Hey Polo, I'm 60, I'm from Vancouver BC and I used to drive taxi for Richmond Cabs which is a suburb of Vancouver near the International Airport. I had a friend who drove cab with me and he had a band who played the local bars and nightclubs. He sounded exactly like the lead singer and I loved following them around town. It's tragic that young people have no idea how incredible our rock music was back then. I love listening to your reactions. All of The Tragically Hip songs are awesome!
@@poloreacts27 If you liked the drop as much as the vocals, the "Gift Shop" should be on your hit list for future Hip songs. A mesmerizing intro and an even harder drop into one their vibiest slow riffs
The Tragically Hip grows on you the more you listen. My favourite song is “It’s a good life if you don’t weaken”. Sends emotional waves through me every time as the song builds and builds. It’s a very underrated song in their collection.
And they made their own rules, I saw them at Another Roadside attractions, I saw them in sold out stadiums and at a dive bar that they showed up at and played for 3 hours then sat at a table drank beer signed shit and chatted with folks.... iconic Canadian music by stereotypical Canadian dudes.
CBC Canada paid $700 million for the rights to air the Olympics in 2016. On Sat Aug 20th 2016 CBC interrupted their broadcast of the Olympics for 3hrs with no commercials to cover the last concert of the Tragically Hip. 12 million Canadians tuned in to watch. Thats how much the Hip and Gord meant to us. 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦
12M in a country of 35M-ish at the time. Damn near 1/3 of the country, and that includes the children, elderly and those who do not speak the language. That was A Day. th-cam.com/video/OKYmNuvnxqA/w-d-xo.html
Gord's final gift to us was to allow us to gather as one to simultaneously celebrate his unique, generational talent, and to mourn our collective loss. @@frambojan
So, i read somewhere that 1 in 3 households tuned in but I remember we had watch parties all over the Niagara Region right into Buffalo and Detroit, so maybe even MORE than those 11 million! I sat on my couch crying alone watching it. This man shaped so many of my socio-political beliefs as a young adult. He was truly a gift to us.
My fave. Johnny Fay matching the sound of raindrops on his kit with the lyric “rain falls in real time…” Their songs are full of hidden gems and intricate moments like that.
When Canadians listen to the Hip, we teleport. To a lake up north, to a cabin in the mountains, to sitting around a campfire with family or friends. The Hip is in our DNA.
Why do people always insist on speaking for others? I'm Canadian and like the hip, but none of that is true for me and probably lots of other Canadians
@@canadianpatriot2498 I didn't speak for you. And what a bizarre thing to take issue with. Wow. Did I say EACH AND EVERY SINGLE CANADIAN? Did I say, ALL CANADIANS? No. Here's a question for you. Why do some people have such miserable lives that they have to find anything, no matter how innocuous, to complain about? Ffs
@canadianpatriot2498 says the guy who needs to take issue with an innocuous and positive comment. The guy who needed to post a ridiculous comment. Don't like being called out for being an as* then don't be one. Narcissistic perhaps? You must be a real delight.
I’m Indigenous Canadian so I say a very heartfelt Chi-Miigwetch to Gord for his work for our people and for sharing his beautiful music. Please check out the Gord Donnie and Chanie Wenjack Fund to learn more. For non-Canadians, it’s hard to fully express how much the Hip means to us. Our prime minister cried when Gord passed and yes, all FM radio played only the HIp for days in his honour. They were known for being regular guys while home in Kingston. Their music is poetic, historical and very Canadian. There’s something special about Grace, Too in particular that makes me emotional ❤️
I'm so proud of him using some of his last public statements asking for our PM making things right with First Nations communities. He's shaped my adolescence in the late 90s early aughts. who knew running into a hat clad guy on the street in Atlanta in 1998 would set me on a path to my own reconnecting .
I feel that special connection has been honoured by some amazing covers of Hip Songs by Canadian Indigenous artists! One of my favourites is Twin Flames' version of Grace Too: th-cam.com/video/jAVQNbYp3jQ/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=TwinFlamesMusic Sounds like the hope of Reconciliation.
It was like when John Lennon died, wall to wall Beatles. It was of similar impact on me, but personal. I knew Gord a bit my bar band opened for them a lot early & we saw each other every once in a while after his life became crazy. - right before this album, really. So, like Christmas card acquaintance level. Hit me like it was my brother.
The final show they played was such a big deal for our country that the CBC aired it free nationwide for everyone, and _a third of Canada_ tuned in live to watch it. They meant so much to Canadians and so well represented Canada that it was one of the most watched TV events in Canada's history. I never met the man while he was alive, and came to their music far later in my life than I wish were the case looking back, but there is no other band that means more or music that's had a greater impact on my life. I think I speak for very many Canadians when I say that I miss Gord immensely.
I'm legitimately curious how many Canadians have an emotional reaction listening to The Hip. I think so many of us have some memory tied to the band (for better or worse) which makes it so impactful to hear. I can think of so many good memories when they were playing in the background. I've tried explain them to many international friends but it's difficult to convey the emotion in words. Glad you got to hear it.
I had a friend introduce me to the hip in 1989. I saw them in a Seattle club in 1990 that just had their name hand written on a piece of paper on the door. Listening to someone hearing them for the first time made me unexpectedly emotional
When I went to University in the early 90's, literally every dorm room had the same 3 CD's in them... Pearl Jam "Ten", Nirvana's "Nevermind", and the Hip's "Up to Here". Miss ya Gord.
The Hip were a massive part of my growing up, so many memories attached to their music, I made sure my kids knew their playlist while they were growing up. They were 10, 12 & 14 when Gordie passed and watched his last concert with us in 2016. Even today they get that look in their eye when Courage, 100th Meridian, New Orleans, Bobcaygeon, or whatever pops up on the playlist and I love it. The Hip are Canada's- Fully and Completely ;) I believe that they encompassed all of us from one coast to the other in some sort of magical fashion that would be near impossible to replicate.
During their last concert, the last time Canada saw the Hip play live, Pearl Jam was playing in Chicago. Eddie Vedder took time to address the crowd and let them know that the Hip was currently on stage, for the last time, in their home-town, Kingston, Ontario. The local junior hockey rink was packed (6.7K), and they simulcasted the concert in the town's Springer Market square (2500' west of the arena) to 25 000 people on a massive screen. The CBC broadcast the entire concert (the Hip always had Springsteen-esque epics of 3+ hours) to 11.7 million Canadians. That's over a third of our population. He ended the second of 3 three-song encores with Grace, Too. He cried and screamed forever at the end of the song, and an entire country witnessed a man confronted with his imminent death and the pain of leaving his family, friends, and the country he embodied in everything he did. I cried and screamed, too. We will never recover from the loss of Gord Downie.
My wife and I were at the CNE Bandstand attending The Jefferson Starship concert. The Starship showed their gratitude to the Hip by moving their start time ahead, so everyone could see their final show on the large screen. Initially their were technical difficulties and after twenty very patient minutes we all watched. NO ONE LEFT AND WHEN IT WAS OVER, WE MOSTLY LEFT SOBBING!!!!!
My wife and I were at that Wrigley Field PJ show. She was wearing her Hip shirt she’d gotten a week or two before at the London Hip show, which was basically a religious experience. We were so touched by Eddie talking about Gord and the guys playing their last show at the same time. It was such a nice moment as a Canadian at Wrigley. I imagine most people there didn’t who Eddie was talking about, but he still took the time.
The fact you've never heard this song, and your first opinion was "chills".. I still get chills 30 years later. You are so lucky to have just discovered these guys
I think we're luckier that they have been a part of our lives for so many years. They are the soundtrack to my teens and I can't imagine those years without them.
When Gord hit the scream in the breakdown of this song in his last concert in there hometown of Kingston it was the most powerful moment I’ve ever witnessed in music history.
Yeah it was like he was screaming at the Grim Reaper. And he let out all that was left of the rage and fury brought about by his illness, then accepted his fate.
I am 31 from Buffalo, NY and they are my all time favorite band. Seen them 6 times. They are so good and underrated in the US. Amazing and deep catalog. RIP Gord.
I grew up down the road from you in Hamilton. I saw them probably 30+ times. Some of the greatest times were following them on small club runs in the US, while they played NHL arenas back home. Last time I saw them was in San Francisco. Wall to wall Canadians.
They played the University of Winnipeg Buffeteria at lunch time in the late 1980s to promote their EP, if you can believe it. It was on, like, a Monday or Tuesday. Gord had a lot of hair then. Loved them since.
I work at a small airline, and I once boarded Gord, and said, "sorry, this plane is going to Newark, not Bobcaygeon". It elicited a laugh from him. This is before the world found out about his illness. I am glad I made him smile even for a small second.
It was amazing! Gord would do that during his live performances of Grace Too a screaming break down at the end of this amazing song , he was forever the showman and a damn good one ! That night he brought all of us with him !
“If I die of vanity, promise me, promise me if they bury me some place I don't want to be, you'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 and get Ry Cooder to sing my eulogy”
Oh man, you are going to get a lot of us Canucks cheering if you get into them. They are so Canadian it hurts - when we see The Hip, we see us. RIP Gord, truly one of a kind.
Canada sincerely thanks you for featuring the Hip and for your kind words. They are not only rock royalty in this country, but beloved by a whole country. Their music became the anthem to parties, 5am drives to hockey practice, and lazy Sundays eating pancakes. It’s next to impossible to listen to much of their music without tears in our eyes, a heavy heart, and a smile, all at once. Those fortunate enough to be a part of their final tour shared in a life changing experience. Once again, thank you for taking the time to listen. Hope Grace, Too is just the start of your journey with the Hip.
Damn right. "We have a man down." We Americans could learn volumes from that. I didn't catch up until "Phantom Power" and I had to go back, and fast. I have considered how I missed them for so long? There had only been a couple of bands that I have ever felt emotionally attached to. They made it three. All these years later, it hasn't changed. They were always an everybody is welcome outfit, but they were also a thinking person's band. And you didn't need a degree to understand that.
I was driving to work and The Hip were playing on the radio. Then another song. Then another. And I just knew. When the DJ came back on, his voice was so choked. I had to pull over to have my own cry. When I got into the office, the whole gang was quiet and so sad. We lost a beautiful poet that day.
Texas here, back in 2000ish my oldest son and his dad traveled to Somewhere Tx.to buy a Van, on the ride home they discovered a Cassette Tape in the player, no Title, And for 126 mls.home they Jammed to The Tragically Hip....fell in Love, and then proceeded to turn us on to them....love them here in Tx.
Every gen x watching this reaction video is screaming every time you stop the song to react 😂. This song is ingrained in muscle memory, not to mention the emotional response to the memory and the Hip’s last concert.
52 year old Canadian here and Hip Fan forever. I took his death so hard I couldn't listen to them for a few years. Their catalogue is so deep and so Canadian. They represent the best of us. RIP Gordie.
I'm from France and listening to the Hip for almost 30 years. My favorite Hip tune is "At the Hundredth meridian", a good candidate for a future reaction.
Good song too. It's all about the murder of a player for the Toronto Maple Leafs (I don't remember his name but it's in the first verse of the song) who scored the game winning goal of the Stanley Cup Final that won the Leafs the cup...and if I'm not mistaken, I do believe it's an unsolved murder.
@@chrisharvey1091It wasn’t a murder it was a plane crash. You’ve also got the wrong song. The song about the hockey player who was killed in the plane crash is Fifty-Mission Cap. Bill Barilko disappeared that summer He was on a fishing trip The last goal he ever scored Won the Leafs the cup They didn't win another till nineteen sixty two The year he was discovered I stole this from a hockey card I keeped tucked up under My fifty-mission cap I worked it in I worked it in to look like that It's my fifty-mission cap It's his fifty-mission cap And I worked it in I worked it in And I worked it in to look like that And I worked it in to look like that
It's always been interesting to me how much more popular they are in Europe than the US. I am Canadian, but actually hadn't heard much of their music until I was introduced in my late teens by someone from the Netherlands.
I first saw them in 1987 in Kingston Ontario. I carried the Hip with me on two tours of Bosnia and almost a year in Afghanistan. They were "home". One night by a fire stove in Banja Luka a friend and I listened to the album Fully Completely while drinking our two beer limit and talking hockey. We were swept home for the briefest of moments. I saw them live after every deployment and their last tour of Canada in 2016. Gord had been diagnosed with brain cancer and they wanted “one last go”. “New Orleans is sinking”, “Locked up in the trunk of a car” and “At the Hundredth Meridian” are deceptively layered musically and lyrically brilliant. Thank you for the reminiscences. Welcome to the Canadian musical rabbit hole, which will likely include Rush and the Guess Who.
The Hip and Headstones (both Kingston bands) were the soundtrack and escape during our ‘94 tour in Rwanda. On tour #5 in Afghanistan, the Hip still filled my headspace when I needed a mental reprieve. On tour #6, still on my play list. Retired for 2 years now, still pulling the Hip up to get me through my day.
In 93 I was in Ottawa for Connaught Ranges,..they were in town. Somehow I got tickets….had to be back by Midnight for shift and almost went AWOL. I was freakin because guy next to me was Hoover mode with joints 🤣 I stunk. Feck lol
I'm a Canadian metalhead so my whole life I've thought they were over-hyped... But I'm biased, it's art. I will say that, no word of a lie, NEW ORLEANS IS SINKING is an ABSOLUTE god tier banger of a song and, even if you hate the band, that shit will GROOVE YOU. RIP GORDIE... You dominated Canadian Radio for 30+ years for a reason.
I'm a Canadian punk rocker and you expressed my thoughts exactly. I've never cared for them for the most part, but the songs I do like by them, like New Orleans or Courage, I really like.
@@sherwalt he used Bobcaygeon because it rhymed with constellation. He admitted as much, he uses words just because they match rhythmically. It shows if you listen to most of his songs. A good band, better than Rush for sure. I found he played his "Canadian-ness" to hard, hated that about him. Most of his songs sound the same, also a problem with Rush.
I was watching SNL many years back and Dan Ackroyd was the host. A fellow Canadian and friend of the band he requested they be the musical guests. They did Grace Too and I was home alone and had no skill at recording but they were all I could talk about for so long. I happen to LOVE Canada and Canadiens and of course The Tragically Hip. I was devastated at Gord's diagnosis and I was watching when the Native People of Canada honored him with their tribal colors, hatband and blanket and made him a member of the Native Nation. He was crying, I was crying and I know everyone in the Great White North was crying. I was also watching just after he died when Canada proclaimed a holiday in his honor. The coverage switched from pub to pub across the country where all were filled and everyone was drinking, singing and crying. People too young to drink were sitting on sidewalks where their music played through speakers everywhere. I've never witnessed ANYTHING like it before or since. A beautiful tribute to a beautiful and exceptionally talented man. I never saw them live unfortunately but was told they played every show as if it was the last. The energy and excitement radiated to every single person in the audience and they didn't want the night to end. I'm so glad you heard this, MY personal favorite TTH song.
I feel privileged to have grown up with The Hip, there will never be a National band like it again, a truly unique experience. I have exposed my kids to their music so they know them.
This one is my absolute favourite. I have a beautiful framed picture of the lyric “I saw the constellations reveal themselves one star at a time” soooooo good
@@textickulartrauma8287 not your fault man. Keep going. Don't know where you're from but try and watch their last show. You'll see how much they meant to the country of Canada. If you can inspire a nation with your music you've got to have done something really really right.
My wife and I (from Indiana) are in Orillia this weekend for a concert. I just randomly came across this video while sitting in the hotel room. Looks like I know whose catalog we'll be exploring on the drive home tomorrow. Serendipity is a beautiful thing.
I played hockey with him in a Hockey for Heart tournament, he was our goalie. Went for beers after he was the most real guy going. He really listened and engaged in the conversation. One of the highlights of my life.
I live in Oklahoma and I've been a tragically hip fan since the 80s. "Up to Here" is my favorite album of theirs, and although there are a lot of good songs on the album, my favorite is "New Orleans is sinking"
I think if you talk to any Hip fan...they would all have a different favorite. Because they have so many amazing songs. I love Wheat Kings and Bogcaygeon
@@richieb1125 I had a music loving friend I worked with that gave me a cassette tape of theirs and told me to read the lyrics, I wasn't real familiar with Canadian slang but I got it figured out
The Guess Who, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Rush, The Band... The Tragically Hip are ONE of the greatest Canadian Bands ever, because there is no defacto number one Canadian band because they all share the top spot...
The performance of this song during that last concert on the CBC absolutely broke my heart and every time I listen to this track it makes me sob. We miss you, Gord. 💔
There is a new documentary about the band’s history from inception to their ultimate end when Gord passed. It’s in Prime now, and is phenomenal - it just won the documentary award at the toronto international film festival in Sept ‘24.
Birmingham Alabama here, I was lucky enough to have seen this band 3 times. One of my favorite songs by THP is, "Nautical Disaster". Give it a listen, thx.
The first time I saw The Hip live, in my late teens, they played Nautical Disaster. As the opening chords came up, the entire stadium of fans breathed in and exhaled in tandem. I'll never forget that. It was unbelievable, unless you were there. I've been to hundreds of concerts and live shows but, The Hip concert memories still give me goosebumps 40 years later.
As a Canadian watching their final concert was heartbreaking. I sang the songs like most Canadians and cried knowing that Gord was dying and he wasnt going to create anymore music. He was a true talent! I have so many favourite songs from The Hip but New Orleans is sinking was my go to song at the bar for dancing.
‘90 at the first HFSTIVAL…the opening notes of New Orleans is Sinking hit me like freight train and I’ve been a fan ever since. Every car I owned since then in Virginia has had a Hip sticker in the window. I truly miss them.
I got goosebumps and tears hearing this… again. I’ve been to about 30+ of their shows in US and Canada including last tour. I am Canadian and this is our Music
Hip embodied what it is to be Canadian. They sang about this country, loved it, breathed it, and we felt it. If Canada were a feeling.... the Hip is it. Backdrop to our lives. RIP Gord... forever 🙏
I’m an Aussie who was introduced to the Hip in London 1990 by a couple of Canucks. Saw them live there with about 30 people in the crowd. The slower songs are fire, but they can rock the hell out also. So many great songs…lifelong fan.
G’day mate, I got introduced to them around the release of Phantom Power. Loved them ever since. They ‘toured’ Oz once very early on but, of course, I missed it. Damn.
Yeah, I saw them twice while I was living in London, 2nd time was the Fully Completely tour - still got the concert t-shirt which was the album cover. I went to Lagos in Portugal twice where I was able to get some work at Shots In The Dark which was owned by a couple of Canadians. They also owned Joe's Garage which was just an epic bar. 'Shots' was more laid back and where Up to Here and Road Apples were on high rotation. Remember running into an aussie there with a Hip t-shirt from the Melbourne gig (1993) saying it was awesome. I was in Canada when Day For Night was released, but never got to see them there.@@wessleymcgrath9768
I think I was there that day. Downtown London in Harris or Ivey Park on a holiday weekend, maybe Canada Day? I lived in the area and heard music, so I left my sweltering apartment to listen to a band play. Didn't know who it was at the time, but they were great.
Agreed. I feel that Neil Peart of Rush deserved similar reverence as both a story teller and the premier percussionist of his time. Reading his books and being such a private person, an introvert, it was hard to know the know Neil. He IS Rush. @@AndrewAtkinson1
This Canadian says Thank You for allowing me to re-experience this masterpiece through your first-timer perspective. RIP Gord. Cheers to the Hip. Canadian Icons.
American here. Never lived in Canada. Fell in love with the band when my girlfriend (now wife of 32 years) bought a copy of Road Apples. Have loved them ever since. Thank you for all the great music. Love you.
Wheat Kings is my all time favourite Tragically Hip song. Used to put it on the juke box at my old sleezy dive of a pool hall and when those loons echoed through the building it sent shivers down your spine and the room went silent....that isnt just a song, it's an experience....
Think of the opening lines everytime i drive that stretch from Winnipeg to Brandon. From the Paris of the Prairies to the home of the Brandon Wheat Kings hockey team. The discussion will always continue whether paris of the prairies refers to winnipeg or regina.. (but we all know which one it really is).
I'm not Canadian, but I've been a huge Tragically Hip fan for years. They have such a great catalog of amazing music. Sophisticated music and lyrics in nearly every song. One of the coolest things about their music is the variety. Some killer jams like Poets or Little Bones then some mellow cerebral stuff like this or Bobcaygeon, not to mention the history lessons in lots of their stuff. I'm so glad you dug into this and appreciate it. Great Reaction!
American Hip fan here. They are my favorite band of all-time. Been a fan since their SNL appearance where they played Grace, Too and Nautical Disaster. Grace, Too is an excellent entry point for the band. Welcome, Polo, and RIP Gord
The Hip never made it big in the USA, but I can vouch that some of their American fans are as dedicated as north of the border. Enjoy knowing it's a secret you share with Canada.
They were hoping to break into the American music scene with that appearance but for the most part Americans just didn't take to them. It's crazy that when they toured Canada they always play out sold out arenas but when they went south Americans got to see them in clubs because that's all they could book. I think it would have been amazing to see them in a small venue but they were much too popular in Canada for that. I also think that they would have done better to preform New Orleans is Sinking when they appeared on SNL. It's not their best song but it was their most popular and it had a sound that everyone liked and that was popular at the time Even now when I see American You Tubers reacting to them a lot of them are sort "meh" about them until they hear New Orleans is Sinking and then they rock out.
This band is the soundtrack to canada. Every road trip, summers at the cottage, camping in the middle of where the hell am I? There was always someone playing this. You'd be at a campground amd youd hear this music drifting through the trees on the wind. Gord was a wildly beautiful human, our very own poet laureate, that captured what it is to be Canadian through hauntingly beautiful vocals with amazing instrumentals. If you're going to start anywhere with the hip, its got to be the Yer Favorites album. Top to bottom amazing.
They also agreed when they began to get popular that every member of the band would have songwriting rights so that Gordon wouldn't skyrocket to fame without the other guys and break up. They knew that would likely happen if they didn't move forward truly democratically. They were together as a band from the early 80s until Gord's death in 2017 and that decision was probably the biggest reason why. They were committed to each other as artists and friends.
This song was never used in a movie - the Tragically Hip is one of the best kept secrets in Rock. Talk to Americans who live on the Canadian border however and they are true fans too.
On Aug 20 2016 Canada closed for the evening while we all watched Gordie and the boys play their final concert for the country. It was amazingly beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time as Gord said his goodbyes to us all and we to him. ❤🇨🇦
The music is such a huge part of our culture. Honestly the day Gord died I felt so upset... I called a couple buddies late at night but it was a work night nobody answering... Was a real windy day up in Lake Erie, I was just about five minutes walk from Nickel Beach So, I went for a walk on the beach with my dog and felt so much emotion, I had to just feel something Even though the water was cold, october water, I felt free, so I dove in head first. I swam around and yelled at the stars and moon just because I could! Swam around with my dog in that stormy water Put my clothes back on and walked home... Felt free ever since. It was a feeling that only happens once in a lifetime And my dog never judged me for it :)
Thanks for the kind words. It's kind of funny you mention the thing about being alive because, At the time I had just quit using all hard drugs and was going through a very rough recovery after many relapses... I often think about that night as a cleansing of the soul moment and now it's been 6 years without ever touching that stuff again. Hope you are well these days too! @@VividTrivia
When they performed this song in their finally concert, even though Gordie couldn't maintain his old ability to sing, the power and performance made me cry. The HIP were there for every part of my life (i'm 49) and was my solace when when my wife got cancer and subsequently passed. POLO, thank you for respecting the song and validating the HIP. 💌
As a canadian from the great white north this is some amazing music for you to check out from our Hip ..New Orleans is sinking, At the hundredth meridian,Boots or hearts….great stuff Thank you to the view who sent this song in! ❤️🇨🇦❤️🇨🇦❤️🇨🇦 RIP GD
RIP Gord! Every gen x canadian has a special part of their heart for the Hip. They toured hard through Canada every summer. I bet I seen them 20 times live.
Most of my friends and family (including me) called in sick to stay home and watch the Hip’s final concert on CBC. It was absolutely one of the most important moments in Canadian music history.
I grew up near Canada, with a lot of Canadian radio and TV, and the Hip have been one of my favorite bands for decades. "Grace, Too" has been my introduction for lots of friends who have fallen in love with the band, and and there's so much other great stuff out there. Word of warning, though: the last performance of this track at their final show, when singer Gord Downie knew he was dying of brain cancer, is a very tough watch. Not because it's not a good performance - it's great - but because it's so unbelievably raw and emotional.
Their last show was nationally broadcasted and many of us got together for a viewing party. We set up a projection screen and blasted the last show, still one of the greatest weekends of my life.
I never knew Gord Downie personally, but I felt like I did. The Hip was the soundtrack to a lot of our lives. Such an underrated band to the rest of the world. RIP Gord🇨🇦❤❤❤🇨🇦
Now imagine the emotions when you’ve admired them your whole life and you’re seeing them live knowing it’s the last time you’ll ever hear him sing. God bless Gord. One of the most emotional moments of my life. He could have easily spent his final days with his family but he gave it to his fans. I’ll never forget.
When you said they give you "that Tool feeling" I nearly wept. The Tragically Hip and Tool are the two bands that have carried me for the last 35 years
I grew up in Northern Minnesota in the 80's. The Hip were on the local rock radio station out of Fargo, in heavy rotation from the day "Up To Here" came out. Been a fan ever since. You mentioned his "ad libs" in this song, you really need to hear some live recordings of their stuff. Gord had an amazing free style ability with lyrics and nonsense. He really could become a one-man-show at times during the concert. I had the chance to see them live 5-6 times over the years, and they never disappointed the fans. Once got to see them in Spokane, WA, then two nights later on the pier overlooking Peugot Sound in Seattle while the sun set behind them. It was a great way to celebrate our 4th Wedding anniversary!
I cannot tell you how much joy I felt watching you discover The Hip. Gord was iconic in concert, he went on rambling lyrical walks through your favourite songs and took you along like a dear friend.
One of my favorite bands! I was fortunate enough to see The Hip at small venues in Tucson multiple times and they never disappointed. In fact, they’re among the best live bands I’ve ever seen and I’ve been to hundreds of concerts. I got to hang out with them backstage several times and have signed posters and ticket stubs. Please try Locked In the Trunk of a Car, Three Pistols, New Orleans Is Sinking, Poets, Nautical Disaster, Ahead By a Century, 38 Years Old… Geeze I could go on. America didn’t get them for whatever reason but I was a really into them! Their first five albums or so were really great. 🖖🏼
Without doubt there are some serious Hip fans in the US, and it's great to see. I think in general there is something very Canadian about them that just didn't appeal to mainstream USA however. Which makes sense.
The WORLD stood still. I live in the US, but close enough to Canada that the HIP had a LOT of fans here. Hard to explain the HIP to anyone. Just a bit beyond. I watched the last performance and wept mightily along with the world.
And if your looking for some more good rock, check out the Headstones. Funny fact, both singers went to the same high-school and were friends. Singer from the Headstones owes a lot to Gord I'm sure.
Their last concert was broadcast live by the CBC (national broadcaster). 1/3 of Canada's population watched it live. The Olympics were on at the time and the CBC had the broadcast rights, and advertising income that came with it. They pre-empted the Olympics during prime time to broadcast the concert live, with no commercial interuptions. Thats how big of a deal they were to Canada.
I was at a local bar watching the concert. Halfway through my classical music loving 80 year old father called me. “I want to make sure you’re watching this. I’m really enjoying them - I wish I’d listened to your music more.” He’s gone now, too. I hope he gets to meet Gord. “We’ll see you down the road somewhere.” IYKYK
First time I ever heard them was in drafting class (sometime between 92-93). I was 16 or 17. Our teacher was a huge fan and he made fans of all of us in the class. RIP Gord ❤️
Gord was our unofficial poet laureate, then eventually our official poet laureate up in Canada, I love the way he could tell a story or ramble nonsense and you were enthralled either way. 38 years old is a great example of a story song by them, also Beautiful Thing
What's incredible is that you've never heard this song in a movie, but it Is about war. And you got that vibe just from hearing the melody. Big up from Canada
Check out the new Hip documentary "The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal." It's an amazing journey. These guys played a major role in the lives of many Canadians and beyond. RIP Gord.
This is one of the last songs Gord ever sang live. He was screaming it at the end, as if he was truly angry about dying. I get emotional listening to this.
@@brianport4730 see, I and a few friends have a theory about that. I don't know that he was so much SUPPORTING Trudeau as he was calling him out. Taking him to task and hoping that by putting him on the spot, maybe he might do his damn job.
The whole country got emotional. You'd have to be dead inside not to. I just wanted to run on stage and hug the man. Thinking of that moment still gets me choked up.
@@RyanDraga I agree with this. I worked in a place where the manager, if he wanted to improve the performance of an employee who was slacking, would make them Employee of the Month and their performance would improve. Gord made Trudeau Employee of the Month.
The Hip playing Grace Too at their last show in Vancouver in 2016 was the most powerful live music experience I will ever witness. We all knew it was our last chance to sing with our friend Gord who was at that point diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. He gave it everything with wails of emotion. The crowd's appreciation was deafening. I have never experienced a spontaneous sustained ovation during a song. We were saying goodbye and thank you in real time, cheering Gord on. Check out the video, focusing on 1:30 and then again (even louder and longer) starting at 3:15. Goosebumps all around. th-cam.com/video/63iRMPXqn_s/w-d-xo.html
Gord Downie researched each song extensively. His lyrics are poetry and history, perfectly intertwined. When he died, we were all heartbroken. There's an amazing documentary about the band and their final tour called "Long Time Running" which is also the title of one of their songs. I couldn't get myself to watch it for at least a year after his death, but I'm glad I finally did. Rest in Peace Gord.
Canadians may have taken The Hip for themselves, but there are plenty of Americans who melt and weep just as hard as they do every time they listen to them. I've been on the Hip Trip since the days of Road Apples, and cried myself the whole way through the new Prime Video documentary, remembering how many great songs they have. RIP Gord
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The build? Wait for that DROP!
🤯
Hey Polo, I'm 60, I'm from Vancouver BC and I used to drive taxi for Richmond Cabs which is a suburb of Vancouver near the International Airport. I had a friend who drove cab with me and he had a band who played the local bars and nightclubs. He sounded exactly like the lead singer and I loved following them around town. It's tragic that young people have no idea how incredible our rock music was back then.
I love listening to your reactions. All of The Tragically Hip songs are awesome!
@@poloreacts27 If you liked the drop as much as the vocals, the "Gift Shop" should be on your hit list for future Hip songs. A mesmerizing intro and an even harder drop into one their vibiest slow riffs
The Tragically Hip grows on you the more you listen. My favourite song is “It’s a good life if you don’t weaken”. Sends emotional waves through me every time as the song builds and builds. It’s a very underrated song in their collection.
@@mccullochmike "It's A Good Life If You Don't Weaken" won't really mean much to anyone under 30.
Rush was the band that Canada gave the world. We kept The Hip for ourselves ❤
Very well put my friend.👍🇨🇦🤘🏼
Love this, well said👏🏻
And they made their own rules, I saw them at Another Roadside attractions, I saw them in sold out stadiums and at a dive bar that they showed up at and played for 3 hours then sat at a table drank beer signed shit and chatted with folks.... iconic Canadian music by stereotypical Canadian dudes.
Well said. #truth
No way were you going to keep the Hip a secret
CBC Canada paid $700 million for the rights to air the Olympics in 2016. On Sat Aug 20th 2016 CBC interrupted their broadcast of the Olympics for 3hrs with no commercials to cover the last concert of the Tragically Hip. 12 million Canadians tuned in to watch. Thats how much the Hip and Gord meant to us. 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦
One of the few times I've teared up watching a performance. As painful as it was for everyone, I can't imagine a more beautiful exit for artist.
12M in a country of 35M-ish at the time. Damn near 1/3 of the country, and that includes the children, elderly and those who do not speak the language. That was A Day.
th-cam.com/video/OKYmNuvnxqA/w-d-xo.html
Gord's final gift to us was to allow us to gather as one to simultaneously celebrate his unique, generational talent, and to mourn our collective loss. @@frambojan
So, i read somewhere that 1 in 3 households tuned in but I remember we had watch parties all over the Niagara Region right into Buffalo and Detroit, so maybe even MORE than those 11 million! I sat on my couch crying alone watching it. This man shaped so many of my socio-political beliefs as a young adult. He was truly a gift to us.
That’s like a third of the entire country!
"Ahead by a Century"
You need to hear it.
#1 in my book
Was just featured in the last season, last episode of umbrella academy!
My fave. Johnny Fay matching the sound of raindrops on his kit with the lyric “rain falls in real time…”
Their songs are full of hidden gems and intricate moments like that.
Respectfully it was100th meridian.i knowevery word please bring rye cooder for my eulogy
When Canadians listen to the Hip, we teleport. To a lake up north, to a cabin in the mountains, to sitting around a campfire with family or friends. The Hip is in our DNA.
Why do people always insist on speaking for others? I'm Canadian and like the hip, but none of that is true for me and probably lots of other Canadians
@@canadianpatriot2498 I didn't speak for you. And what a bizarre thing to take issue with. Wow. Did I say EACH AND EVERY SINGLE CANADIAN? Did I say, ALL CANADIANS? No. Here's a question for you. Why do some people have such miserable lives that they have to find anything, no matter how innocuous, to complain about? Ffs
@@Kimberlee-d5l your reaction is dramatically more extreme than mine. What a bizarre thing to get so worked up about. Just speak for yourself
@canadianpatriot2498 says the guy who needs to take issue with an innocuous and positive comment. The guy who needed to post a ridiculous comment. Don't like being called out for being an as* then don't be one. Narcissistic perhaps? You must be a real delight.
@canadianpatriot2498 Yup. I nailed it. Looking at your other comments on here. You are just a loser seeking attention. Lmao.
When he screamed like that, dying of cancer, in his last goodbye, it was heart wrenching. He didn't want to leave and we didn't want him to go.
Yep. It’s like I could feel what Gord was feeling. Deep
No you’re crying 😢
Was at that Kingston show and it was extremely emotional
It was gut wrenching and beautiful , I cried my eyes out, that scream was one of the most real moments I have ever experienced.
Don’t talk about it!! I’m. Crying just thinking about that night 😢
Dude their library is wicked deep. Welcome Canada's best band in the last 25 years. RIP Gord.
*40 years
@@AdrianGraham4that title would belong to RUSH
Rush. Lol, if not the hip then big wreck. Ian Thornley is a god among men.
Rush says "hold my beer"
Rush is great. The Hip are amazing
I’m Indigenous Canadian so I say a very heartfelt Chi-Miigwetch to Gord for his work for our people and for sharing his beautiful music. Please check out the Gord Donnie and Chanie Wenjack Fund to learn more.
For non-Canadians, it’s hard to fully express how much the Hip means to us. Our prime minister cried when Gord passed and yes, all FM radio played only the HIp for days in his honour. They were known for being regular guys while home in Kingston. Their music is poetic, historical and very Canadian.
There’s something special about Grace, Too in particular that makes me emotional ❤️
I'm so proud of him using some of his last public statements asking for our PM making things right with First Nations communities. He's shaped my adolescence in the late 90s early aughts. who knew running into a hat clad guy on the street in Atlanta in 1998 would set me on a path to my own reconnecting .
I feel that special connection has been honoured by some amazing covers of Hip Songs by Canadian Indigenous artists!
One of my favourites is Twin Flames' version of Grace Too: th-cam.com/video/jAVQNbYp3jQ/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=TwinFlamesMusic
Sounds like the hope of Reconciliation.
Yes brother.
It was like when John Lennon died, wall to wall Beatles. It was of similar impact on me, but personal. I knew Gord a bit my bar band opened for them a lot early & we saw each other every once in a while after his life became crazy. - right before this album, really. So, like Christmas card acquaintance level. Hit me like it was my brother.
The final show they played was such a big deal for our country that the CBC aired it free nationwide for everyone, and _a third of Canada_ tuned in live to watch it. They meant so much to Canadians and so well represented Canada that it was one of the most watched TV events in Canada's history.
I never met the man while he was alive, and came to their music far later in my life than I wish were the case looking back, but there is no other band that means more or music that's had a greater impact on my life. I think I speak for very many Canadians when I say that I miss Gord immensely.
I'm legitimately curious how many Canadians have an emotional reaction listening to The Hip. I think so many of us have some memory tied to the band (for better or worse) which makes it so impactful to hear. I can think of so many good memories when they were playing in the background. I've tried explain them to many international friends but it's difficult to convey the emotion in words. Glad you got to hear it.
I had a friend introduce me to the hip in 1989. I saw them in a Seattle club in 1990 that just had their name hand written on a piece of paper on the door. Listening to someone hearing them for the first time made me unexpectedly emotional
When I went to University in the early 90's, literally every dorm room had the same 3 CD's in them... Pearl Jam "Ten", Nirvana's "Nevermind", and the Hip's "Up to Here". Miss ya Gord.
Actually brings a tear to the eye even watching this reaction. Calgary boy here.
The Hip were a massive part of my growing up, so many memories attached to their music, I made sure my kids knew their playlist while they were growing up. They were 10, 12 & 14 when Gordie passed and watched his last concert with us in 2016. Even today they get that look in their eye when Courage, 100th Meridian, New Orleans, Bobcaygeon, or whatever pops up on the playlist and I love it. The Hip are Canada's- Fully and Completely ;) I believe that they encompassed all of us from one coast to the other in some sort of magical fashion that would be near impossible to replicate.
🙋♂️
During their last concert, the last time Canada saw the Hip play live, Pearl Jam was playing in Chicago. Eddie Vedder took time to address the crowd and let them know that the Hip was currently on stage, for the last time, in their home-town, Kingston, Ontario.
The local junior hockey rink was packed (6.7K), and they simulcasted the concert in the town's Springer Market square (2500' west of the arena) to 25 000 people on a massive screen. The CBC broadcast the entire concert (the Hip always had Springsteen-esque epics of 3+ hours) to 11.7 million Canadians. That's over a third of our population.
He ended the second of 3 three-song encores with Grace, Too. He cried and screamed forever at the end of the song, and an entire country witnessed a man confronted with his imminent death and the pain of leaving his family, friends, and the country he embodied in everything he did. I cried and screamed, too.
We will never recover from the loss of Gord Downie.
There is a Gord shaped hole in Canada's soul. 😢
❤
My wife and I were at the CNE Bandstand attending The Jefferson Starship concert. The Starship showed their gratitude to the Hip by moving their start time ahead, so everyone could see their final show on the large screen. Initially their were technical difficulties and after twenty very patient minutes we all watched. NO ONE LEFT AND WHEN IT WAS OVER, WE MOSTLY LEFT SOBBING!!!!!
Beautifully said ❤
My wife and I were at that Wrigley Field PJ show. She was wearing her Hip shirt she’d gotten a week or two before at the London Hip show, which was basically a religious experience. We were so touched by Eddie talking about Gord and the guys playing their last show at the same time. It was such a nice moment as a Canadian at Wrigley. I imagine most people there didn’t who Eddie was talking about, but he still took the time.
The fact you've never heard this song, and your first opinion was "chills"..
I still get chills 30 years later.
You are so lucky to have just discovered these guys
I think we're luckier that they have been a part of our lives for so many years.
They are the soundtrack to my teens and I can't imagine those years without them.
When Gord hit the scream in the breakdown of this song in his last concert in there hometown of Kingston it was the most powerful moment I’ve ever witnessed in music history.
Getting a little misty now just thinking about it
@@Fern635me too 😔
Yes. So powerful. I just ugly-cried and cheered all the way through that concert. So much emotion and love❤
Yeah it was like he was screaming at the Grim Reaper. And he let out all that was left of the rage and fury brought about by his illness, then accepted his fate.
God this is hurting me. Miss you Gord. My daughter’s middle name is Downey in his honour.
I am 31 from Buffalo, NY and they are my all time favorite band. Seen them 6 times. They are so good and underrated in the US. Amazing and deep catalog. RIP Gord.
Were you lucky enough to come to Kingston and see them in their home town?
I grew up down the road from you in Hamilton. I saw them probably 30+ times. Some of the greatest times were following them on small club runs in the US, while they played NHL arenas back home. Last time I saw them was in San Francisco. Wall to wall Canadians.
The Hip are from my home town and I never got to see them in concert, but I did mow their grass, lol
They played the University of Winnipeg Buffeteria at lunch time in the late 1980s to promote their EP, if you can believe it. It was on, like, a Monday or Tuesday. Gord had a lot of hair then. Loved them since.
I was surprised how insane the buffalove was for the tragically hip. They have a cover band that sells out shows down there still…. Go bills!
I work at a small airline, and I once boarded Gord, and said, "sorry, this plane is going to Newark, not Bobcaygeon". It elicited a laugh from him. This is before the world found out about his illness. I am glad I made him smile even for a small second.
I once was their waitress, and their graciousness was like butter
This made me smile ❤
Well done.
Awesome comment!
During their final show, when Gordie broke down while singing this song, I broke down along with 12 million other Canadians....
This was the definitive version of this song.
Along with one Austin Texan
It was amazing! Gord would do that during his live performances of Grace Too a screaming break down at the end of this amazing song , he was forever the showman and a damn good one !
That night he brought all of us with him !
I bawl every time I watch it. He was emotional every time that tour, but Kingston was a whole other level.
Just reading this 8 years later made me tear up
“If I die of vanity, promise me, promise me if they bury me some place I don't want to be, you'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 and
get Ry Cooder to sing my eulogy”
At the hundredth meridian, at the hundredth meridian, at the hundredth meridian where the Great Lakes begin….
Hats off to both of you
Your next Hip tune should be Wheat Kings. Amazing tune with a story.
YES!
YES!
Important to learn the context of this song first, so much more meaningful then….
Spot on! One of my top 5 favourite songs ever.
Absolutely!@@KiterSuperfly
Oh man, you are going to get a lot of us Canucks cheering if you get into them. They are so Canadian it hurts - when we see The Hip, we see us.
RIP Gord, truly one of a kind.
Well said. There is something uniquely Canadian about The Hip. Pure. Genuine. Intense. Modest.
One of the greatest bands to ever form in a prison.
PDog.......did we just become, BROTHERS ?
💯
Canada sincerely thanks you for featuring the Hip and for your kind words. They are not only rock royalty in this country, but beloved by a whole country. Their music became the anthem to parties, 5am drives to hockey practice, and lazy Sundays eating pancakes. It’s next to impossible to listen to much of their music without tears in our eyes, a heavy heart, and a smile, all at once. Those fortunate enough to be a part of their final tour shared in a life changing experience. Once again, thank you for taking the time to listen. Hope Grace, Too is just the start of your journey with the Hip.
Beautifully put 🥲
Very well said
The day Gord died, October 17th 2017.
"Canada closed. Death in the family"
😢 it was awful. John Dunsworth passed the same week. We were broken.
Truth!
Damn right. "We have a man down." We Americans could learn volumes from that. I didn't catch up until "Phantom Power" and I had to go back, and fast. I have considered how I missed them for so long? There had only been a couple of bands that I have ever felt emotionally attached to. They made it three. All these years later, it hasn't changed. They were always an everybody is welcome outfit, but they were also a thinking person's band. And you didn't need a degree to understand that.
I was driving to work and The Hip were playing on the radio.
Then another song. Then another. And I just knew.
When the DJ came back on, his voice was so choked.
I had to pull over to have my own cry.
When I got into the office, the whole gang was quiet and so sad.
We lost a beautiful poet that day.
Dude that made me tear up
Texas here, back in 2000ish my oldest son and his dad traveled to Somewhere Tx.to buy a Van, on the ride home they discovered a Cassette Tape in the player, no Title, And for 126 mls.home they Jammed to The Tragically Hip....fell in Love, and then proceeded to turn us on to them....love them here in Tx.
That is awesome!😊
That's an awesome story, and it's probably the most tragically hip way you could discover the Tragically Hip!
Summer time drives with the Hip playing on the radio. Any Canadian that was around in the 90s can relate.
RIP Gord. A true Canadian Legend.
Every gen x watching this reaction video is screaming every time you stop the song to react 😂. This song is ingrained in muscle memory, not to mention the emotional response to the memory and the Hip’s last concert.
52 year old Canadian here and Hip Fan forever. I took his death so hard I couldn't listen to them for a few years. Their catalogue is so deep and so Canadian. They represent the best of us. RIP Gordie.
Not a dry eye in Canada when they televised that final gig 😔
Yep it still pangs a little when the sound goes through me
I hear ya man.
I still can't listen to Long Time Running without crying. The Hip is the absolute best.
I’m not crying. You are. 😢
I'm from France and listening to the Hip for almost 30 years. My favorite Hip tune is "At the Hundredth meridian", a good candidate for a future reaction.
Good song too. It's all about the murder of a player for the Toronto Maple Leafs (I don't remember his name but it's in the first verse of the song) who scored the game winning goal of the Stanley Cup Final that won the Leafs the cup...and if I'm not mistaken, I do believe it's an unsolved murder.
@@chrisharvey1091It wasn’t a murder it was a plane crash. You’ve also got the wrong song. The song about the hockey player who was killed in the plane crash is Fifty-Mission Cap.
Bill Barilko disappeared that summer
He was on a fishing trip
The last goal he ever scored
Won the Leafs the cup
They didn't win another till nineteen sixty two
The year he was discovered
I stole this from a hockey card
I keeped tucked up under
My fifty-mission cap
I worked it in
I worked it in to look like that
It's my fifty-mission cap
It's his fifty-mission cap
And I worked it in
I worked it in
And I worked it in to look like that
And I worked it in to look like that
@@ericsherwood7423 you absolutely right, I did get the song wrong.
It's always been interesting to me how much more popular they are in Europe than the US. I am Canadian, but actually hadn't heard much of their music until I was introduced in my late teens by someone from the Netherlands.
Come to Canada in the warm months drive the whole country playing the Hip
im 66 years old and never heard of this band , they are amazing and I want to here more
Trust me. You will not be disappointed.
So many great tunes man. Get into it. Let us know if you want recommendations.
sorry to hear about the hole you have had in your life. get hip and fill it up
You can fi d the. Here on TH-cam, Spotify, everywhere you can find music
@@robmyckatyn Im filling up tonight, I'm ahead by a century
I first saw them in 1987 in Kingston Ontario. I carried the Hip with me on two tours of Bosnia and almost a year in Afghanistan. They were "home". One night by a fire stove in Banja Luka a friend and I listened to the album Fully Completely while drinking our two beer limit and talking hockey. We were swept home for the briefest of moments. I saw them live after every deployment and their last tour of Canada in 2016. Gord had been diagnosed with brain cancer and they wanted “one last go”. “New Orleans is sinking”, “Locked up in the trunk of a car” and “At the Hundredth Meridian” are deceptively layered musically and lyrically brilliant.
Thank you for the reminiscences. Welcome to the Canadian musical rabbit hole, which will likely include Rush and the Guess Who.
The Hip and Headstones (both Kingston bands) were the soundtrack and escape during our ‘94 tour in Rwanda. On tour #5 in Afghanistan, the Hip still filled my headspace when I needed a mental reprieve. On tour #6, still on my play list. Retired for 2 years now, still pulling the Hip up to get me through my day.
Lol ditto 3 tours..The Hip kept me somewhat sane lol. Listened to Fully Completely on a cross country drive when I was posted..🫡
In 93 I was in Ottawa for Connaught Ranges,..they were in town. Somehow I got tickets….had to be back by Midnight for shift and almost went AWOL. I was freakin because guy next to me was Hoover mode with joints 🤣 I stunk. Feck lol
@@canadianhienz57 94 was not a good year to be in Rwanda, glad you made it through.🇨🇦❤️
I was probably at the same show jn Kingston thank you for your Service
I've heard this song hundreds of times and it still gives me chills.
I'm a Canadian metalhead so my whole life I've thought they were over-hyped... But I'm biased, it's art. I will say that, no word of a lie, NEW ORLEANS IS SINKING is an ABSOLUTE god tier banger of a song and, even if you hate the band, that shit will GROOVE YOU. RIP GORDIE... You dominated Canadian Radio for 30+ years for a reason.
I'm a Canadian punk rocker and you expressed my thoughts exactly. I've never cared for them for the most part, but the songs I do like by them, like New Orleans or Courage, I really like.
New orleans killer whale version fo sho
Especially the Killer Whale Mix version of New Orleans is Sinking. That is just fantastic.
Yeah, that riff is up there. God tier. No sarcasm! I mean it, it’s an awesome song. I had a job before this…”
Feel the same. Not my cup of tea but they do what they do better than anyone else. Nautical disaster is an epic song.
“Armed with will and determination and grace, too”. RIP Gord
I know this is 11 months later but as a born a bred Canadian we thank you. Our band always. Deserved more credit across the border. Cheers my man
Rush and The Hip are Canadian Rock Royalty...Anything by the Hip is amazing.. ...my fav ...Bobcaygen
That song (and Nautical Disaster) transport me more than most of their stuff, and that's saying something. All of the songs are mini movies
@@sherwalt he used Bobcaygeon because it rhymed with constellation. He admitted as much, he uses words just because they match rhythmically. It shows if you listen to most of his songs. A good band, better than Rush for sure. I found he played his "Canadian-ness" to hard, hated that about him. Most of his songs sound the same, also a problem with Rush.
Agreed, Bobcaygeon is amazing
When they played a concert in Bobcaygeon it was otherworldly. A 50km radius of that concert could feel their presence.
I was watching SNL many years back and Dan Ackroyd was the host. A fellow Canadian and friend of the band he requested they be the musical guests. They did Grace Too and I was home alone and had no skill at recording but they were all I could talk about for so long. I happen to LOVE Canada and Canadiens and of course The Tragically Hip. I was devastated at Gord's diagnosis and I was watching when the Native People of Canada honored him with their tribal colors, hatband and blanket and made him a member of the Native Nation. He was crying, I was crying and I know everyone in the Great White North was crying. I was also watching just after he died when Canada proclaimed a holiday in his honor. The coverage switched from pub to pub across the country where all were filled and everyone was drinking, singing and crying. People too young to drink were sitting on sidewalks where their music played through speakers everywhere. I've never witnessed ANYTHING like it before or since. A beautiful tribute to a beautiful and exceptionally talented man. I never saw them live unfortunately but was told they played every show as if it was the last. The energy and excitement radiated to every single person in the audience and they didn't want the night to end. I'm so glad you heard this, MY personal favorite TTH song.
I too was introduced to this band on that very episode. Great stuff.
I feel privileged to have grown up with The Hip, there will never be a National band like it again, a truly unique experience. I have exposed my kids to their music so they know them.
Beautifully said! He was a wonderful humanitarian and the entire band is a class act
Very well said. RIP HIP
I was at the last Edmonton show, saw them maybe 10 times. When Gord died so did a piece of myself.
Bobcaygeon is another classic 'Hip tune. They are ingrained in Canadian culture now. RIP Gordie, you were the soundtrack to my youth.
I saw the constellations reveal themselves, one star at a time...
Gord was truly a poet
I had a cottage near Bobcaygeon.. nights were beautiful with a million stars.. the Hip was the soundtrack of our lives
Man, that song is so good it gives me all the possible range of emotions at the same time!
This one is my absolute favourite. I have a beautiful framed picture of the lyric “I saw the constellations reveal themselves one star at a time” soooooo good
For anyone If this is your first Tragically Hip listen welcome to an endlessly rewarding journey . Keep going
Hi, that's me. And omg. Where have I been all this time?
@@textickulartrauma8287 not your fault man. Keep going. Don't know where you're from but try and watch their last show. You'll see how much they meant to the country of Canada. If you can inspire a nation with your music you've got to have done something really really right.
Tears flowing freely! RIP Gord❤
Well, I’ve just had my horizons expanded. I’ve never listened to them before, but that has now ended. Loved this song, everything about it.
Welcome, honorary Canadian
You will not be disappointed!
You have SO MUCH greatness ahead of you to explore 😎
I recommend So Hard Done By . Great song by them
Cool, I found out about them on Phantom Power. You have a lot of great music coming.
I looked up to the GORD above and said hey man thanks. The Tragically Hip will never die.
Welcome to our secret national treasure. In Gord We Trust.
My wife and I (from Indiana) are in Orillia this weekend for a concert. I just randomly came across this video while sitting in the hotel room. Looks like I know whose catalog we'll be exploring on the drive home tomorrow. Serendipity is a beautiful thing.
I played hockey with him in a Hockey for Heart tournament, he was our goalie. Went for beers after he was the most real guy going. He really listened and engaged in the conversation. One of the highlights of my life.
I live in Oklahoma and I've been a tragically hip fan since the 80s. "Up to Here" is my favorite album of theirs, and although there are a lot of good songs on the album, my favorite is "New Orleans is sinking"
and the greatest version of them all..... the "Killerwhaletank" version. th-cam.com/video/dv3qqYGlUEk/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=TheTragicallyHipVEVO
How did you hear of them in Oklahoma?
I think if you talk to any Hip fan...they would all have a different favorite. Because they have so many amazing songs. I love Wheat Kings and Bogcaygeon
@@richieb1125 I had a music loving friend I worked with that gave me a cassette tape of theirs and told me to read the lyrics, I wasn't real familiar with Canadian slang but I got it figured out
Up to here is also my fav. Although my favourite hip song is bobcaygeon
I heard Gord describe his vocal style once as "imagining rats are biting my ankles", and it always stuck with me. RIP Legend.
That is 100% this song wow lol
The greatest Canadian band ever. You picked a great song to start with. RIP Gordie! We are fabulously rich for having known you.
The Guess Who, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Rush, The Band...
The Tragically Hip are ONE of the greatest Canadian Bands ever, because there is no defacto number one Canadian band because they all share the top spot...
Better then Rush? Lol
Most popular band in Canada but Rush is the greatest band ever.
Greatest? Probably, but Rush is up there too.
I wish Americans that never cared while Gord was alive for 30 years would just stop. Just stop and leave it alone. You tarnish his memory
The performance of this song during that last concert on the CBC absolutely broke my heart and every time I listen to this track it makes me sob. We miss you, Gord. 💔
There is a new documentary about the band’s history from inception to their ultimate end when Gord passed. It’s in Prime now, and is phenomenal - it just won the documentary award at the toronto international film festival in Sept ‘24.
Birmingham Alabama here, I was lucky enough to have seen this band 3 times. One of my favorite songs by THP is, "Nautical Disaster". Give it a listen, thx.
Yeah man. I’m a big Canadian Hip fan… And that is my favourite song as well. Good pick 👍🏼
Definitely one of their best
Gah, so visceral! Based on Hugh MacLennan's "Barometer Rising", referring to the Halifax Explosion.
The first time I saw The Hip live, in my late teens, they played Nautical Disaster. As the opening chords came up, the entire stadium of fans breathed in and exhaled in tandem. I'll never forget that. It was unbelievable, unless you were there. I've been to hundreds of concerts and live shows but, The Hip concert memories still give me goosebumps 40 years later.
My fav too along with Gift Shop ❤
As a Canadian watching their final concert was heartbreaking. I sang the songs like most Canadians and cried knowing that Gord was dying and he wasnt going to create anymore music. He was a true talent! I have so many favourite songs from The Hip but New Orleans is sinking was my go to song at the bar for dancing.
No matter
what I may've been in the middle of, if they came on they trumped it.
That concert brought the entire nation together.
‘90 at the first HFSTIVAL…the opening notes of New Orleans is Sinking hit me like freight train and I’ve been a fan ever since. Every car I owned since then in Virginia has had a Hip sticker in the window. I truly miss them.
I got goosebumps and tears hearing this… again. I’ve been to about 30+ of their shows in US and Canada including last tour. I am Canadian and this is our Music
They are Canada’s garage band, cottage band, Long weekend band , tavern band, club band, fairground bands and big stadium band.
Hip embodied what it is to be Canadian. They sang about this country, loved it, breathed it, and we felt it. If Canada were a feeling.... the Hip is it. Backdrop to our lives. RIP Gord... forever 🙏
I’m an Aussie who was introduced to the Hip in London 1990 by a couple of Canucks. Saw them live there with about 30 people in the crowd. The slower songs are fire, but they can rock the hell out also. So many great songs…lifelong fan.
G’day mate, I got introduced to them around the release of Phantom Power. Loved them ever since. They ‘toured’ Oz once very early on but, of course, I missed it. Damn.
Yeah, I saw them twice while I was living in London, 2nd time was the Fully Completely tour - still got the concert t-shirt which was the album cover. I went to Lagos in Portugal twice where I was able to get some work at Shots In The Dark which was owned by a couple of Canadians. They also owned Joe's Garage which was just an epic bar. 'Shots' was more laid back and where Up to Here and Road Apples were on high rotation. Remember running into an aussie there with a Hip t-shirt from the Melbourne gig (1993) saying it was awesome. I was in Canada when Day For Night was released, but never got to see them there.@@wessleymcgrath9768
I think I was there that day. Downtown London in Harris or Ivey Park on a holiday weekend, maybe Canada Day? I lived in the area and heard music, so I left my sweltering apartment to listen to a band play. Didn't know who it was at the time, but they were great.
I hold The Hip in the company of Something for Kate and Hunters & Collectors, like why did these bands not explode in the States?
As an American that has never lived in a border town, I only recently discovered the Hipp. They are AMAZING - I love them!
Here in Canada, this band is everything!! We love them, when Gord Downie passed, the whole country hurt😢, they are very special to us, and they rock🤟
I don't think Canada has publicly mourned anybody ever like we mourned Gord Downie.
Agreed. I feel that Neil Peart of Rush deserved similar reverence as both a story teller and the premier percussionist of his time. Reading his books and being such a private person, an introvert, it was hard to know the know Neil. He IS Rush. @@AndrewAtkinson1
This Canadian says Thank You for allowing me to re-experience this masterpiece through your first-timer perspective. RIP Gord. Cheers to the Hip. Canadian Icons.
American here. Never lived in Canada. Fell in love with the band when my girlfriend (now wife of 32 years) bought a copy of Road Apples. Have loved them ever since. Thank you for all the great music. Love you.
Wheat Kings is my all time favourite Tragically Hip song. Used to put it on the juke box at my old sleezy dive of a pool hall and when those loons echoed through the building it sent shivers down your spine and the room went silent....that isnt just a song, it's an experience....
Think of the opening lines everytime i drive that stretch from Winnipeg to Brandon. From the Paris of the Prairies to the home of the Brandon Wheat Kings hockey team. The discussion will always continue whether paris of the prairies refers to winnipeg or regina.. (but we all know which one it really is).
it's about David Milgaard wrongly convicted of murder
Live now on a lake near Bobcaygeon, and the sound of the loons gives me chills. My kids were at the last concert in Bob, with all the mud.
I'm not Canadian, but I've been a huge Tragically Hip fan for years. They have such a great catalog of amazing music. Sophisticated music and lyrics in nearly every song. One of the coolest things about their music is the variety. Some killer jams like Poets or Little Bones then some mellow cerebral stuff like this or Bobcaygeon, not to mention the history lessons in lots of their stuff. I'm so glad you dug into this and appreciate it. Great Reaction!
Well said!
You can understand the lyrics? Guy sounds like a dying whale.
American Hip fan here. They are my favorite band of all-time. Been a fan since their SNL appearance where they played Grace, Too and Nautical Disaster. Grace, Too is an excellent entry point for the band. Welcome, Polo, and RIP Gord
The Hip never made it big in the USA, but I can vouch that some of their American fans are as dedicated as north of the border. Enjoy knowing it's a secret you share with Canada.
They were hoping to break into the American music scene with that appearance but for the most part Americans just didn't take to them. It's crazy that when they toured Canada they always play out sold out arenas but when they went south Americans got to see them in clubs because that's all they could book. I think it would have been amazing to see them in a small venue but they were much too popular in Canada for that.
I also think that they would have done better to preform New Orleans is Sinking when they appeared on SNL. It's not their best song but it was their most popular and it had a sound that everyone liked and that was popular at the time Even now when I see American You Tubers reacting to them a lot of them are sort "meh" about them until they hear New Orleans is Sinking and then they rock out.
@@bdawn3 I got to see the Hip at the Horseshoe in the late 80s. Setlist wasn't great but they were playing some tunes that ended up on Up To Here.
Nautical Disaster on the live album with a bunch of extra narrative is one of my favorites too.
This band is the soundtrack to canada. Every road trip, summers at the cottage, camping in the middle of where the hell am I? There was always someone playing this. You'd be at a campground amd youd hear this music drifting through the trees on the wind.
Gord was a wildly beautiful human, our very own poet laureate, that captured what it is to be Canadian through hauntingly beautiful vocals with amazing instrumentals.
If you're going to start anywhere with the hip, its got to be the Yer Favorites album. Top to bottom amazing.
Grace too is a surreal out of mind and body experience .
29 years after it was released, this track still gives me goose bumps even after listening to it thousands of times.
Gord always said that it wasn’t a Tragically Hip song until every band member added something. You can really hear it in this track. 🇨🇦❤️
They also agreed when they began to get popular that every member of the band would have songwriting rights so that Gordon wouldn't skyrocket to fame without the other guys and break up. They knew that would likely happen if they didn't move forward truly democratically. They were together as a band from the early 80s until Gord's death in 2017 and that decision was probably the biggest reason why. They were committed to each other as artists and friends.
This song was never used in a movie - the Tragically Hip is one of the best kept secrets in Rock. Talk to Americans who live on the Canadian border however and they are true fans too.
On Aug 20 2016 Canada closed for the evening while we all watched Gordie and the boys play their final concert for the country. It was amazingly beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time as Gord said his goodbyes to us all and we to him. ❤🇨🇦
I'm jealous watching him experience this for the first time. Such a great song, it sends tingles down the spine!
Day For Night is such a great album and so different from Fully Completely. (Also incredible album)
The music is such a huge part of our culture.
Honestly the day Gord died I felt so upset...
I called a couple buddies late at night but it was a work night nobody answering...
Was a real windy day up in Lake Erie, I was just about five minutes walk from Nickel Beach
So, I went for a walk on the beach with my dog and felt so much emotion, I had to just feel something
Even though the water was cold, october water, I felt free, so I dove in head first.
I swam around and yelled at the stars and moon just because I could!
Swam around with my dog in that stormy water
Put my clothes back on and walked home...
Felt free ever since.
It was a feeling that only happens once in a lifetime
And my dog never judged me for it :)
You gave me goosebumps
That was lovely :)
❤
Wading into a metaphor for your grief, and thereby embracing a visceral reminder that you're alive? I think Gord would approve.
Thanks for the kind words.
It's kind of funny you mention the thing about being alive because,
At the time I had just quit using all hard drugs and was going through a very rough recovery after many relapses...
I often think about that night as a cleansing of the soul moment and now it's been 6 years without ever touching that stuff again.
Hope you are well these days too!
@@VividTrivia
When they performed this song in their finally concert, even though Gordie couldn't maintain his old ability to sing, the power and performance made me cry. The HIP were there for every part of my life (i'm 49) and was my solace when when my wife got cancer and subsequently passed. POLO, thank you for respecting the song and validating the HIP. 💌
Pretty sure we were all crying. I was swaying in a pub during that moment.
As a canadian from the great white north this is some amazing music for you to check out from our Hip ..New Orleans is sinking, At the hundredth meridian,Boots or hearts….great stuff
Thank you to the view who sent this song in!
❤️🇨🇦❤️🇨🇦❤️🇨🇦
RIP GD
RIP Gord! Every gen x canadian has a special part of their heart for the Hip. They toured hard through Canada every summer. I bet I seen them 20 times live.
Most of my friends and family (including me) called in sick to stay home and watch the Hip’s final concert on CBC. It was absolutely one of the most important moments in Canadian music history.
Gord is a national treasure who will never be forgotten, so glad you enjoyed Grace, Too. Welcome to the wormhole!!
I grew up near Canada, with a lot of Canadian radio and TV, and the Hip have been one of my favorite bands for decades. "Grace, Too" has been my introduction for lots of friends who have fallen in love with the band, and and there's so much other great stuff out there. Word of warning, though: the last performance of this track at their final show, when singer Gord Downie knew he was dying of brain cancer, is a very tough watch. Not because it's not a good performance - it's great - but because it's so unbelievably raw and emotional.
Their last show was nationally broadcasted and many of us got together for a viewing party. We set up a projection screen and blasted the last show, still one of the greatest weekends of my life.
I never knew Gord Downie personally, but I felt like I did. The Hip was the soundtrack to a lot of our lives. Such an underrated band to the rest of the world. RIP Gord🇨🇦❤❤❤🇨🇦
Now imagine the emotions when you’ve admired them your whole life and you’re seeing them live knowing it’s the last time you’ll ever hear him sing. God bless Gord. One of the most emotional moments of my life. He could have easily spent his final days with his family but he gave it to his fans. I’ll never forget.
When you said they give you "that Tool feeling" I nearly wept. The Tragically Hip and Tool are the two bands that have carried me for the last 35 years
yup ❤
This. Tool fans and Hip fans can see the similarities. They are fraternal twins.
Yep
I grew up in Northern Minnesota in the 80's. The Hip were on the local rock radio station out of Fargo, in heavy rotation from the day "Up To Here" came out. Been a fan ever since. You mentioned his "ad libs" in this song, you really need to hear some live recordings of their stuff. Gord had an amazing free style ability with lyrics and nonsense. He really could become a one-man-show at times during the concert. I had the chance to see them live 5-6 times over the years, and they never disappointed the fans. Once got to see them in Spokane, WA, then two nights later on the pier overlooking Peugot Sound in Seattle while the sun set behind them. It was a great way to celebrate our 4th Wedding anniversary!
“Jesus Christ look out it’s a big f:cking bear!”
@@grumpymunchkin2959 HAHA! Yes, thanks for that. Those words come into my head every time I hear the song.
The door is ajar, the jar is a door
Was at that Spokane show at the opera house. We came in convoy from Nelson BC. Took over the city for one night.
I used to go to Canada to party on the weekends in the early '90s. This band was everywhere.
It’s criminal more people don’t know about The Tragically Hip. So many bangers.
This band is amazing. They have too many great songs to even count.
I cannot tell you how much joy I felt watching you discover The Hip. Gord was iconic in concert, he went on rambling lyrical walks through your favourite songs and took you along like a dear friend.
One of my favorite bands! I was fortunate enough to see The Hip at small venues in Tucson multiple times and they never disappointed. In fact, they’re among the best live bands I’ve ever seen and I’ve been to hundreds of concerts. I got to hang out with them backstage several times and have signed posters and ticket stubs. Please try Locked In the Trunk of a Car, Three Pistols, New Orleans Is Sinking, Poets, Nautical Disaster, Ahead By a Century, 38 Years Old… Geeze I could go on. America didn’t get them for whatever reason but I was a really into them! Their first five albums or so were really great. 🖖🏼
Nice! yeah first listen these guys blew me away
They really are like tool, they don't have any bad songs
@@poloreacts27nautical disaster is absolutely the next song. Thursdays is the hip day from now on lol
Without doubt there are some serious Hip fans in the US, and it's great to see. I think in general there is something very Canadian about them that just didn't appeal to mainstream USA however. Which makes sense.
Up to Here, Road Apples, Fully Completely, Day for Night are all phenomenal albums...RIP Gord
Check out their debut, self-titled album.
Road Apples and Day For Night are my favorite albums.
@@michaelkapty3529 those are my 2 favorites in their phenomenal catalog as well.
The WORLD stood still. I live in the US, but close enough to Canada that the HIP had a LOT of fans here. Hard to explain the HIP to anyone. Just a bit beyond. I watched the last performance and wept mightily along with the world.
Kudos to whoever recommended the band, never heard them described better.
I've never heard of these guys before, I love discovering new music through your channel
Hope you check out their music library. Unreal gems .
Yeah go wind down the pines
And if your looking for some more good rock, check out the Headstones. Funny fact, both singers went to the same high-school and were friends. Singer from the Headstones owes a lot to Gord I'm sure.
Kick back, get some popcorn, this rabbit hole is deep.
Their last concert was broadcast live by the CBC (national broadcaster). 1/3 of Canada's population watched it live. The Olympics were on at the time and the CBC had the broadcast rights, and advertising income that came with it. They pre-empted the Olympics during prime time to broadcast the concert live, with no commercial interuptions.
Thats how big of a deal they were to Canada.
I was at a local bar watching the concert. Halfway through my classical music loving 80 year old father called me. “I want to make sure you’re watching this. I’m really enjoying them - I wish I’d listened to your music more.” He’s gone now, too. I hope he gets to meet Gord. “We’ll see you down the road somewhere.” IYKYK
And on a lake near Bobcaygeon we all gathered at one cottage to watch it. We were speechless, I guess I would say, distraught.
In Gord We Trust.
Not just a slogan….it’s an anthem.
IYKYK
First time I ever heard them was in drafting class (sometime between 92-93). I was 16 or 17. Our teacher was a huge fan and he made fans of all of us in the class. RIP Gord ❤️
Gord was our unofficial poet laureate, then eventually our official poet laureate up in Canada, I love the way he could tell a story or ramble nonsense and you were enthralled either way. 38 years old is a great example of a story song by them, also Beautiful Thing
What's incredible is that you've never heard this song in a movie, but it Is about war. And you got that vibe just from hearing the melody. Big up from Canada
This is my favourite Hip song! Glad you enjoyed. Takes time to learn to appreciate everything Gord was and was trying to share with us all. 🇨🇦
Check out the new Hip documentary "The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal." It's an amazing journey. These guys played a major role in the lives of many Canadians and beyond. RIP Gord.
They performed this on SNL in 1995. Epic. RIP GORD ❤
This is one of the last songs Gord ever sang live. He was screaming it at the end, as if he was truly angry about dying. I get emotional listening to this.
His only fault was supporting Trudeau ;)
@@brianport4730 see, I and a few friends have a theory about that. I don't know that he was so much SUPPORTING Trudeau as he was calling him out. Taking him to task and hoping that by putting him on the spot, maybe he might do his damn job.
The whole country got emotional. You'd have to be dead inside not to. I just wanted to run on stage and hug the man. Thinking of that moment still gets me choked up.
@@RyanDraga I agree with this. I worked in a place where the manager, if he wanted to improve the performance of an employee who was slacking, would make them Employee of the Month and their performance would improve. Gord made Trudeau Employee of the Month.
The Hip playing Grace Too at their last show in Vancouver in 2016 was the most powerful live music experience I will ever witness. We all knew it was our last chance to sing with our friend Gord who was at that point diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. He gave it everything with wails of emotion. The crowd's appreciation was deafening. I have never experienced a spontaneous sustained ovation during a song. We were saying goodbye and thank you in real time, cheering Gord on. Check out the video, focusing on 1:30 and then again (even louder and longer) starting at 3:15. Goosebumps all around. th-cam.com/video/63iRMPXqn_s/w-d-xo.html
I was at the London Ontario show and completely agree. The entire stadium was in tears, so power and never to be forgotten. RIP Gord❤
He said, ‘I’M TRAGICALLY HIP! Come on just let’s go!’
Gord Downie researched each song extensively. His lyrics are poetry and history, perfectly intertwined. When he died, we were all heartbroken. There's an amazing documentary about the band and their final tour called "Long Time Running" which is also the title of one of their songs. I couldn't get myself to watch it for at least a year after his death, but I'm glad I finally did. Rest in Peace Gord.
One of my favorite songs.
Is the movie available to see somewhere?
I'm Canadian and have heard this song a million times, but I have never LISTENED to it. Thanks for taking me on that ride!!
Canadians may have taken The Hip for themselves, but there are plenty of Americans who melt and weep just as hard as they do every time they listen to them. I've been on the Hip Trip since the days of Road Apples, and cried myself the whole way through the new Prime Video documentary, remembering how many great songs they have. RIP Gord