This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
So the chemistry set
And I'm not the saddest cheerleader to forget the American word
For the gang in the head
That dwindles 'til no members won
The mysteries met
The sky looks threatened heading home in the dust
Singing "Life is Forgetting"
Good enough for the frivolous
There's one thing I remember is
This tear on your bare shoulder
This little silver boulder
This slowly falling star
We're rolling, so what?
Never getting older where the moonshocked curtains part
The start of enough
A teardrop, then a vaccination scar
I'll tell ya if I'm involved, that is
I'll tell ya like it is
Random like a bad cartoon, like
The Tacoma Narrows Bridge
Like the Tacoma Narrows Bridge
Swimming on a bit
'Stop, you're treading water' as the sun assimilated the words
For lighthouse fire
Burning down to embers end
The mysteries met
Sky just reddened headin' home under dusk
Is life just forgettin' another word for frivolous?
Little silver boulder, silence from Mars for the heart of enough
Or a teardrop, then a vaccination scar
Wherever you are
Scar
And I'm not the saddest cheerleader to forget the American word
For the gang in the head
That dwindles 'til no members won
The mysteries met
The sky looks threatened heading home in the dust
Singing "Life is Forgetting"
Good enough for the frivolous
There's one thing I remember is
This tear on your bare shoulder
This little silver boulder
This slowly falling star
We're rolling, so what?
Never getting older where the moonshocked curtains part
The start of enough
A teardrop, then a vaccination scar
I'll tell ya if I'm involved, that is
I'll tell ya like it is
Random like a bad cartoon, like
The Tacoma Narrows Bridge
Like the Tacoma Narrows Bridge
Swimming on a bit
'Stop, you're treading water' as the sun assimilated the words
For lighthouse fire
Burning down to embers end
The mysteries met
Sky just reddened headin' home under dusk
Is life just forgettin' another word for frivolous?
Little silver boulder, silence from Mars for the heart of enough
Or a teardrop, then a vaccination scar
Wherever you are
Scar
Lyrics submitted by OpinionHead
Vaccination Scar Lyrics as written by Johnny Fay Gordon Downie
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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The Night We Met
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This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
Mountain Song
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Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Gentle Hour
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
No Surprises
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Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Perplexing song. Something good for you in the long-run, yet it hurts now and leaves a permanent mark. Ending a relationship? Maybe. An ever-changing world? Maybe. Rockin' song? Fuck yeah.
obviously, he's singing about something "It went down like a abd card table....like the tacoma narrows bridge" Sounds like a traggity to me. But in the beginning..sounds like he's singing about how Americans don't have there act straight......Americans don't know what they stand for...god damn it I have no clue with the Hip sometimes! rofl!
I had heard a while back that the song is referring to a scar that would sometimes appear after a vaccination that would usually result in the child losing their arm because of it but I can't really confirm that.
The part about the Tacoma Narrows Bridge is referring to "Galloping Gerdy" which collapsed during a windstorm as the vibrations got worse and worse. (I grew up near Seattle so it's common knowledge of the bridge around there.)
@epsilon343 All of us over a certain age carry the "Vaccination Scar" on the upper arm. It is a bit bigger than a quarter. It was done in school when we were wee lads and lasses.
I used to live in Whistler, Shortly before I moved there was a storm that washed out one of the bridges between whistler and Pemberton I guess a group of Kids drove right into this raging river in the Dark, apparently Gord was writing material for "Evolution" in whistler when it happened and thats the accident that influences the song. The hip played this pub in whistler under a fake name "the fighting fightersons" thats week as well
Iraq war. The gang in the head that dwindles to no members when the mystery's met is Iraq's "chemistry set" of WMDs. He's accusing the American administration of playing Chicken Little. The sky is in danger of falling according to them.
Made an account for this site for the sole purpose of emphasizing the following point: you're sort of wasting your time trying to comprehend and / or breakdown lyrics written by Gord Downie & the Tragically Hip... at least if you're trying to break it down for someone other than yourself. The reason being, the lyrics are so fucking obscure, 95 % + of the time. And that's what makes the Hip so great!
Their songs can mean so many different things to so many different people. And that's what makes the Hip so fucking awesome. Gord was a true poet & artist, not just a musician. Not only were the Hip's tunes fucking catchy and / or rocking; their lyrics meant something to each individual listener... in some way or another.
Best band ever; gotta love 'em!
@thedirtiesthip That may be true, but it doesn’t mean that people shouldn’t discuss potential meanings. Gord’s lyrics may be obscure, but they are certainly not meaningless: far from being “word salad“ they certainly came from somewhere. But like any good poetry his lyrics can be re-interpreted depending on the situation and the person. Case in point: I’m sure this song means something very different to people since the arrival of COVID-19. I’m writing this at the beginning of the summer of ‘21, and the whole world is vaccination crazy, despite not knowing the long-term effects of Pfizer, AstroZeneca, et. al.<br /> <br /> One thing we can agree on is that the Hip are the “best band ever“! Gord is SO missed here in Canada, and yet we still got a wonderful surprise a few weeks ago with the release of “Saskadelphia”, the new E.P. that contains material originally recorded during the “Road Apples” sessions. To get what is essentially new Hip three years AFTER Downie’s death is just a huge gift to Hip fans - and far from being just the “cast-offs” from Road Apples, it’s an amazing album in itself.