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.
Fifty-Mission Cap
The Tragically Hip Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
He was on a fishing trip
The last goal he ever scored
Won the Leafs the cup
They didn't win another 'til nineteen-sixty-two
The year he was discovered
I stole this from a hockey card
I keep tucked up under
My fifty-mission cap
I worked it in
I worked it in to look like that
It's my fifty-mission cap
It's his fifty-mission cap
And I worked it in (worked it in)
I worked it in
And I worked it in to look like that
And I worked it in to look like that
Bill Barilko disappeared that summer (in nineteen-fifty-one)
He was on a fishing trip (in a plane)
The last goal he ever scored (in overtime)
Won the Leafs the cup
They didn't win another 'til nineteen-sixty-two
The year he was discovered
In my fifty-mission cap
I worked it in
I worked it in to look like that
It's my fifty-mission cap
It's his fifty-mission cap
And I worked it in (worked it in)
I worked it in
And I worked it in to look like that
And I worked it in to look like that
It's my fifty-mission cap
It's my fifty-mission cap
It's my fifty-mission cap
It's my fifty-mission cap
The Tragically Hip's song "Fifty-Mission Cap" tells the story of former Toronto Maple Leafs player Bill Barilko, who disappeared during a fishing trip in 1951. Barilko scored the winning goal in the 1951 Stanley Cup finals before his disappearance. The singer of the song admits to stealing a vintage Toronto Maple Leafs cap, worn by servicemen, from a hockey card he keeps tucked away. He worked the cap in to make it look like it had completed fifty missions.
The lyrics of the song are packed with hockey history and Canadian lore. The reference to Barilko and his mysterious disappearance highlights an enduring myth in Canadian culture. The fact that the Leafs didn't win another Stanley Cup until 1962, the same year Barilko's body was discovered, adds to the legend that the team was cursed after his disappearance. The fifty-mission cap reference is also steeped in hockey history, as the caps were originally issued to airmen who completed 50 combat missions during World War II.
Additionally, the song is a tribute to the passion and dedication that Canadian hockey fans have for their sport. The singer's devotion to the Leafs and to Barilko is palpable in the song. Overall, the song captures the essence of what hockey means to Canada and demonstrates how sports can become intertwined with national identity.
Line by Line Meaning
Bill Barilko disappeared that summer
In the summer of 1951, Bill Barilko vanished
He was on a fishing trip
He was on a fishing trip in a plane when he disappeared
The last goal he ever scored
His final goal in overtime was the last of his career
Won the Leafs the cup
His goal won the Toronto Maple Leafs the Stanley Cup
They didn't win another 'til nineteen-sixty-two
The Toronto Maple Leafs did not win another Cup until 1962
The year he was discovered
The year 1962 was when Barilko's remains were discovered in a plane wreck
In my fifty-mission cap
The singer is wearing a hat that represents Barilko's legacy
I worked it in
The singer customized his hat to look the way it does
To look like that
To create the same style as Barilko's original hat
It's my fifty-mission cap
The singer takes personal ownership of the hat
It's his fifty-mission cap
The singer acknowledges that the hat originally belonged to Barilko
And I worked it in (worked it in)
The singer took care and effort to make sure the hat looked the way it does
And I worked it in to look like that
The singer put in the necessary work to create the same style as Barilko's original hat
And I worked it in to look like that
The singer again asserts that he painstakingly crafted the hat to match Barilko's original
It's my fifty-mission cap
The singer again claims ownership of the hat
It's my fifty-mission cap
The singer repeats his personal connection to the hat
It's my fifty-mission cap
The singer asserts ownership of the hat one last time
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing
Written by: Gordon Downie, Gordon Sinclair, Johnny Fay, Paul Langlois, Robert Baker
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@patriciacampos7624
Fifty-Mission Cap
The Tragically Hip
Bill Barilko disappeared that summer
He was on a fishing trip
The last goal he ever scored
Won the Leafs the cup
They didn't win another till nineteen sixty two
The year he was discovered
I stole this from a hockey card
I keeped tucked up under
My fifty mission cap
I worked it in
I worked it in to look like that
It's my fifty mission cap
It's his fifty mission cap
And I worked it in
I worked it in
And I worked it in to look like that
And I worked it in to look like that
Bill Barilko disappeared that summer (in nineteen fifty one)
He was on a fishing trip (in a plane)
The last goal he ever scored (in over time)
Won the Leafs the cup
They didn't win another till nineteen sixty two
The year he was discovered
In my fifty mission cap
I worked it in
I worked it in to look like that
It's my fifty mission cap
It's his fifty mission cap
And I worked it in
I worked it in
And I worked it in to look like that
And I worked it in to look like that
It's my fifty mission cap
It's my fifty mission cap
It's my fifty mission cap
It's my fifty mission cap
Songwriters: Gordon Downie / Gordon Sinclair / Johnny Fay / Paul Langlois / Robert Baker
🏒Go Leafs Go!🏒😁🍻
@humanity6fl9
A 50 mission cap was worn by pilots who had successfully flown 50 missions over enemy territory during WW2. Those who searched for Bill Barilko after he went missing were RCAF pilots who had served during the war and one of them had Bill Barilko's hockey card tucked up under his 50 mission cap.
@talitasnyman8846
I appreciate the info. Love the song. First heard it in 2007, since moved to Canada. And today mentioned it reminds me of an Afrikaans song about a rugny hero but that bit of knowledge makes it more poignant
@artfrat
I thought it was suppose to represent the pilots inexperience? Rookie pilots often beat in their caps to make it seem as if they had a "50 mission cap" when really they were inexperienced.
@spacecowboy_1962
The song is about both Bill Barilko and 50 Mission Cap which is from the old fighter pilots who's leather hats were worn in after each mission. The Fifty Mission Cap is a really good worked in cap. "I worked it in to look like that" could be taken as someone wanting their cap to look like it had been on fifty missions.
@WhyDoIKeepFuckinUp
Cool, thanks.
@mmgr.madminutegearreviews4562
The pilot who flew that day was a inexperienced pilot who worked his cap in to look like it was in "50 missions"".. 50 mission cap. Ultimately his inexperience would lead to their untimely death.
@aerofiare9985
If anything makes me proud to be Canadian, it's this band
@user-ph6hc3ud3k
RUSH
@skdesign98
This is my all time favourite Hip song and I've always felt a Leafs theme song. I remember in '93 when the Leafs almost made the Cup finals and I listened to this song countless times. I really felt that was their year but they we're unfortunately robbed in game 6 of the Conference Finals by Kerry Fraser. 😢 What a great song and what an amazing Leafs team that was.
@natethegr8230
It wasn't high sticking.