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.
In Sarnia
The Tragically Hip Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It's in my pockets and in my eyes, oh, in my blood
Sarnia, you been on my mind
You been on my mind oh oh yea uh-huh
See you staring at your phone
Like a poker hand, hey, what you reading?
You said, "the love you're given will pour right through your hand,
If you don't know who you are"
You're in my heart
And in my pocket and in my eyes, in my blood
Sarnia, you're on my mind
Oh, so I am cycling after ya
Oh, I'm on my bike riding after ya
Ah, and it's making me old and I'm riding after ya
There's just something about her and that's about it
Maybe she don't love you okay, go in,
Introduce yourself and be ready to leave in an hour
Oh you're in my heart
And in my pockets and in my eyes, in my blood
Sarnia, you're on my mind
Just to cool my jets from all the bicycling after her
I'm cycling after her
I am cycling after her oh oh oh
I'm riding around all the places she liked to go
And it's making me old, but I am cycling around looking for her
Maybe she doesn't love you, okay, go in
The Tragically Hip's song "In Sarnia" is a contemplative and introspective lament about love, loss, and the never-ending search for identity. The Canadian city of Sarnia serves as a symbol of the singer's emotional state and serves as a metaphor for his journey. The lyrics highlight the theme of unrequited love and the constant pursuit of something that might never be attained.
The opening lines expose the depth of the singer's feelings towards Sarnia, "You're, you're in my heart / It's in my pockets and in my eyes, oh, in my blood / Sarnia, you been on my mind / You been on my mind oh oh yea uh-huh". Conveying the notion that Sarnia, a city and metaphor for searching, has become the heartbeat of the singer's life. He finds her in everything he does, in every moment, and in every thought.
The chorus captures the essence of the singer's pain, "You're in my heart / And in my pocket and in my eyes, in my blood / Sarnia, you're on my mind", repeating the intensity of the feeling that the singer has for Sarnia. He continuously searches for Sarnia, hoping to catch a glimpse of her, like a poker hand, but he is constantly reminded that he will only find her once he learns about himself. The line "the love you're given will pour right through your hand, If you don't know who you are, If you don't know who you are" serves as a reminder of the need to find oneself before finding love.
Overall, the song is an existential journey into the mind of the singer, who is on a constant search for something that may never be found, but he cannot stop searching. The lyrics are a beautiful tribute to human resilience and the desire to live life to the fullest, even if it means enduring pain and uncertainty.
Line by Line Meaning
You're, you're in my heart
Sarnia occupies an important space in the singer's heart and mind.
It's in my pockets and in my eyes, oh, in my blood
Sarnia has become a part of the singer's identity and he is inseparable from it.
Sarnia, you been on my mind
The singer has been constantly thinking about Sarnia and its significance in his life.
See you staring at your phone
The singer has observed someone in Sarnia engrossed in their phone.
Like a poker hand, hey, what you reading?
The singer is curious about what the person in Sarnia is reading on their phone, similar to the intrigue of observing someone's poker hand.
You said, "the love you're given will pour right through your hand, If you don't know who you are If you don't know who you are"
The singer recounts advice he received about love and identity - it is important to have a clear sense of self or else that love will slip away.
Oh, so I am cycling after ya
The singer is pursuing someone in Sarnia on his bike.
Oh, I'm on my bike riding after ya
The singer emphasizes his method of transportation in trying to catch up with the person in Sarnia.
Ah, and it's making me old and I'm riding after ya
The effort to follow the person is strenuous and is causing the singer to feel exhausted and worn out.
There's just something about her and that's about it
The singer is drawn to the person in Sarnia but can't articulate exactly why.
Maybe she don't love you okay, go in, Introduce yourself and be ready to leave in an hour
The singer receives advice about approaching the person in Sarnia and being prepared to move on if the attraction is not mutual.
Just to cool my jets from all the bicycling after her I'm cycling after her I am cycling after her oh oh oh I'm riding around all the places she liked to go And it's making me old, but I am cycling around looking for her
The singer continues to pursue the person in Sarnia, despite the physical toll it is taking on him and the possibility of unrequited feelings.
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing
Written by: GORDON SINCLAIR, ROBERT BAKER, GORDON DOWNIE, PAUL LANGLOIS, JOHNNY FAY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind