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.
World Container
The Tragically Hip Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And a billion ways to go berserk
When the country quits on you it must be dinner
And the Himmler on this one is there's no dessert
(He's the one who couldn't imagine all the people living life in peace)
Good News! You get to vanish
Go to Cleveland, be an indie smash
The bad news is you can be smaller than that
Go suck some souls, be a reader, get used
Laugh at a funeral or two
And laugh til all the chameleons turn black
Laugh and laugh til you're told 'please don't come back'
Then fake incredulous, say 'I just can't believe!
How'd it get so late so early?'
Say 'ain't life a grand and I'm in awe of y'all'
Then drop into your haunted bunk
Go to your touchless times out where the water's drying
Go past the 'No Attractions Past This Point' sign
What you'll find there are all flaws in progress
Where all songs are one song and that song is Don't Forget
Where all songs are one song and that song is Don't Forget
I've faked incredulous and said 'I just can't believe!
How'd it get so late so early?'
Said, 'ain't life a grand and I'm in awe of y'all'
I've dropped into my haunted bunk
Been to your touchless times out where the water's drying
Been past the 'No Attractions Past This Point' sign
What we have here are all flaws in progress
Where all songs are one song and that song is Don't Forget
Where all songs are one song and that song is Don't Forget
Where all songs are one song and that song is Don't Forget
The Tragically Hip's song World Container has lyrics that are contemplative and introspective. The opening line, "There's a world container with your name on it," suggests that every person has a place in the world that belongs to them and that they will eventually find it. The song then takes a more cynical turn with the lines, "And a billion ways to go berserk / When the country quits on you it must be dinner," suggesting that there are countless ways to lose one's way and become overwhelmed by life's challenges. The reference to Himmler, a notorious Nazi leader, adds an ominous tone to these lyrics, implying that there may be darker forces at work that make life even harder.
The song then moves into a section that encourages the listener to persevere in the face of adversity. The lines, "Go suck some souls, be a reader, get used / Laugh at a funeral or two," suggest that even in dark times, finding joy and humor can be important survival tactics. The repetition of the line "Laugh and laugh til you're told 'please don't come back'" suggests that the singer may be pushing back against societal norms and expectations, embracing their own individuality even if it means being shunned by others.
The final verse of the song circles back to the idea of finding one's place in the world, but with a more hopeful tone. The repetition of "What we have here are all flaws in progress / Where all songs are one song and that song is Don't Forget" suggests that while life may always be challenging and imperfect, we all have a common bond in our shared human experience. By remembering to stay present and connected to others, we may find a more peaceful and fulfilling existence.
Line by Line Meaning
There's a world container with your name on it
There's a place in the world where you can fit in perfectly
And a billion ways to go berserk
There's an overwhelming amount of opportunities to lose control and go crazy
When the country quits on you it must be dinner
When society abandons you, it's like being left with nothing to sustain you
And the Himmler on this one is there's no dessert
The worst part is that there's no hope or relief in sight
Good News! You get to vanish
It's actually good news to be able to disappear and escape from the chaos
Go to Cleveland, be an indie smash
Find a small community where you can make a big impact and thrive
The good news is now you're smaller
In this new place, you have the opportunity to reinvent yourself
The bad news is you can be smaller than that
But there's always a risk of losing yourself even further in the process
Go suck some souls, be a reader, get used
Explore new things, broaden your horizons, and adapt to your new surroundings
Laugh at a funeral or two
Find humor in dark situations to cope with the difficulties of life
And laugh til all the chameleons turn black
Laugh until even the most adaptable creatures can no longer change their colors
Laugh and laugh til you're told 'please don't come back'
Laugh so much that you become too much for others to handle and they push you away
Then fake incredulous, say 'I just can't believe! How'd it get so late so early?'
After being rejected, pretend to be surprised and wonder how things went wrong so quickly
Say 'ain't life a grand and I'm in awe of y'all'
Adopt a positive attitude and express admiration for others, despite the challenges
Then drop into your haunted bunk
Retreat to a place where you feel safe, but haunted by the events of your past
Go to your touchless times out where the water's drying
Find a desolate place where you can experience solitude and reflection
Go past the 'No Attractions Past This Point' sign
Venture beyond the limits of what others consider interesting or valuable
What you'll find there are all flaws in progress
What you'll discover is that everything and everyone is constantly changing and evolving
Where all songs are one song and that song is Don't Forget
In this place of imperfection, the message is to never forget what truly matters in life
I've faked incredulous and said 'I just can't believe! How'd it get so late so early?'
I too have pretended to be caught off guard and wondered how time could slip away so quickly
Said, 'ain't life a grand and I'm in awe of y'all'
I too have expressed admiration for others and seen life's beauty through its challenges
I've dropped into my haunted bunk
I too have sought refuge in a place of safety that is weighed down by my past
Been to your touchless times out where the water's drying
I too have explored moments of loneliness and introspection in a barren landscape
Been past the 'No Attractions Past This Point' sign
I too have strayed from what others consider valuable or interesting
What we have here are all flaws in progress
Together, we have a shared experience of constantly changing and evolving as imperfect beings
Where all songs are one song and that song is Don't Forget
The message remains the same: never forget what truly matters in life, as we navigate through our flaws and imperfections
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing
Written by: GORDON DOWNIE, GORDON SINCLAIR, JOHNNY FAY, PAUL LANGLOIS, ROBERT BAKER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind