The group met while in high school at Kingston Collegiate Vocational Institute (KCVI) and all attended Queen's University in Kingston. They started as a cover band playing Rolling Stones and Doors covers, and were first represented by a local Kingston agent named Bernie Dobson.
They were first signed in 1987 after Bruce Dickinson, the then VP of A&R at MCA Records saw them perform live at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto, Ontario. Later that year they released their debut EP The Tragically Hip, though they were largely unrecognized until 1989's Up To Here. Up To Here established them as one of the best and most influential bands in Canada. In 1992, they created the Another Roadside Attraction festival, which tours Canada to promote smaller, unknown emerging bands.
The band is immensely popular in Canada. Although they have never achieved great success in the United States, they have never specifically sought it and have enjoyed their warm Canadian reception. When touring in Canada they typically play to sold-out arenas; when touring in the United States they play smaller venues and clubs. Performances abroad are usually attended by Canadian expatriates. In Europe, The Hip perhaps have their greatest following in the Netherlands.
The band permits recordings of their performances, so an active trading community thrives. The tone and content of much of their music is a paean to the Canadian experience and touches on such themes as small-town life, geography, and hockey.
The Tragically Hip received a star on the Canadian Walk of Fame in 2002, and they were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame at the 2005 Juno Awards. They have performed at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, and played a three-song set at the worldwide broadcast Live 8 benefit concert on July 2nd, 2005 to help make poverty history for the poor African nations.
On April 7th, 2009, the band's twelfth album We Are The Same was being released in North America, and it immediately rose to Number 1 on the Canadian charts. The album features twelve diverse new recordings produced by Bob Rock who had produced 2007's World Container and is perhaps best known for his work with Metallica, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams, The Offspring, Michael Bublé and Simple Plan. This album features songs that range from "levity and light to melancholy and anger" according to the band's website. Recorded primarily at The Bathouse Studio, band's recording studio located in a historical coach house west of their hometown, Kingston, Ontario, and its first single was "Love Is A First", which features the ironical addictive hook, 'love is a curse'.
Despite some side solo projects in the past couple of years, the band has completed a new studio album at The Bathouse Studio and in Toronto with Gavin Brown, who is perhaps best known for his work producing Metric, Three Days Grace, Barenaked Ladies and Billy Talent. The album is entitled Now For Plan A and it was released on October 2nd, 2012. This album's first singles were "At Transformation" and "Streets Ahead" and they are available on iTunes and through the band's website.
Man Machine Poem is the fourteenth studio album which is scheduled to be released June 17th, 2016. The album takes its name from a track on their Gold-selling 2012 release, Now For Plan A, and it was recorded at The Hip’s home studio The Bathouse, produced by Kevin Drew, founding member and producer of Broken Social Scene, Andy Kim (singer, songwriter and Arts & Crafts label co-founder) and Dave Hamelin, songwriter and producer from The Stills and Eight and a Half. Album pre-orders are currently available on either CD or Vinyl through the band's "Gift Shop" on their official website: www.TheHip.com or digitally through iTunes. “In A World Possessed By The Human Mind” and “Tired As Fuck" were its first singles, and both were made immediately available for digital download with the album's pre-order.
Early on May 24, 2016, The Tragically Hip announced via a post on their official website and through e-mail subscribers that its lead singer and primary lyricist, Gord Downie, is suffering from aggressive terminal brain cancer, and that the band will do one final national Canadian tour "For Gord". Concert dates for this final tour were available on-line through Ticketmaster, but sold out in minutes. There was a national outcry from devoted fans who claimed that scalpers had scooped up most of the tour's tickets using "bots". Petitions were filed to successfully encourage Canada's national television network, the CBC, to produce and air Live the final August 20, 2016 concert. Broadcast live from the band's hometown, at Kingston's Rogers K-Rock Centre, a national audience viewed The Tragically Hip's final tour show, The concert opened with "50 Mission Cap" and ended almost two hours later, after a third encore, with "Ahead By A Century". All proceeds from the tour were donated to The Gord Downie Fund, at the Sunnybrook Foundation for Brain Cancer Research. Donations can be sent to: http://sunnybrook.ca/foundation.
For the latest band details, please visit their official website: www.TheHip.com.
Emergency
The Tragically Hip Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
That just keeps on coming up again and again
We're sitting in the baby bar bereft
At a shadowy table out past the sentence's end
It's an emergency without end
From until it's no longer fun
'Til that's no longer relevant
To the bona fide embodiment
Of an endless emergency without end
We're an endless emergency without end
We often stop in these conversations
Things we say here stay here forever, amen
When everything seems either funny or lousy
Funny or lousy, that's where it usually ends
We're an emergency without end
From until it's no longer fun
To that's no longer relevant
From until we're no longer one
To that's no longer permanent
From the last survivors of those terms
To the bona fide embodiment
Of an endless emergency without end
We're an endless emergency without end
We're an endless emergency without end
But your finger starts to wiggle
And landscapes emerge
"Emergency" by The Tragically Hip is a contemplative song that delves deep into recurring thoughts and conversations that haunt the singer's mind. The lyrics describe an endless exchange between the singer and someone else, possibly a friend or lover, about an ongoing emergency that never seems to end. The imagery of the shadowy table and the sentence's end suggests a sense of ambiguity and uncertainty that the two speakers are grappling with. They seem to be trapped in a cycle of talking about the same thing over and over again, unable to break free.
The second verse adds to the sense of repetition, with the singers acknowledging that they often revisit the same topics and that their conversations will stay between them forever. There is a hint of humor in the line, "When everything seems either funny or lousy," which suggests that despite the serious nature of their conversation, they still find moments of levity. The final lines of the song leave the listener with an image of the singer's finger starting to wiggle and landscapes emerging, which hints at the possibility of change and growth.
Overall, "Emergency" is a song that explores the weight of recurring thoughts and conversations. The lyrics suggest a sense of urgency and the need to break free from the endless cycle of talking about the same thing. It is a powerful reflection on the human condition and the compulsion to confront our fears and anxieties head-on.
Line by Line Meaning
I've often dreamt of a conversation
The singer frequently dreams of a specific conversation with recurring themes.
That just keeps on coming up again and again
The conversation in the singer's dreams reappears constantly, like a recurring nightmare.
We're sitting in the baby bar bereft
The setting of the recurring conversation is a bar where the singer and the other person involved feel empty or hopeless.
At a shadowy table out past the sentence's end
The table setting is dark and uncertain, beyond the usual boundaries of communication.
It's an emergency without end
The conversation feels like an ongoing emergency, with no clear resolution or end in sight.
From until it's no longer fun
The conversation takes a toll on the singer's emotional state, from the point they stop enjoying it.
Til that's no longer relevant
The conversation becomes irrelevant when it no longer serves a purpose for the singer.
From until we're no longer one
The length of the conversation is tied to the relationship/connectedness between the artist and the other person.
To the bona fide embodiment
The conversation transforms into a real, material thing as it becomes embodied or personified.
Of an endless emergency without end
The conversation has no resolution and remains like an ongoing emergency.
We often stop in these conversations
At times, the discussion just stops, unresolved and incomplete or with the participants unsure of how to proceed.
Things we say here stay here forever, amen
The conversation becomes a secret, a pact between those who spoke, making the utterances irrevocable and binding.
When everything seems either funny or lousy
The conversation topics alternate between two extremes: humor and despair.
Funny or lousy, that's where it usually ends
The conversation has a pattern of going from humorous to negative, and then abruptly ending afterward.
From until it's no longer fun
The tone of conversation shifts from enjoyable to unpleasant as time goes on.
To that's no longer relevant
The topics discussed become irrelevant, outdated or inapplicable.
From until we're no longer one
The conversation reflects the artist's relationship with those involved, as their connection breaks down over time.
To that's no longer permanent
The conversation items that were once a solid part of life (permanent), evolve into something inconsistent or fluid.
From the last survivors of those terms
The conversation has outlasted the terms of reference and context for the singer.
To the bona fide embodiment
The conversation becomes a genuine and material thing as it takes on a life of its own.
Of an endless emergency without end
The conversation remains an ongoing emergency with no clear resolution or end in sight.
We're an endless emergency without end
The participants of the conversation feel like an ongoing emergency, with no clear resolution or end in sight.
But your finger starts to wiggle
A metaphor for someone being triggered by the conversation, as if they're struggling with a subtle or unexpected response.
And landscapes emerge
As conversation sparks feelings, emotions and memories, the mindscape transforms like changing landscapes.
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing
Written by: Robert Baker, Gordon Downie, Johnny Fay, Paul Langlois, Gordon Sinclair
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind