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.
What Blue
The Tragically Hip Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Completely absorbed in that too
Exciting over fair, always daily forward, always the power to choose
In your eyes, what love looks like, it's still the longest thing that I do
In your eyes, the useless nights and all the dreary places, but what blue
Oh, I was always too uneasy, too for solitude,
To come into the open, to come into the light
Forward, daily forward for what blue
In your eyes, what our love looks like, it's the longest thing that we do
In your eyes, all of our dark doors, our disenchanted paths, but what blue
I love you so much, it distorts my life,
What drove and drives you drove and drives me too
When I think I'm clear, I think I'm doing fine, completely absorbed in what blue
In your eyes, it's what love looks like, it's the longest thing that we do
In your eyes, all the useless nights and all the dreary places and what blue
The Tragically Hip’s “What Blue” is a song about the complexities of love, and how it can be both uplifting and simultaneously fraught with difficulties. In the first stanza, the lyrics speak to the all-consuming nature of love in a world where people often face judgment and criticism. Love becomes the one thing that can overshadow the reproach that surrounds people, allowing them to move forward each day with the power to choose.
The next two stanzas delve deeper into the experiences of the two people in the relationship. The singer admits to feeling uneasy about being alone and being wrapped up in everything that love offers. Despite this, the couple seems to find solace in each other, even in their darkest moments. They find comfort in the “useless nights” and “dreary places” because they endure them together.
The last stanza is a love letter of sorts, affirming the depth of the love between the singer and their partner. The love is so strong that it distorts the singer’s life, and drives them forward even when they are not sure of their footing. The final lines remind us that love is the longest thing that any of us will do, a testament to its power to endure even when surrounded by chaos and uncertainty.
Line by Line Meaning
Ah, it's what love looks like, in a world of reproach,
Love is a rare sight in a society full of disapproval and criticism
Completely absorbed in that too
Love consumes and overwhelms us
Exciting over fair, always daily forward, always the power to choose
Love is thrilling and worth fighting for, we must move forward and make our own choices
In your eyes, what love looks like, it's still the longest thing that I do
Your love is the greatest commitment I make daily
In your eyes, the useless nights and all the dreary places, but what blue
Even in the darkest and saddest moments, our love still shines through with hope
Oh, I was always too uneasy, too for solitude,
I have always struggled with being alone
Too into all the things you can do
I am too focused on your actions and thoughts
To come into the open, to come into the light
I need to be more open and honest about my feelings
Forward, daily forward for what blue
I am driven to move forward for the sake of our love
In your eyes, what our love looks like, it's the longest thing that we do
Our love is the most important and enduring task we have
In your eyes, all of our dark doors, our disenchanted paths, but what blue
Even through our struggles and disappointments, our love still holds strong
I love you so much, it distorts my life,
My love for you dominates and transforms my life
What drove and drives you drove and drives me too
Your passion and motivation inspire me
When I think I'm clear, I think I'm doing fine, completely absorbed in what blue
Even when I believe I have everything figured out, my love for you still consumes me
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing
Written by: GORDON DOWNIE, ROBERT BAKER, GORDON SINCLAIR, JOHNNY FAY, PAUL LANGLOIS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind