By Nick Krewen
Special to the Star
They’re Canadian to the core.
As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Kingston, Ontario’s the Tragically Hip with a number of projects, ranging from the devastatingly good docuseries The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal to oral history coffee table book “This Is Our Life” (out Oct. 1) and the boxed set of the band’s first album, Up to Here (Nov. 8), here’s a reminder of the national love affair that started with their songs.
Yep, it’s an admittedly biased list featuring the 10 most memorable creations by the brotherhood of vocalist/poet Gord Downie, bass player Gord Sinclair, guitarists Rob Baker and Paul Langlois, and drummer Johnny Fay.
And yes, I’m aware there are more than 10 masterful songs in the Hip’s 14-album studio catalogue. But here are my picks, from bottom to top.
10. “Fireworks”
Phantom Power (1998)
When you’re caught up in the exhilaration of romance — especially its early stages — there’s a certain amount of breathless anticipation mixed with wonder that overtakes your senses. Kisses send lightning strikes through your body and the passion sets off corporeal fireworks. But the explosives can represent a double entendre, eventually working their way into a marriage where emotions boil over, and it can be touch and go for a while, resolving in either a return to unity or a final split. Gord Downie’s poetry uses the contentious 1972 Canada vs. Russia hockey summit as a metaphor for obsession, distraction and declaration, as the band keeps up the chord-heavy, speedy pace behind his rapid-fire delivery, suggesting life-flashing-before-one’s-eyes tenacity. Ultimately, it’s a song of hope.
9. “Scared”
Day For Night (1994)
Cold and somewhat calculating, the acoustically driven “Scared” is a mirror for our politically turbulent times. Downie’s voice seems almost disconnected in representing the speaking party’s veiled threat to make life uncomfortable for others, whether it’s resorting to the political ploy of distraction or the selfish acts of government leaders inflicting policy simply to stroke their own egos. We’ve certainly endured our fair share of dogmatic imbeciles over the past few years (the perpetrators are fairly obvious), but this song tackles the matter-of-fact war machine manifesto with cool aplomb. It may sounds like a meek song at first listen, but the message of this ages-old, yet modern story, is anything but.
8. “Bobcaygeon”
Phantom Power (1998)
There’s an evocative mood here emphasized by a calm, relaxing beat and Gord Downie’s reflective performance that suggests an unexpected coupling due to an excellent evening out or an enjoyable first date. But it’s not all lovey-dovey: the mention of “that riot,” which could be anything from biological reaction to physical altercation, suggests concern and perhaps an unforeseen future of promise in the relationship department. The additional organ performed by producer Steve Berlin (Los Lobos) decorates the tune with dreamy atmospherics, and Downie’s final refrain of ”’Cause, it was in Bobcaygeon/Where I saw the constellations reveal themselves/One star at a time” is about as romantic as it gets.
7. “Ahead by a Century”
Trouble at the Henhouse (1996)
A largely acoustic tune — Gord Sinclair’s bass doesn’t kick in until about halfway through — it’s a song about when the bloom comes off the rose and reality sits in. It’s simply expressed: great plans have run asunder, but Downie leaves the overall explanation open-ended enough to include romance, friendship, future plans, or you can put your own projection on the lyrics. Either way, it’s an anthem that expresses extreme disappointment with either a person or a circumstance. Everyone — at one time or another — has sailed that ship, though not as sublimely as the Hip has articulated it.
6. “Twist My Arm”
Road Apples (1991)
From its opening guitar strain, “Twist My Arm” offers this repetitive riff that’s as magnetic as it is unrelenting. It’s an intriguing take on reluctance, and being pushed toward taking an action or getting involved in a situation in which every fibre of your body screams that it’s against your nature. Among Downie’s vocal protestations is that stubborn dual riff that reinforces the lack of desire to do something intensely regrettable. But man, is it a catchy tune.
5. “38 Years Old”
Up to Here (1989)
This is one of the few songs in the Tragically Hip oeuvre that involved a direct experience of a band member: It’s based on a prisoner escape at Millhaven Penitentiary in Bath, Ont. One of the convicts apparently had it in for Rob Baker’s father, so the family had to be moved to a hotel until the danger subsided. However, “38 Years Old” is a fully fictionalized account, written by Downie to put the listener in the shoes of an offender who might have been scapegoated for a heinous crime, bolted his cell to reconnect with his family and was recaptured at home shortly thereafter. A rare Hip song that is introduced through acoustic strumming and sung with a touch of empathy by frontman Downie. “He’s 38 years old, never kissed a girl” echoes a life largely unlived, and remains a powerful and effective couplet.
4. “Locked in the Trunk of a Car”
Fully Completely (1992)
If there’s a better song that marries foreboding and hopelessness for a life that’s gone off the rails, it has yet to be written. A masterful use of his poetic licence finds Downie using the analogy of 16th-century conquistadors missing the point of conquering their own lives instead of doing the bidding of someone afar. Downie’s symbolism — at least my interpretation — hits home with the words “And I destroyed the map that I carefully dotted/However, every day I’m dumping the body”: relating to those who get in their own way, miss opportunities and end up metaphorically locked in the trunk of a car because they can’t figure how to escape. As a barrage of guitars, bass and drums builds toward the song’s climax, Downie’s repeated screams of “Let me out!” are both haunting and chilling.
3. “Fifty-Mission Cap”
Fully Completely (1992)
In a conversation I once had with Merle Kilgore, co-writer of “Ring of Fire” with June Carter Cash and a contemporary of master country storyteller Hank Williams, he disclosed that Williams told him his chief inspiration for such classics as “Cold Cold Heart” and “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” were “True Romance” comic books. For “Fifty-Mission Cap,” Gord Downie lifted the tale of Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Bill Barilko from a hockey card and was struck by this Canadian tale of seemingly supernatural serendipity. Barilko’s very last goal won our hockey team the Stanley Cup in overtime. He was then lost up north on a fishing trip and his body wasn’t discovered until 1962: the year the Leafs won their next championship. The story is straightforward: Downie and the Hip repeat it twice in a simple, solid rock song, but it’s one that grows on you.
2. “Fully Completely”
Fully Completely (1992)
The urgency of the groove from beat one is an immediate attention grabber — perhaps some of the finest drumming that Johnny Fay has ever delivered, in tandem with Gord Sinclair’s curious bass underpinning — and there’s a constant, boiling tension in the title track of “Fully Completely” that mirrors the conflicting emotions that occur just before a romantic breakup. Bordering on explosive, there’s a sense of determination to defy what was obviously an unhealthy, detrimental relationship based on dominance and manipulation, as Downie’s anguished singing suggests that, in this case, resistance was not futile. Sure, there have been songs written about toxic couplings since the dawn of time, but on the power dynamic within? Not so much.
1. “New Orleans Is Sinking”
Up to Here (1989)
People often visit New Orleans to get lost in the vibe, be it food, party or otherwise — and this tune was the trigger of the realization that the Hip could be more than the sum of its parts. Cue Langlois’ swampy guitar riff kickoff to conjure an aural vision of the choppy Mississippi River; Baker’s hooky overlayer of noodling pizzicato and the sterling support of rhythm section Sinclair and Fay sets the tone as Downie introduces the scenario of “Bourbon blues on the street, loose and complete.” But what makes the song resonate is the groundswell of energy that culminates with the frenetic fretwork of Baker hitting the high note in unification with Downie’s own elevated utterance of “Swim!” It’s one of those rare peaks of co-ordinated energy that delivers an exciting payoff and it’s one that was always put to good use if anyone saw the band perform live: there was often a long, midsong segment where Downie would take the audience on an entertaining, spontaneous detour that would sometimes last five or six minutes, and the narrative would finish with the squeal of Baker’s six-string to bring everyone back to earth.
It was the Tragically Hip’s finest concert showstopper.