heard Canuck. Yeah. Yeah, that's what I thought too, you made me think it was, you made me doubt myself. That's a good trick. I don't think it's derogatory or anything, it's just... No, I don't think so. This is a more fun way of saying Canadian. Where did you land on the record, like overall? Like Pete, I think it's pretty clear, you really enjoyed it, but you started out not enjoying it, but now it's a grower. I mean, I definitely had some speed bumps through it. And yeah, a little more than usual, I would say. But also like, you know, still, still really liking this exercise and hearing a band's evolution. It's so interesting. And overall, just for me personally, it's like this album and the way it's different than others. [1:31:38] It just makes me commend just general artistic decision-making and direction and the way people do things. I mean, it's interesting. All of my kind of feedback and sentiment over this album was like, it's still just valid to be out in the music space of life for people to see and hear, you know. [1:32:07] It's yeah yeah well what is your MVP track what song are you putting on your playlist Pete did I steal your thunder did you have kind of a album wrap-up statement oh no no nono no no you didn't so much okay, I I loved it man I I just. I don't know. Sorry, I was talking earlier, but the band's really become important to me. Like, I really like this band a lot, man. Oh, that's amazing. It's fucking... It's just, it's become... [1:32:47] And this record, I think, made me realize it. Especially because when I first started listening, I didn't like it. Right. Yeah. I took it into different parts. I think part of that is also we're doing the week over week and it's a crash course, so it's really hard. It's not a natural way to learn to like a band. Yeah. It's almost like, I don't want to say this in negative way, J.D., but it's almost like torture. It's like programming. No, think about it. Imagine it's like you're in. [1:33:18] A German prison in 1939 and you're being told to agree to all this stuff. And you're like, OK, all right, yeah, OK, I agree to it. Eventually, you start believing it. I know that's a really poor example. My apologies if anybody's offended. That's not what my intention was. My intention is to be like, it's very forceful. And so that being said, it's not natural the way I'm liking this band. But at the same time, the evolution, When I start listening to the record, then how much love I have for this band is just, it's a cool thing in and of itself. Very, very cool. It's just so cool to step back. I don't know, sorry, I'm rambling, but. No, not at all. No, I dig it. It's cool to step back and look at how much, how cool this band is. I concur, I concur. So what are your MVP tracks for this record? What song will you take away? [1:34:27] Drumroll... Hmm, I'm not quite sure. I'm gonna go, you know, I'm gonna go with the ender, the Dark Canuck. I'm gonna go with that one. It was a bit of a release for me to get to that song and hear it and hear it through. And it also made me want to listen to the album again to run through it. So this was a little bit of a saver for me. And, you know, the transition was wacky and there's been a couple songs I forget. I think the second or third album there was kind of a wackylittle bit of a different song that I chose. I should go back and remember which one that was. But yeah, I love less produced, more hip is kind of just what I keep seeking. I want that raw kind of flavor of the hip and I want, I just want to hear more of that. I, overall, I mean, I really liked, there's a couple on here that were really strong, like Silver Jet totally has its place, but I'll go with the end one, the Dark Canuck. All right, your mix is going to be pretty wild. Yeah, I think that's okay. [1:35:41] Of course, I'll let you guys. Oh, go ahead. No, go ahead, man. I was just going to say, can I just copy and paste the record? Just drop this shit. I don't know, man. I don't want to make a decision. Pete's playlist from every album of the entire catalog, folks. You can find that on the album in Violet Byte. Dude, it's a hard thing. All I will say is, and it would probably change, But just because I just pictured so much like seeing it live, like, use it up to use it up. If that fucking song was played live, especially when again, when Gordon hits that octave. Yes. Oh, my God, dude. I just feel the injection of nitrous oxide for energy that must have gone into a crowd when he hit that second verse or whatever, whatever the party sings it. [1:36:41] Fucking Christ Almighty, dude. Sorry, just. I so hate myself for never getting to see this band live. I got it. It's a huge I live my life. Not a lot of regrets, but that's one of them. Hey, which is in part, very exciting to go to the JD. Here's your plug. Oh, yeah. Well, you'll get to see a facsimile of them. Yeah, simile. Obviously, you know, tribute bands are, you know, your mileage may vary with tribute bands, but the tragically have a distinct place in this country. And there is, you know, there are a lot of really great hip tribute bands out there. There are a lot. I think we've got, you know, one of the best though for our event. And again, that's going to be Friday, September 1st, and tickets are $40. And you get to watch the finale of this podcast go live. And then you get a hip concert, a 50 Mission concert, I should say. We have a comedian. There's not alcohol there, is there? There will be booze, yeah. Oh, I'm going to stay away from the beer, because if they play, if by chance this band plays Use It Up, and I'm three beers deep, I'm going to get the fucking 86,dude. We need a sidebar conversation about that. I've had ideas too. I've had ideas too. [1:38:07] Well, we're going to have a comedian that night also. And I think maybe this part of the silent auction, I think maybe we need some sort of, this is so cheesy, but maybe we need some sort of, you know, gift basket from Portland and giftbasket from Malaga. So maybe, you know, let's bring something, Let's bring something from the homelands. Yeah, let's bring something from the homelands. I can't bring my own because it's gonna... You could also fake it, you know. Yeah, I'll just fly it at the airport. But man, that's gonna be such a fun event. And as we're climbing out of winter, I know this isn't being broadcasted, pushed to the world in winter, but as we're climbing out of winter here in Portland, I'm really excited about theend of August happening. What date's the event again, JD? September 1st, Friday, September 1st. September 1st, people. I can't wait dude. Use it up. It's gonna be fucking great. Use it all up. Can I just say that if anybody wants to talk gear, look for the guy with the glasses and the fake nose and the fake mustache. [1:39:25] If anybody needs to come over and slug me in the arm, just warn me. You know, if I dissed one of your songs, I'll take a hug instead. Yeah, these guys have done a yeoman's duty here, you know, taking on this task, although for most of us, we're like, task? I listen to, you know, a hip-hop record a week anyway. But you know, the way you guys are doing this is really great, and I'm really, I'm just fucking amped that you're getting into it. So that's real cool. Thanks, JD. It's a gift. It truly is a gift. It truly is a gift. I've told you this before in private messages, but it's a gift. So thanks, man. Thanks, Canada. Pleasure. Thanks, Tragically Hip. Well, on that note, we'll bid you all adieu. Anything you want to wrap up on, folks? I'm just looking for the next one. We're going to jump into a whole nother album, Pete. You ready? Can't wait. Are you ready? [1:40:33] Alright guys, thanks so much. Talk to you next week. Thanks JD. See you guys. Pick up your shit. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/tthtop40/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The Tragically Hip On Shuffle - Live Stream: Wheat KingsA campfire singalong that's secretly about a wrongful conviction, a cassette thrown out a car window, and a tiny Eiffel Tower in Saskatchewan.EPISODE SUMMARY This week on The Tragically Hip On Shuffle - Live Stream, the wheel landed on 'Wheat Kings', and I had a couple of Andrews riding shotgun to break it down. This is the song the whole country sings around a campfire without ever clocking that it's about David Milgaard, wrongfully convicted of the murder of Gail Miller and imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit.Andrew from Winnipeg brought the timeline receipts (Kim Campbell, the CBC, the wild detail that Milgaard walked free in April 1992, months before "Fully Completely" even dropped) plus a story about his mom chucking the cassette out the car window somewhere in the Alberta mountains. Andrew from Tampa brought the live recording from The Fillmore, October 24, 2000, and the case for 'Wheat Kings' as a pure summertime staple. We get into the loon that cost the band a donation to Ducks Unlimited, the Zippo lighter, Paris of the Prairies (and the 28-foot Eiffel Tower in Montmartre, Saskatchewan). If you love The Tragically Hip, Gord Downie, and a Canadian rock podcast that treats a deep cut like it earns the attention, this one runs deep.GUESTSAndrew from Tampa joined by audio through a Florida thunderstorm and came armed with the Fillmore recording that scored tonight's listen. A devoted Hip fan stateside, he makes the case for the band as a summertime constant and named 'Emperor Penguin' as his favourite album-closer, a song he rations for the days he really needs it.Andrew from Winnipeg is a setlist.fm obsessive, a Crooked Ice bandmate (their album release show is June 4), and host of the weekly Radiohead deep-dive podcast Head Full of Radio. He also runs a weekly show on UMFM. His favourite Hip closer is 'Put It Off', and 'Wheat Kings' carries a complicated, personal weight he opened up about on air.Andrew from Tampa: "Is it about what it's talking about, or is it the way it's made millions of people feel?"RESOURCES, LINKS & REFERENCESThe Hip Handbook, used live to pull the tracking numbers (around 1,350 shows logged, 332 'Wheat Kings'performances). thehiphandbook.tthpods.comSetlist history via Hipbase (primary) and setlist.fm (secondary): first played in Saskatoon, July 27, 1991. The Fillmore, October 24, 2000 performance, shared by Andrew from Tampa from a YouTube upload. Hat tip to the tapers and seeders who preserve this stuff, and to The Tragically Hip Archive for the broader live-recording work.David Milgaard case timeline referenced on air via CBC and Wikipedia.The 'Heksenketel' tour video, which shipped with one of the box sets.The loon and the Ducks Unlimited donation: traced on air to the documentary and a Robby Baker radio interview (see verification note below).YOUTUBE CHAPTERS 00:00 - Welcome, and tonight's imaginary sponsors 02:15 - Weird Winnipeg bylaws 03:13 - The tale of the tape: 'Wheat Kings' by the numbers 05:26 - This week's poll: the 5% who tolerate it 07:31 - The Fillmore, October 24, 2000 09:01 - 'Wheat Kings' 12:56 - Your favourite last-song-on-an-album 17:56 - Hearing it the first time, and the cassette out the car window 19:45 - The ultimate campfire song 22:42 - The loon, and a cheque to Ducks Unlimited 24:06 - Museums, prime ministers, and vivid visuals 25:30 - The Pretty Things and a Copperpenny cover 26:51 - David Milgaard, Gail Miller, and the timeline 32:48 - First played in Saskatoon, 1991 37:11 - Paris of the Prairies (and a tiny Eiffel Tower) 40:55 - Don't forget Gail Miller 43:19 - The killer's face in the Zippo 45:23 - The 'Heksenketel' video and the box sets 46:37 - A complicated, personal love for the song 50:28 - Thanking the Andrews, and next week's shuffle: 'Country Day' 54:05 - Plugs: Crooked Ice and Head Full of Radio 56:37 - Outro and creditsHey There!Want a seat at the table on a Wednesday night? Sign up to be a panelist. Explore 1,358 mapped shows and search every lyric in the Hip Handbook.CLOSING Huge thanks to Andrew from Tampa for digging up that Fillmore recording, and to Andrew from Winnipeg for the timeline work and for trusting us with something personal. Next Wednesday the wheel spins again and lands on 'Country Day', the closer from "We Are the Same", keeping our accidental run of great last-songs alive. The takeaway from this one: a song can outgrow the tragedy that made it, but it should never outrun the people inside it.PROMOS & CROSSLINKSTTHTop40 Countdown #17 - 'Wheat Kings' (with Jillian), the countdown episode that ranked this one. Fully & Completely: Redux - "Fully Completely", the track-by-track on the whole record. Get Yer Letter in your inbox. → subscribe.tthpods.comSOCIAL & COMMUNITY Facebook group: community.tthpods.com | Instagram: @tthpods | YouTube: youtube.com/@tthpods | Email: jd@tthpods.com #TheTragicallyHip #TheHip #FullyCompletely #GordDownie #TTHOnShuffle #InGordWeTrustSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/tthtop40/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The Tragically Hip On Shuffle - Live Stream: 'Let's Stay Engaged'The Tragically Hip On Shuffle - Live Stream: 'Let's Stay Engaged'jD, Alan from Federal Way, and Justin from Bridport unpack 'Let's Stay Engaged' from "Trouble at the Hen House" - and the band's new live album announcement.Episode SummaryThe shuffle lands on 'Let's Stay Engaged', track 10 from The Tragically Hip's 1996 record "Trouble at the Hen House" - a non-single that lived almost exclusively as an encore (19 of 25 live plays). jD welcomes Alan from Federal Way and Justin from Bridport for a wide-ranging live stream that travels well past the song itself.The panel opens on favourite last tracks across the discography, with Alan championing 'Country Day' and Justin making the case for 'Machine' as the band's final gift. The conversation moves through the Hip Handbook - the newly-launched free fan resource at thehiphandbook.tthpods.com - and into a wider question about why American audiences took so long to catch on. Alan, a self-described one-of-the-few who got it from his first SNL viewing, offers a heartfelt thesis on the band's pull.The hour also covers the band's just-announced 10-year anniversary live album (July 22 - August 20), the missing 'Grace, Too' from that tracklist, the Seattle studio where "In Between Evolution" was recorded, and the upcoming 'Gift Shop' concert event in Vancouver on August 20. Next week's shuffle lands on 'Coffee Girl' from "We Are The Same."Guest InformationAlan from Federal Way is a longtime Tragically Hip fan in the Seattle area who works at a cable company in West Seattle. A self-professed American superfan since the band's SNL appearance, Alan brings 63 years of music listening and a 24,000-song iPhone to the conversation. Find him on Twitter @AlanKCarver.Justin from Bridport is the host of his own corner of the TTH community and a sprint car racer with the Sprint Cars of New England. His season opener runs May 24 at Glen Ridge Motorsports Park in Fultonville, NY. Find the series at nesprintcars.com.Resources and LinksThe Hip Handbook - thehiphandbook.tthpods.comTTHTop40 Countdown - the full 169-song rankingHipbase - hipbase.comHipMuseum - hipmuseum.comThis Is Our Life - the TTH Archivesetlist.fm - tour and setlist historySprint Cars of New England - nesprintcars.comJoin the panel - submit at panel.tthtop40.com to take a seat at a future On Shuffle live stream.CloseA fan-first conversation, a song that lived in the encore slot, and a panel that proved Tragically Hip community knows no border. Tune in next week for 'Coffee Girl'.CrosslinksGetting Hip to The Hip - the entry point for new fansTTHTop40 Countdown - the SiriusXM Tragically Hip Radio showA Forest Of Whispering Speakers - the new documentary series on the musical "It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken"The Tragically Hip Podcast Series - home.tthpods.comSocials and HashtagsFind The Tragically Hip Podcast Series on Facebook, Instagram, X, and Bluesky. Tag posts with: #TheTragicallyHip #TTHPods #OnShuffle #TroubleAtTheHenHouse #LetsStayEngaged #HipHandbookSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/tthtop40/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

A Forest Of Whispering Speakers - The BookTwo writers. Ten years of trust. One Tragically Hip catalogue. Episode two is the story of how the book got written without flattening the band.Episode SummaryA Forest Of Whispering Speakers is the oral history of the Theatre Aquarius world premiere of It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken, the new musical built on the music of The Tragically Hip. Act II: The Book is the writers' room episode — how an exile's journey gets shaped into a story, and how Hip songs become the emotional grammar of that story without ever turning it into a band biography or a jukebox musical.Host jD sits down with co-writers Ahmed Moneka and Jesse LaVercombe, with producer Michael Rubinoff and Tragically Hip manager Jake Gold stepping in to frame the bigger picture. The episode opens at a campfire in Prince Edward County in 2015, traces the ten-year partnership that built King Gilgamesh and the Man of the Wild at Soulpepper, and lands on the two different doors each writer walked through to find The Hip — one across a bridge in Bobcaygeon, the other watching Gord say goodbye from south of the border.Inside the episode: the load-bearing wall of a decade-long friendship, the yin-yang of Ahmed's exile and Jesse's grief, a Thornton Wilder quote about platitudes, and a working theory that 700 people in a theatre cannot lie to you at once.Guest InfoAhmed Moneka (Toronto, via Baghdad) — Co-writer of It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken. Iraqi-Canadian actor, singer, and writer. Co-creator of King Gilgamesh and the Man of the Wild.Jesse LaVercombe (Toronto, via the United States) — Co-writer of It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken. Writer and performer. Co-creator of King Gilgamesh and the Man of the Wild.Michael Rubinoff — Producer, It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken. Originating producer of Come From Away.Jake Gold — Manager, The Tragically Hip.Resources & LinksTheatre Aquarius — It's a Good Life If You Don't WeakenKing Gilgamesh and the Man of the Wild — Soulpepper TheatreDriftwood Theatre — Shakespeare in the Park, Southern OntarioThe Hip Compendium - compendium.tthpods.comHipbaseHipMuseumThis Is Our LifeThe Tragically Hip ArchiveCalls to ActionSee the show. It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken runs at Theatre Aquarius in Hamilton through May 16, 2026. Tickets at tickets.tthpods.com.Explore The Hip Compendium — 1,358 mapped live shows, full discography, On This Day, and more at compendium.tthpods.com.Closing ParagraphThanks to Ahmed Moneka and Jesse LaVercombe for the time, the candour, and the campfire story. Thanks to Michael Rubinoff and Jake Gold for the framing. Act II is the writers' room. Act III: The Craft drops Monday, May 18 — the design team, the orchestrator, the choreographer, and the people who turn the page into a stage. So there's that.Promos & CrosslinkspodList 7 - "the classics" drops Friday, May 15. Eighteen tracks of 1987–1995 era covers, including intentional duplicate covers of 'Nautical Disaster' and 'Fiddler's Green'.Previous episode: A Forest Of Whispering Speakers - Act I: The IdeaCompanion listening: The Tragically Hip On Shuffle - Live Stream, Wednesdays 8 PM ETSocials & CommunityFacebook group: community.tthpods.comInstagram: @tthpodsYouTube: youtube.com/@tthpodsEmail: jd@tthpods.com #TheTragicallyHip #TheHip #ItsAGoodLifeIfYouDontWeaken #TheatreAquarius #AhmedMoneka #JesseLaVercombeSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/tthtop40/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The Tragically Hip On Shuffle - Live Stream: Looking For A Place To HappenA Halifax 2015 live cut, a 40-person Off Ramp show in 1991, and a panel that pulls the deep American Hipstory out of "Fully Completely."Episode OverviewThis week on The Tragically Hip On Shuffle, host jD spins 'Looking For A Place To Happen' - track two from the 1992 Chris Tsangarides-produced "Fully Completely." It is the sequencer's burden to live between 'Courage' and 'At The Hundredth Meridian,' and the panel is here to figure out what it's hauling.The roundtable is a North American one this time. Dave from Montreal joins jD alongside two lifelong friends and bandmates, Greg from Tacoma and Chris from Seattle, who have been playing music together since 1981 and watching The Tragically Hip every chance they got. Greg's first Hip show was a 40-person night at The Off Ramp in 1991, opening for The Sundays, where Gord opened 'Looking For A Place To Happen' with a frogman-for-the-cops story instead of a killer-whale-tank one. Chris saw The Hip up close at the Under The Rail and watched Gord catch a flying beer mid-line without missing a beat.The conversation runs deep. The panel reads the song as a great Canadian travelogue working on multiple levels at once - the Jacques Cartier exterior, the interior landscape of a songwriter and a touring band looking for places to happen, and the foreshadowing of what would later become Gord's most public work around indigenous rights. There is talk of bootleg pre-shows, the legendary monologues that never made the record, the 'plaintive plaintive whale' outro that lives only in old recordings, and the beautiful curse of being the eleventh-best song on a record this good.The opener question this week was favourite last song on a Hip album. Dave goes with 'Emperor Penguin' from "Phantom Power" - heard on Saint Laurent at midnight after grabbing a tape from Sam The Record Man, and only ever heard live once, in Quebec City on the We Are The Same tour. Chris picks 'The Wherewithal' from "Live Between Us," recorded at Cobo Arena in Detroit, where he could throw a rock and hit Windsor as a kid. Greg represents the Northwest with 'Goodnight Josephine' from "In Between Evolution," recorded in his rainy hometown.Songs come up for a reason.Quick Facts: Looking For A Place To HappenAlbum: "Fully Completely" (1992)Track: 2 of 12Producer: Chris TsangaridesFirst live performance: February 4, 1991Last live performance: October 15, 2015TTHTop40 Countdown ranking: #35 (of 169 tracks)Live version featured on the stream: Halifax, 2015 (Fully And Completely tour)PanelistsDave from Montreal A Tragically Hip fan since the band came calling on much music. Quebec City regular, lifelong Stones fan, and the writer of a viral 2016 National Post piece on The Hip's final tour. Find him on Instagram and Bluesky as dave.kaufman (spelled like Andy), and read his work at therover.ca, including a feature on Buffalo's Strictly Hip and Quebec City's francophone tribute band, Gracefully Hip.Greg from Tacoma Lifelong Pacific Northwest musician and one half of Hades Market alongside his wife Liz. The band is named after his grandparents' grocery store in Mud Bay, Olympia. Find Hades Market on all the streaming services.Chris from Seattle Singer, songwriter, and guitarist with Seattle band Loud Flowers, who released two new EPs in April plus a 2024 full-length. Previously fronted Shadow Band The Civilians, which featured Steve Nieve from Elvis Costello's band. Visit loudflowers.band.Resources & ReferencesHipbase: hipbase.comThe Hip Museum: thehipmuseum.comThis Is Our Life: thisisourlife.caSetlist.fm: setlist.fmThe Tragically Hip Archive: archive.thehip.comThe Hip Compendium: compendium.tthpods.comTimestamps00:00 - Welcome to The Tragically Hip On Shuffle live stream02:24 - Meet the panel: Dave from Montreal, Greg from Tacoma, Chris from Seattle06:18 - Tale of the tape: 'Looking For A Place To Happen,' "Fully Completely," Chris Tsangarides07:47 - Listening session: Halifax 2015 live version13:39 - The plaintive whale outro and the dual lead vocal with Gord Sinclair14:41 - Greg's compliment for jD and the eight-show podcast network16:14 - Favourite last song on an album: Dave picks 'Emperor Penguin'18:50 - Chris picks 'The Wherewithal' from "Live Between Us" at Cobo Arena24:35 - Greg picks 'Goodnight Josephine' from "World Container"25:39 - First impressions of 'Looking For A Place To Happen'29:46 - Dave on the burden of living between 'Courage' and 'Hundredth Meridian'33:43 - Greg's 1991 Off Ramp show and the frogman-for-the-cops monologue36:32 - Bootleg memories and the porter-on-a-steamship monologue37:50 - The double suicide cassette and Gord as improviser40:40 - The eye contact, the ebb and flow, and being in the show45:43 - The exploration reading: a band becoming a great touring band47:38 - Putting Down, indigenous Canada, and reading Gord in retrospect49:38 - The notebook, the four coloured pens, and the Rosetta Stone51:08 - Dave's Quebec City night with Gord at the bar55:00 - Songs that grow with you, eight years of podcasts, and the headroom in The Hip's catalogue1:02:38 - Next week's shuffle: 'Game Day' from "Trouble At The Henhouse"1:03:33 - Plugs: Dave Kaufman, Hades Market, Loud FlowersComing UpNext week, the shuffle machine spins 'Let's Stay Engaged' from "Trouble At The Henhouse." Cast a vote in the community group, and come hang in the chat live next Wednesday.Stay ConnectedFacebook Community: community.tthpods.comInstagram: instagram.com/tthpodsYouTube: youtube.com/@tthpodsTickets & Events: tickets.tthpods.comThe Hip Compendium: compendium.tthpods.comGet Yer LetterHip news, album anniversaries, episode recaps, and early previews delivered every month. Subscribe and get a free copy of The Complete Hip Discography v6.0.Subscribe: subscribe.tthpods.com#TheTragicallyHip #TTHOnShuffle #FullyCompletely #GordDownie #CanadianRock #TragicallyHipPodcastThe Tragically Hip On Shuffle is part of The Tragically Hip Podcast Series - Est. 2018. New episodes every Wednesday at 8 PM ET, live on YouTube.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/tthtop40/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The panel digs into a quiet, jammy deep cut from "In Violet Light" - and finds a father-daughter scene, a Bahamas-recorded slow burn, and one of the most conversational lyrics in the catalogue.Episode OverviewThis week on The Tragically Hip On Shuffle, host jD pulls 'Throwing Off Glass' - track six from the 2002 Hugh Padgham-produced "In Violet Light." Joining the virtual campfire are returning panelists Adam from Tampa, Andrew from Winnipeg, and Tyler from Etobicoke, who bring opening picks for favourite last song on a Hip album: 'Opiated,' 'The New Maybe,' and a tie between 'Impossibility' and 'Machine.'The conversation lands on a song that rewards a closer listen. The panel reads it as Gord in the car with his daughter, watching stoop-shouldered teens on a corner, trading new vocabulary back and forth - exquisite, iridescent, barbarous threats. Andrew points out the song feels jammed into existence rather than written, with the title phrase landing like a riff Gord caught on the fly. Adam zeroes in on the heartbreak underneath the scene: a dad clocking that his kid is on her way to a world he can't shield her from.Key Discussion PointsSequencing on vinyl versus streaming, and why the song lands differently as the closer of side AThe "Coke Machine Glow" connection: 'Trick Rider' as a possible companion piece, and the broader fatherhood thread running through Gord's writing in this eraHugh Padgham's production approach and the band's decision to record the album in The Bahamas after the workshopped sessions of "Music @ Work"The song's life on the "Men with Brooms" soundtrack alongside Sarah Harmer, Kathleen Edwards, Our Lady Peace, and Big SugarLive history: first played at the "In Violet Light" release party at the Hard Rock Cafe on Yonge Street, retired August 12, 2016 in Toronto on the Man Machine Poem tourPaul's understated electric work on the final tour performance, and Gord's whispered "true story" tag at the endSong of the Week ResultsOf 500 votes cast on 'Throwing Off Glass':56% loved it28% liked it9% tolerated it5% skipped it2% had never heard itComing Up Next WeekThe shuffle landed on 'Looking For a Place to Happen' for the next episode.A new podcast in The Tragically Hip Podcast Series, A Forest Of Whispering Speakers, premieres April 30th. The 6-episode series goes inside the Theatre Aquarius world premiere of The Tragically Hip musical "It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken." Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.podList 7: The ClassicsSubmissions are open for podList 7 - "The Classics," a fan cover compilation of TTH songs from 1987-1995 spanning the EP through "Day for Night." The submission deadline is April 30, with the compilation dropping May 15. Send tracks to jd@tthpods.com or submit via podlist.tthpods.com.ConnectWebsite: tthpods.comNewsletter: Yer Letter at tthpods.comForum: forum.tthpods.comHip Compendium: compendium.tthpods.comEmail: jd@tthpods.comCreditsHosted by jD. Panelists: Adam from Tampa, Andrew from Winnipeg, Tyler from Etobicoke. Part of The Tragically Hip Podcast Series.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/tthtop40/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

A Forest Of Whispering Speakers - The IdeaA new musical featuring the music of The Tragically Hip is about to open in Hamilton. Episode one is the story of how it got there - from one phone call to a world premiere.Episode summaryA Forest Of Whispering Speakers is the brand new podcast from The Tragically Hip Podcast Series, charting the world premiere of "It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken" at Theatre Aquarius. The musical is built on the music of The Tragically Hip and tells the story of an exiled Iraqi journalist building a new life in Kingston, Ontario. Act I: The Idea is the origin episode - the cold-call, the pitch, the band Zoom, the moment a single CBC story unlocked the whole concept.Host jD sits down with manager Jake Gold and producer Michael Rubinoff ("Come From Away") to trace how a Tragically Hip musical went from a polite email to a full production. Along the way, three lifelong theatre fans - Jen Towndrow, Armand Baksh-Zarate, and Autumn Tuffin-McDonald - help frame what makes a jukebox musical actually work, and what happens when the source material is a band that means this much to this many people.This is a spoiler-free, behind-the-scenes podcast. The production is the hero. The musical is the subject. jD is the listener in the room.Featured voicesJake Gold - Manager, The Tragically HipMichael Rubinoff - Producer, "It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken" ("Come From Away")Jen Townrow - Lifelong musical theatre fanArmand - Musical theatre devoteeAutumn Teffen-McDonald - Theatre fan, seven shows deep into 2026 alreadyWhat's covered in Act IThe original pitch (and the original story - which wasn't Iraq)The Zoom call with the band that started it allLindsay Perigoe's viral 2020 CBC piece on Gord Downie, 'Wheat Kings,' and discovering Canada through The HipHow the title "It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken" landedWhy The Tragically Hip do not exist inside the world of the show (and where the Easter eggs live)The difference between previews and an official opening nightAbout the showA Forest Of Whispering Speakers is a six-episode oral history of the Theatre Aquarius world premiere of "It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken." New episodes drop weekly on Thursdays.Resources & referencesTheatre Aquarius - theatreaquarius.orgLindsay Perigoe's 2020 CBC piece on The Tragically Hip and discovering CanadaHipbase, HipMuseum, This Is Our Life - the standing TTH Podcast Series sourcesListen & followApple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever fine podcasts are foundNetwork home: home.tthpods.comCommunity: community.tthpods.comEmail jD: jd@tthpods.comAlso happening - podList 7: the classicsSubmissions for podList 7 - a fan cover compilation of Tragically Hip songs from the 1987-1995 catalogue, EP through "Day for Night" - close April 30. Drop date is May 15. Submit at podlist.tthpods.com or email jd@tthpods.com.Tip jarIf the work hits, throw a couple bucks at the battery: buymeacoffee.com/tthtop40. Editing is hard. Coffee helps.SocialsFacebook: community.tthpods.com | Instagram: @tthpods | YouTube: youtube.com/@tthpods#TheTragicallyHip #TheHip #GordDownie #AForestOfWhisperingSpeakers #ItsAGoodLifeIfYouDontWeaken #TragicallyHipSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/tthtop40/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Join Greg and Jamie as they celebrate the wonderful world of the Tragically Hip. This episode is fully & completely composed of fan submissions. Listen to your favourite Hip tracks in a whole new way!Grace, Too - Tim Porterfield In View - Shemus GunnLooking for a Place to Happen - 50 MissionLake Fever - Rico BorregoAhead By A Century - BroadtreeScared - Cory Smith/Steve CameronPoeti - Luca TaddiaIt Can’t Be Nashville Every Night - Tristan ArmstrongFully Completely - Craig DouganBobcaygeon - Kevin FosterApartment Song - Jordan VennDaredevil - Craig RogersChagrin Falls - The Strictly HipFiddler’s Green - The TristonesSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/tthtop40/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The Tragically Hip On Shuffle - Live Stream: An Inch an HourWhat does a song about slow-moving things sound like at 150 BPMs? Apparently, it sounds like this. jD and the panel dig deep into 'An Inch an Hour' — track 11 from "Day for Night," one of the most layered records The Tragically Hip ever made, and one that keeps revealing new angles the harder you look.This week's panel is three returning panelists who somehow decided it was okay to come back: Ian from Maple Ridge, Duxoop from Toledo, and Tom from New York. Together they pull apart the glacier metaphor hidden inside a riff that rips, chase down the Springside Park reference (the water there is the colour of tea, and yes, that matters), debate whether the f-bomb in verse two is the reason this song never cracked radio, and reckon with what it means to let a record this good gather dust at the back of the shelf.Duxoop brought the research. Tom did the math — and the math checks out. Ian brought the imagery of Gord on a tour bus, watching the world fly past at highway speed, throwing a finished book over his shoulder. There's a Trudeau reference in there, a possible Mr. Dressup callback, and a punk rock moment in the second line that you'll never unhear once it's pointed out.This one also opened with a shoutout to everyone who showed up — virtually, physically, spiritually — for An Evening for Sara J. The $5,000 goal was set. By all accounts, it was cleared. The abacus is back from the shop. More on that as the numbers land.Also: Ian's tribute band, Gift Shop, has four shows coming up in BC this spring and summer — including an August 20th night in Vancouver marking ten years since the final show. Worth your time. Worth the ticket.PanelistsIan from Maple Ridge, BC — Frontman of Gift Shop, a Tragically Hip tribute band based in British Columbia. Catch them at Club 240 in Crescent Beach (April 18), the Roxy in Vancouver (May 1), Shaw Deep Cove Theatre in North Van (June 27), and the Hollywood Theatre in Vancouver (August 20). Tickets and info at giftshophipband.ca.Duxoop from Toledo, OH — A founding member of this community who found the TTH Podcast Series by typing 'Tragically Hip' into a podcast app and stumbling onto Fully & Completely. He rebuilt his YouTube playlist from scratch — over 500 songs, every solo project, every side door into the catalogue. Find it at Chronologically Hip.Tom from New York — Two for two on "Day for Night" episodes, and deeply committed to sitting with a record properly before showing up. He owns the half-speed remaster and he'll tell you why that matters.Song DetailsAn Inch an Hour — Track 11, "Day for Night" (1994)Produced by Mark Howard, Mark Regan, and The Tragically HipReleased September 19, 1994Live debut: Molson Park, July 1, 1994 (jD was there)Last played: January 20, 2013Ended at #57 on the TTHTop40 CountdownPlayed approximately 43 times total over the band's career — tied for 98th with 'Pretend'Tonight's version came from the "We Are the Same" tour acoustic setSource: setlist data and catalogue info drawn from Hipbase and HipMuseum. Hat tip to both.Next WeekPush shuffle. We're talking Throwing off Glass from "In Violet Light," 2002. A record that is — by all available evidence — having a genuine second life right now. We'll get into it.podList 7 — The Classics — Submissions Open NowpodList 7 is underway. The theme is the classics — songs from the 1987–1995 era, spanning the debut EP through "Day for Night." Send your submission (your pick, your reason) to jd@tthpods.com. Drop date is May 15, 2026. Submission form at podlist.tthpods.com.Subscribe to Yer LetterYer Letter is jD's monthly letter to the community. Not a newsletter. A letter. If you want to know what's happening at the network before it goes anywhere else — episodes, events, fundraising milestones, the stuff that doesn't make it to the feed — this is the place. Sign up at subscribe.tthpods.com.Support the CauseAn Evening for Sara J raised money for Sara J's fight with breast cancer. The GoFundMe is still live. If you've got it to give, give it. Link at fundraising.tthpods.com.The TTH Podcast Series has raised almost $40,000 for the Downie Wenjack Fund, The Gord Downie Fund for Brain Cancer Research, and CAMH. This community is the reason.Find UsSubscribe, share, rate, and review at home.tthpods.com. Join the community at community.tthpods.com. Drop jD a line at jd@tthpods.com.#TheTragicallyHip #DayForNight #TTHOnShuffle #GordDownie #TragicallyHip #TheHipSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/tthtop40/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

It started as a punishment.In 2016, jD heard Greg LeGros pitch "Now For Plan A" on See You Next Wednesday - not as a bad pick, but as something deeply underappreciated that deserved a real listen. jD listened. Came back. And somehow, without either of them knowing it yet, that was the moment Fully & Completely was born.Full circle, ten years later. Here we are.About This EpisodejD and Greg LeGros return to the record that, in a weird and fortuitous way, started everything - The Tragically Hip's 2012 album "Now For Plan A." It's the most overlooked record in the catalogue. It's also, when you know what you're listening to, one of the most emotionally devastating.The Hip recorded "Now For Plan A" while Gord Downie's wife was fighting cancer. Not every track maps directly to that experience - but enough of them do that, once you know, the whole album reorients. The desperation in the vocals. The urgency in the hooks. The tenderness buried inside songs that, on the surface, just cook.jD and Greg go track by track through the full record, unpacking every song with the weight of that context - and without it, for the songs that stand on their own terms. They talk about what it means to watch a chemotherapy drip and write a lyric. About Gord's wife being "the look ahead." About a title that works on at least three different levels simultaneously. About why 'Goodnight Attawapiskat' is a precis for the last six years of the band.They also set the scene for 2012 - the 100th Grey Cup in Toronto, the beginning of streaming, the vinyl comeback, Kendrick Lamar's arrival, and how Bruce Springsteen's "Wrecking Ball" tour changed at least one life in Hamilton that year.This is a big one.Why This Record MattersjD puts it plainly near the end: "This is almost like a precis for the last six years of this band." The journey through cancer. The band songs. The Indigenous reckoning with a thousand mile suit and a community named out loud. "Now For Plan A" was released in 2012 with no context - and it quietly contained everything that was coming.Greg's take is maybe the sharpest thing said in the episode: "How weird is it that he didn't get to release a record about his illness, and yet we've got track after track of him explaining how he feels about this illness."You've got to love it. We've got to love it. Because they fucking loved it.Also in This EpisodeThe 100th Grey Cup: nine-and-nine Toronto Argonauts, Burton Cummings on the National Anthem, Justin Bieber and Gordon Lightfoot sharing a halftime showWhy you should follow Burton Cummings on Facebook immediatelyThe streaming-meets-vinyl moment of 2012, and why download codes were a genius moveGreg's Springsteen conversion in Hamilton (it took three hours and he knew 15% of the songs)Greg's CanRock playlist on Spotify - four hours, search Greg LeGrosThe return of Time Bandits, Greg's other podcast - starting with 1980's "Battle Beyond the Stars"Resources & ReferencesThe Hip Compendium - Setlists, song history, full discography: compendium.tthpods.comHipbase - Tragically Hip discography and catalogue data: hipbase.comThis Is Our Life by Michael Barclay - the definitive Hip biographyThe Tragically Hip Archive - Live recordings and preservation archiveGreg LeGros on Spotify - CanRock playlist + Time Bandits episodes (search: Greg LeGros)Yer Letter - Sign up for the TTH Podcast Series newsletter: subscribe.tthpods.comFacebook Community - community.tthpods.comListen & FollowListen now via home.tthpods.com | Follow on Instagram and Facebook @tthpods | Reach jD at jd@tthpods.com#TheTragicallyHip #FullyCompletely #GordDownie #NowForPlanA #CanadianRock #TragicallyHipPodcastSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/tthtop40/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Getting Hip to the Hip - "We Are the Same"Pete and Tim hear "We Are the Same" for the first time. Bob Rock, big strings, and a campfire album that divides fans right down the middle.EPISODE SUMMARYReleased in 2009 and produced by Bob Rock, "We Are the Same" was the first record in over 20 years that made Tragically Hip fans wait longer than two years for new material. It debuted at number one. And it is, to put it diplomatically, a record that asks something of you.Pete Marchica and Tim Lyden sit down with jD for their first full listen, and neither of them is ready for what they get. The conversation covers every track - from the country-laced AM radio chorus of 'Morning Moon' to the sprawling, emotionally devastating nine-plus minutes of 'Depression Suite,' which Pete calls fucking magnificent. There are Pink Floyd comparisons, David Gilmour guitar tributes, a detour into the agricultural meaning of 'Queen of the Furrows,' and a story about how Gord heard a CBC news correspondent's name as "Honey Watson" mid-song and just... went with it.The residential school system, the weight of Gord's legacy as a voice for people who needed one, and the question of where that voice has gone in music today - those threads run through the episode too. Pete says it plainly. Tim agrees. jD doesn't argue.Bob Rock takes some heat. The drum mixing takes some heat. The strings - which show up on approximately every song - take some heat. And yet, somehow, this episode ends with three grown men picking their MVPs and meaning every word.'Depression Suite' is jD's. 'Frozen in My Tracks' is Tim's. Pete's? Listen and find out. Some things you've got to earn.ABOUT THE HOSTSjD is the founder and host of The Tragically Hip Podcast Series, a seven-show podcast network built out of love for a band and a community. He has raised over $35,000 for causes including the Downie Wenjack Fund, the Gord Downie Fund for Brain Cancer Research, and CAMH.Pete Marchica is coming to you from Spain. He showed up this week with notes, opinions, and a strip club analogy that somehow makes complete sense in context.Tim Lyden listened to this album later than he would like to admit, did a deep dive on Honey Watson's true identity the day before recording, and watched a crow destroy something in his backyard mid-episode.RESOURCES & REFERENCESTragically Hip discography and setlist data: HipbaseLive performance history: setlist.fmBand biography: This Is Our Life by Michael BarclayThe Tragically Hip Archive - source for live recordingsIN THIS EPISODEOpening: jD on "We Are the Same" and the three-year waitThe Italian fan translating Hip lyrics into his own melodic structureTrack-by-track: 'Morning Moon,' 'Honey Please,' 'Wheat Kings,' 'Coffee Girl,' 'Exact Feeling,' 'Queen of the Furrows,' 'Speed River,' 'Depression Suite,' 'Love Is a First,' 'Country Day'The Bob Rock debate: production genius or too much Kool-Aid?Gord Downie, residential schools, and the question of who speaks for the people nowMVPs, playlist picks, and a poodle skirt fundraising pledgeCALLS TO ACTIONListen to Getting Hip to the Hip and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.Join the community: community.tthpods.comCONNECT📸 Instagram: @tthpods ▶️ YouTube: youtube.com/@tthpods 📧 Email: jd@tthpods.com#TheTragicallyHip #GordDownie #WeAreTheSame #TragicallyHip #GettigHipToTheHip #CanadianRockSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/tthtop40/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy