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.
Man
The Tragically Hip Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I do what I hate and don't understand
I'm a real machine
You're a real machine
I'm a real machine
You're a real machine
There is the General
Are we waiting to be invited I could eat em up in two gulps!
I could eat em up in two gulps!
I decorate my cells
I am the holy fool
I can get strangely compelled
But I can't get rid of the self
So If I am a man
And I am a man and I am a man
So I do what I hate and I don't understand
You're a real machine
I'm a real machine
You're a real machine
I'm a man and I'm a man
I do what I hate and don't understand
I'm a man and I'm a man
I do what I hate and don't understand
I'm a real machine
You're a real machine
I'm a real machine
You're a real
The Tragically Hip's "Man" is a thought-provoking song that explores the complexities of human existence. The repeated phrase, "I'm a man and I'm a man, I do what I hate and don't understand," is a powerful admission of the struggle to reconcile oneself with the things we do that we don't necessarily agree with or understand. The repetitive use of "real machine" serves as a metaphor for the futility of life when we become trapped in the endless cycle of existence. The line "I decorate my cells" suggests that the singer is creating a façade to hide the true self, while "I am the holy fool" implies that the singer is aware of their own foolishness.
The line "are we waiting to be invited I could eat em up in two gulps!" speaks to the desire to take control of one's own life and do what needs to be done without waiting for anyone else's approval or invitation. However, the repetition of "I'm a man and I'm a man" brings the singer back to their inevitable humanity and fallibility. The final line, "I'm a man and I'm a man, I do what I hate and don't understand" drives home the point that no matter how much we try to escape it, we are ultimately human and flawed.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm a man and I'm a man
I am struggling with my identity and feeling conflicted about who I am.
I do what I hate and don't understand
I find myself doing things that I dislike or don't comprehend.
I'm a real machine
I feel like a robot, going through the motions and lacking emotion or free will.
You're a real machine
I see others as being just as robotic and unfeeling as I feel.
Just off the hot mic
I am about to speak my mind or reveal something about myself.
There is the General
I am confronting a powerful figure or authority in my life.
Are we waiting to be invited I could eat em up in two gulps!
I am impatient and want to take action, even if it means being aggressive or confrontational.
I decorate my cells
I try to make myself appear more appealing or interesting than I really am.
I am the holy fool
I see myself as a bit of a joke or outsider, but also with a deeper sense of purpose or meaning.
I can get strangely compelled
I sometimes find myself doing things that I can't explain, as if I am being driven by an unseen force.
But I can't get rid of the self
Despite my struggles, I cannot escape who I am and the issues that come with it.
So If I am a man
In light of all these factors, I am questioning what it truly means to be a man.
You're a real machine
Once again, I see others as being just as robotic and lacking emotion as I feel.
I'm a man and I'm a man
I am still feeling conflicted and unsure of my identity.
I do what I hate and don't understand
I continue to engage in behaviors that I dislike or find confusing.
I'm a man and I'm a man
Once again, I am struggling with my sense of self and what it means to be a man.
I do what I hate and don't understand
Again, I am engaging in behaviors that don't make sense to me and are causing me pain.
I'm a real machine
I continue to feel like a robot, lacking emotion or free will.
You're a real machine
I see others as being just as robotic and unfeeling as I feel.
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing
Written by: ROBERT BAKER, GORDON SINCLAIR, GORDON DOWNIE, PAUL LANGLOIS, JOHNNY FAY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind