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.
Road to Ruin
Great Big Sea Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You'll just be getting up and I'll still be getting down
The band is getting tired but they don't give a damn
so blow the girls a kiss and give the boys a hand
You can take the sunshine, I can take the moonshine
You can take the high road, I can take the low
but later in the evening the one thing i believe in is
A penny in my pocket, a bucket in the well
then saturday was sunday and I could hear the bells
Delivery me from evil, forgiveness and for love
you're headin for confession and I'm headin to the pub
You can take the sunshine, I can take the moonshine
You can take the high road, I can take the low
but later in the evening the one thing i believe in is
I'm on the road to ruin it's the only way to go
Nancy in the corner, now I'm moving in
I thought I'd take me chances but I took one on the chin
I finally got her number, she wrote it on a cup
but I phoned her in the morning and woke her mother up
She wished that I would go to bed, I only wished her well
and then she told jesus said that I'd go straight to hell
she's followin his footsteps, I'm following my nose
we're heading for the same place I'll see you down the road
You can take the sunshine, I can take the moonshine
You can take the high road, I can take the low
but later in the evening the one thing I believe in is
We're on the road to ruin it's the only way to go
You can take the sunshine, I can take the moonshine
You can take the high road, I can take the low
but later in the evening the one thing I believe in is
We're on the road to ruin it's the only way to go
We're on the road to ruin it's the only way to go
The lyrics to Great Big Sea's "Road to Ruin" talks about the wild and carefree nature of life on the road for a band. The opening verse introduces us to a scene where the singer is still up, ready to party and have a good time, while everyone else is just getting up. Despite the weariness of the band, they do not care as the thrill of the road is enough to keep them going. The chorus then speaks to the notion of choosing one's own path in life, where one person can take the "high road" while the other can take the "low road," and both will eventually end up on the "road to ruin."
The second verse speaks to a penny in the pocket and a bucket in the well to emphasize the humble beginnings of the band. The reference to "Saturday was Sunday" and hearing bells could allude to the band's lifestyle and it being similar to a never-ending party. The line "Deliver me from evil, forgiveness and for love" suggests that the singer is aware of the dangers that come with the lifestyle but still chooses to live on the edge. The final verse talks about Cancy, a woman that the singer met but did not end so well, with the combination of the woman's mother accusing him of being a bad influence and following footsteps of Jesus is quite comical. All these stanzas seemingly make a case that life is short and must be lived to the fullest. The only way to live is by taking risks and indulging in the unknown as it leads to inevitable disaster, but it is the only way to truly live.
Line by Line Meaning
Meet me in the morning and I'll be happy as a clown
I will be very happy if you meet me tomorrow morning
You'll just be getting up and I'll still be getting down
You will be waking up while I will still be lively and active
The band is getting tired but they don't give a damn
The band is exhausted but they don't care much about it
so blow the girls a kiss and give the boys a hand
Say goodbye to the girls and give a helping hand to the boys
You can take the sunshine, I can take the moonshine
You can choose good things, I can choose bad things
You can take the high road, I can take the low
You can choose the good path, I can choose the bad path
but later in the evening the one thing i believe in is
In the evening, I only believe in one thing
I'm on the road to ruin it's the only way to go
I'm going the road to failure; it's the only path for me
A penny in my pocket, a bucket in the well
I have only a small amount of money and not many resources
then saturday was sunday and I could hear the bells
Saturday felt like Sunday, and I could hear the church bells
Delivery me from evil, forgiveness and for love
Save me from evil and forgive me for love
you're headin for confession and I'm headin to the pub
You're going to confession while I'm going to the pub
Nancy in the corner, now I'm moving in
Nancy is in the corner, and I'm approaching her
I thought I'd take me chances but I took one on the chin
I thought I had a chance, but I ended up getting hit
I finally got her number, she wrote it on a cup
I finally got her phone number, and she wrote it on a cup
but I phoned her in the morning and woke her mother up
I called her in the morning and woke up her mother
She wished that I would go to bed, I only wished her well
She wished I would go to sleep, but I only wished her well
and then she told jesus said that I'd go straight to hell
She said that Jesus told her I would go to hell
she's followin his footsteps, I'm following my nose
She is following Jesus, and I am following my intuition
we're heading for the same place I'll see you down the road
We are both heading towards failure, and I'll see you eventually
We're on the road to ruin it's the only way to go
We are both going the path to failure, and it's the only way for us
Contributed by Mason N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.