While it has been confirmed that the band has officially retired, former members Alan Doyle and Séan McCann have continued performing in their own solo careers typically including music from Great Big Sea in their setlists.
The band played its first official concert on March 11, 1993, opening for The Irish Descendants at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John's, Newfoundland. The founding band members included Alan Doyle (vocals, guitar, bouzouki, mandolin), Séan McCann (vocals, bodhrán, guitar, tin whistle), Darrell Power (vocals, bass, guitar, bones), and Bob Hallett (vocals, fiddle, accordion, mandolin, concertina, bouzouki, whistles, bagpipes).
Power, McCann and Hallett had already been playing together in another band. In the winter of 1989, the band, a six-piece with guitar, bass, fiddle, accordion and mandolin played its first show at the Memorial University's winter carnival talent show under the name "Newfoundland Republican Army" or NRA, and won first prize. The band's only other appearance as NRA was later that winter at the university "Grad House". The band then dropped the fiddler, accordion player and the name.
The band found its new name as original bassist Jeff Scott rented an apartment on Rankin Street, St. John's, where the members first met and discussed the formation of the band. As a four-piece, the band first appeared as "Rankin Street" at a little pub in downtown St. John's called "The Rose and Thistle", playing for $100 and beer. They played through Sean McCann's stereo system, as renting a PA would have cost more than the night's earnings. Susan Hickey (guitar and vocals) left the band months later to attend school in Halifax and was replaced by Darrell Power. The band gained much popularity playing such local pubs as Bridget's and Greensleeves. In 1991 Jeff Scott was replaced by Jackie St. Croix on bass. The band released one recording on cassette titled "Rankin Street".
In 1997, the band reached the top ten of the Canadian RPM pop chart with "When I'm Up (I Can't Get Down)", a cover of a song by the British folk group Oysterband. They performed at the 1999 Stardust Picnic festival at Historic Fort York, Toronto.
The band won the Entertainer of the Year award at the East Coast Music Awards for every year between 1996 and 2000. In 2001, they decided not to submit their name for nomination in order to allow other bands to compete. They have also been nominated for several Juno Awards, including Group of the Year in 1998, 2005, 2009, and 2011.
Darrell Power retired from Great Big Sea in 2003 to spend more time with his family and friends. Supporting members of the band include Canadian freelance drummer Kris MacFarlane (2002) (drums, accordion, guitar, backing vocals) and Murray Foster (2003, formerly of the band Moxy Früvous) (bass, backing vocals).
In late 2005, the band released its long-awaited "traditional" album, The Hard and the Easy, on which they recorded their favourite Newfoundland party songs. The title of the album comes from a line of the song "Tickle Cove Pond", one of two songs on the album about a horse falling through ice.
On June 13, 2007, the band announced they would return to the studio with producer Hawksley Workman. On March 14, 2008, the band announced that the title of the new album would be Fortune's Favour, borrowing a phrase from one of the songs on the album, "England". The album was officially released on June 24, 2008 across all of North America.
On February 23, 2010, band member Séan McCann released his debut solo album Lullabies for Bloodshot Eyes to pleasing critical success.
On July 13, 2010, Great Big Sea released their new album Safe Upon the Shore in North America. Alan's "From the Road" blog on the band's website, originally confirmed its production in an April posting, speaking also of the album's subsequent release in July. "Nothing But A Song" was the first single off the bands' ninth studio recording, with a subsequent tour kicking off at the end of the summer 2010.
Great Big Sea announced a 'greatest hits' album titled "XX" in October 2012, accompanied by a 20th anniversary tour with 32 dates in 28 cities across the US and Canada which kicked off on March 5, 2013 in Los Angeles and finished in St. John's on April 23, 2013.
In 2013, McCann announced that he would be leaving the band at the end of the XX tour, much to the dismay of his bandmates. Struggling to maintain his new sobriety, he told his bandmates in January of 2013 that XX would be his last tour with the band, but the rest of the band and its management refused to announce this publicly. Finally, in November 2013 with XX almost over, McCann announced his departure himself in a tweet, feeling that the fans needed to know. While largely vilified by Great Big Sea fans with little said by the band or management to counter this view, McCann claims he was devastated by how Great Big Sea ended and wishes it could have gone differently.
Following McCann's departure, the remaining band members spent a year or so trying to find an amicable way that they could continue without him. Eventually coming to the realization that they didn’t want to go on like that, and happily retiring the band.
Fast as I Can
Great Big Sea Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And I know you're in a hurry, but it's gonna take a while
So forgive me if we go slow, but there's something I think you should know
I'm going fast as I can, please don't make me rush
This feeling's coming on way too fast
I'll tell you all of the things that you'll never forget
But I'm not ready say, "I love you" yet
Don't push me in too deep, I've always been the fool who rushes in
You've got to take the pieces one by one before you've got everything
So forgive me if we go slow but there's something I think you should know
There'll be times when I'm mistaken, there'll be times when we're gonna fight
But you needn't doubt we can work it out and in time we'll get it right
So forgive me if we go slow but there's something I think you should know
From the first hello
, the singer tells the listener that they have not stopped smiling since that moment. It is clear that the person the singer is addressing is in a hurry, but the singer wants to take things slowly. They are trying to convey that the feeling they have is intense and fast-paced, but they do not want to rush into it. They acknowledge that they are not ready to say "I love you" yet, but that doesn't mean they won't tell them all the things that they will never forget. The singer is trying to explain to the listener that they are nervous and afraid of getting hurt, but they are willing to try the relationship at a gradual pace.
In the second verse, they ask the listener not to push them too deep, as they have a habit of rushing in and getting hurt. They need to take things one at a time and build a strong foundation before they can commit. The singer acknowledges that there will be misunderstandings and fights, but they can work it out together, and in time, they will get it right. They reiterate that they are willing to go slow, but it's essential for the listener to know that they are taking it seriously.
Line by Line Meaning
From the first hello you gave to me I've done nothing else but smile
Your first greeting to me made me blissful and happy beyond measure
And I know you're in a hurry, but it's gonna take a while
I understand that you're impatient, but building a sincere, strong relationship takes time
So forgive me if we go slow, but there's something I think you should know
Please bear with me if I take it slow, there's something important I want you to be aware of
I'm going fast as I can, please don't make me rush
I'm moving as quickly I can, but I beg you to be patient and not force things to move faster
This feeling's coming on way too fast
These emotions are emerging much too quickly
I'll tell you all of the things that you'll never forget
I want to confide in you everything that's important to me
But I'm not ready to say "I love you" yet
However, I'm not yet prepared to utter 'I love you'
Don't push me in too deep, I've always been the fool who rushes in
Please don't submerge me too deeply since I've previously made hasty decisions
You've got to take the pieces one by one before you've got everything
It's necessary to gradually piece things together to acquire the complete picture
There'll be times when I'm mistaken, there'll be times when we're gonna fight
We may have disagreements and misunderstandings from time to time
But you needn't doubt we can work it out and in time we'll get it right
However, we have the capability to solve them, and given time, we'll fix it
So forgive me if we go slow but there's something I think you should know
Please don't be upset if I take it slow, there's something important I want to share with you
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: ALAN DOYLE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Chazz Mania
I heard this song through my brother who lincs this beautiful song to a pet dog that he used to have. I love it. It is really beautiful, happy n sad :)
Jojo Gamin'
man i love this song its so sweet and beautiful
Chazz Mania
innit but it makes my feel a bit like crying coz my lil bro thinks of his dog with this song before his dog died. It's thanks to him that I love this song, its in my head when I'm out walking or sometimes when I'm in the house doing stuff :) <3
Lindsay
I love this song..
Psixi
+Lindsay Foote
I'm so happy to hear that! ;D this is a beloved band of mine since younger years
Tonya Vokey
This is exactly my situation right now!!
Chazz Mania
I FUCKING LOVE THIS SONG :D :) XXXXXX
Jae Colin
Alan come back lol