A Farewell to The Hip

The Tragically Hip have been an ever presence in my life and it was entirely unavoidable. Being born in tandem with the band’s first full-length release and raised along the northwestern shores of Lake Ontario, it was an inevitability. Having a set of rock and roll parents only enabled the cause; if only I had a dollar for every time my mother preached “Gord Downie is the coolest.” This usually followed a spontaneous mid-song monologue about the killer burger he had last evening, or having cheekily proclaimed “I’m a Boston Bruins fan” to a crowd of rabid Toronto Maple Leaf supporters on opening night of hockey season. The Hip rule, and Gord Downie has more guts than you. My mom says so. I remember getting into music around the time 2002’s In Violet Light released. It was their eigth record, but with that exposure came deeper investigation of the seven that came before. Sure, we all know the words to Bobcaygeon, but what became apparent very quickly was that every song on every Hip record ever is a Bobcaygeon. Wheat Kings and Fiddler’s Green, both down tempo acoustic tracks that sit close to the end on their respective albums, are staples on Canadian radio and in the band’s