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.
Fiddler's Green
The Tragically Hip Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
September seventeen
For a girl I know it's Mother's Day
Her son has gone alee
And that's where he will stay
Wind on the weathervane
Tearing blue eyes sailor-mean
For a boy in Fiddler's Green
His tiny knotted heart
Well, I guess it never worked too good
The timber tore apart
And the water gorged the wood
You can hear her whispered prayer
For men at masts that always lean
The same wind that moves her hair
Moves a boy through Fiddler's Green
Oh, nothing's changed anyway
Oh, nothing's changed anyway
Oh, anytime today
He doesn't know a soul
There's nowhere that he's really been
But he won't travel long alone
No, not in Fiddler's Green
Balloons all filled with rain
As children's eyes turn sleepy-mean
And Falstaff sings a sorrowful refrain
For a boy in Fiddler's Green
In The Tragically Hip's song Fiddler's Green, the lyrics tell the story of a young sailor who has gone to sea and will not return home. The song is melancholic and reflective, with the suggestive themes of loss and sorrow. The song opens with a somber and mournful tone, with the introduction of a mother whose son has gone missing or has died. The lyrics imply that her son has gone to sea, suggesting that this sailor will never be returning home. The weathervane symbolizes the direction and the opposition the sailor faced while navigating through the ebb and flow of life.
The verses of the song also mourn the tiny knotted heart of the sailor, who has never worked too good in the world, suggesting that perhaps he was not the right fit or did not have a place in society. The verse goes on to describe how the wood of the ship has been waterlogged and torn apart, which makes it impossible for him to return home. The mother's whispered prayer addressed towards the sailors who were always in danger highlights the inevitability of loss at sea. In the end, the balloons filled with rain symbolize the sorrowful atmosphere that permeates through the entire song, and Falstaff's refrain highlights the sorrow of the sailors lost at sea.
Line by Line Meaning
One, two, three, four, one, two
Counting off, like a musician tuning up before a performance.
September seventeen
The date of an important event significant to the events of the song.
For a girl I know it's Mother's Day
The significance of Mother's day to the girl is important to understanding the emotional context of the song.
Her son has gone alee
The boy has left home and gone to sea.
And that's where he will stay
The boy is making a life for himself at sea, and will not return home.
Wind on the weathervane
The imagery of the wind on the weathervane sets the tone of the song.
Tearing blue eyes sailor-mean
The blue eyes that are 'sailor-mean' convey the sense of tough, hardened sailors facing the world at sea.
As Falstaff sings a sorrowful refrain
Falstaff is the artist of the song, and is singing a mournful song about the boy in Fiddler's Green.
For a boy in Fiddler's Green
The central subject of the song is a boy who has gone to Fiddler's Green.
His tiny knotted heart
The boy is described as having a tiny, knotted heart, possibly a reference to a heart condition that contributed to his decision to go to sea?
Well, I guess it never worked too good
The boy's heart seems to be in poor condition, either physically or emotionally.
The timber tore apart
Perhaps a metaphor for the heart-wood of the boy's being being unable to withstand the demands of life on land.
And the water gorged the wood
This line reinforces the metaphor of the boy as a tree being consumed by the sea.
You can hear her whispered prayer
The boy's mother is described as praying for sailors and seamen everywhere.
For men at masts that always lean
This line again reinforces the theme of sailors as hardened and physically taxed individuals.
The same wind that moves her hair
The wind that the mother is praying to moves the boy as well, in Fiddler's Green.
Moves a boy through Fiddler's Green
Fiddler's Green is described as being a place where the wind carries the souls of dead sailors.
Oh, nothing's changed anyway
Despite the passing of time, things remain the same emotionally.
Oh, anytime today
At any time, things can change.
He doesn't know a soul
The boy doesn't know anybody in Fiddler's Green.
There's nowhere that he's really been
He has never been to a place like Fiddler's Green, even though he has gone to sea.
But he won't travel long alone
In death, he will have other souls around him in Fiddler's Green.
No, not in Fiddler's Green
Fiddler's Green is a place where no one travels alone.
Balloons all filled with rain
Imagery of balloons being filled with rain is evocative of the sadness and longing that permeates the song.
As children's eyes turn sleepy-mean
This line captures the idea that even children can be emotionally toughened by life's hardships.
And Falstaff sings a sorrowful refrain
Falstaff's song is mournful throughout the song, as his tale of the boy in Fiddler's Green unfolds.
For a boy in Fiddler's Green
The song circles back to the boy in Fiddler's Green as its main subject.
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing
Written by: Gordon Downie, Gordon Sinclair, Johnny Fay, Paul Langlois, Robert Baker
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind