With the Tragically Hip playing their last show ever tonight in Kingston (and across the country on CBC), I'm going to attempt to put together my top 50 favourite songs. This is a tough thing to do, because they have a huge library of great music, and also because this list could be completely different tomorrow. But I'll give it a shot.
50. The Wherewithal
He'd get interrupted long before
I always loved that guy
And he's not on TV any more
49. Tired As Fuck
It’s so hard to wonder why when you don’t feel worthy of being alone
Whatever wind may blow
You don’t let your balloon touch the ground
Or get so high that you can let go
48. Lionized
Smoking just a little too violently
I know that fact I've got and I know it single-mindedly
Stupid, stoned, cause and effect
I know a lack you've got and you don't even lack it yet
47. Speed River
Sounds just like a bomb hit it
It's an old sound
That says, "If you asked me to I'd relive it"
46. Springtime in Vienna
We live to survive our paradoxes
45. Don't Wake Daddy
Close their eyes on the howling wastes
Kurt Cobain reincarnated
Sighs and licks his face
Then they drift past strips of Serengeti
And the gates of Sleepy Hollow too
You can pause in wonder, they paused in wonder
And, yeah, I paused in wonder too
44. Country Day
Because we certainly can't
Until the darkness ends
Until the sun tries again
Our dreams are where we're at
What we can smell and touch
Work we understand
We don't want too much
43. Family Band
Through small groups of people smoking
Hey, get that kick drum loaded
Into the backseat folded down
We'll go virtually unnoticed
What's gripping the city ain't hitting the town
42. Fiddler's Green
September seventeen
For a girl I know it's Mother's DayHer son has gone alee
And that's where he will stay
41. In A World Possessed By The Human Mind
Then I'm sure you said, "It's fine"
They got no interest in a world completely possessed by the human mind
40. The Bastard
Then you turned all Billy Sunday
Shouting, "Philadelphia for Christ and Christ for Philadelphia"As the sun groomed the plane with crepuscular rays, when I saw you
39. No Threat
Try, but I'll get my mind's armies moving at full stride
Singing in one voice, preoccupied
And with nothing to say, I'll sing it bright, that's right
38. It Can't Be Nashville Every Night
He sang, "I'll die before I quit"
And this guy's the limit
Stares into the queer of the firefight
It can't be Nashville every night
37. We'll Go Too
What can you do
They've all gone, we'll go too
36. Something On
I know there's nothing on
I know that alienation
I know the train's long gone
35. Gift Shop
And after a glimpse
Over the topThe rest of the world
Becomes a gift shop
34. Last American Exit
I'm on the last American exit to my homeland
I'm on the last American exit to my last chance
They keep calling out my name, I shout it down
33. Cordelia
It takes all your power
I'm not Cordelia
I will not be there
32. Love is a First
I've been interpreted and shrunk
I've been as touchless as a drunk
This is as bad as or worse
31. It's a Good Life if You Don't Weaken
And find somewhere to go
Go somewhere we're needed
Find somewhere to grow
Grow somewhere we're needed
30. So Hard Done By
And that'll be it
Just then the stripper stopped in a coughing fit
She said, "Sorry, I can't go on with this"
Yeah, that's awful close but that's not why
I'm so hard done by
29. My Music At Work
It's the middle of the night
You're all alone
And the dummies might be right
28. Vaccination Scar
One thing I remember is
This tear on your bare shoulderThis little silver boulder
This slowly falling star
We're rolling, so what
Never getting older, where the moon-shocked curtains part
At the start of enough
A tear dropped in a vaccination scar
27. At Transformation
I can see it all at once
And, oh, what a glittering chance
In my head the game goes quiet
And I can see it all at once
Figuring you're not the goods
A kid before the rapids
But in my head the game is quiet
26. Scared
If I'm unclear, can I get out of this thing with me and you
If you feel scared, and a bit confused
I got to say, this sounds a little beyond anything I'm used to
Now there's a precious few that can prove at the root
This is all nothing but cold calculation
25. Poets
Don't tell me what the poets are doing
Don't tell me that they're talking toughDon't tell me that they're anti-social
Somehow not anti-social enough, all right
24. World Container
There's a world container with your name on it
And a billion ways to go berserkWhen the country quits on you it must be dinner
And the Himmler on this one is there's no dessert
23. Escape is At Hand For the Travelling Man
It was your fourth time in New York
We were fifth and sixth on the bill
We talk a little about our bands
Talk a little of our future plans
It's not like we were best of friends
22. Highway Girl
If you throw enough rocks one might break through
Well she looked out her window when the police came
Yeah, to see a big tin man dancing in the rain
21. Locked in the Trunk of a Car
It's a cool sweet kind of place where the copters won't spot it
And I destroyed the map, I even thought I forgot it
However every day I'm dumping the body
It'd be better for us if you don't understand
It'd be better for me if you don't understand
20. The Lonely End of the Rink
I learned not long ago that this song is about Gord's dad, who was busy with his job and only had time to stop by his games for a few minutes. He'd sit at Gord's end (he was a goalie) and put his fist in the air toward him.
Just sitting there all alone
Holding your fist in the air
Like if you need me you're on your own
19. Fully Completely
Bring me back in shackles
And hang me long out in the sunExonerate me
Then forget about me
Wait and you'll see
Just wait and you'll see
Fully and completely
18. The Darkest One
(greatest music video of all time, by the way)
And you don't explain if you want to explain
What you believe you say without shame, "I just do"
To say what you mean you don't mean what you say or you do
17. Pigeon Camera
By now he could be anywhere
And after all that training
And after all that training
Was something we could no longer contain
16. Three Pistols
Well, Tom Thomson came paddling past
I'm pretty sure it was himAnd he spoke so softly in accordance
To the growing of the dim
He said, "Bring on a brand new renaissance
'Cause I think I'm ready
Well, I've been shaking all night long
But my hands are steady"
15. Boots or Hearts
Fingers and toes, fingers and toes, 40 things we share
41 if you include the fact that we don't care
Now you've blocked off most of Main Street
For your faith parade
Well, everyone in town now, they probably all agree
I'm lying in the bed I made
14. Looking For a Place to Happen
I'll put your coat up on the bed
Hey man, you've got the real bum's eye for clothes
And come on in, sit right down
No you're not the first to show
We've all been here since God who knows
13. Fireworks
You said you didn't give a fuck about hockey
And I never saw someone say that beforeYou held my hand and we walked home the long way
You were loosening my grip on Bobby Orr
12. Twist My Arm
You just hit me where I live
I guess it looked quite primitive
What was that supposed to prove
Throw the calf or he'll throw you
11. Little Bones
It gets so sticky down here
Better butter your cue finger up
It's the start of another new year
Better call the newspaper up
2.50 for a highball
And a buck and a half for a beer
Happy hour, happy hour
Happy hour is here
10. Courage
Courage, my word
It didn't come, it doesn't matter
9. Grace, Too
Armed with will and determination, and grace, too
8. Bobcaygeon
With its checkerboard floors
Riding on horseback
And keeping order restored
Till the men they couldn't hang
Stepped to the mic and sang
And their voices rang
With that Aryan twang
7. Fifty Mission Cap
Bill Barilko disappeared that summer (in 1951)
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 till 1962
The year he was discovered
6. Wheat Kings
Late breaking story on the CBC
A nation whispers, "We always knew that he'd go free"They add, "You can't be fond of living in the past
'Cause if you are then there's no way that you're gonna last"
5. Small Town Bringdown
To stop that feeling when you're living in a small town
You're long and lean but things don't get you down
You're a top ten kingpin in the borders of your hometown
4. Nautical Disaster
Settled in, into the pocket
Of a lighthouse on some rocky socket
Off the coast of France, dear
One afternoon four thousand men died in the water here
And five hundred more were thrashing madly
As parasites might in your blood
3. New Orleans is Sinking
I had my hands in the river, my feet back up on the banks
Looked up to the lord above and said hey man, thanksSometimes I feel so good I got to scream
She said Gordie baby, I know exactly what you mean
She said, she said, I swear to God she said
My memory is muddy, what's this river that I'm in
New Orleans is sinking man and I don't want to swim
2. At The Hundredth Meridian
If I die of vanity, promise me, promise me
If they bury me some place I don't want to beYou'll dig me up and transport me, unceremoniously
Away from the swollen city breeze, garbage bag trees
Whispers of disease and the acts of enormity
And lower me slowly and sadly and properly
Get Ry Cooder to sing my eulogy
1. Blow at High Dough
I was first introduced to this song by the show Made In Canada in the late 90s (I was two or three when Up To Here came out). It's not as deep lyrically as many songs Gord's written, but if I'm on the highway on a hot day, there's no song I'd rather have blasting in the car at ear-damaging volume.
They shot a movie once, in my hometown
Everybody was in it, from miles aroundOut at the speedway, some kind of Elvis thing
Well I ain't no movie star
But I can get behind anything
Yeah I can get behind anything
