Podcast appearances and mentions of Peter Mansbridge

An encore of Lee McIntyre philosopher & author who's written extensively on the issues of truth & disinformation.

Send us a textPeter Mansbridge joined #GaleForceWins in November 2024 at the National Association of Career Colleges conference. In this special flashback episode of #GaleForceWins, Allan Dale is joined by the legendary Peter Mansbridge at the National Association of Career Colleges conference in November 2024. Peter, renowned for his impactful journalism and role in shaping Canadian media, discusses the critical contribution of private regulated career colleges to Canada's workforce and economy.As they explore the current job market, Peter reflects on the significance of career colleges in shaping the future of work in Canada, sharing insights from his book How Canada Works. But the conversation doesn't stop there – Peter also takes a moment to reflect on what it means to be Canadian, the collaborative spirit of our country, and how Canada's global reputation stands as a beacon of kindness and compassion.Join us for this engaging conversation that combines insights on education, career development, and what makes Canada such a unique place in the world.0:00 – Welcome back to Gale Force Wins Season 50:13 – Gerry Carew gives an intro and indicates this will be a flashback episode1:00 – Re-visiting the interview with Peter Mansbridge1:18 – Alan Dale's introduction at the NACC conference1:49 – Introduction of Peter Mansbridge2:01 – Peter Mansbridge talks about career colleges and job market2:44 – Discussion on how people find jobs and career colleges' role3:09 – Peter talks about his book "How Canada Works"4:01 – Importance of real jobs in Canada4:47 – The role of career colleges in shaping Canada's workforce5:13 – Alan talks about collaboration among 300 colleges6:01 – Peter discusses Canada's ability to collaborate despite differences7:00 – Peter reflects on the goodness in people at the NACC conference7:50 – Peter shares his pride in being Canadian and the global view of Canada8:32 – Peter emphasizes Canada's global reputation and the importance of helping others8:44 – Closing remarks and thanks to Peter Mansbridge8:51 – End of episodeGale Force Wins started out simply as an inspirational podcast releasing episodes wherever you get your podcasts every Tuesday evening. We continue to do that every Tuesday but have expanded into custom content for clients. We also have perfected a conference and trade show offering where you can receive over 20 videos edited and posted to social media at the same time the event is unfolding.For businesses and organizations we also create digital content quickly and efficiently.Visit our services page here:https://galeforcewins.com/servicesTo message Gerry visit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerrycarew/To message Allan visit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allanadale/

The legendary news anchor/massive Leafs fan joined Nick Alberga & Jay Rosehill. They discussed Stolarz's return, Berube's impact, Marner's walk year, the 4 Nations Face-Off, & the Star-Spangled Banner getting booed in Canadian arenas.

Nick Alberga & Jay Rosehill recap Toronto's third straight win—3-1 in Seattle. Additionally, legendary news anchor/Leafs fan Peter Mansbridge drops by the show. Also, the boys play another edition of Take It OR Leaf It as well as preview Saturday night's tilt in Vancouver.

The Normal or Nope Confessional is open, and Peter Mansbridge may have used the TalkBack.  

October 7th coverage in Canada was caught between memorializing a tragedy and reporting on an escalating war. Jen Gerson joins to discuss whether both should happen at the same time. Also, duly noting what happens when a hurricane hits a news desert. Plus, Jesse shares some updates about Canadaland.Host: Jesse BrownCredits: James Nicholson (Producer), Caleb Thompson (Audio Editor/Mixer), max collins (Production Manager), Jesse Brown (Editor) Guest: Jen Gerson Further reading: Vigils in Canada mark one-year anniversary of Oct. 7 attacks - The Globe and Mail Are Canada's Jews at a tipping point? Most are anxious, many are fearful, and some have moved away - National Post Meteorologist becomes emotional giving Hurricane Milton update | BBC David Suzuki, Peter Mansbridge, and other prominent ex-broadcasters are calling out CBC. Here's why | Toronto Star #22 CBCecrets: Mansbridge's Oil Pay Makes the News - Canadaland Sponsors: CAMH: CAMH is building better mental health care for everyone to ensure no one is left behind. This Mental Illness Awareness Week, your donation to CAMH will be matched. Visit camh.ca/canadaland to double your impact.Douglas: Douglas is giving our listeners a FREE Sleep Bundle with each mattress purchase. Get the sheets, pillows, mattress and pillow protectors FREE with your Douglas purchase today. Visit douglas.ca/canadaland to claim this offerArticle: Article is offering our listeners $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more. To claim, visit article.com/canadaland and the discount will be automatically applied at checkout If you value this podcast, Support us! You'll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You'll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch at our store, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you'll be a part of the solution to Canada's journalism crisis, you'll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody. You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music—included with Prime. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jordan Heath Rawlings, host of the Big Story Podcast, returns to discuss the evolution of daily news podcasts over the past five years. We first had Jordan on the show in 2019 after year one on the show. Since then, he noted the increased competition and the shift to virtual interviews post-pandemic. There's simply more choice with outlets having rushed into the space after the success of the The Daily and The Big Story.The Big Story has evolved into video, releasing episodes on two YouTube channels, reaching 100,000 views, despite minimal video content. Some of the original challenges of balancing geographic and subject matter diversity, aiming for a balanced news diet. The Big Story remains majority Apple-listened, with Spotify growing. Notable guests over the last year include Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Peter Mansbridge.A Transcript and video version of the episode is available on the network page.Please sign up for the SOUNDING OFF Newsletter. Full of all the verbal diarrhea you never knew what you were missing in your life.Also we added the Sound Off Podcast to the The Open Podcast Prefix Project (OP3) A free and open-source podcast prefix analytics service committed to open data and listener privacy. You can be a nosey parker by checking out our downloads here.Thanks to the following organizations for supporting the show:Nlogic - TV & Radio Audience Data SolutionsMary Anne Ivison at Ivison Voice. - Make her the female voice of your radio station.Matt Fogarty Voiceovers - It's great to have Matt back for 2024 supporting our show. Make him the imaging voice for your radio station by contacting him through his website.Megatrax - Licensed Music for your radio station or podcast production company.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today an encore presentation of an episode that originally aired on November 28th. Some say it's the scourge of our times, but if so what can be done about it?  Lee McIntyre is an American philosopher and author who's written extensively on the issues of truth and disinformation. He's studied the impact of both and shares his thoughts about how best to deal with them.  

Justin Cuthbert and Ben Ennis take a couple of different looks at the Olympics, starting with Elliott Friedman (5:39), who is calling Canoe, Kayak and Rowing for Paris 2024. He discusses why he welcomed the challenge to call the Olympics, a break from hockey, where Canada ranks on the water and their best chances for Gold. Later, Canadian broadcast legend Peter Mansbridge (25:45) on the evolution of Canadian sports on the global stage, from the disgrace of Ben Johnson to the redemption of Donnovan Bailey and now as a country closing in on top 10 in medals in the world. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

Today an encore presentation of an episode that originally aired on December 12th. James Moore and Gerald Butts are back with us for the Moore Butts Conversation #12. We talk a lot about polls but what happens behind the scenes when the polls are released? What do the public and the press not see when the numbers cause chaos in one party or another? These conversations are one of the reasons The Bridge continues to be ranked #1 by Apple in their lists of which Canadian political podcasts Canadians listen to.

Today an encore presentation of an episode that originally aired on October 17th. What happens behind the closed doors when a government faces a crisis -- who says what, and what are the do's and don'ts of crisis management? Former Harper cabinet minister James Moore and former Trudeau principal secretary Gerald Butts take us inside with their latest "conversation".

Buckle in because this is a personal album we're discussing on today's episode of Discovering Downie. A mere 10 days following Gord's death fans were gifted the posthumous diary, Introduce Yerself. Craig, Justin, and Kirk have little experience with this record. Things get raw!Thanks for clicking.Follow us on social media @gorddowniepodTranscript: Track 6:[0:00] One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. Long Slice Brewery presents a live event celebration of Gord Downie July 19th at The Rec Room in Toronto. Join the hosts of the podcast Discovering Downie as they record their finale with special guest Patrick Downie. A silent auction with items from the hip and many others will take place along with live entertainment from the almost hip. All proceeds will benefit the Gord Downie Fund for brain cancer research. For more information and tickets, please visit discoveringdowney.com. How it all works. Welcome, music lovers. Long Slice Brewery presents Discovering Downey.Track 1:[1:15] Hey, it's JD here. Welcome to Discovering Downey, an 11-part project with a focus on the music and poetry of Mr. Gord Downey. The late frontman of the Tragically Hip gave to the world an extensive solo discography on top of the hip's vocal acrobatics that awed us for years. So far, he's released eight records in total, three of them posthumously. You might be the biggest fan of the hip out there, but have you heard these records? Because I'm an inquisitive podcaster, I enlisted my friends Craig, Justin, and Kirk, giant fans in their own right to discover downy with me jd as their host every week we get together and listen to one of gourd's records starting with coke machine glow and working from there in chronological order we discuss and dissect the album the production the lyrics and we break it down song by fucking song this week we're dealing with the challenging introduce Introduce yourself. Craig, how are you doing this week, my friend?Track 2:[2:20] I'm doing well.Track 1:[2:21] That's good to hear.Track 2:[2:22] Can't complain.Track 1:[2:23] Gigging?Track 2:[2:24] Yeah, I had a big show on the weekend and it was sold out and we had played about 30 tunes and it was a great time.Track 1:[2:32] Oh man, I wish I had a teleport device. Yeah. So I could go to your gigs. You too, Kirk. How are you doing, man?Track 4:[2:40] I'm doing well. Thank you. Yeah. Had a gig last week and got some travel coming up. So just been kind of finishing up on some graduation things with the kids. And, you know, like I said, some work stuff, obviously spending lots of time with this, this little project we got going on, but yeah, doing well.Track 1:[2:59] It's a lot. It's a lot, but it's been a lot of fun so far. And part of the fun is Mr. Justin St. Louis. How are you doing, sir?Track 3:[3:08] I'm good, dude. It's hardcore, hardcore here in this house right now, but things are good, man. Things are good.Track 1:[3:16] Well, that's great. Just off the top, I want to say that we're starting to get some items rolling in for the silent auction for the fundraising event that we're hosting in July. We've got the PWHL Toronto franchise has given us a really cool donation that we'll be sharing online in the days and weeks to come. We also got a donation from the Toronto Blue Jays, the Tragically Hip themselves have donated something. We've got a great restaurant, Mighty Bird, that is donating. And there's lots of other stuff as well, like lots of great artwork and shit. So get your tickets.Track 4:[3:56] Hey, we have some beers too, right?Track 1:[3:58] We do have some beers. Yeah, Podcast Pilsner. It's got our logo on the can.Track 3:[4:03] Let's go.Track 1:[4:04] That right? Yeah. And it should be a decent price. It's made by our title sponsor, Long Slice, of course. So go to discoveringdowney.com and click on fundraising tickets. Bob's your uncle. So there's that.Track 4:[4:17] Bob's your uncle. Love it. I love it. That's like six one way, half a dozen the other. I tell that to anyone that's under 40 and they look at me like, what are you talking about? Like, just figure it out. ticks one way, half a dozen the other. That's very confusing.Track 1:[4:35] Yeah. It is.Track 3:[4:39] Every time I hear Bob's your uncle, I think of 101 Dalmatians. When the bad guys break in and steal the pups from the nanny, he says, well, be out faster than you can say Bob's your uncle. And that was the first time I ever heard it. Anyway.Track 1:[4:54] I found out it's not an American phrase. It's a Canadian and UK phrase. So I told a bunch of people this and they were like, I've never heard of this in my life.Track 3:[5:03] What do you mean? No. Yeah. Right.Track 1:[5:06] All right, time to get a bit heavy here, because on October 17th, 2017, we said goodbye to the man who walks among the stars. This was truly one of the more emotional days in my nearly 50 years on this plane. Only losing family and close friends has ever cut as deeply as sending Gord off to the abyss. Less than two weeks later though on october 27th 2017, gourd released a posthumous effort called introduce yourself, where do you start with this one in my mind there are elements from each of the previous five albums on display here i hear secret path on coco chanel number five to name one off the top of my head the sparse production handled deftly by kevin drew gourd's partner in creating this double record. I have to imagine the production and limited instrumentation could have been a result of Gord's condition at the time of recording. However, as sick as he was, he persevered through two sessions in putting this album together.Track 1:[6:15] The liner notes indicate that Gord took on the bulk of the guitar work while handling vocals, some synth, and a bit of percussion to boot. Mr. Drew handled piano, bass, organs, keyboard, and percussion. This album does also feature some great guest performers, notably Dave Hamelin, with some work on the drums, as well as synth, and finally, on Nancy, he plays a frickin' B-3. David Billy Ray Koster offered some additional drum work and background vocals, while Patrick Downey contributed background vocals and percussion on Safe is Dead. Jillian Weiss also added vocals to that track. Lastly, engineer and bathhouse resident Niles Spencer has his fingerprints on several songs, playing keys, creating beats, samples, and a Morse code sound on the 19th track, The Road. From the get-go, this album has been scoured by fans to try and determine who each song is about. You see, this album has a premise. Each of the 23 songs is about someone from Gord's life. This is clearly the most personal record Gord, or the hip for that matter, has ever released. I'm going to leave you with one more date that is significant to me with regards to Introduce Yourself. May 30th, 2024.Track 1:[7:35] This was the day I peeled the cellophane off my copy of the vinyl and finally listened to the album in its entirety. Prior to that Thursday in May, I just didn't have the stamina or emotional wherewithal to make a dent in what I now know is a celebration of the music, the man, and the legend, Gord Downie. Justin, what are your initial thoughts on this one?Track 3:[8:00] I could not handle this album when it came out. I tried it and I had to abort after five songs maybe. And I'll tell you, and maybe I should save it for the song, but there was one, this all happened when, when my daughter was a newborn, there was, there's one song that just wrecks me and, uh, still does. Um, there's several that do, but one particular, and I just had to put it away until this, this project came around. So, you know, I sat on it for seven years. I had tried it and I wasn't ready.Track 1:[8:31] Me too, man. Me too. I'm either going to apologize for this project or be thanked for this project to find out what Justin's thoughts were on some of these songs. Kirk, I want to hear from you.Track 4:[8:44] Yeah. Well, for me, this came after us doing Secret Path, and that was such an emotional...Track 4:[8:56] Couple of weeks. I mean, it really was because we'd already become so close to Gord before we even started this project. Then when we started this project, you just became intimately familiar and then secret path happens and you're just, and I needed a break. I needed a break from, I'll say Gord Downie solo and I needed to fall in love with the hip again. I think I got that record store day hip album and i put that on and then i just went on a journey and just kind of fell in love with the hip again but i took a long break to prepare myself for this and there's no amount to break or anything that could really prepare you for it and every listen no matter what the device was whether it was on my record whether it was in the car whether it was out walking the dog. It was just obviously beautiful when you think about these letters and that he had the opportunity to do it, but also just so extremely heartbreaking at the same time, right? And then one final thing for me, my wife and I had also just recently watched the new documentary that came out on Jim Henson, right? And we're big Muppets fans. And of course they had a little bit on, you know, on Craig and I's favorite Emmett Otter.Track 4:[10:20] But yeah, it's just real quick, you know, but the point I wanted to make was.Track 4:[10:27] The Muppets, Sesame Street, everything that Jim Henson created, right? And he passed when he was 53. And Gord passed when he's 53. And I'm 53.Track 4:[10:39] And I'll be honest with you, gents, I have been on this. I'm 53. And these two gentlemen created this body of artwork that has been so incredibly moving for so many people for so many generations. And it just really stopped me in my tracks and went, wow, I'm 53. If I went right now, what would my story be and what impact would I have? And how thankful, even though it was, and I say this because I'm 53, that we lost those two gentlemen so young. Thank goodness we have this to go back and listen and watch and read and discuss and record podcasts. And I'm just so thankful. So sorry, a very long-winded answer, but I needed to share that with you because I think all of us are gonna have these emotional moments throughout this recording today. And just thinking about like, if I had a chance to write letters to everyone before I went, like, I don't know that I could do that. So um so that every listen has just been that thought wow can you imagine you had to write a letter to all the people that you know you cared for just.Track 1:[12:02] Take a moment brother we appreciate you man hell yeah best 53 year old on this podcast by by a country mile i.Track 4:[12:13] Will i will accept that sorry i'll accept that thank you as i cry thank you all right.Track 1:[12:22] Craig no i always i always start my questions with like for some reason i'm like mclaughlin of the mclaughlin group uh i don't know if you remember that sketch on snl but i feel like what justin you know and it's like this episode is a lot more stark and i don't want to be like scaring the shit out of you as i'm asking you a question but craig i want i'm curious about your experience now yeah.Track 2:[12:51] Well really quickly just before we um get into that uh kirk um not sure if you knew this this will probably just make things worse but um jim henson at his funeral they actually used a song from emmett otter as the um as the song that played during his um ceremony so yeah So you know how much it meant to him? Yeah.Track 3:[13:11] He also wrote his own goodbye letter and just stored it away.Track 2:[13:15] Oh, wow.Track 3:[13:15] In case of emergency, right? Yeah.Track 2:[13:19] It's crazy. Yeah. So, J.D., much like yourself –, I bought this album when it came out, and it remained unopened. And I actually remember watching a video that was like a promotional video that came out around the time the album was released. And it was a black and white. I put it on for about 30 seconds, and I just, I had to turn it off. And I actually just, for the first time since then, watched it last night. And it made sense why it hit me that hard it was the north the very last song which we'll get to at the very very end of i guess next week's podcast and that is a heavy tune and gourd was, not looking his best during the recording of that and it was just sort of like a rehearsal take they were showing it was just heartbreaking to watch and it was such a sad song i didn't know what it was about at the time, but I just knew I could not listen to this album. And yeah, so when this podcast opportunity came up, that was my first thought was like, I've had, I've been waiting to crack this open and I was looking for the opportunity to, you know, the right time. And that time is here. And to build off what Kirk was saying, like this, this album is a gift.Track 3:[14:46] Yeah.Track 2:[14:49] To his loved ones who were the subjects of the songs, to his bandmates, to his fans. And it's beautiful. The fact that he got this out there, like Kirk said so well, how many people get, number one, the opportunity to do something like this, and number two, can bring themselves to write those hard words.Track 1:[15:15] Absolutely. Yeah.Track 2:[15:16] Yeah.Track 6:[15:17] And, and when you consider the condition that he was in when he recorded these things, it's absolutely mind blowing for heaven's sake.Track 1:[15:26] This isn't somebody who was fully operational. And there's songs that are just so well thought out and gorgeous and, and so gored, you know?Track 3:[15:38] Well, and he wrote it in two stages too. And, you know, I would say that the second stage was probably in worse condition, right?Track 1:[15:47] You're likely right.Track 3:[15:49] He was gone six months after, you know, wild.Track 4:[15:55] One thing, because this is a blanket statement for all of it, is in any of the, you know, quick research that you do, like most of these songs were recorded in one to two takes. You know, for multiple reasons, one, they didn't have the time and neither did he or the energy. And so when you, you know, when you thought about when I went through and listened to every song and just went like, you got this amount of time, you're going to do this. And, you know, and they end up, I mean, one to two takes on some of these albums, just some of these songs. Sorry.Track 3:[16:34] And that's all they needed to.Track 1:[16:37] Yeah, I think that rawness really adds another layer to the context in a certain way, doesn't it? Because it is raw emotionally, and then it's raw musically as well.Track 4:[16:48] Yeah, very much so, but still incredible. Like on a majority of those songs, you wouldn't know. I mean, the one thing I read, and I would agree, is it's a piano forward album. There's very much a piano keys. There's some great guitar lines, but, um, so that helps obviously from a production standpoint in, in getting your, your tone tonality and, but I also think that it just really added to the, the, the emotion that the points, I'm sorry, I'm, no.Track 3:[17:30] But you're right.Track 4:[17:31] It's just incredible that they were able to get some of this production down in the manner that they did. And as a whole, going back to 53, I could hear so many decades in the songs, in the musicality that he was trying to experience. There's literal 80s synth pop songs on this. There's ballads. And there's all of these. You know, for me, I reflected born in the seventies, you know, really experienced that music eighties, nineties, two thousands. And then obviously the stuff you were influenced before that. And that instrumentation, in my opinion, came through in a lot of these songs. And again, one in two takes blows me away. Yeah.Track 1:[18:18] Yeah. Yeah. Drew, Kevin drew deserves, uh, a heap of, uh, of credit for pulling this together. And Niles Spencer was the engineer on the project. So hopefully later this summer, you guys get to meet Niles and we get to look around the bathhouse. That would be tremendous.Track 2:[18:40] Yeah. That would be amazing.Track 3:[18:41] Yeah.Track 1:[18:42] So we'll see what we can do there. Should we get into this song by song?Track 2:[18:45] Yeah.Track 3:[18:45] Let's do it.Track 1:[18:46] Okay. Craig, we're going to start with you in first person.Track 2:[18:51] So i decided early on when i started listening to this album i i felt like i didn't want to dig too deeply into what you know who each song was about right but some are just so obvious so first person you know it's a song to his mother you know the first person that you know he sees the first person to bring him to life just a really great song to start the album with very emotional um, Yeah. And I don't know, I didn't look up if his mother is still alive or was alive when this was released. So, you know, at the end he's saying goodbye.Track 3:[19:30] He addressed her in the final Kingston concert.Track 2:[19:34] Okay.Track 3:[19:34] Yeah. And she was there for that. I mean, they were only a year apart, so I don't know this, but I would assume she was still alive at that point. And I don't know if she's now or not.Track 2:[19:44] Yeah just the you know again the chance to say goodbye to his mom and yeah it's not really, how things are supposed to go i guess but um not at all yeah and that yeah the last thing i'll say is just there's that you know the vocalizations after the word goodbye i talked about them last week on secret path but there's these like raw just emotional you know screams and like emotes that he makes um in in the secret path concert and on the album and on this album as well that you know just that i don't know guttural just raw human emotion that it's really cool, what'd you guys think yeah.Track 1:[20:25] We saw a lot of that on the final tour for sure that raw guttural emotion.Track 2:[20:29] And uh.Track 1:[20:31] It's mirrored on this record absolutely crystallized uh on vinyl and cd cassette i don't know if it's on cassette justin um where do you stand on first person.Track 3:[20:43] Can't add a whole lot more but there's one thing that is very consistent in this song and the second song and it's that quarter note bass drum heartbeat boom boom boom boom to the whole thing and it's, not by accident for sure yeah yeah.Track 2:[21:01] And that was a feature of secret path to a lot of other songs without heartbeat.Track 4:[21:06] And a clock too is what I heard. Yes. I heard it as an underlying heartbeat, but it was also- click it was also time moving yeah oh that's good yeah it it really hit me in.Track 4:[21:22] Fact i think it was last night on one of the one of the tunes i don't remember exactly which one it was but it was fitting and it was very much a clock and a heartbeat again love love the opportunity that we had the chance to to to listen to this and to listen to those thoughts you know that was one One of the things I was thinking of, and we can say this about all of them is sometimes it's hard to really express your feelings at any moment, face-to-face writing it down, you know, after the fact. And so often it's after the fact, you know, this entire album, but of course this song right away, acknowledging his mom, but just that I'm going to go through and I'm going to give everyone that I've been in touch with or that I've loved, you know, I'm going to express some feelings to them. And a lot of the times those things sometimes people feel might be appropriate to be private, but for me, I love that Gord was very open about those feelings and emotions. So just incredible. Absolutely incredible.Track 1:[22:28] Incredible yeah i couldn't agree with you more it's so heartbreaking and i don't know whether we should have put a trigger warning at the top of this episode uh as we did with secret path this is some heavy shit so let's move on to wolf's home, All I want is you, All I want is you.Track 3:[26:05] And the heartbeat, you know, it really just, that's the other half, right? This is a decidedly more upbeat tune. It's really catchy. It's kind of fun. And it really, you know, the track that follows this is heavy too, but it does set the tone for kind of the rest of the album. The context of this whole thing, like we talked about over and over, is heavy, but the songs are kind of fun, you know? And Wolf's home is, all right, kids, stop the nonsense and the bullshit. Dad's home. Everybody cut it out. There's two lines that really stuck out to me. One was, I don't do what I hate, which is a spin on I do what I hate from Man, from the Man Machine poem album, which is the first track on that. And then at the very end is, all I want is you. you know and you know all the all the references to to edgar downey throughout the the hips catalog and and everything that gore did and you know lonely end of the rank and all those things it's um yeah i just these first two songs really kind of wrap your arms around the entire album with with what you're going to get out of this and um it's nice that it was his parents that, were the the opening numbers you know it was really a touching couple of tracks there.Track 4:[27:25] Yeah absolutely it's a tribute really it is and a tribute to obviously what an upbringing to, be able to you know have this individual that again has left us with such amazing art but yeah mom and dad right off the the bat i don't know if you guys noticed this or not and i think craig was trying to show it i have lucky enough to have the vinyl of this but on all the it's all handwritten the lyrics that are in here but in each one i'm fairly certain it's the who the song's about but it's it's covered up and it's a different color and it's on every single song in both you know close the first and the second album craig.Track 3:[28:04] You referenced that black and white video and in that video the only bits of color are where they overlay they kind of superimpose gray uh, gourd's handwriting in red and blue and he's got that four color pen that he's always using on.Track 4:[28:20] All the interviews. Yep.Track 3:[28:21] And I also was super happy to figure out that he's a lefty in that video because they show him making a note. And I'm like, all right.Track 4:[28:30] Right on, left-handers.Track 2:[28:31] My daughter is going to love that. Yeah, so this song, Wolf's Home, again, yeah, definitely about his father. And it's such a catchy song. The melody in the chorus, the ascending melody and the way the timbre of his voice just, changes as he's going up to those high notes and just such a nice quality like, he's such a versatile vocalist i don't think he gets enough credit for the just the different voices he uses on on different styles of tracks.Track 3:[29:03] There was something that i read a few years ago about how gourd just stayed in the pocket with the hip and i'm like what the frig are you talking about like the guy will go until he doesn't have a voice on the low end and then he blows it out on the top, Mariah Carey style. Like, it's unbelievable, his range.Track 1:[29:21] Ha ha ha ha ha ha.Track 2:[29:23] Some interest interesting percussion sounds almost like on on the two and four there's some kind of a where the snare would be there's some kind of i don't know what it is almost sounds like toy drums or something or just something random in the studio they were hitting but, but yeah i have nothing really more to add just just a great song.Track 4:[29:40] Yeah and i'll pick up on bedtime the next one which is to one of the kids i'm not sure if it's specific or if it's just to his children in general or you know again just going through that the theme that we've been talking about is knowing you know and it really doesn't matter who it's to that does add to obviously the level of seriousness but for me it was I think Craig mentioned this as well it's like yeah there was something you could pick out right away but it really didn't matter at some points again just breaking down that these were the very personal letters that were going out and doing it in a manner of he gets to add the instrumentation to it and as as we've talked about on several of the different albums and different tunes then again this one is more of the piano ford as they had mentioned the emotion that can be evoked from from that backing music to it and and knowing looking at very few i think there was only like four or five of these tunes that were solely gourd so you had some of the other you know drew that was involved, and niles and some of the other that helped i think a little bit with some of the i mean i don't know what their breakdown was if they were more instrumentation if they were more the uh um the lyric side of it but but just uh again i think a masterpiece put considering everything and having kids we all went through this or i went through this with all my kids.Track 4:[31:06] Multiple times in a different manner and and but how important that was and how with each of my kids, I have those memories of that connection, right? And that was a way that you could help your spouse was putting the help and putting the kids to bed. So it evokes some, some, very direct and deep memories and then saddens you when you know that these are memories that his children are going to read and hopefully appreciate.Track 1:[31:36] Oh, I can't imagine. I can't imagine. I just can't imagine.Track 2:[31:41] Yeah. Definitely brought back memories for me of, of those early years with kids and the, the struggle of bedtime and just the, the passage of time, you know, the way that those nights would just seem to last forever. And you were just, Then you wake up the next day and do it all over again. And then yet the years just start flying by. And that's what struck me during this song is that just the passage of time and how strange the days are so long and the years are so short. So, Justin, what do you think?Track 3:[32:18] Like I said, this album was released, Gord Died, and this album was released when my daughter was four months old. and we still have her gray rocking chair upstairs that, um, why would I would rock her to sleep in? And when this album came out, I think I listened on the first day, this song came on as I was rocking her to sleep and I bawled like a frigging toddler. And, uh you know the the line um as if from a bomb backing up like whoa and the floor with the creaks of time and we're living in this old apartment above a barn you know that's you can't breathe without the floor creaking and then you get to the door and she wakes up like are you really like leaving like what do you get back here you know and like so this song i it totally destroyed me and as I'm trying to get her calm I'm losing it and so I had this is this was it I heard three songs on this album and I stopped for seven years until we started this project I do love this song very much but man did it hit home and I was already raw from from having lost Gord you know my musical hero ten days before and then shit this happens come on yeah.Track 4:[33:40] I wanted to speak about JD when you were talking in the intro. When Gord passed, it was as deep as any friend or family member that I can recall. I mean, it was a deep fetal position kind of cry. And especially having seen and just a break, we've already talked about it before in a prior episode, but on the long time running when on the last tour, when he would kiss everyone on the lips before they went out on stage, you just were overwhelmed by the amount of love this one individual had. And that, you know, to this day, it's still permeates in this discussion. So amazing.Track 1:[34:29] Well, let's stick with you, Kirk. Let's talk a bit about introduce yourself.Track 4:[34:33] Introduce yourself. Well, title track to the album. I'm sorry. I got to get this out of the way. I need to know so much more, or I need to visit the Danforth because some of my favorite songs always mentioned the Danforth. And I just have to imagine it's some beautiful place near Toronto because it's in like old apartment from bare naked lady, which is a song that I love. Several other Canadian bands mentioned the Danforth. So that was the thing that snuck that stuck out right because everything had been so emotional i needed some sort of brevity and so when i got to danforth the line danforth so i need to ask jd give me info on the danforth so the danforth is the.Track 1:[35:18] Other side of bluer street the eastbound corridor of the street we call bluer street in midtown yeah it's not down it's the roof of downtown is bluer street and it cuts across the Bloor Viaduct, the Prince Edward Viaduct, which has the luminous veil on it that we spoke.Track 2:[35:36] Of in another episode.Track 1:[35:38] Then the Danforth was traditionally Greek town. It had oodles of Greek restaurants. There was lots of Greek variety stores and that sort of thing. And in the early nineties, it became a very popular place to start a family. You buy a house pretty reasonably. Now it's, you know, just as it's, as is want to happen. And it's pushing further and further and further East because the original Danforth area is now, you know, like $3 million homes, $4 million homes. Uh, and then there's some areas that there are way more than that. And I'd be glad to take you on a mini tour when I'm here because that's where I live. You know, maybe a soda pop at my local. We'll see.Track 3:[36:23] Yeah. Love it. Let's do that.Track 4:[36:25] Yeah. So that was my, that was my takeaway on this, this particular one. And again, that just overwhelmed my thought process was needing to know more about the Danforth. So I appreciate you helping, helping me with that. So, yeah.Track 2:[36:41] So this song was, um, was written about Billy Ray, Billy Ray Koster, the longtime hip roadie. And so, um, it's really just a thank you. And at the end of the song, just, you know, I thank you for your help. Help. Such a simple line, but such a beautiful goodbye to this lifelong friend who, from what I remember reading years ago, is that Billy Ray just as a young man or someone in his late teens just wrote the hip saying, I want a job, I'll do anything, and just worked his way up. And he really became almost like a member of the band by the end. And just the story of of this song is hilarious. Like it's a, it's a emotional song, but it's also so funny. Like the, you know, the not it isn't, it isn't because, you know, maybe some of the reason he, he, you know, the story being that he needs to write, introduce yourself on his hand to show to Billy Ray. So he'll introduce himself to the driver of the car that he, that Gord should know the name of, but has forgotten. So, you know, was that because of, you know, the cancer maybe? And I think I know what Justin's going to talk about here. What was your first thought?Track 3:[37:56] I can picture them in the back of a car or the cab or whatever. And Gord's like, oh shit, you know, like, what do I do here? Yeah. I mean, there's not much more that I could peel back on this, but I do remember in the interim of deciding to put the album down when it came out. And now I do remember watching the live performance that Sarah Harmer, Kevin Hearn, right, did it. And it was awesome. It was really, really, really good. And I was like, oh, okay, that's, and I had no idea what it was about at that time. So I was like, oh, this is a really sweet song.Track 2:[38:29] The Junos.Track 3:[38:30] Obviously emotional, but, um, you know, hearing the, hearing the lyrics, I was like, Oh, okay. And I've referenced it a few times here, the interview, the sit down with Peter Mansbridge and yeah. And he's like, well, I've got your name here, so I don't call you Doug or whatever, you know? Um, yeah. So, uh, yeah.Track 1:[38:57] Right.Track 2:[38:59] That's what I was going for. Yeah.Track 4:[39:02] Hey, I got to say with Billy Ray, because most of the shows that I saw were in small clubs, he was just as much a member of the band as anyone else for all of my crew. We almost enjoyed seeing him more, right? He always had that kind of crooked cowboy hat. And he always had like either a roll of duct tape or a wrench or there was art, you know, there was always something that says I'm the tech guy like reminded you of Tom Hanks when he did that Saturday Night Live skit when he was a roadie for Aerosmith or whatever, but he was so much he was the flavor of it. It was like he had to come out and put the mic stand back up because Gord knocked it down, you know. And then I love the fact as well that on this album, as well as I think the last or a couple of the others, he plays drums on a few of them. So how fantastic is that from Craig, as you mentioned, like a letter, just this, hey, I want to do something for you. And then he becomes this lifelong friend. And now he's part of, you know, part of introduce yourself in the title track song and, uh, just such a character.Track 3:[40:11] So it also, uh, it reminded me of the roadie by tenacious D. Sebastian bringing this, you know, 55 year old groupie into the dressing room.Track 4:[40:23] Love it.Track 3:[40:25] Love it.Track 4:[40:25] Love it. Love it.Track 2:[40:28] As someone who is terrible with names, definitely made, made me laugh. And if I ever get a tattoo, maybe that's what it'll have to be. Cause man, I'm in my job. It's not the best quality.Track 3:[40:39] It's a good story though.Track 1:[40:41] Coco Chanel five. That's what I think, yeah.Track 3:[43:49] So this, I mean, it's got to be about Laura, right? And yeah, and the thing that made me doubt that was that there's a song later in the album about his first girlfriend. So maybe he's singing about all of them. But the thing that drove it home for me was the line when I was recording in Memphis, which is the Up To Here album. That would put the timeline about right. I, I feel awkward listening to the song, the song and the one about the girlfriend. Like I shouldn't, I shouldn't be in this room right now, you know? Yeah.Track 2:[44:20] That, that, that was my thing off the top was like, I didn't want to dive too deep into who these songs are about, but sometimes it's, yeah, that this, that's what I thought about this one. And, but you know, Gord put this out in the world, so we, it is okay for us to do this. It is, is um yeah.Track 4:[44:37] And i agree that it definitely could have been on secret path like it has very much that same feel musically right instrumentation musically that was very much and there was even a moment on this particular song where it it was an mvp for for me for a while oh interesting yeah i just i think because again secret path was so impactful and for me after like the great build buildup from Coke machine glow, you know, just that amazing buildup and you hit secret path and you're just, it was hard to go on. So it was, I, you know, I was glad to hear something to kind of wake me up out of that funk. So, uh, but just a great song, but yes, difficult to listen to at times that the line was very uncomfortable for me. It really was. It's so good.Track 3:[45:27] Don't even say it.Track 4:[45:28] I'm not, but it's very uncomfortable for me. And that's That's probably the reason why I didn't end up as my MVP. I'll be honest.Track 1:[45:38] Just a little too inside baseball, Gord. Let's go with Ricky, please. And we'll start with Craig this time.Track 2:[45:47] This is a song I don't have a lot of notes about. It's just a nice upbeat song that was needed at this point. And it's nice and short. Gave me, I've said this a number of times on this pod, but Ben Folds kind of vibes you know and I have no idea who Ricky is I really didn't look at the lyrics too closely in this one so.Track 1:[46:13] Okay. Anybody else got anything?Track 3:[46:15] So I had asked in the group chat if this was about Patrick, his brother Patrick. And I know that You, Me, and the Bees is about him too, but I was thinking Ricky might be a nickname for Patrick. But the reason why I asked that was one of the lines is, you got me to the only door I've got. And Gord references the door in interviews and at the end of his life. And I know that Patrick was very close to him and was kind of his caretaker at the end. Um, so that's where I was thinking that maybe this is maybe Patrick got two songs. I don't know. I really don't know, but it's obviously somebody who's been very close with him forever and, you know, dating back before the illness, of course, too. But yeah, I don't know who it's about, but that was my initial thought. And I, I don't know. I have no idea, but it is a very fun listen.Track 1:[47:06] Well, if you out there listening, no, send us an email, discovering downy at gmail.com. we'd love to hear from you kirk what do you got.Track 4:[47:15] This one it gets a little more upbeat and so the clock is going a little faster i i agree with you justin that there definitely has a a feel to this sounds like a brother at least from that that standpoint i love i love the instrumentation the repetitiveness the i i i did that was something that i have in my memory as far as a note for this so this.Track 3:[47:40] Song and and a few others sound like a marriage between now for plan a and man machine poem like they could be hip songs 100 from those two.Track 4:[47:49] Great agreed i would wild okay.Track 1:[47:51] I gotta think about this in a different way safe is dead is our next track and i think we'll start with justin this time yeah.Track 3:[48:01] So i guess i'm gonna say it again this sounds like it could be from Not For Plan A or Man Machine Poem. And I don't know... It's probably more like man-machine poem, I think, but I couldn't even tell you who this is about. But, you know, it's certainly previewing death or reliving somebody else's. I don't know. But the dark preview, who'd miss this fear, a damn silence, exiles meet. And then the dark brochure, full dark soon, and then the rise of a scarred moon. So, like, I wonder if the brochure is a literal brochure. Like, here's what to expect in your next year and a half with glioblastoma, you know? Like, good luck, read this, and you've got information.Track 1:[48:42] God.Track 4:[48:43] That's, I mean, honestly, that's very much the way I took it. Safe is dead. Like, there's no good information on here. So it was stark to me, even in the music. And then if you read in some of the liner notes, this was one of the only ones with some backing vocals, and I think Patrick was one of them. And I think Billy Ray was another one. I have to look that up. But so interesting when you think about who was involved in this song. And then, again, just that premise or thought, like whether it's a pamphlet or like his doctor saying, hey, this is what's up. So you're just like safe as dead. Yeah. That was my uh.Track 2:[49:31] Yeah justin you mentioned man machine poem and i have a note right here that says remind the vocals remind me of insarnia from that album and musically i was really drawn to this song it reminds me so much of a band called future islands and specifically there's a song called fall from grace on the singles album which was the album that broke them and i heard that.Track 3:[49:56] Song today on the drive home.Track 2:[49:57] Really yeah.Track 3:[49:58] It's funny it.Track 2:[49:59] Is so similar yeah and i love i love that's my one of my very favorite songs by future islands so this one really stuck with me just the the drum beat the repetitive notes in the piano if it was future islands it would be more of a synth sound but it's a very similar idea just this repetitive groove that just goes for the entire song the nice echoing at the end the vocals that you mentioned and the way the beat drops out there's like a single hand clap to end the song it's one of my favorites i think on the album tremendous and sorry and last thing what wait what like what such a gourd thing to say what what wait what like just awkward and but not from him when he says it it's just when you when.Track 4:[50:49] You hear it for the first time it doesn't sound like he's saying that i had a completely different phrase.Track 2:[50:54] In my brain.Track 4:[50:55] You know when you hear something you're rocket man burning up his when you hear that that's what i heard was.Track 2:[51:01] Something completely.Track 4:[51:02] Different until i read it and i.Track 2:[51:03] Went excuse me while i kiss this guy wait.Track 4:[51:05] What what yeah exactly there's a bathroom on the right on the right.Track 2:[51:10] Do we.Track 3:[51:15] Have to pay rights fees for these now jay no.Track 1:[51:17] No we're fine we're fine we got big podcast lawyers yeah well we go upbeat again with the next song uh in a celebratory sort of way kirk what do you think is spoon.Track 4:[54:10] I'm just going to ask this question up front. In the band Spoon, we had had some discussions about them on our exchange, and I didn't look deep enough. Are they a Canadian band? They're not, no. No? But popular up there, obviously, and is that who he's referring to when you go down to the bottom?Track 1:[54:32] It definitely is that band. in terms of popularity middling you know they're not a superstar band by any stretch but they sell you know they sell they sell records similar to what they are in the u.s they're still sort of underground you know to a lot of people even though they've had at least three breakout albums great indie band yes but.Track 3:[54:52] They're only an indie band you know they're.Track 1:[54:53] Not mainstream yeah.Track 2:[54:56] Yeah relating to the story i just told actually it was driving me nuts i i knew i had a ticket to spoon but i have no memory of the concert and it was just driving me nuts i actually pulled up my concert tickets yesterday and went through them all until i finally finally figured out what it was was that i just mentioned future islands they were playing a show at stanley park in downtown vancouver the you know the park and um spoon was headlining future islands was opening so i went for future islands they sold out of beer like in the opening band they may and not Not that I was there for beer, but the timing worked out perfectly though, because I actually had a second concert ticket that same night to see War on Drugs in downtown Vancouver. So we had to like run down the street, catch a bus down to downtown Vancouver and made it to the Vogue to see War on Drugs. This is, I don't know, nine years ago, I think. And so I missed Spoon. So I didn't even get to see five songs.Track 4:[55:54] You missed Spoon. I was going to ask if you had both. No. Okay. You missed Spoon.Track 3:[55:58] I haven't seen them, but I love them. And in particular, the album Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga that is referenced on here. You don't even have to know that it's Spoon to know Don't You Ever or The Underdog or Cherry Bomb from that album. I know that if you heard them, you would recognize them instantly. They're radio hits. But Spoon's a freaking great band. And I'm jealous of the five-year-old kid who's in this song, which has got to be his youngest son, right? I would imagine.Track 1:[56:27] Well, he talks about recording in Maui with Bob.Track 3:[56:29] In Maui with Bob, yeah.Track 1:[56:31] So that would be what? That would be 2011?Track 2:[56:34] I think so.Track 3:[56:35] That would be the luster part of it, wouldn't it?Track 1:[56:37] That's what I've, that's what I've thought.Track 2:[56:38] I assume it's talking about either We Are The Same or World Container because he talks about we. He says we as in the band, like we were recording with Bob. Job so yeah and Maui is a place that um you know it's it's it's the destination for people in in Vancouver for vacation it's you know five hours away and so I've been there multiple times and so when he when I first heard the song and he starts dropping you know Haleakala the volcano Baby Beach is a place where when my son was just just a baby we took him to Baby Beach which is a a place where there's a like a natural barrier i believe it's natural there's no waves so you can actually take your toddler into the water they can just kind of play around in six inches of water and it goes out for for many meters and and i have these distinct memories and a great set of photos of my son on that beach talks about anthony's which is a little restaurant up in the in paella I believe, which is on the, if you're taking the road to Hana, very famous drive around the east side of the island, which I recommend to anyone who goes there. Brought back all these memories of my trips out there. And he even talks about his, I think his leg was broken or something. And one of my early trips to Maui, I was there on crutches. I had a hockey injury.Track 2:[58:03] So I had to cancel a bunch of my plans for that trip. And my son was very young. I think it was seven, eight months. And I remember the first day just taking the stroller for a walk and I'd go, you know, to the cinnamon roll place. And then I'd go back to the condo. And then the next day I'd go a bit further by the end. Within a week, I was walking for hours every morning. Like, you know, with the time change, I was up at 5.30 a.m. And taking him for just the longest walk. And just such a great memory. And I was fully healed by the end of that trip. That's great.Track 3:[58:35] There is the opening lines I just wanted to mention. You're transcendent. You taught me so many things. You taught me that help is all we to this dumb planet bring. What a nice compliment to give somebody.Track 2:[58:45] Right? And don't read the Apple Music translation because it says hell instead of help.Track 3:[58:51] That would change the song.Track 2:[58:52] You know, I've noticed on some of my listens.Track 4:[58:56] I'll look up a lyric because you can look on Spotify or whatever. And what you're hearing or what he's saying does not correlate with what the lyrics are so i noticed that on a few tunes i didn't write the specific ones down but uh that's interesting that you know it it translates it however it wants so i'm like he didn't just say what.Track 3:[59:17] It's for what it's worth i've had good luck on the website genius um when i when i can't find yeah and there's usually some notes some reference notes but they'll also capitalize words like like the album, the liner notes would have, as opposed to if you're listening to Spotify or YouTube or something that just doesn't take, you know, have that nuance. Right. Um, and I can add a lot of meaning.Track 2:[59:43] Yeah, and Kirk, you asked about Spoon being Canadian. While they're not, the band Deer Hunter, who Gord mentions in the song as the opener, they are from out east, I believe, Montreal maybe?Track 1:[59:55] Do you know, JD? I think it's in Quebec. Yeah, I think so.Track 3:[59:59] I think they are.Track 2:[1:00:00] I feel like I've seen them.Track 4:[1:00:01] Are they still active? Because I feel like I've just seen them recently, like opening up for Barenaked Ladies, which would make sense if they're Canadian.Track 3:[1:00:08] They have, they have a little bit of a following around where I live. Um, I haven't, I haven't seen them and I don't know much about them, but I know that the local station out of Albany, New York mentions deer hunter often. So yeah, there's still, I think there's still around.Track 4:[1:00:23] And I feel like I just saw them with bare naked ladies and, uh, what's the band that does closing time? Semi Sonic.Track 1:[1:00:30] Yeah.Track 4:[1:00:31] They were on the same, same bell.Track 1:[1:00:33] I went on a scavenger hunt in setlist.fm trying to find a show in Toronto that Deer Hunter opened for Spoon, and I couldn't track it down. That would definitely help us with the date in terms of figuring it out. I'm pretty sure they even say the venue in the song, don't they? In the lyric?Track 4:[1:00:58] Deer Hunter opened the show. The headliner was introduced. We did our best. We'd have to go soon. We got a t-shirt and we cut five tunes. Just enough to say that the first show for us, too, was Spoon. So anything else on Spoon?Track 3:[1:01:15] I listened to Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga several times because of this song. Yeah.Track 1:[1:01:24] Next up, Craig, is A Natural.Track 2:[1:01:29] Yeah, this song is the... Okay, so I'm in Seattle. This is... What year was this album? 2017? And this would have been, I'm guessing, a couple of weeks after gourd passed and i was in a 10 days i was in a clothing store or something i think a vintage clothing store in seattle and my wife was shopping and i was just sort of hanging out and i heard this song i was it was kind of like lightly in the background i couldn't i wasn't paying attention to who it was but they always play great music in seattle on in these types of stories i find and then the chorus came on and that powerful voice of his with all that reverb and it hit me like like a ton of bricks like i was like yeah it was like gourd from beyond the grave um and i was just i was in the u.s i was i was just it was amazing and i remember thinking like what is this is this like a hip song that i somehow don't know is this a you know some other artist where he just sings the chorus and i you know tracked it down when i got home and realized it was on the album that i had unopened um and so this was one song that i did listen to over the years, yeah what'd you guys think of this one.Track 4:[1:02:54] Just this was one of those that was the kind of the synth pop you know feel behind it which i loved again because again correlating back to the ages is like, gord probably had an affinity for the 80s and certain aspects of it in certain songs and whether you like it or not you're still influenced by it because you get that kind of that's again the the keyboard the synth sent the type music there but yeah again as craig mentioned the um powerfulness in the voice during the chorus is it creates goosebumps it just fills you up and and again makes you thankful that you have a variety of different you know opportunities to listen to the voice you know whether it's a solo stuff for the hip and so you were you just you were thankful for it and just the imagery in this song you know just sitting there and it's soaking and wet you know bathing suit with a bb gun and just kind of iron you know you you've experienced that or you've seen it and so you just felt connected to the song right away but it was so intense and then just the song the course itself is just a praise you are a natural if you say that about someone they're just you know they're beyond special so very much a song that made an impression, especially with his vocal abilities, as we've all mentioned and commented on how phenomenal it is and how varied, which I think Craig mentioned as well, or Justin as well.Track 3:[1:04:23] I wondered if this was about his sister or one of his daughters. I don't know why, but just the scene, the way that it's set, it seems like he's singing about a female.Track 4:[1:04:35] I would not disagree with that.Track 3:[1:04:36] Yeah, I don't know. Yeah. Well, and I was thinking that as they were kids, he's telling this story from his own childhood. Yeah. Don't know.Track 2:[1:04:47] That was my first thought too, but yeah, it could be. I feel like it is probably a child with one of his children.Track 3:[1:04:53] It also sounds a lot like a couple of songs in Secret Path.Track 2:[1:04:57] Yeah. The way he sings at the end though, I am the lucky one. That made me think I think maybe it was him as a father saying that line. And also to add to the 80s vibe, the bass, it really takes a lead in this song, very much like a Peter Hook style New Order.Track 4:[1:05:17] Yeah, great observation, Greg. I don't disagree with that at all.Track 1:[1:05:22] Well, let's wrap things up for this week with faith, faith. And we'll start with you, Mr. St. Louis.Track 3:[1:05:31] This one got me. Jesus, about the dog. I mean, I assume it's a dog. What else would be getting scratched under the chin? But, oh, my gosh, my puppy is just, well, the puppy is two years old. But, you know, I mean, what's nicer than the love that you get from your dog? and um very.Track 1:[1:05:54] Little in this world.Track 3:[1:05:55] Faith yeah but i mean just this song too is crushing take this take the dog out of it this is this is a masterpiece of a song and you can get emotional without lyrics with a song it's pretty damn amazing um so a couple of a couple of weeks ago, my mentor ken squire and you can google him he he's the one that got nascar on tv he's he's from around the way here and i worked for him for 20 years and he kind of took me up under his wing as the annoying kid who wouldn't stop asking for a job you know he's he's a legendary figure in the world of motorsport around the world so he he passed back in november and a few weeks ago they had his memorial service at his racetrack here in Vermont. And the most poignant part of the whole thing was they read a poem called The Sweetness of Dogs. This song brought me back to that moment where I welled up at his service and how the person and the dog are sitting under the moonlight. The person looks up at the moon and thinks, what could be more beautiful? And And the dog looks up to the person and thinks the same thing. And I'm just like, whoa. And the song just drains me. Yeah. Yeah. Ferguson, Ferguson's going to get this song the rest of his life.Track 4:[1:07:22] Yeah. It's, uh, it's, it's overwhelming. The, the passion that you feel when he screams the faith, faith, your faith, your faith, your faith. I think it's the Y-E-R, touching the nose every morning, one, two, three times, dark unwavering eyes. And if you have an animal, you know, especially if you have a dog for me, you know, I have my, my little guy, Andy, and we take our walks every day. And I do a lot of my gourd listening when I'm on a walk with my dog, you know, and it's, The dog has an attitude, and it's a great personality. And yeah, there's a love there that I think he captures, obviously, amazingly in the lyrics there.Track 2:[1:08:15] Yeah, I just have a note about the piano playing. So Kevin Drew on the piano, as we learned on the Secret Path album, he plays with a lot of feeling. And he's definitely got like a style to his playing. And I love how at the end he goes up the octave. And it's just, there's a lot of emotion in his playing, which really matches the lyrics. Now, unlike you guys, I'm not a pet person. I'm allergic to dogs. So it's not really my fault. Um so i've never had a dog i did have a cat growing up and i i do have a really great story but i'm gonna i'm gonna save it for when we have more time it feels.Track 4:[1:08:54] Like loving emmett otter craig that's what it feels like.Track 2:[1:08:57] Okay that's what it feels.Track 1:[1:08:59] Like well fellas uh it's been an absolute, pleasure to listen to your thoughts on the first half sort of i know it's not divisible the way the records are, but that's what we're going to cover this week. Let's bid adieu to our listeners and encourage you out there to shoot us an email, discoverydowney at gmail.com if you're enjoying what you're here. We'd love for you to join our community on Facebook, and of course we want to see you on July 19th at the Rec Room here in toronto tickets are available now at discovering downy.com.Track 4:[1:09:47] That's going to be a fun night i.Track 1:[1:09:51] Think so right.Track 4:[1:09:52] Really fun and do.Track 2:[1:09:55] People know like we've never actually met no i don't i guess i guess they.Track 1:[1:09:59] Wouldn't know that yeah.Track 2:[1:10:00] I mean i've i've met jd and kirk i guess in person very briefly yes uh kirk um a couple times and justin yeah yeah not not yet i haven't met you yet but But yeah.Track 4:[1:10:09] It'll be the first time for all four of us. Yeah.Track 1:[1:10:12] But we're all going to see each other on the night.Track 2:[1:10:15] It's going to be awesome.Track 3:[1:10:16] Yeah. Actually, we're going to see each other on the 18th too, aren't we?Track 2:[1:10:20] Road trip.Track 3:[1:10:21] Yeah.Track 1:[1:10:21] Yeah. Yeah. If you're out there and you're.Track 4:[1:10:24] We got to go to the.Track 1:[1:10:25] If you're out there, we got to see the dance tonight and you feel like meeting up with four dudes and you want to give us a tragically hip tour. That's a perfect opportunity. You guys are discovering Downey at gmail.com email. We would love that we would love nothing more than that so we'll have a film crew with us we can shoot some cool stuff and it'll be a lot of fun, pick up your shit.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/fully-and-completely/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Buckle in because this is a personal album we're discussing on today's episode of Discovering Downie. A mere 10 days following Gord's death fans were gifted the posthumous diary, Introduce Yerself. Craig, Justin, and Kirk have little experience with this record. Things get raw!Thanks for clicking.Follow us on social media @gorddowniepodTranscript: Track 6:[0:00] One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. Long Slice Brewery presents a live event celebration of Gord Downie July 19th at The Rec Room in Toronto. Join the hosts of the podcast Discovering Downie as they record their finale with special guest Patrick Downie. A silent auction with items from the hip and many others will take place along with live entertainment from the almost hip. All proceeds will benefit the Gord Downie Fund for brain cancer research. For more information and tickets, please visit discoveringdowney.com. How it all works. Welcome, music lovers. Long Slice Brewery presents Discovering Downey.Track 1:[1:15] Hey, it's JD here. Welcome to Discovering Downey, an 11-part project with a focus on the music and poetry of Mr. Gord Downey. The late frontman of the Tragically Hip gave to the world an extensive solo discography on top of the hip's vocal acrobatics that awed us for years. So far, he's released eight records in total, three of them posthumously. You might be the biggest fan of the hip out there, but have you heard these records? Because I'm an inquisitive podcaster, I enlisted my friends Craig, Justin, and Kirk, giant fans in their own right to discover downy with me jd as their host every week we get together and listen to one of gourd's records starting with coke machine glow and working from there in chronological order we discuss and dissect the album the production the lyrics and we break it down song by fucking song this week we're dealing with the challenging introduce Introduce yourself. Craig, how are you doing this week, my friend?Track 2:[2:20] I'm doing well.Track 1:[2:21] That's good to hear.Track 2:[2:22] Can't complain.Track 1:[2:23] Gigging?Track 2:[2:24] Yeah, I had a big show on the weekend and it was sold out and we had played about 30 tunes and it was a great time.Track 1:[2:32] Oh man, I wish I had a teleport device. Yeah. So I could go to your gigs. You too, Kirk. How are you doing, man?Track 4:[2:40] I'm doing well. Thank you. Yeah. Had a gig last week and got some travel coming up. So just been kind of finishing up on some graduation things with the kids. And, you know, like I said, some work stuff, obviously spending lots of time with this, this little project we got going on, but yeah, doing well.Track 1:[2:59] It's a lot. It's a lot, but it's been a lot of fun so far. And part of the fun is Mr. Justin St. Louis. How are you doing, sir?Track 3:[3:08] I'm good, dude. It's hardcore, hardcore here in this house right now, but things are good, man. Things are good.Track 1:[3:16] Well, that's great. Just off the top, I want to say that we're starting to get some items rolling in for the silent auction for the fundraising event that we're hosting in July. We've got the PWHL Toronto franchise has given us a really cool donation that we'll be sharing online in the days and weeks to come. We also got a donation from the Toronto Blue Jays, the Tragically Hip themselves have donated something. We've got a great restaurant, Mighty Bird, that is donating. And there's lots of other stuff as well, like lots of great artwork and shit. So get your tickets.Track 4:[3:56] Hey, we have some beers too, right?Track 1:[3:58] We do have some beers. Yeah, Podcast Pilsner. It's got our logo on the can.Track 3:[4:03] Let's go.Track 1:[4:04] That right? Yeah. And it should be a decent price. It's made by our title sponsor, Long Slice, of course. So go to discoveringdowney.com and click on fundraising tickets. Bob's your uncle. So there's that.Track 4:[4:17] Bob's your uncle. Love it. I love it. That's like six one way, half a dozen the other. I tell that to anyone that's under 40 and they look at me like, what are you talking about? Like, just figure it out. ticks one way, half a dozen the other. That's very confusing.Track 1:[4:35] Yeah. It is.Track 3:[4:39] Every time I hear Bob's your uncle, I think of 101 Dalmatians. When the bad guys break in and steal the pups from the nanny, he says, well, be out faster than you can say Bob's your uncle. And that was the first time I ever heard it. Anyway.Track 1:[4:54] I found out it's not an American phrase. It's a Canadian and UK phrase. So I told a bunch of people this and they were like, I've never heard of this in my life.Track 3:[5:03] What do you mean? No. Yeah. Right.Track 1:[5:06] All right, time to get a bit heavy here, because on October 17th, 2017, we said goodbye to the man who walks among the stars. This was truly one of the more emotional days in my nearly 50 years on this plane. Only losing family and close friends has ever cut as deeply as sending Gord off to the abyss. Less than two weeks later though on october 27th 2017, gourd released a posthumous effort called introduce yourself, where do you start with this one in my mind there are elements from each of the previous five albums on display here i hear secret path on coco chanel number five to name one off the top of my head the sparse production handled deftly by kevin drew gourd's partner in creating this double record. I have to imagine the production and limited instrumentation could have been a result of Gord's condition at the time of recording. However, as sick as he was, he persevered through two sessions in putting this album together.Track 1:[6:15] The liner notes indicate that Gord took on the bulk of the guitar work while handling vocals, some synth, and a bit of percussion to boot. Mr. Drew handled piano, bass, organs, keyboard, and percussion. This album does also feature some great guest performers, notably Dave Hamelin, with some work on the drums, as well as synth, and finally, on Nancy, he plays a frickin' B-3. David Billy Ray Koster offered some additional drum work and background vocals, while Patrick Downey contributed background vocals and percussion on Safe is Dead. Jillian Weiss also added vocals to that track. Lastly, engineer and bathhouse resident Niles Spencer has his fingerprints on several songs, playing keys, creating beats, samples, and a Morse code sound on the 19th track, The Road. From the get-go, this album has been scoured by fans to try and determine who each song is about. You see, this album has a premise. Each of the 23 songs is about someone from Gord's life. This is clearly the most personal record Gord, or the hip for that matter, has ever released. I'm going to leave you with one more date that is significant to me with regards to Introduce Yourself. May 30th, 2024.Track 1:[7:35] This was the day I peeled the cellophane off my copy of the vinyl and finally listened to the album in its entirety. Prior to that Thursday in May, I just didn't have the stamina or emotional wherewithal to make a dent in what I now know is a celebration of the music, the man, and the legend, Gord Downie. Justin, what are your initial thoughts on this one?Track 3:[8:00] I could not handle this album when it came out. I tried it and I had to abort after five songs maybe. And I'll tell you, and maybe I should save it for the song, but there was one, this all happened when, when my daughter was a newborn, there was, there's one song that just wrecks me and, uh, still does. Um, there's several that do, but one particular, and I just had to put it away until this, this project came around. So, you know, I sat on it for seven years. I had tried it and I wasn't ready.Track 1:[8:31] Me too, man. Me too. I'm either going to apologize for this project or be thanked for this project to find out what Justin's thoughts were on some of these songs. Kirk, I want to hear from you.Track 4:[8:44] Yeah. Well, for me, this came after us doing Secret Path, and that was such an emotional...Track 4:[8:56] Couple of weeks. I mean, it really was because we'd already become so close to Gord before we even started this project. Then when we started this project, you just became intimately familiar and then secret path happens and you're just, and I needed a break. I needed a break from, I'll say Gord Downie solo and I needed to fall in love with the hip again. I think I got that record store day hip album and i put that on and then i just went on a journey and just kind of fell in love with the hip again but i took a long break to prepare myself for this and there's no amount to break or anything that could really prepare you for it and every listen no matter what the device was whether it was on my record whether it was in the car whether it was out walking the dog. It was just obviously beautiful when you think about these letters and that he had the opportunity to do it, but also just so extremely heartbreaking at the same time, right? And then one final thing for me, my wife and I had also just recently watched the new documentary that came out on Jim Henson, right? And we're big Muppets fans. And of course they had a little bit on, you know, on Craig and I's favorite Emmett Otter.Track 4:[10:20] But yeah, it's just real quick, you know, but the point I wanted to make was.Track 4:[10:27] The Muppets, Sesame Street, everything that Jim Henson created, right? And he passed when he was 53. And Gord passed when he's 53. And I'm 53.Track 4:[10:39] And I'll be honest with you, gents, I have been on this. I'm 53. And these two gentlemen created this body of artwork that has been so incredibly moving for so many people for so many generations. And it just really stopped me in my tracks and went, wow, I'm 53. If I went right now, what would my story be and what impact would I have? And how thankful, even though it was, and I say this because I'm 53, that we lost those two gentlemen so young. Thank goodness we have this to go back and listen and watch and read and discuss and record podcasts. And I'm just so thankful. So sorry, a very long-winded answer, but I needed to share that with you because I think all of us are gonna have these emotional moments throughout this recording today. And just thinking about like, if I had a chance to write letters to everyone before I went, like, I don't know that I could do that. So um so that every listen has just been that thought wow can you imagine you had to write a letter to all the people that you know you cared for just.Track 1:[12:02] Take a moment brother we appreciate you man hell yeah best 53 year old on this podcast by by a country mile i.Track 4:[12:13] Will i will accept that sorry i'll accept that thank you as i cry thank you all right.Track 1:[12:22] Craig no i always i always start my questions with like for some reason i'm like mclaughlin of the mclaughlin group uh i don't know if you remember that sketch on snl but i feel like what justin you know and it's like this episode is a lot more stark and i don't want to be like scaring the shit out of you as i'm asking you a question but craig i want i'm curious about your experience now yeah.Track 2:[12:51] Well really quickly just before we um get into that uh kirk um not sure if you knew this this will probably just make things worse but um jim henson at his funeral they actually used a song from emmett otter as the um as the song that played during his um ceremony so yeah So you know how much it meant to him? Yeah.Track 3:[13:11] He also wrote his own goodbye letter and just stored it away.Track 2:[13:15] Oh, wow.Track 3:[13:15] In case of emergency, right? Yeah.Track 2:[13:19] It's crazy. Yeah. So, J.D., much like yourself –, I bought this album when it came out, and it remained unopened. And I actually remember watching a video that was like a promotional video that came out around the time the album was released. And it was a black and white. I put it on for about 30 seconds, and I just, I had to turn it off. And I actually just, for the first time since then, watched it last night. And it made sense why it hit me that hard it was the north the very last song which we'll get to at the very very end of i guess next week's podcast and that is a heavy tune and gourd was, not looking his best during the recording of that and it was just sort of like a rehearsal take they were showing it was just heartbreaking to watch and it was such a sad song i didn't know what it was about at the time, but I just knew I could not listen to this album. And yeah, so when this podcast opportunity came up, that was my first thought was like, I've had, I've been waiting to crack this open and I was looking for the opportunity to, you know, the right time. And that time is here. And to build off what Kirk was saying, like this, this album is a gift.Track 3:[14:46] Yeah.Track 2:[14:49] To his loved ones who were the subjects of the songs, to his bandmates, to his fans. And it's beautiful. The fact that he got this out there, like Kirk said so well, how many people get, number one, the opportunity to do something like this, and number two, can bring themselves to write those hard words.Track 1:[15:15] Absolutely. Yeah.Track 2:[15:16] Yeah.Track 6:[15:17] And, and when you consider the condition that he was in when he recorded these things, it's absolutely mind blowing for heaven's sake.Track 1:[15:26] This isn't somebody who was fully operational. And there's songs that are just so well thought out and gorgeous and, and so gored, you know?Track 3:[15:38] Well, and he wrote it in two stages too. And, you know, I would say that the second stage was probably in worse condition, right?Track 1:[15:47] You're likely right.Track 3:[15:49] He was gone six months after, you know, wild.Track 4:[15:55] One thing, because this is a blanket statement for all of it, is in any of the, you know, quick research that you do, like most of these songs were recorded in one to two takes. You know, for multiple reasons, one, they didn't have the time and neither did he or the energy. And so when you, you know, when you thought about when I went through and listened to every song and just went like, you got this amount of time, you're going to do this. And, you know, and they end up, I mean, one to two takes on some of these albums, just some of these songs. Sorry.Track 3:[16:34] And that's all they needed to.Track 1:[16:37] Yeah, I think that rawness really adds another layer to the context in a certain way, doesn't it? Because it is raw emotionally, and then it's raw musically as well.Track 4:[16:48] Yeah, very much so, but still incredible. Like on a majority of those songs, you wouldn't know. I mean, the one thing I read, and I would agree, is it's a piano forward album. There's very much a piano keys. There's some great guitar lines, but, um, so that helps obviously from a production standpoint in, in getting your, your tone tonality and, but I also think that it just really added to the, the, the emotion that the points, I'm sorry, I'm, no.Track 3:[17:30] But you're right.Track 4:[17:31] It's just incredible that they were able to get some of this production down in the manner that they did. And as a whole, going back to 53, I could hear so many decades in the songs, in the musicality that he was trying to experience. There's literal 80s synth pop songs on this. There's ballads. And there's all of these. You know, for me, I reflected born in the seventies, you know, really experienced that music eighties, nineties, two thousands. And then obviously the stuff you were influenced before that. And that instrumentation, in my opinion, came through in a lot of these songs. And again, one in two takes blows me away. Yeah.Track 1:[18:18] Yeah. Yeah. Drew, Kevin drew deserves, uh, a heap of, uh, of credit for pulling this together. And Niles Spencer was the engineer on the project. So hopefully later this summer, you guys get to meet Niles and we get to look around the bathhouse. That would be tremendous.Track 2:[18:40] Yeah. That would be amazing.Track 3:[18:41] Yeah.Track 1:[18:42] So we'll see what we can do there. Should we get into this song by song?Track 2:[18:45] Yeah.Track 3:[18:45] Let's do it.Track 1:[18:46] Okay. Craig, we're going to start with you in first person.Track 2:[18:51] So i decided early on when i started listening to this album i i felt like i didn't want to dig too deeply into what you know who each song was about right but some are just so obvious so first person you know it's a song to his mother you know the first person that you know he sees the first person to bring him to life just a really great song to start the album with very emotional um, Yeah. And I don't know, I didn't look up if his mother is still alive or was alive when this was released. So, you know, at the end he's saying goodbye.Track 3:[19:30] He addressed her in the final Kingston concert.Track 2:[19:34] Okay.Track 3:[19:34] Yeah. And she was there for that. I mean, they were only a year apart, so I don't know this, but I would assume she was still alive at that point. And I don't know if she's now or not.Track 2:[19:44] Yeah just the you know again the chance to say goodbye to his mom and yeah it's not really, how things are supposed to go i guess but um not at all yeah and that yeah the last thing i'll say is just there's that you know the vocalizations after the word goodbye i talked about them last week on secret path but there's these like raw just emotional you know screams and like emotes that he makes um in in the secret path concert and on the album and on this album as well that you know just that i don't know guttural just raw human emotion that it's really cool, what'd you guys think yeah.Track 1:[20:25] We saw a lot of that on the final tour for sure that raw guttural emotion.Track 2:[20:29] And uh.Track 1:[20:31] It's mirrored on this record absolutely crystallized uh on vinyl and cd cassette i don't know if it's on cassette justin um where do you stand on first person.Track 3:[20:43] Can't add a whole lot more but there's one thing that is very consistent in this song and the second song and it's that quarter note bass drum heartbeat boom boom boom boom to the whole thing and it's, not by accident for sure yeah yeah.Track 2:[21:01] And that was a feature of secret path to a lot of other songs without heartbeat.Track 4:[21:06] And a clock too is what I heard. Yes. I heard it as an underlying heartbeat, but it was also- click it was also time moving yeah oh that's good yeah it it really hit me in.Track 4:[21:22] Fact i think it was last night on one of the one of the tunes i don't remember exactly which one it was but it was fitting and it was very much a clock and a heartbeat again love love the opportunity that we had the chance to to to listen to this and to listen to those thoughts you know that was one One of the things I was thinking of, and we can say this about all of them is sometimes it's hard to really express your feelings at any moment, face-to-face writing it down, you know, after the fact. And so often it's after the fact, you know, this entire album, but of course this song right away, acknowledging his mom, but just that I'm going to go through and I'm going to give everyone that I've been in touch with or that I've loved, you know, I'm going to express some feelings to them. And a lot of the times those things sometimes people feel might be appropriate to be private, but for me, I love that Gord was very open about those feelings and emotions. So just incredible. Absolutely incredible.Track 1:[22:28] Incredible yeah i couldn't agree with you more it's so heartbreaking and i don't know whether we should have put a trigger warning at the top of this episode uh as we did with secret path this is some heavy shit so let's move on to wolf's home, All I want is you, All I want is you.Track 3:[26:05] And the heartbeat, you know, it really just, that's the other half, right? This is a decidedly more upbeat tune. It's really catchy. It's kind of fun. And it really, you know, the track that follows this is heavy too, but it does set the tone for kind of the rest of the album. The context of this whole thing, like we talked about over and over, is heavy, but the songs are kind of fun, you know? And Wolf's home is, all right, kids, stop the nonsense and the bullshit. Dad's home. Everybody cut it out. There's two lines that really stuck out to me. One was, I don't do what I hate, which is a spin on I do what I hate from Man, from the Man Machine poem album, which is the first track on that. And then at the very end is, all I want is you. you know and you know all the all the references to to edgar downey throughout the the hips catalog and and everything that gore did and you know lonely end of the rank and all those things it's um yeah i just these first two songs really kind of wrap your arms around the entire album with with what you're going to get out of this and um it's nice that it was his parents that, were the the opening numbers you know it was really a touching couple of tracks there.Track 4:[27:25] Yeah absolutely it's a tribute really it is and a tribute to obviously what an upbringing to, be able to you know have this individual that again has left us with such amazing art but yeah mom and dad right off the the bat i don't know if you guys noticed this or not and i think craig was trying to show it i have lucky enough to have the vinyl of this but on all the it's all handwritten the lyrics that are in here but in each one i'm fairly certain it's the who the song's about but it's it's covered up and it's a different color and it's on every single song in both you know close the first and the second album craig.Track 3:[28:04] You referenced that black and white video and in that video the only bits of color are where they overlay they kind of superimpose gray uh, gourd's handwriting in red and blue and he's got that four color pen that he's always using on.Track 4:[28:20] All the interviews. Yep.Track 3:[28:21] And I also was super happy to figure out that he's a lefty in that video because they show him making a note. And I'm like, all right.Track 4:[28:30] Right on, left-handers.Track 2:[28:31] My daughter is going to love that. Yeah, so this song, Wolf's Home, again, yeah, definitely about his father. And it's such a catchy song. The melody in the chorus, the ascending melody and the way the timbre of his voice just, changes as he's going up to those high notes and just such a nice quality like, he's such a versatile vocalist i don't think he gets enough credit for the just the different voices he uses on on different styles of tracks.Track 3:[29:03] There was something that i read a few years ago about how gourd just stayed in the pocket with the hip and i'm like what the frig are you talking about like the guy will go until he doesn't have a voice on the low end and then he blows it out on the top, Mariah Carey style. Like, it's unbelievable, his range.Track 1:[29:21] Ha ha ha ha ha ha.Track 2:[29:23] Some interest interesting percussion sounds almost like on on the two and four there's some kind of a where the snare would be there's some kind of i don't know what it is almost sounds like toy drums or something or just something random in the studio they were hitting but, but yeah i have nothing really more to add just just a great song.Track 4:[29:40] Yeah and i'll pick up on bedtime the next one which is to one of the kids i'm not sure if it's specific or if it's just to his children in general or you know again just going through that the theme that we've been talking about is knowing you know and it really doesn't matter who it's to that does add to obviously the level of seriousness but for me it was I think Craig mentioned this as well it's like yeah there was something you could pick out right away but it really didn't matter at some points again just breaking down that these were the very personal letters that were going out and doing it in a manner of he gets to add the instrumentation to it and as as we've talked about on several of the different albums and different tunes then again this one is more of the piano ford as they had mentioned the emotion that can be evoked from from that backing music to it and and knowing looking at very few i think there was only like four or five of these tunes that were solely gourd so you had some of the other you know drew that was involved, and niles and some of the other that helped i think a little bit with some of the i mean i don't know what their breakdown was if they were more instrumentation if they were more the uh um the lyric side of it but but just uh again i think a masterpiece put considering everything and having kids we all went through this or i went through this with all my kids.Track 4:[31:06] Multiple times in a different manner and and but how important that was and how with each of my kids, I have those memories of that connection, right? And that was a way that you could help your spouse was putting the help and putting the kids to bed. So it evokes some, some, very direct and deep memories and then saddens you when you know that these are memories that his children are going to read and hopefully appreciate.Track 1:[31:36] Oh, I can't imagine. I can't imagine. I just can't imagine.Track 2:[31:41] Yeah. Definitely brought back memories for me of, of those early years with kids and the, the struggle of bedtime and just the, the passage of time, you know, the way that those nights would just seem to last forever. And you were just, Then you wake up the next day and do it all over again. And then yet the years just start flying by. And that's what struck me during this song is that just the passage of time and how strange the days are so long and the years are so short. So, Justin, what do you think?Track 3:[32:18] Like I said, this album was released, Gord Died, and this album was released when my daughter was four months old. and we still have her gray rocking chair upstairs that, um, why would I would rock her to sleep in? And when this album came out, I think I listened on the first day, this song came on as I was rocking her to sleep and I bawled like a frigging toddler. And, uh you know the the line um as if from a bomb backing up like whoa and the floor with the creaks of time and we're living in this old apartment above a barn you know that's you can't breathe without the floor creaking and then you get to the door and she wakes up like are you really like leaving like what do you get back here you know and like so this song i it totally destroyed me and as I'm trying to get her calm I'm losing it and so I had this is this was it I heard three songs on this album and I stopped for seven years until we started this project I do love this song very much but man did it hit home and I was already raw from from having lost Gord you know my musical hero ten days before and then shit this happens come on yeah.Track 4:[33:40] I wanted to speak about JD when you were talking in the intro. When Gord passed, it was as deep as any friend or family member that I can recall. I mean, it was a deep fetal position kind of cry. And especially having seen and just a break, we've already talked about it before in a prior episode, but on the long time running when on the last tour, when he would kiss everyone on the lips before they went out on stage, you just were overwhelmed by the amount of love this one individual had. And that, you know, to this day, it's still permeates in this discussion. So amazing.Track 1:[34:29] Well, let's stick with you, Kirk. Let's talk a bit about introduce yourself.Track 4:[34:33] Introduce yourself. Well, title track to the album. I'm sorry. I got to get this out of the way. I need to know so much more, or I need to visit the Danforth because some of my favorite songs always mentioned the Danforth. And I just have to imagine it's some beautiful place near Toronto because it's in like old apartment from bare naked lady, which is a song that I love. Several other Canadian bands mentioned the Danforth. So that was the thing that snuck that stuck out right because everything had been so emotional i needed some sort of brevity and so when i got to danforth the line danforth so i need to ask jd give me info on the danforth so the danforth is the.Track 1:[35:18] Other side of bluer street the eastbound corridor of the street we call bluer street in midtown yeah it's not down it's the roof of downtown is bluer street and it cuts across the Bloor Viaduct, the Prince Edward Viaduct, which has the luminous veil on it that we spoke.Track 2:[35:36] Of in another episode.Track 1:[35:38] Then the Danforth was traditionally Greek town. It had oodles of Greek restaurants. There was lots of Greek variety stores and that sort of thing. And in the early nineties, it became a very popular place to start a family. You buy a house pretty reasonably. Now it's, you know, just as it's, as is want to happen. And it's pushing further and further and further East because the original Danforth area is now, you know, like $3 million homes, $4 million homes. Uh, and then there's some areas that there are way more than that. And I'd be glad to take you on a mini tour when I'm here because that's where I live. You know, maybe a soda pop at my local. We'll see.Track 3:[36:23] Yeah. Love it. Let's do that.Track 4:[36:25] Yeah. So that was my, that was my takeaway on this, this particular one. And again, that just overwhelmed my thought process was needing to know more about the Danforth. So I appreciate you helping, helping me with that. So, yeah.Track 2:[36:41] So this song was, um, was written about Billy Ray, Billy Ray Koster, the longtime hip roadie. And so, um, it's really just a thank you. And at the end of the song, just, you know, I thank you for your help. Help. Such a simple line, but such a beautiful goodbye to this lifelong friend who, from what I remember reading years ago, is that Billy Ray just as a young man or someone in his late teens just wrote the hip saying, I want a job, I'll do anything, and just worked his way up. And he really became almost like a member of the band by the end. And just the story of of this song is hilarious. Like it's a, it's a emotional song, but it's also so funny. Like the, you know, the not it isn't, it isn't because, you know, maybe some of the reason he, he, you know, the story being that he needs to write, introduce yourself on his hand to show to Billy Ray. So he'll introduce himself to the driver of the car that he, that Gord should know the name of, but has forgotten. So, you know, was that because of, you know, the cancer maybe? And I think I know what Justin's going to talk about here. What was your first thought?Track 3:[37:56] I can picture them in the back of a car or the cab or whatever. And Gord's like, oh shit, you know, like, what do I do here? Yeah. I mean, there's not much more that I could peel back on this, but I do remember in the interim of deciding to put the album down when it came out. And now I do remember watching the live performance that Sarah Harmer, Kevin Hearn, right, did it. And it was awesome. It was really, really, really good. And I was like, oh, okay, that's, and I had no idea what it was about at that time. So I was like, oh, this is a really sweet song.Track 2:[38:29] The Junos.Track 3:[38:30] Obviously emotional, but, um, you know, hearing the, hearing the lyrics, I was like, Oh, okay. And I've referenced it a few times here, the interview, the sit down with Peter Mansbridge and yeah. And he's like, well, I've got your name here, so I don't call you Doug or whatever, you know? Um, yeah. So, uh, yeah.Track 1:[38:57] Right.Track 2:[38:59] That's what I was going for. Yeah.Track 4:[39:02] Hey, I got to say with Billy Ray, because most of the shows that I saw were in small clubs, he was just as much a member of the band as anyone else for all of my crew. We almost enjoyed seeing him more, right? He always had that kind of crooked cowboy hat. And he always had like either a roll of duct tape or a wrench or there was art, you know, there was always something that says I'm the tech guy like reminded you of Tom Hanks when he did that Saturday Night Live skit when he was a roadie for Aerosmith or whatever, but he was so much he was the flavor of it. It was like he had to come out and put the mic stand back up because Gord knocked it down, you know. And then I love the fact as well that on this album, as well as I think the last or a couple of the others, he plays drums on a few of them. So how fantastic is that from Craig, as you mentioned, like a letter, just this, hey, I want to do something for you. And then he becomes this lifelong friend. And now he's part of, you know, part of introduce yourself in the title track song and, uh, just such a character.Track 3:[40:11] So it also, uh, it reminded me of the roadie by tenacious D. Sebastian bringing this, you know, 55 year old groupie into the dressing room.Track 4:[40:23] Love it.Track 3:[40:25] Love it.Track 4:[40:25] Love it. Love it.Track 2:[40:28] As someone who is terrible with names, definitely made, made me laugh. And if I ever get a tattoo, maybe that's what it'll have to be. Cause man, I'm in my job. It's not the best quality.Track 3:[40:39] It's a good story though.Track 1:[40:41] Coco Chanel five. That's what I think, yeah.Track 3:[43:49] So this, I mean, it's got to be about Laura, right? And yeah, and the thing that made me doubt that was that there's a song later in the album about his first girlfriend. So maybe he's singing about all of them. But the thing that drove it home for me was the line when I was recording in Memphis, which is the Up To Here album. That would put the timeline about right. I, I feel awkward listening to the song, the song and the one about the girlfriend. Like I shouldn't, I shouldn't be in this room right now, you know? Yeah.Track 2:[44:20] That, that, that was my thing off the top was like, I didn't want to dive too deep into who these songs are about, but sometimes it's, yeah, that this, that's what I thought about this one. And, but you know, Gord put this out in the world, so we, it is okay for us to do this. It is, is um yeah.Track 4:[44:37] And i agree that it definitely could have been on secret path like it has very much that same feel musically right instrumentation musically that was very much and there was even a moment on this particular song where it it was an mvp for for me for a while oh interesting yeah i just i think because again secret path was so impactful and for me after like the great build buildup from Coke machine glow, you know, just that amazing buildup and you hit secret path and you're just, it was hard to go on. So it was, I, you know, I was glad to hear something to kind of wake me up out of that funk. So, uh, but just a great song, but yes, difficult to listen to at times that the line was very uncomfortable for me. It really was. It's so good.Track 3:[45:27] Don't even say it.Track 4:[45:28] I'm not, but it's very uncomfortable for me. And that's That's probably the reason why I didn't end up as my MVP. I'll be honest.Track 1:[45:38] Just a little too inside baseball, Gord. Let's go with Ricky, please. And we'll start with Craig this time.Track 2:[45:47] This is a song I don't have a lot of notes about. It's just a nice upbeat song that was needed at this point. And it's nice and short. Gave me, I've said this a number of times on this pod, but Ben Folds kind of vibes you know and I have no idea who Ricky is I really didn't look at the lyrics too closely in this one so.Track 1:[46:13] Okay. Anybody else got anything?Track 3:[46:15] So I had asked in the group chat if this was about Patrick, his brother Patrick. And I know that You, Me, and the Bees is about him too, but I was thinking Ricky might be a nickname for Patrick. But the reason why I asked that was one of the lines is, you got me to the only door I've got. And Gord references the door in interviews and at the end of his life. And I know that Patrick was very close to him and was kind of his caretaker at the end. Um, so that's where I was thinking that maybe this is maybe Patrick got two songs. I don't know. I really don't know, but it's obviously somebody who's been very close with him forever and, you know, dating back before the illness, of course, too. But yeah, I don't know who it's about, but that was my initial thought. And I, I don't know. I have no idea, but it is a very fun listen.Track 1:[47:06] Well, if you out there listening, no, send us an email, discovering downy at gmail.com. we'd love to hear from you kirk what do you got.Track 4:[47:15] This one it gets a little more upbeat and so the clock is going a little faster i i agree with you justin that there definitely has a a feel to this sounds like a brother at least from that that standpoint i love i love the instrumentation the repetitiveness the i i i did that was something that i have in my memory as far as a note for this so this.Track 3:[47:40] Song and and a few others sound like a marriage between now for plan a and man machine poem like they could be hip songs 100 from those two.Track 4:[47:49] Great agreed i would wild okay.Track 1:[47:51] I gotta think about this in a different way safe is dead is our next track and i think we'll start with justin this time yeah.Track 3:[48:01] So i guess i'm gonna say it again this sounds like it could be from Not For Plan A or Man Machine Poem. And I don't know... It's probably more like man-machine poem, I think, but I couldn't even tell you who this is about. But, you know, it's certainly previewing death or reliving somebody else's. I don't know. But the dark preview, who'd miss this fear, a damn silence, exiles meet. And then the dark brochure, full dark soon, and then the rise of a scarred moon. So, like, I wonder if the brochure is a literal brochure. Like, here's what to expect in your next year and a half with glioblastoma, you know? Like, good luck, read this, and you've got information.Track 1:[48:42] God.Track 4:[48:43] That's, I mean, honestly, that's very much the way I took it. Safe is dead. Like, there's no good information on here. So it was stark to me, even in the music. And then if you read in some of the liner notes, this was one of the only ones with some backing vocals, and I think Patrick was one of them. And I think Billy Ray was another one. I have to look that up. But so interesting when you think about who was involved in this song. And then, again, just that premise or thought, like whether it's a pamphlet or like his doctor saying, hey, this is what's up. So you're just like safe as dead. Yeah. That was my uh.Track 2:[49:31] Yeah justin you mentioned man machine poem and i have a note right here that says remind the vocals remind me of insarnia from that album and musically i was really drawn to this song it reminds me so much of a band called future islands and specifically there's a song called fall from grace on the singles album which was the album that broke them and i heard that.Track 3:[49:56] Song today on the drive home.Track 2:[49:57] Really yeah.Track 3:[49:58] It's funny it.Track 2:[49:59] Is so similar yeah and i love i love that's my one of my very favorite songs by future islands so this one really stuck with me just the the drum beat the repetitive notes in the piano if it was future islands it would be more of a synth sound but it's a very similar idea just this repetitive groove that just goes for the entire song the nice echoing at the end the vocals that you mentioned and the way the beat drops out there's like a single hand clap to end the song it's one of my favorites i think on the album tremendous and sorry and last thing what wait what like what such a gourd thing to say what what wait what like just awkward and but not from him when he says it it's just when you when.Track 4:[50:49] You hear it for the first time it doesn't sound like he's saying that i had a completely different phrase.Track 2:[50:54] In my brain.Track 4:[50:55] You know when you hear something you're rocket man burning up his when you hear that that's what i heard was.Track 2:[51:01] Something completely.Track 4:[51:02] Different until i read it and i.Track 2:[51:03] Went excuse me while i kiss this guy wait.Track 4:[51:05] What what yeah exactly there's a bathroom on the right on the right.Track 2:[51:10] Do we.Track 3:[51:15] Have to pay rights fees for these now jay no.Track 1:[51:17] No we're fine we're fine we got big podcast lawyers yeah well we go upbeat again with the next song uh in a celebratory sort of way kirk what do you think is spoon.Track 4:[54:10] I'm just going to ask this question up front. In the band Spoon, we had had some discussions about them on our exchange, and I didn't look deep enough. Are they a Canadian band? They're not, no. No? But popular up there, obviously, and is that who he's referring to when you go down to the bottom?Track 1:[54:32] It definitely is that band. in terms of popularity middling you know they're not a superstar band by any stretch but they sell you know they sell they sell records similar to what they are in the u.s they're still sort of underground you know to a lot of people even though they've had at least three breakout albums great indie band yes but.Track 3:[54:52] They're only an indie band you know they're.Track 1:[54:53] Not mainstream yeah.Track 2:[54:56] Yeah relating to the story i just told actually it was driving me nuts i i knew i had a ticket to spoon but i have no memory of the concert and it was just driving me nuts i actually pulled up my concert tickets yesterday and went through them all until i finally finally figured out what it was was that i just mentioned future islands they were playing a show at stanley park in downtown vancouver the you know the park and um spoon was headlining future islands was opening so i went for future islands they sold out of beer like in the opening band they may and not Not that I was there for beer, but the timing worked out perfectly though, because I actually had a second concert ticket that same night to see War on Drugs in downtown Vancouver. So we had to like run down the street, catch a bus down to downtown Vancouver and made it to the Vogue to see War on Drugs. This is, I don't know, nine years ago, I think. And so I missed Spoon. So I didn't even get to see five songs.Track 4:[55:54] You missed Spoon. I was going to ask if you had both. No. Okay. You missed Spoon.Track 3:[55:58] I haven't seen them, but I love them. And in particular, the album Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga that is referenced on here. You don't even have to know that it's Spoon to know Don't You Ever or The Underdog or Cherry Bomb from that album. I know that if you heard them, you would recognize them instantly. They're radio hits. But Spoon's a freaking great band. And I'm jealous of the five-year-old kid who's in this song, which has got to be his youngest son, right? I would imagine.Track 1:[56:27] Well, he talks about recording in Maui with Bob.Track 3:[56:29] In Maui with Bob, yeah.Track 1:[56:31] So that would be what? That would be 2011?Track 2:[56:34] I think so.Track 3:[56:35] That would be the luster part of it, wouldn't it?Track 1:[56:37] That's what I've, that's what I've thought.Track 2:[56:38] I assume it's talking about either We Are The Same or World Container because he talks about we. He says we as in the band, like we were recording with Bob. Job so yeah and Maui is a place that um you know it's it's it's the destination for people in in Vancouver for vacation it's you know five hours away and so I've been there multiple times and so when he when I first heard the song and he starts dropping you know Haleakala the volcano Baby Beach is a place where when my son was just just a baby we took him to Baby Beach which is a a place where there's a like a natural barrier i believe it's natural there's no waves so you can actually take your toddler into the water they can just kind of play around in six inches of water and it goes out for for many meters and and i have these distinct memories and a great set of photos of my son on that beach talks about anthony's which is a little restaurant up in the in paella I believe, which is on the, if you're taking the road to Hana, very famous drive around the east side of the island, which I recommend to anyone who goes there. Brought back all these memories of my trips out there. And he even talks about his, I think his leg was broken or something. And one of my early trips to Maui, I was there on crutches. I had a hockey injury.Track 2:[58:03] So I had to cancel a bunch of my plans for that trip. And my son was very young. I think it was seven, eight months. And I remember the first day just taking the stroller for a walk and I'd go, you know, to the cinnamon roll place. And then I'd go back to the condo. And then the next day I'd go a bit further by the end. Within a week, I was walking for hours every morning. Like, you know, with the time change, I was up at 5.30 a.m. And taking him for just the longest walk. And just such a great memory. And I was fully healed by the end of that trip. That's great.Track 3:[58:35] There is the opening lines I just wanted to mention. You're transcendent. You taught me so many things. You taught me that help is all we to this dumb planet bring. What a nice compliment to give somebody.Track 2:[58:45] Right? And don't read the Apple Music translation because it says hell instead of help.Track 3:[58:51] That would change the song.Track 2:[58:52] You know, I've noticed on some of my listens.Track 4:[58:56] I'll look up a lyric because you can look on Spotify or whatever. And what you're hearing or what he's saying does not correlate with what the lyrics are so i noticed that on a few tunes i didn't write the specific ones down but uh that's interesting that you know it it translates it however it wants so i'm like he didn't just say what.Track 3:[59:17] It's for what it's worth i've had good luck on the website genius um when i when i can't find yeah and there's usually some notes some reference notes but they'll also capitalize words like like the album, the liner notes would have, as opposed to if you're listening to Spotify or YouTube or something that just doesn't take, you know, have that nuance. Right. Um, and I can add a lot of meaning.Track 2:[59:43] Yeah, and Kirk, you asked about Spoon being Canadian. While they're not, the band Deer Hunter, who Gord mentions in the song as the opener, they are from out east, I believe, Montreal maybe?Track 1:[59:55] Do you know, JD? I think it's in Quebec. Yeah, I think so.Track 3:[59:59] I think they are.Track 2:[1:00:00] I feel like I've seen them.Track 4:[1:00:01] Are they still active? Because I feel like I've just seen them recently, like opening up for Barenaked Ladies, which would make sense if they're Canadian.Track 3:[1:00:08] They have, they have a little bit of a following around where I live. Um, I haven't, I haven't seen them and I don't know much about them, but I know that the local station out of Albany, New York mentions deer hunter often. So yeah, there's still, I think there's still around.Track 4:[1:00:23] And I feel like I just saw them with bare naked ladies and, uh, what's the band that does closing time? Semi Sonic.Track 1:[1:00:30] Yeah.Track 4:[1:00:31] They were on the same, same bell.Track 1:[1:00:33] I went on a scavenger hunt in setlist.fm trying to find a show in Toronto that Deer Hunter opened for Spoon, and I couldn't track it down. That would definitely help us with the date in terms of figuring it out. I'm pretty sure they even say the venue in the song, don't they? In the lyric?Track 4:[1:00:58] Deer Hunter opened the show. The headliner was introduced. We did our best. We'd have to go soon. We got a t-shirt and we cut five tunes. Just enough to say that the first show for us, too, was Spoon. So anything else on Spoon?Track 3:[1:01:15] I listened to Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga several times because of this song. Yeah.Track 1:[1:01:24] Next up, Craig, is A Natural.Track 2:[1:01:29] Yeah, this song is the... Okay, so I'm in Seattle. This is... What year was this album? 2017? And this would have been, I'm guessing, a couple of weeks after gourd passed and i was in a 10 days i was in a clothing store or something i think a vintage clothing store in seattle and my wife was shopping and i was just sort of hanging out and i heard this song i was it was kind of like lightly in the background i couldn't i wasn't paying attention to who it was but they always play great music in seattle on in these types of stories i find and then the chorus came on and that powerful voice of his with all that reverb and it hit me like like a ton of bricks like i was like yeah it was like gourd from beyond the grave um and i was just i was in the u.s i was i was just it was amazing and i remember thinking like what is this is this like a hip song that i somehow don't know is this a you know some other artist where he just sings the chorus and i you know tracked it down when i got home and realized it was on the album that i had unopened um and so this was one song that i did listen to over the years, yeah what'd you guys think of this one.Track 4:[1:02:54] Just this was one of those that was the kind of the synth pop you know feel behind it which i loved again because again correlating back to the ages is like, gord probably had an affinity for the 80s and certain aspects of it in certain songs and whether you like it or not you're still influenced by it because you get that kind of that's again the the keyboard the synth sent the type music there but yeah again as craig mentioned the um powerfulness in the voice during the chorus is it creates goosebumps it just fills you up and and again makes you thankful that you have a variety of different you know opportunities to listen to the voice you know whether it's a solo stuff for the hip and so you were you just you were thankful for it and just the imagery in this song you know just sitting there and it's soaking and wet you know bathing suit with a bb gun and just kind of iron you know you you've experienced that or you've seen it and so you just felt connected to the song right away but it was so intense and then just the song the course itself is just a praise you are a natural if you say that about someone they're just you know they're beyond special so very much a song that made an impression, especially with his vocal abilities, as we've all mentioned and commented on how phenomenal it is and how varied, which I think Craig mentioned as well, or Justin as well.Track 3:[1:04:23] I wondered if this was about his sister or one of his daughters. I don't know why, but just the scene, the way that it's set, it seems like he's singing about a female.Track 4:[1:04:35] I would not disagree with that.Track 3:[1:04:36] Yeah, I don't know. Yeah. Well, and I was thinking that as they were kids, he's telling this story from his own childhood. Yeah. Don't know.Track 2:[1:04:47] That was my first thought too, but yeah, it could be. I feel like it is probably a child with one of his children.Track 3:[1:04:53] It also sounds a lot like a couple of songs in Secret Path.Track 2:[1:04:57] Yeah. The way he sings at the end though, I am the lucky one. That made me think I think maybe it was him as a father saying that line. And also to add to the 80s vibe, the bass, it really takes a lead in this song, very much like a Peter Hook style New Order.Track 4:[1:05:17] Yeah, great observation, Greg. I don't disagree with that at all.Track 1:[1:05:22] Well, let's wrap things up for this week with faith, faith. And we'll start with you, Mr. St. Louis.Track 3:[1:05:31] This one got me. Jesus, about the dog. I mean, I assume it's a dog. What else would be getting scratched under the chin? But, oh, my gosh, my puppy is just, well, the puppy is two years old. But, you know, I mean, what's nicer than the love that you get from your dog? and um very.Track 1:[1:05:54] Little in this world.Track 3:[1:05:55] Faith yeah but i mean just this song too is crushing take this take the dog out of it this is this is a masterpiece of a song and you can get emotional without lyrics with a song it's pretty damn amazing um so a couple of a couple of weeks ago, my mentor ken squire and you can google him he he's the one that got nascar on tv he's he's from around the way here and i worked for him for 20 years and he kind of took me up under his wing as the annoying kid who wouldn't stop asking for a job you know he's he's a legendary figure in the world of motorsport around the world so he he passed back in november and a few weeks ago they had his memorial service at his racetrack here in Vermont. And the most poignant part of the whole thing was they read a poem called The Sweetness of Dogs. This song brought me back to that moment where I welled up at his service and how the person and the dog are sitting under the moonlight. The person looks up at the moon and thinks, what could be more beautiful? And And the dog looks up to the person and thinks the same thing. And I'm just like, whoa. And the song just drains me. Yeah. Yeah. Ferguson, Ferguson's going to get this song the rest of his life.Track 4:[1:07:22] Yeah. It's, uh, it's, it's overwhelming. The, the passion that you feel when he screams the faith, faith, your faith, your faith, your faith. I think it's the Y-E-R, touching the nose every morning, one, two, three times, dark unwavering eyes. And if you have an animal, you know, especially if you have a dog for me, you know, I have my, my little guy, Andy, and we take our walks every day. And I do a lot of my gourd listening when I'm on a walk with my dog, you know, and it's, The dog has an attitude, and it's a great personality. And yeah, there's a love there that I think he captures, obviously, amazingly in the lyrics there.Track 2:[1:08:15] Yeah, I just have a note about the piano playing. So Kevin Drew on the piano, as we learned on the Secret Path album, he plays with a lot of feeling. And he's definitely got like a style to his playing. And I love how at the end he goes up the octave. And it's just, there's a lot of emotion in his playing, which really matches the lyrics. Now, unlike you guys, I'm not a pet person. I'm allergic to dogs. So it's not really my fault. Um so i've never had a dog i did have a cat growing up and i i do have a really great story but i'm gonna i'm gonna save it for when we have more time it feels.Track 4:[1:08:54] Like loving emmett otter craig that's what it feels like.Track 2:[1:08:57] Okay that's what it feels.Track 1:[1:08:59] Like well fellas uh it's been an absolute, pleasure to listen to your thoughts on the first half sort of i know it's not divisible the way the records are, but that's what we're going to cover this week. Let's bid adieu to our listeners and encourage you out there to shoot us an email, discoverydowney at gmail.com if you're enjoying what you're here. We'd love for you to join our community on Facebook, and of course we want to see you on July 19th at the Rec Room here in toronto tickets are available now at discovering downy.com.Track 4:[1:09:47] That's going to be a fun night i.Track 1:[1:09:51] Think so right.Track 4:[1:09:52] Really fun and do.Track 2:[1:09:55] People know like we've never actually met no i don't i guess i guess they.Track 1:[1:09:59] Wouldn't know that yeah.Track 2:[1:10:00] I mean i've i've met jd and kirk i guess in person very briefly yes uh kirk um a couple times and justin yeah yeah not not yet i haven't met you yet but But yeah.Track 4:[1:10:09] It'll be the first time for all four of us. Yeah.Track 1:[1:10:12] But we're all going to see each other on the night.Track 2:[1:10:15] It's going to be awesome.Track 3:[1:10:16] Yeah. Actually, we're going to see each other on the 18th too, aren't we?Track 2:[1:10:20] Road trip.Track 3:[1:10:21] Yeah.Track 1:[1:10:21] Yeah. Yeah. If you're out there and you're.Track 4:[1:10:24] We got to go to the.Track 1:[1:10:25] If you're out there, we got to see the dance tonight and you feel like meeting up with four dudes and you want to give us a tragically hip tour. That's a perfect opportunity. You guys are discovering Downey at gmail.com email. We would love that we would love nothing more than that so we'll have a film crew with us we can shoot some cool stuff and it'll be a lot of fun, pick up your shit.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/gettinghiptothehip/exclusive-contentAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Today an encore presentation of an episode that originally aired on September 11th. In the tenth instalment of what has become a very popular conversation, former Conservative cabinet minister James Moore and former principal secretary to prime minister Trudeau Gerald Butts focus on helping us understand political trends.  Today, again burying their partisan feelings, the two look at the issue of how to campaign in an era of polarization.  

Buckle in because this is a personal album we're discussing on today's episode of Discovering Downie. A mere 10 days following Gord's death fans were gifted the posthumous diary, Introduce Yerself. Craig, Justin, and Kirk have little experience with this record. Things get raw!Thanks for clicking.Follow us on social media @gorddowniepodTranscript: Track 6:[0:00] One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. Long Slice Brewery presents a live event celebration of Gord Downie July 19th at The Rec Room in Toronto. Join the hosts of the podcast Discovering Downie as they record their finale with special guest Patrick Downie. A silent auction with items from the hip and many others will take place along with live entertainment from the almost hip. All proceeds will benefit the Gord Downie Fund for brain cancer research. For more information and tickets, please visit discoveringdowney.com. How it all works. Welcome, music lovers. Long Slice Brewery presents Discovering Downey.Track 1:[1:15] Hey, it's JD here. Welcome to Discovering Downey, an 11-part project with a focus on the music and poetry of Mr. Gord Downey. The late frontman of the Tragically Hip gave to the world an extensive solo discography on top of the hip's vocal acrobatics that awed us for years. So far, he's released eight records in total, three of them posthumously. You might be the biggest fan of the hip out there, but have you heard these records? Because I'm an inquisitive podcaster, I enlisted my friends Craig, Justin, and Kirk, giant fans in their own right to discover downy with me jd as their host every week we get together and listen to one of gourd's records starting with coke machine glow and working from there in chronological order we discuss and dissect the album the production the lyrics and we break it down song by fucking song this week we're dealing with the challenging introduce Introduce yourself. Craig, how are you doing this week, my friend?Track 2:[2:20] I'm doing well.Track 1:[2:21] That's good to hear.Track 2:[2:22] Can't complain.Track 1:[2:23] Gigging?Track 2:[2:24] Yeah, I had a big show on the weekend and it was sold out and we had played about 30 tunes and it was a great time.Track 1:[2:32] Oh man, I wish I had a teleport device. Yeah. So I could go to your gigs. You too, Kirk. How are you doing, man?Track 4:[2:40] I'm doing well. Thank you. Yeah. Had a gig last week and got some travel coming up. So just been kind of finishing up on some graduation things with the kids. And, you know, like I said, some work stuff, obviously spending lots of time with this, this little project we got going on, but yeah, doing well.Track 1:[2:59] It's a lot. It's a lot, but it's been a lot of fun so far. And part of the fun is Mr. Justin St. Louis. How are you doing, sir?Track 3:[3:08] I'm good, dude. It's hardcore, hardcore here in this house right now, but things are good, man. Things are good.Track 1:[3:16] Well, that's great. Just off the top, I want to say that we're starting to get some items rolling in for the silent auction for the fundraising event that we're hosting in July. We've got the PWHL Toronto franchise has given us a really cool donation that we'll be sharing online in the days and weeks to come. We also got a donation from the Toronto Blue Jays, the Tragically Hip themselves have donated something. We've got a great restaurant, Mighty Bird, that is donating. And there's lots of other stuff as well, like lots of great artwork and shit. So get your tickets.Track 4:[3:56] Hey, we have some beers too, right?Track 1:[3:58] We do have some beers. Yeah, Podcast Pilsner. It's got our logo on the can.Track 3:[4:03] Let's go.Track 1:[4:04] That right? Yeah. And it should be a decent price. It's made by our title sponsor, Long Slice, of course. So go to discoveringdowney.com and click on fundraising tickets. Bob's your uncle. So there's that.Track 4:[4:17] Bob's your uncle. Love it. I love it. That's like six one way, half a dozen the other. I tell that to anyone that's under 40 and they look at me like, what are you talking about? Like, just figure it out. ticks one way, half a dozen the other. That's very confusing.Track 1:[4:35] Yeah. It is.Track 3:[4:39] Every time I hear Bob's your uncle, I think of 101 Dalmatians. When the bad guys break in and steal the pups from the nanny, he says, well, be out faster than you can say Bob's your uncle. And that was the first time I ever heard it. Anyway.Track 1:[4:54] I found out it's not an American phrase. It's a Canadian and UK phrase. So I told a bunch of people this and they were like, I've never heard of this in my life.Track 3:[5:03] What do you mean? No. Yeah. Right.Track 1:[5:06] All right, time to get a bit heavy here, because on October 17th, 2017, we said goodbye to the man who walks among the stars. This was truly one of the more emotional days in my nearly 50 years on this plane. Only losing family and close friends has ever cut as deeply as sending Gord off to the abyss. Less than two weeks later though on october 27th 2017, gourd released a posthumous effort called introduce yourself, where do you start with this one in my mind there are elements from each of the previous five albums on display here i hear secret path on coco chanel number five to name one off the top of my head the sparse production handled deftly by kevin drew gourd's partner in creating this double record. I have to imagine the production and limited instrumentation could have been a result of Gord's condition at the time of recording. However, as sick as he was, he persevered through two sessions in putting this album together.Track 1:[6:15] The liner notes indicate that Gord took on the bulk of the guitar work while handling vocals, some synth, and a bit of percussion to boot. Mr. Drew handled piano, bass, organs, keyboard, and percussion. This album does also feature some great guest performers, notably Dave Hamelin, with some work on the drums, as well as synth, and finally, on Nancy, he plays a frickin' B-3. David Billy Ray Koster offered some additional drum work and background vocals, while Patrick Downey contributed background vocals and percussion on Safe is Dead. Jillian Weiss also added vocals to that track. Lastly, engineer and bathhouse resident Niles Spencer has his fingerprints on several songs, playing keys, creating beats, samples, and a Morse code sound on the 19th track, The Road. From the get-go, this album has been scoured by fans to try and determine who each song is about. You see, this album has a premise. Each of the 23 songs is about someone from Gord's life. This is clearly the most personal record Gord, or the hip for that matter, has ever released. I'm going to leave you with one more date that is significant to me with regards to Introduce Yourself. May 30th, 2024.Track 1:[7:35] This was the day I peeled the cellophane off my copy of the vinyl and finally listened to the album in its entirety. Prior to that Thursday in May, I just didn't have the stamina or emotional wherewithal to make a dent in what I now know is a celebration of the music, the man, and the legend, Gord Downie. Justin, what are your initial thoughts on this one?Track 3:[8:00] I could not handle this album when it came out. I tried it and I had to abort after five songs maybe. And I'll tell you, and maybe I should save it for the song, but there was one, this all happened when, when my daughter was a newborn, there was, there's one song that just wrecks me and, uh, still does. Um, there's several that do, but one particular, and I just had to put it away until this, this project came around. So, you know, I sat on it for seven years. I had tried it and I wasn't ready.Track 1:[8:31] Me too, man. Me too. I'm either going to apologize for this project or be thanked for this project to find out what Justin's thoughts were on some of these songs. Kirk, I want to hear from you.Track 4:[8:44] Yeah. Well, for me, this came after us doing Secret Path, and that was such an emotional...Track 4:[8:56] Couple of weeks. I mean, it really was because we'd already become so close to Gord before we even started this project. Then when we started this project, you just became intimately familiar and then secret path happens and you're just, and I needed a break. I needed a break from, I'll say Gord Downie solo and I needed to fall in love with the hip again. I think I got that record store day hip album and i put that on and then i just went on a journey and just kind of fell in love with the hip again but i took a long break to prepare myself for this and there's no amount to break or anything that could really prepare you for it and every listen no matter what the device was whether it was on my record whether it was in the car whether it was out walking the dog. It was just obviously beautiful when you think about these letters and that he had the opportunity to do it, but also just so extremely heartbreaking at the same time, right? And then one final thing for me, my wife and I had also just recently watched the new documentary that came out on Jim Henson, right? And we're big Muppets fans. And of course they had a little bit on, you know, on Craig and I's favorite Emmett Otter.Track 4:[10:20] But yeah, it's just real quick, you know, but the point I wanted to make was.Track 4:[10:27] The Muppets, Sesame Street, everything that Jim Henson created, right? And he passed when he was 53. And Gord passed when he's 53. And I'm 53.Track 4:[10:39] And I'll be honest with you, gents, I have been on this. I'm 53. And these two gentlemen created this body of artwork that has been so incredibly moving for so many people for so many generations. And it just really stopped me in my tracks and went, wow, I'm 53. If I went right now, what would my story be and what impact would I have? And how thankful, even though it was, and I say this because I'm 53, that we lost those two gentlemen so young. Thank goodness we have this to go back and listen and watch and read and discuss and record podcasts. And I'm just so thankful. So sorry, a very long-winded answer, but I needed to share that with you because I think all of us are gonna have these emotional moments throughout this recording today. And just thinking about like, if I had a chance to write letters to everyone before I went, like, I don't know that I could do that. So um so that every listen has just been that thought wow can you imagine you had to write a letter to all the people that you know you cared for just.Track 1:[12:02] Take a moment brother we appreciate you man hell yeah best 53 year old on this podcast by by a country mile i.Track 4:[12:13] Will i will accept that sorry i'll accept that thank you as i cry thank you all right.Track 1:[12:22] Craig no i always i always start my questions with like for some reason i'm like mclaughlin of the mclaughlin group uh i don't know if you remember that sketch on snl but i feel like what justin you know and it's like this episode is a lot more stark and i don't want to be like scaring the shit out of you as i'm asking you a question but craig i want i'm curious about your experience now yeah.Track 2:[12:51] Well really quickly just before we um get into that uh kirk um not sure if you knew this this will probably just make things worse but um jim henson at his funeral they actually used a song from emmett otter as the um as the song that played during his um ceremony so yeah So you know how much it meant to him? Yeah.Track 3:[13:11] He also wrote his own goodbye letter and just stored it away.Track 2:[13:15] Oh, wow.Track 3:[13:15] In case of emergency, right? Yeah.Track 2:[13:19] It's crazy. Yeah. So, J.D., much like yourself –, I bought this album when it came out, and it remained unopened. And I actually remember watching a video that was like a promotional video that came out around the time the album was released. And it was a black and white. I put it on for about 30 seconds, and I just, I had to turn it off. And I actually just, for the first time since then, watched it last night. And it made sense why it hit me that hard it was the north the very last song which we'll get to at the very very end of i guess next week's podcast and that is a heavy tune and gourd was, not looking his best during the recording of that and it was just sort of like a rehearsal take they were showing it was just heartbreaking to watch and it was such a sad song i didn't know what it was about at the time, but I just knew I could not listen to this album. And yeah, so when this podcast opportunity came up, that was my first thought was like, I've had, I've been waiting to crack this open and I was looking for the opportunity to, you know, the right time. And that time is here. And to build off what Kirk was saying, like this, this album is a gift.Track 3:[14:46] Yeah.Track 2:[14:49] To his loved ones who were the subjects of the songs, to his bandmates, to his fans. And it's beautiful. The fact that he got this out there, like Kirk said so well, how many people get, number one, the opportunity to do something like this, and number two, can bring themselves to write those hard words.Track 1:[15:15] Absolutely. Yeah.Track 2:[15:16] Yeah.Track 6:[15:17] And, and when you consider the condition that he was in when he recorded these things, it's absolutely mind blowing for heaven's sake.Track 1:[15:26] This isn't somebody who was fully operational. And there's songs that are just so well thought out and gorgeous and, and so gored, you know?Track 3:[15:38] Well, and he wrote it in two stages too. And, you know, I would say that the second stage was probably in worse condition, right?Track 1:[15:47] You're likely right.Track 3:[15:49] He was gone six months after, you know, wild.Track 4:[15:55] One thing, because this is a blanket statement for all of it, is in any of the, you know, quick research that you do, like most of these songs were recorded in one to two takes. You know, for multiple reasons, one, they didn't have the time and neither did he or the energy. And so when you, you know, when you thought about when I went through and listened to every song and just went like, you got this amount of time, you're going to do this. And, you know, and they end up, I mean, one to two takes on some of these albums, just some of these songs. Sorry.Track 3:[16:34] And that's all they needed to.Track 1:[16:37] Yeah, I think that rawness really adds another layer to the context in a certain way, doesn't it? Because it is raw emotionally, and then it's raw musically as well.Track 4:[16:48] Yeah, very much so, but still incredible. Like on a majority of those songs, you wouldn't know. I mean, the one thing I read, and I would agree, is it's a piano forward album. There's very much a piano keys. There's some great guitar lines, but, um, so that helps obviously from a production standpoint in, in getting your, your tone tonality and, but I also think that it just really added to the, the, the emotion that the points, I'm sorry, I'm, no.Track 3:[17:30] But you're right.Track 4:[17:31] It's just incredible that they were able to get some of this production down in the manner that they did. And as a whole, going back to 53, I could hear so many decades in the songs, in the musicality that he was trying to experience. There's literal 80s synth pop songs on this. There's ballads. And there's all of these. You know, for me, I reflected born in the seventies, you know, really experienced that music eighties, nineties, two thousands. And then obviously the stuff you were influenced before that. And that instrumentation, in my opinion, came through in a lot of these songs. And again, one in two takes blows me away. Yeah.Track 1:[18:18] Yeah. Yeah. Drew, Kevin drew deserves, uh, a heap of, uh, of credit for pulling this together. And Niles Spencer was the engineer on the project. So hopefully later this summer, you guys get to meet Niles and we get to look around the bathhouse. That would be tremendous.Track 2:[18:40] Yeah. That would be amazing.Track 3:[18:41] Yeah.Track 1:[18:42] So we'll see what we can do there. Should we get into this song by song?Track 2:[18:45] Yeah.Track 3:[18:45] Let's do it.Track 1:[18:46] Okay. Craig, we're going to start with you in first person.Track 2:[18:51] So i decided early on when i started listening to this album i i felt like i didn't want to dig too deeply into what you know who each song was about right but some are just so obvious so first person you know it's a song to his mother you know the first person that you know he sees the first person to bring him to life just a really great song to start the album with very emotional um, Yeah. And I don't know, I didn't look up if his mother is still alive or was alive when this was released. So, you know, at the end he's saying goodbye.Track 3:[19:30] He addressed her in the final Kingston concert.Track 2:[19:34] Okay.Track 3:[19:34] Yeah. And she was there for that. I mean, they were only a year apart, so I don't know this, but I would assume she was still alive at that point. And I don't know if she's now or not.Track 2:[19:44] Yeah just the you know again the chance to say goodbye to his mom and yeah it's not really, how things are supposed to go i guess but um not at all yeah and that yeah the last thing i'll say is just there's that you know the vocalizations after the word goodbye i talked about them last week on secret path but there's these like raw just emotional you know screams and like emotes that he makes um in in the secret path concert and on the album and on this album as well that you know just that i don't know guttural just raw human emotion that it's really cool, what'd you guys think yeah.Track 1:[20:25] We saw a lot of that on the final tour for sure that raw guttural emotion.Track 2:[20:29] And uh.Track 1:[20:31] It's mirrored on this record absolutely crystallized uh on vinyl and cd cassette i don't know if it's on cassette justin um where do you stand on first person.Track 3:[20:43] Can't add a whole lot more but there's one thing that is very consistent in this song and the second song and it's that quarter note bass drum heartbeat boom boom boom boom to the whole thing and it's, not by accident for sure yeah yeah.Track 2:[21:01] And that was a feature of secret path to a lot of other songs without heartbeat.Track 4:[21:06] And a clock too is what I heard. Yes. I heard it as an underlying heartbeat, but it was also- click it was also time moving yeah oh that's good yeah it it really hit me in.Track 4:[21:22] Fact i think it was last night on one of the one of the tunes i don't remember exactly which one it was but it was fitting and it was very much a clock and a heartbeat again love love the opportunity that we had the chance to to to listen to this and to listen to those thoughts you know that was one One of the things I was thinking of, and we can say this about all of them is sometimes it's hard to really express your feelings at any moment, face-to-face writing it down, you know, after the fact. And so often it's after the fact, you know, this entire album, but of course this song right away, acknowledging his mom, but just that I'm going to go through and I'm going to give everyone that I've been in touch with or that I've loved, you know, I'm going to express some feelings to them. And a lot of the times those things sometimes people feel might be appropriate to be private, but for me, I love that Gord was very open about those feelings and emotions. So just incredible. Absolutely incredible.Track 1:[22:28] Incredible yeah i couldn't agree with you more it's so heartbreaking and i don't know whether we should have put a trigger warning at the top of this episode uh as we did with secret path this is some heavy shit so let's move on to wolf's home, All I want is you, All I want is you.Track 3:[26:05] And the heartbeat, you know, it really just, that's the other half, right? This is a decidedly more upbeat tune. It's really catchy. It's kind of fun. And it really, you know, the track that follows this is heavy too, but it does set the tone for kind of the rest of the album. The context of this whole thing, like we talked about over and over, is heavy, but the songs are kind of fun, you know? And Wolf's home is, all right, kids, stop the nonsense and the bullshit. Dad's home. Everybody cut it out. There's two lines that really stuck out to me. One was, I don't do what I hate, which is a spin on I do what I hate from Man, from the Man Machine poem album, which is the first track on that. And then at the very end is, all I want is you. you know and you know all the all the references to to edgar downey throughout the the hips catalog and and everything that gore did and you know lonely end of the rank and all those things it's um yeah i just these first two songs really kind of wrap your arms around the entire album with with what you're going to get out of this and um it's nice that it was his parents that, were the the opening numbers you know it was really a touching couple of tracks there.Track 4:[27:25] Yeah absolutely it's a tribute really it is and a tribute to obviously what an upbringing to, be able to you know have this individual that again has left us with such amazing art but yeah mom and dad right off the the bat i don't know if you guys noticed this or not and i think craig was trying to show it i have lucky enough to have the vinyl of this but on all the it's all handwritten the lyrics that are in here but in each one i'm fairly certain it's the who the song's about but it's it's covered up and it's a different color and it's on every single song in both you know close the first and the second album craig.Track 3:[28:04] You referenced that black and white video and in that video the only bits of color are where they overlay they kind of superimpose gray uh, gourd's handwriting in red and blue and he's got that four color pen that he's always using on.Track 4:[28:20] All the interviews. Yep.Track 3:[28:21] And I also was super happy to figure out that he's a lefty in that video because they show him making a note. And I'm like, all right.Track 4:[28:30] Right on, left-handers.Track 2:[28:31] My daughter is going to love that. Yeah, so this song, Wolf's Home, again, yeah, definitely about his father. And it's such a catchy song. The melody in the chorus, the ascending melody and the way the timbre of his voice just, changes as he's going up to those high notes and just such a nice quality like, he's such a versatile vocalist i don't think he gets enough credit for the just the different voices he uses on on different styles of tracks.Track 3:[29:03] There was something that i read a few years ago about how gourd just stayed in the pocket with the hip and i'm like what the frig are you talking about like the guy will go until he doesn't have a voice on the low end and then he blows it out on the top, Mariah Carey style. Like, it's unbelievable, his range.Track 1:[29:21] Ha ha ha ha ha ha.Track 2:[29:23] Some interest interesting percussion sounds almost like on on the two and four there's some kind of a where the snare would be there's some kind of i don't know what it is almost sounds like toy drums or something or just something random in the studio they were hitting but, but yeah i have nothing really more to add just just a great song.Track 4:[29:40] Yeah and i'll pick up on bedtime the next one which is to one of the kids i'm not sure if it's specific or if it's just to his children in general or you know again just going through that the theme that we've been talking about is knowing you know and it really doesn't matter who it's to that does add to obviously the level of seriousness but for me it was I think Craig mentioned this as well it's like yeah there was something you could pick out right away but it really didn't matter at some points again just breaking down that these were the very personal letters that were going out and doing it in a manner of he gets to add the instrumentation to it and as as we've talked about on several of the different albums and different tunes then again this one is more of the piano ford as they had mentioned the emotion that can be evoked from from that backing music to it and and knowing looking at very few i think there was only like four or five of these tunes that were solely gourd so you had some of the other you know drew that was involved, and niles and some of the other that helped i think a little bit with some of the i mean i don't know what their breakdown was if they were more instrumentation if they were more the uh um the lyric side of it but but just uh again i think a masterpiece put considering everything and having kids we all went through this or i went through this with all my kids.Track 4:[31:06] Multiple times in a different manner and and but how important that was and how with each of my kids, I have those memories of that connection, right? And that was a way that you could help your spouse was putting the help and putting the kids to bed. So it evokes some, some, very direct and deep memories and then saddens you when you know that these are memories that his children are going to read and hopefully appreciate.Track 1:[31:36] Oh, I can't imagine. I can't imagine. I just can't imagine.Track 2:[31:41] Yeah. Definitely brought back memories for me of, of those early years with kids and the, the struggle of bedtime and just the, the passage of time, you know, the way that those nights would just seem to last forever. And you were just, Then you wake up the next day and do it all over again. And then yet the years just start flying by. And that's what struck me during this song is that just the passage of time and how strange the days are so long and the years are so short. So, Justin, what do you think?Track 3:[32:18] Like I said, this album was released, Gord Died, and this album was released when my daughter was four months old. and we still have her gray rocking chair upstairs that, um, why would I would rock her to sleep in? And when this album came out, I think I listened on the first day, this song came on as I was rocking her to sleep and I bawled like a frigging toddler. And, uh you know the the line um as if from a bomb backing up like whoa and the floor with the creaks of time and we're living in this old apartment above a barn you know that's you can't breathe without the floor creaking and then you get to the door and she wakes up like are you really like leaving like what do you get back here you know and like so this song i it totally destroyed me and as I'm trying to get her calm I'm losing it and so I had this is this was it I heard three songs on this album and I stopped for seven years until we started this project I do love this song very much but man did it hit home and I was already raw from from having lost Gord you know my musical hero ten days before and then shit this happens come on yeah.Track 4:[33:40] I wanted to speak about JD when you were talking in the intro. When Gord passed, it was as deep as any friend or family member that I can recall. I mean, it was a deep fetal position kind of cry. And especially having seen and just a break, we've already talked about it before in a prior episode, but on the long time running when on the last tour, when he would kiss everyone on the lips before they went out on stage, you just were overwhelmed by the amount of love this one individual had. And that, you know, to this day, it's still permeates in this discussion. So amazing.Track 1:[34:29] Well, let's stick with you, Kirk. Let's talk a bit about introduce yourself.Track 4:[34:33] Introduce yourself. Well, title track to the album. I'm sorry. I got to get this out of the way. I need to know so much more, or I need to visit the Danforth because some of my favorite songs always mentioned the Danforth. And I just have to imagine it's some beautiful place near Toronto because it's in like old apartment from bare naked lady, which is a song that I love. Several other Canadian bands mentioned the Danforth. So that was the thing that snuck that stuck out right because everything had been so emotional i needed some sort of brevity and so when i got to danforth the line danforth so i need to ask jd give me info on the danforth so the danforth is the.Track 1:[35:18] Other side of bluer street the eastbound corridor of the street we call bluer street in midtown yeah it's not down it's the roof of downtown is bluer street and it cuts across the Bloor Viaduct, the Prince Edward Viaduct, which has the luminous veil on it that we spoke.Track 2:[35:36] Of in another episode.Track 1:[35:38] Then the Danforth was traditionally Greek town. It had oodles of Greek restaurants. There was lots of Greek variety stores and that sort of thing. And in the early nineties, it became a very popular place to start a family. You buy a house pretty reasonably. Now it's, you know, just as it's, as is want to happen. And it's pushing further and further and further East because the original Danforth area is now, you know, like $3 million homes, $4 million homes. Uh, and then there's some areas that there are way more than that. And I'd be glad to take you on a mini tour when I'm here because that's where I live. You know, maybe a soda pop at my local. We'll see.Track 3:[36:23] Yeah. Love it. Let's do that.Track 4:[36:25] Yeah. So that was my, that was my takeaway on this, this particular one. And again, that just overwhelmed my thought process was needing to know more about the Danforth. So I appreciate you helping, helping me with that. So, yeah.Track 2:[36:41] So this song was, um, was written about Billy Ray, Billy Ray Koster, the longtime hip roadie. And so, um, it's really just a thank you. And at the end of the song, just, you know, I thank you for your help. Help. Such a simple line, but such a beautiful goodbye to this lifelong friend who, from what I remember reading years ago, is that Billy Ray just as a young man or someone in his late teens just wrote the hip saying, I want a job, I'll do anything, and just worked his way up. And he really became almost like a member of the band by the end. And just the story of of this song is hilarious. Like it's a, it's a emotional song, but it's also so funny. Like the, you know, the not it isn't, it isn't because, you know, maybe some of the reason he, he, you know, the story being that he needs to write, introduce yourself on his hand to show to Billy Ray. So he'll introduce himself to the driver of the car that he, that Gord should know the name of, but has forgotten. So, you know, was that because of, you know, the cancer maybe? And I think I know what Justin's going to talk about here. What was your first thought?Track 3:[37:56] I can picture them in the back of a car or the cab or whatever. And Gord's like, oh shit, you know, like, what do I do here? Yeah. I mean, there's not much more that I could peel back on this, but I do remember in the interim of deciding to put the album down when it came out. And now I do remember watching the live performance that Sarah Harmer, Kevin Hearn, right, did it. And it was awesome. It was really, really, really good. And I was like, oh, okay, that's, and I had no idea what it was about at that time. So I was like, oh, this is a really sweet song.Track 2:[38:29] The Junos.Track 3:[38:30] Obviously emotional, but, um, you know, hearing the, hearing the lyrics, I was like, Oh, okay. And I've referenced it a few times here, the interview, the sit down with Peter Mansbridge and yeah. And he's like, well, I've got your name here, so I don't call you Doug or whatever, you know? Um, yeah. So, uh, yeah.Track 1:[38:57] Right.Track 2:[38:59] That's what I was going for. Yeah.Track 4:[39:02] Hey, I got to say with Billy Ray, because most of the shows that I saw were in small clubs, he was just as much a member of the band as anyone else for all of my crew. We almost enjoyed seeing him more, right? He always had that kind of crooked cowboy hat. And he always had like either a roll of duct tape or a wrench or there was art, you know, there was always something that says I'm the tech guy like reminded you of Tom Hanks when he did that Saturday Night Live skit when he was a roadie for Aerosmith or whatever, but he was so much he was the flavor of it. It was like he had to come out and put the mic stand back up because Gord knocked it down, you know. And then I love the fact as well that on this album, as well as I think the last or a couple of the others, he plays drums on a few of them. So how fantastic is that from Craig, as you mentioned, like a letter, just this, hey, I want to do something for you. And then he becomes this lifelong friend. And now he's part of, you know, part of introduce yourself in the title track song and, uh, just such a character.Track 3:[40:11] So it also, uh, it reminded me of the roadie by tenacious D. Sebastian bringing this, you know, 55 year old groupie into the dressing room.Track 4:[40:23] Love it.Track 3:[40:25] Love it.Track 4:[40:25] Love it. Love it.Track 2:[40:28] As someone who is terrible with names, definitely made, made me laugh. And if I ever get a tattoo, maybe that's what it'll have to be. Cause man, I'm in my job. It's not the best quality.Track 3:[40:39] It's a good story though.Track 1:[40:41] Coco Chanel five. That's what I think, yeah.Track 3:[43:49] So this, I mean, it's got to be about Laura, right? And yeah, and the thing that made me doubt that was that there's a song later in the album about his first girlfriend. So maybe he's singing about all of them. But the thing that drove it home for me was the line when I was recording in Memphis, which is the Up To Here album. That would put the timeline about right. I, I feel awkward listening to the song, the song and the one about the girlfriend. Like I shouldn't, I shouldn't be in this room right now, you know? Yeah.Track 2:[44:20] That, that, that was my thing off the top was like, I didn't want to dive too deep into who these songs are about, but sometimes it's, yeah, that this, that's what I thought about this one. And, but you know, Gord put this out in the world, so we, it is okay for us to do this. It is, is um yeah.Track 4:[44:37] And i agree that it definitely could have been on secret path like it has very much that same feel musically right instrumentation musically that was very much and there was even a moment on this particular song where it it was an mvp for for me for a while oh interesting yeah i just i think because again secret path was so impactful and for me after like the great build buildup from Coke machine glow, you know, just that amazing buildup and you hit secret path and you're just, it was hard to go on. So it was, I, you know, I was glad to hear something to kind of wake me up out of that funk. So, uh, but just a great song, but yes, difficult to listen to at times that the line was very uncomfortable for me. It really was. It's so good.Track 3:[45:27] Don't even say it.Track 4:[45:28] I'm not, but it's very uncomfortable for me. And that's That's probably the reason why I didn't end up as my MVP. I'll be honest.Track 1:[45:38] Just a little too inside baseball, Gord. Let's go with Ricky, please. And we'll start with Craig this time.Track 2:[45:47] This is a song I don't have a lot of notes about. It's just a nice upbeat song that was needed at this point. And it's nice and short. Gave me, I've said this a number of times on this pod, but Ben Folds kind of vibes you know and I have no idea who Ricky is I really didn't look at the lyrics too closely in this one so.Track 1:[46:13] Okay. Anybody else got anything?Track 3:[46:15] So I had asked in the group chat if this was about Patrick, his brother Patrick. And I know that You, Me, and the Bees is about him too, but I was thinking Ricky might be a nickname for Patrick. But the reason why I asked that was one of the lines is, you got me to the only door I've got. And Gord references the door in interviews and at the end of his life. And I know that Patrick was very close to him and was kind of his caretaker at the end. Um, so that's where I was thinking that maybe this is maybe Patrick got two songs. I don't know. I really don't know, but it's obviously somebody who's been very close with him forever and, you know, dating back before the illness, of course, too. But yeah, I don't know who it's about, but that was my initial thought. And I, I don't know. I have no idea, but it is a very fun listen.Track 1:[47:06] Well, if you out there listening, no, send us an email, discovering downy at gmail.com. we'd love to hear from you kirk what do you got.Track 4:[47:15] This one it gets a little more upbeat and so the clock is going a little faster i i agree with you justin that there definitely has a a feel to this sounds like a brother at least from that that standpoint i love i love the instrumentation the repetitiveness the i i i did that was something that i have in my memory as far as a note for this so this.Track 3:[47:40] Song and and a few others sound like a marriage between now for plan a and man machine poem like they could be hip songs 100 from those two.Track 4:[47:49] Great agreed i would wild okay.Track 1:[47:51] I gotta think about this in a different way safe is dead is our next track and i think we'll start with justin this time yeah.Track 3:[48:01] So i guess i'm gonna say it again this sounds like it could be from Not For Plan A or Man Machine Poem. And I don't know... It's probably more like man-machine poem, I think, but I couldn't even tell you who this is about. But, you know, it's certainly previewing death or reliving somebody else's. I don't know. But the dark preview, who'd miss this fear, a damn silence, exiles meet. And then the dark brochure, full dark soon, and then the rise of a scarred moon. So, like, I wonder if the brochure is a literal brochure. Like, here's what to expect in your next year and a half with glioblastoma, you know? Like, good luck, read this, and you've got information.Track 1:[48:42] God.Track 4:[48:43] That's, I mean, honestly, that's very much the way I took it. Safe is dead. Like, there's no good information on here. So it was stark to me, even in the music. And then if you read in some of the liner notes, this was one of the only ones with some backing vocals, and I think Patrick was one of them. And I think Billy Ray was another one. I have to look that up. But so interesting when you think about who was involved in this song. And then, again, just that premise or thought, like whether it's a pamphlet or like his doctor saying, hey, this is what's up. So you're just like safe as dead. Yeah. That was my uh.Track 2:[49:31] Yeah justin you mentioned man machine poem and i have a note right here that says remind the vocals remind me of insarnia from that album and musically i was really drawn to this song it reminds me so much of a band called future islands and specifically there's a song called fall from grace on the singles album which was the album that broke them and i heard that.Track 3:[49:56] Song today on the drive home.Track 2:[49:57] Really yeah.Track 3:[49:58] It's funny it.Track 2:[49:59] Is so similar yeah and i love i love that's my one of my very favorite songs by future islands so this one really stuck with me just the the drum beat the repetitive notes in the piano if it was future islands it would be more of a synth sound but it's a very similar idea just this repetitive groove that just goes for the entire song the nice echoing at the end the vocals that you mentioned and the way the beat drops out there's like a single hand clap to end the song it's one of my favorites i think on the album tremendous and sorry and last thing what wait what like what such a gourd thing to say what what wait what like just awkward and but not from him when he says it it's just when you when.Track 4:[50:49] You hear it for the first time it doesn't sound like he's saying that i had a completely different phrase.Track 2:[50:54] In my brain.Track 4:[50:55] You know when you hear something you're rocket man burning up his when you hear that that's what i heard was.Track 2:[51:01] Something completely.Track 4:[51:02] Different until i read it and i.Track 2:[51:03] Went excuse me while i kiss this guy wait.Track 4:[51:05] What what yeah exactly there's a bathroom on the right on the right.Track 2:[51:10] Do we.Track 3:[51:15] Have to pay rights fees for these now jay no.Track 1:[51:17] No we're fine we're fine we got big podcast lawyers yeah well we go upbeat again with the next song uh in a celebratory sort of way kirk what do you think is spoon.Track 4:[54:10] I'm just going to ask this question up front. In the band Spoon, we had had some discussions about them on our exchange, and I didn't look deep enough. Are they a Canadian band? They're not, no. No? But popular up there, obviously, and is that who he's referring to when you go down to the bottom?Track 1:[54:32] It definitely is that band. in terms of popularity middling you know they're not a superstar band by any stretch but they sell you know they sell they sell records similar to what they are in the u.s they're still sort of underground you know to a lot of people even though they've had at least three breakout albums great indie band yes but.Track 3:[54:52] They're only an indie band you know they're.Track 1:[54:53] Not mainstream yeah.Track 2:[54:56] Yeah relating to the story i just told actually it was driving me nuts i i knew i had a ticket to spoon but i have no memory of the concert and it was just driving me nuts i actually pulled up my concert tickets yesterday and went through them all until i finally finally figured out what it was was that i just mentioned future islands they were playing a show at stanley park in downtown vancouver the you know the park and um spoon was headlining future islands was opening so i went for future islands they sold out of beer like in the opening band they may and not Not that I was there for beer, but the timing worked out perfectly though, because I actually had a second concert ticket that same night to see War on Drugs in downtown Vancouver. So we had to like run down the street, catch a bus down to downtown Vancouver and made it to the Vogue to see War on Drugs. This is, I don't know, nine years ago, I think. And so I missed Spoon. So I didn't even get to see five songs.Track 4:[55:54] You missed Spoon. I was going to ask if you had both. No. Okay. You missed Spoon.Track 3:[55:58] I haven't seen them, but I love them. And in particular, the album Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga that is referenced on here. You don't even have to know that it's Spoon to know Don't You Ever or The Underdog or Cherry Bomb from that album. I know that if you heard them, you would recognize them instantly. They're radio hits. But Spoon's a freaking great band. And I'm jealous of the five-year-old kid who's in this song, which has got to be his youngest son, right? I would imagine.Track 1:[56:27] Well, he talks about recording in Maui with Bob.Track 3:[56:29] In Maui with Bob, yeah.Track 1:[56:31] So that would be what? That would be 2011?Track 2:[56:34] I think so.Track 3:[56:35] That would be the luster part of it, wouldn't it?Track 1:[56:37] That's what I've, that's what I've thought.Track 2:[56:38] I assume it's talking about either We Are The Same or World Container because he talks about we. He says we as in the band, like we were recording with Bob. Job so yeah and Maui is a place that um you know it's it's it's the destination for people in in Vancouver for vacation it's you know five hours away and so I've been there multiple times and so when he when I first heard the song and he starts dropping you know Haleakala the volcano Baby Beach is a place where when my son was just just a baby we took him to Baby Beach which is a a place where there's a like a natural barrier i believe it's natural there's no waves so you can actually take your toddler into the water they can just kind of play around in six inches of water and it goes out for for many meters and and i have these distinct memories and a great set of photos of my son on that beach talks about anthony's which is a little restaurant up in the in paella I believe, which is on the, if you're taking the road to Hana, very famous drive around the east side of the island, which I recommend to anyone who goes there. Brought back all these memories of my trips out there. And he even talks about his, I think his leg was broken or something. And one of my early trips to Maui, I was there on crutches. I had a hockey injury.Track 2:[58:03] So I had to cancel a bunch of my plans for that trip. And my son was very young. I think it was seven, eight months. And I remember the first day just taking the stroller for a walk and I'd go, you know, to the cinnamon roll place. And then I'd go back to the condo. And then the next day I'd go a bit further by the end. Within a week, I was walking for hours every morning. Like, you know, with the time change, I was up at 5.30 a.m. And taking him for just the longest walk. And just such a great memory. And I was fully healed by the end of that trip. That's great.Track 3:[58:35] There is the opening lines I just wanted to mention. You're transcendent. You taught me so many things. You taught me that help is all we to this dumb planet bring. What a nice compliment to give somebody.Track 2:[58:45] Right? And don't read the Apple Music translation because it says hell instead of help.Track 3:[58:51] That would change the song.Track 2:[58:52] You know, I've noticed on some of my listens.Track 4:[58:56] I'll look up a lyric because you can look on Spotify or whatever. And what you're hearing or what he's saying does not correlate with what the lyrics are so i noticed that on a few tunes i didn't write the specific ones down but uh that's interesting that you know it it translates it however it wants so i'm like he didn't just say what.Track 3:[59:17] It's for what it's worth i've had good luck on the website genius um when i when i can't find yeah and there's usually some notes some reference notes but they'll also capitalize words like like the album, the liner notes would have, as opposed to if you're listening to Spotify or YouTube or something that just doesn't take, you know, have that nuance. Right. Um, and I can add a lot of meaning.Track 2:[59:43] Yeah, and Kirk, you asked about Spoon being Canadian. While they're not, the band Deer Hunter, who Gord mentions in the song as the opener, they are from out east, I believe, Montreal maybe?Track 1:[59:55] Do you know, JD? I think it's in Quebec. Yeah, I think so.Track 3:[59:59] I think they are.Track 2:[1:00:00] I feel like I've seen them.Track 4:[1:00:01] Are they still active? Because I feel like I've just seen them recently, like opening up for Barenaked Ladies, which would make sense if they're Canadian.Track 3:[1:00:08] They have, they have a little bit of a following around where I live. Um, I haven't, I haven't seen them and I don't know much about them, but I know that the local station out of Albany, New York mentions deer hunter often. So yeah, there's still, I think there's still around.Track 4:[1:00:23] And I feel like I just saw them with bare naked ladies and, uh, what's the band that does closing time? Semi Sonic.Track 1:[1:00:30] Yeah.Track 4:[1:00:31] They were on the same, same bell.Track 1:[1:00:33] I went on a scavenger hunt in setlist.fm trying to find a show in Toronto that Deer Hunter opened for Spoon, and I couldn't track it down. That would definitely help us with the date in terms of figuring it out. I'm pretty sure they even say the venue in the song, don't they? In the lyric?Track 4:[1:00:58] Deer Hunter opened the show. The headliner was introduced. We did our best. We'd have to go soon. We got a t-shirt and we cut five tunes. Just enough to say that the first show for us, too, was Spoon. So anything else on Spoon?Track 3:[1:01:15] I listened to Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga several times because of this song. Yeah.Track 1:[1:01:24] Next up, Craig, is A Natural.Track 2:[1:01:29] Yeah, this song is the... Okay, so I'm in Seattle. This is... What year was this album? 2017? And this would have been, I'm guessing, a couple of weeks after gourd passed and i was in a 10 days i was in a clothing store or something i think a vintage clothing store in seattle and my wife was shopping and i was just sort of hanging out and i heard this song i was it was kind of like lightly in the background i couldn't i wasn't paying attention to who it was but they always play great music in seattle on in these types of stories i find and then the chorus came on and that powerful voice of his with all that reverb and it hit me like like a ton of bricks like i was like yeah it was like gourd from beyond the grave um and i was just i was in the u.s i was i was just it was amazing and i remember thinking like what is this is this like a hip song that i somehow don't know is this a you know some other artist where he just sings the chorus and i you know tracked it down when i got home and realized it was on the album that i had unopened um and so this was one song that i did listen to over the years, yeah what'd you guys think of this one.Track 4:[1:02:54] Just this was one of those that was the kind of the synth pop you know feel behind it which i loved again because again correlating back to the ages is like, gord probably had an affinity for the 80s and certain aspects of it in certain songs and whether you like it or not you're still influenced by it because you get that kind of that's again the the keyboard the synth sent the type music there but yeah again as craig mentioned the um powerfulness in the voice during the chorus is it creates goosebumps it just fills you up and and again makes you thankful that you have a variety of different you know opportunities to listen to the voice you know whether it's a solo stuff for the hip and so you were you just you were thankful for it and just the imagery in this song you know just sitting there and it's soaking and wet you know bathing suit with a bb gun and just kind of iron you know you you've experienced that or you've seen it and so you just felt connected to the song right away but it was so intense and then just the song the course itself is just a praise you are a natural if you say that about someone they're just you know they're beyond special so very much a song that made an impression, especially with his vocal abilities, as we've all mentioned and commented on how phenomenal it is and how varied, which I think Craig mentioned as well, or Justin as well.Track 3:[1:04:23] I wondered if this was about his sister or one of his daughters. I don't know why, but just the scene, the way that it's set, it seems like he's singing about a female.Track 4:[1:04:35] I would not disagree with that.Track 3:[1:04:36] Yeah, I don't know. Yeah. Well, and I was thinking that as they were kids, he's telling this story from his own childhood. Yeah. Don't know.Track 2:[1:04:47] That was my first thought too, but yeah, it could be. I feel like it is probably a child with one of his children.Track 3:[1:04:53] It also sounds a lot like a couple of songs in Secret Path.Track 2:[1:04:57] Yeah. The way he sings at the end though, I am the lucky one. That made me think I think maybe it was him as a father saying that line. And also to add to the 80s vibe, the bass, it really takes a lead in this song, very much like a Peter Hook style New Order.Track 4:[1:05:17] Yeah, great observation, Greg. I don't disagree with that at all.Track 1:[1:05:22] Well, let's wrap things up for this week with faith, faith. And we'll start with you, Mr. St. Louis.Track 3:[1:05:31] This one got me. Jesus, about the dog. I mean, I assume it's a dog. What else would be getting scratched under the chin? But, oh, my gosh, my puppy is just, well, the puppy is two years old. But, you know, I mean, what's nicer than the love that you get from your dog? and um very.Track 1:[1:05:54] Little in this world.Track 3:[1:05:55] Faith yeah but i mean just this song too is crushing take this take the dog out of it this is this is a masterpiece of a song and you can get emotional without lyrics with a song it's pretty damn amazing um so a couple of a couple of weeks ago, my mentor ken squire and you can google him he he's the one that got nascar on tv he's he's from around the way here and i worked for him for 20 years and he kind of took me up under his wing as the annoying kid who wouldn't stop asking for a job you know he's he's a legendary figure in the world of motorsport around the world so he he passed back in november and a few weeks ago they had his memorial service at his racetrack here in Vermont. And the most poignant part of the whole thing was they read a poem called The Sweetness of Dogs. This song brought me back to that moment where I welled up at his service and how the person and the dog are sitting under the moonlight. The person looks up at the moon and thinks, what could be more beautiful? And And the dog looks up to the person and thinks the same thing. And I'm just like, whoa. And the song just drains me. Yeah. Yeah. Ferguson, Ferguson's going to get this song the rest of his life.Track 4:[1:07:22] Yeah. It's, uh, it's, it's overwhelming. The, the passion that you feel when he screams the faith, faith, your faith, your faith, your faith. I think it's the Y-E-R, touching the nose every morning, one, two, three times, dark unwavering eyes. And if you have an animal, you know, especially if you have a dog for me, you know, I have my, my little guy, Andy, and we take our walks every day. And I do a lot of my gourd listening when I'm on a walk with my dog, you know, and it's, The dog has an attitude, and it's a great personality. And yeah, there's a love there that I think he captures, obviously, amazingly in the lyrics there.Track 2:[1:08:15] Yeah, I just have a note about the piano playing. So Kevin Drew on the piano, as we learned on the Secret Path album, he plays with a lot of feeling. And he's definitely got like a style to his playing. And I love how at the end he goes up the octave. And it's just, there's a lot of emotion in his playing, which really matches the lyrics. Now, unlike you guys, I'm not a pet person. I'm allergic to dogs. So it's not really my fault. Um so i've never had a dog i did have a cat growing up and i i do have a really great story but i'm gonna i'm gonna save it for when we have more time it feels.Track 4:[1:08:54] Like loving emmett otter craig that's what it feels like.Track 2:[1:08:57] Okay that's what it feels.Track 1:[1:08:59] Like well fellas uh it's been an absolute, pleasure to listen to your thoughts on the first half sort of i know it's not divisible the way the records are, but that's what we're going to cover this week. Let's bid adieu to our listeners and encourage you out there to shoot us an email, discoverydowney at gmail.com if you're enjoying what you're here. We'd love for you to join our community on Facebook, and of course we want to see you on July 19th at the Rec Room here in toronto tickets are available now at discovering downy.com.Track 4:[1:09:47] That's going to be a fun night i.Track 1:[1:09:51] Think so right.Track 4:[1:09:52] Really fun and do.Track 2:[1:09:55] People know like we've never actually met no i don't i guess i guess they.Track 1:[1:09:59] Wouldn't know that yeah.Track 2:[1:10:00] I mean i've i've met jd and kirk i guess in person very briefly yes uh kirk um a couple times and justin yeah yeah not not yet i haven't met you yet but But yeah.Track 4:[1:10:09] It'll be the first time for all four of us. Yeah.Track 1:[1:10:12] But we're all going to see each other on the night.Track 2:[1:10:15] It's going to be awesome.Track 3:[1:10:16] Yeah. Actually, we're going to see each other on the 18th too, aren't we?Track 2:[1:10:20] Road trip.Track 3:[1:10:21] Yeah.Track 1:[1:10:21] Yeah. Yeah. If you're out there and you're.Track 4:[1:10:24] We got to go to the.Track 1:[1:10:25] If you're out there, we got to see the dance tonight and you feel like meeting up with four dudes and you want to give us a tragically hip tour. That's a perfect opportunity. You guys are discovering Downey at gmail.com email. We would love that we would love nothing more than that so we'll have a film crew with us we can shoot some cool stuff and it'll be a lot of fun, pick up your shit.

Welcome to Discovering Downie. I'll be your host, jD as we listen in on the experiences and analysis from three huge fans of The Hip who have a blind spot for Gord's solo works. Meet Craig, Justin, and Kirk as they part in this epic 11-part podcast.We kick the show off by starting at the start with Coke Machine Glow part 1.Transcript:Track 2:[1:26] Welcome, music lovers. Long Slice Brewery presents Discovering Downy.Track 3:[1:34] Hey, it's JD here, and I'm joined by my pals Craig, Justin, and Kirk from Chino. While our love for the hip unites us, Gord's solo ventures remain uncharted territory for our trio.Track 3:[1:47] Hence, I've gathered this team of enthusiasts to delve into the musical repertoire of the enigmatic frontman of the tragically hip, the late gourd downey so come along with us on this exploration as we navigate through his albums one by one in chronological order embarking on our quest of discovering downey we've assembled quite the motley crew here to talk uh to talk about gourd's oeuvre and we're excited to do that we're going to do this all summer long so buckle up fellas how are you doing not too bad living the a dream amazing excited excited to go on this jaunt with you you gents for sure yeah it should be pretty fun i agree i agree completely i i am i am from a hip starved uh area of the world which you know i guess most of the u.s unfortunately was hip starved for a long time but specifically down here uh in the la market i got to see some amazing shows in really small places but like to, to like find a hip album in a record store or, you know, like anything that comes close to hip preference for me, I just like, I get all giddy. So when we, you know, we connected to talk with other hip fans, um, was pretty exciting, but then just to learn more about Gord, um, yeah, this is, this is going to be quite the adventure, my friends, quite the adventure.Track 3:[3:17] Yeah, I think so. What do you think, Craig?Track 3:[3:20] Yeah, I've been sitting in this room, my office slash music room, with a couple of unopened Gord CDs that I have collected over the years and just looking for the right moment, I guess. And along came that moment, and thanks to you, JD, to make this happen and to bring me on board. Ah, but I am but one hand on the rudder. The other three hands you see belong to Kirk, Justin, and Craig. Egg so there's that justin tell us about your experience with the hip so uh the u.s is hip starved for the most part but uh growing up in vermont we are just quebec junior and uh we get a lot of uh tv and radio stations uh down here in the greater burlington area so i i grew up with hip on the radio and um i didn't really know anything about him but in high school i discovered phantom power on my own.Track 3:[4:19] And, uh, that was it. I've been hopelessly blissfully lost ever since. And, um, my dad was kind of a hip fan, but you know, I think he was from like the old, you know, the, the hip crowd that they were trying to get rid of in the nineties, you know? And, uh, and so when I, when I came along, it was music at work and, you know, kind of the newer stuff that, that the old man probably wouldn't have liked too much, but, um, yeah, it's been a lot of fun. I got to see three hip shows and I was at the show in Ottawa two nights before the finale, uh, which was really amazing. Um, I got to see him in a basketball gym in Burlington and I got to see him in a bar in Albany, New York. And, uh, I feel like I got the, a pretty good sample size. Uh, I love them. I love them. Yeah. How about you, Craig? You have a unique role in this trio as well with your Tragically Hip experience. Share some of that with us.Track 3:[5:19] Um, yeah, I've, I've been a big hip fan way back going to probably grade eight when I, when I first heard, I think New Orleans on the radio and, uh, you know, I liked it and I, um, I didn't buy the album right away. I was into heavier stuff at the time. I was a big GNR fan and I was kind of a metal guy. And, uh, then I heard 38 years old and funnily enough, I thought it was, um, uh, Tracy Chapman at first, when I first heard the voice, the vibrato and, you know, it's just on faintly in the background. And then I kind of turned it up and this is a good tune. And then, you know, they, they announced it was the hip. And so I went out and got the CD. I think I maybe ordered on Columbia house through my, uh, through my parents or, you know, five CDs for, for a penny or whatever. And, uh, 12 here in the U S yeah.Track 3:[6:09] And yeah, I've been a huge hip fan ever since. And, and, um, yeah, I've been to, I think maybe 15, 16 concerts and, um, yeah, about a year ago, year and a half ago, I started playing in a hip tribute and it's just been a blast to sharing the music with, you know, the fans who don't get to see them anymore. And, you know, I wish I could, I wish they were still around and I could quit my job as a hip tribute guitar player, but unfortunately they're not playing anymore. I wonder if there's a Tracy Chapman angle, I wonder if we can get Luke Combs to cover some hip stuff and get them on the mainstream radio. you. It's a great idea. It's actually not. I don't think I want to hear that. No, but definitely giving them the credit they deserve. And man, Craig, like I seriously got goosebumps when you'd mentioned Tracy Chapman, like, you know, if you guys saw the Grammys, you know, that was performed and Tracy just sounded amazing. And, uh, I hadn't thought of it from that perspective. And, and yeah, I think you hit that spot on that. I haven't looked it up, But I'm guessing if you look up the release date of Fast Car and up to here, I'm going to guess they're within a year. Yeah, that's probably very true.Track 3:[7:27] So let's start at the start here with Coke Machine Glow. Kirk, any nuggets that you gleaned from production notes, anything like that, that you gathered on your fact-finding mission? Yeah, absolutely. Um, you know, I, I actually did because I'm a musician as well and, and, and do appreciate, uh, what goes into making an album. Um, uh, there, there was some pretty good information out there and, you know, especially knowing the hips catalog and, you know, they've had, they've had some different experiences from different producers and engineers and, and different recording experiences. And, um, so, you know, of course you're going, well, I'm going to get a lot of that. And, and then boom, you get hit right upside the head with, you know, But in the research that I did, I mean, they basically just, you know, had a couple, I think they had a kick mic and an overhead mic and just kind of a room mic. They played everything acoustic because they wanted to hear Gord's vocals.Track 3:[8:30] They were in, I believe, in the studio that is no longer there. It was like a loft in Toronto that was owned by a couple of musicians that were a part of, you know, the band that was there and part of the recording team. Um and obviously getting all their you know getting all their schedules together and and you know various musicians from from various different bands within the area and uh and they just wanted this to be uh just kind of that raw essence right that it you know for us as hit fans at least for me like that's where i fell in love is like whether you listen to the music or see them live, like the energy that comes out of every song is, is palpable on so many different levels. And, and, you know, I think those that, that have had the experience to enjoy their music and especially live, like there's such an energy to it and whether it's, uh.Track 3:[9:29] You know, whether it's one of their upbeat, you know, just rocking tunes or, or, you know, a simple acoustic there, they really know how to capture the emotion. And this album, Coke Machine Glow, I mean, yeah, wow. I mean, it was, again, it just felt like maybe one mic in the room and they just were circled around each other and they went for it. And one of the other notes that I heard that I thought was pretty surprising is they got a lot out of what was actually recorded and it sounded a lot bigger than what took place. I can get that. You could get a small little eight-inch speaker and, uh, put a mic on it and it could sound like you've got, you know, four Marshall, you know, full stacks grinding in front of you. So, you know, there's definitely some magic that can happen in the studio, but, um, uh, yeah, I, I think, uh, you know, I do a lot of stuff in theater and we always talk about how the set or the lights or the sound can become a character. And I think for me, the production elements of Coke Machine Glow became a part of the album.Track 3:[10:37] It had to be done that way, in my opinion, to be able to capture the energy that it did. Yeah it's very sparse sounding production wise like obviously there's songs and we'll get into them really rich and really lush and uh you know have a lot going on but predominantly this record like you said is pretty sparse craig i wonder what you learned um in your research about the album proper.Track 3:[11:09] Well, I went into this with a different approach where I purposely didn't look at any info for the first couple of weeks. And then I actually planned on recording this without having looked it up, but I decided I couldn't not. And the reason I had to look at the liner notes is because I was hearing all these voices that I recognized from Canadian bands. And what I was really thinking about was um what was can con and and the uh you know all the if you don't know the the story of can con basically it's the canadian content rules that um you know radio stations in canada have to play a certain amount of you know canadian written produced um music and the variety of musicians playing on this album we've got you know sky diggers we've got eric's trip we've got the hip We've got Dinner Is Ruined, who wasn't a band I had heard of out West, but looked them up today and quite interesting. And just this all-star cast of musicians from all these really cool indie bands. And that's what really struck me. Yeah, I couldn't put it better. An all-star group. And I should have mentioned, I guess, The Odds, of course, with Stephen Drake. He was so heavily involved with engineering and playing bass on it. And, and, uh, that was the voice that actually I was referencing. And I'll talk about that on the track when it comes up. Oh, cool. Okay.Track 3:[12:36] Justin, I'm wondering for you what the title means to you. What does it evoke? Um, I kind of, my brain goes to the golden rim motor in right. And late at night in a hotel, just kind of looking out the window and there's that freaking coke machine that's probably buzzing and nothing's cold in it and there's that glow lighting up a couple of cars outside the hotel room um it seems like a pretty good time to write an album or a book of poetry yeah just in my my mind went the same place yeah the lofty pines motel the the golden rim motor in.Track 3:[13:19] Yeah. There's a couple other hotels mentioned on this record as well. There's the Phoenix. Um, I'm trying to think, is there another one? Hmm. There's a poem, uh, in the book, Minneapolis hotel room. Oh, wow. Yeah. So definitely a road record, huh? Yeah, for sure. Yeah. And the other thing I think that, um, I didn't know going into this, that it was so closely connected to the phantom power album with a lot of songs that now with the re-release of phantom power we're we're seeing alternate versions of you know mystery and some of these other songs which is really really neat to discover at the same time yeah i agree with that i i delved pretty deeply into the the poetry book and it was amazing how many references to hip songs especially of that era um but even dating back to the early nineties with some live shows and how long this material had incubated. I bought, I don't know which album, but it came with a recording of a concert in 94. And there are several references that made their way into the poetry or into the lyrics of some of the songs.Track 3:[14:31] It's not on the music album, but it's in the, I think it's the first poem in the book was was bumblebee what is now bumblebee as the bonus track from phantom power right um the usa today bit was in this concert in 94 and it took you know years for that to come out and and there are other references from that show that are that are in coke machine globe of the album and the book it's it's really interesting how long it took for all this stuff to, surface. You have to imagine though, that as, as a writer, you know, you're going to go into recording an album and, and, you know, Gord being primary, you know, after a time writer, you can end up with some stuff that just doesn't make it. And, you know, it's hard to let go of stuff. You know, if you've, if you've done any type of creation, I don't care if it's video creation or writing or poetry or songs or whatever, like it's hard to just let that stuff go. Cause it's, It's whether you're telling a story about yourself or something you experienced or, you know, you want to get it out there, especially if you're a creative person. So I imagine Gord had, you know, and you read all the time and you hear on the interviews and he carries around a notebook and is basically writing every day.Track 3:[15:47] So uh but it is it is amazing and especially being a hip fan to see you know i noticed that as well when i was listening to some of the bonus stuff like hey wait that's a hit song why is that on here yeah you know and then you got to go back and you got to find the album that it's on because i was like justin i i wasn't introduced until the hip you know until i think 2000 uh with a canadian friend that i worked with and then i actually took a trip up to vancouver and it was like there's hip everywhere and i was like this is what's this all about how come i don't know about these you know this this band so yeah you know that i i really kind of came into play during that time and and beyond so of course i love the stuff that that came before it but for me there's something about being a part of what gets released when you're you know i'm i'm buying the albums or cds as they're coming out and then i'm seeing the tour so you know of course that heavy content with with, with those particular albums. So yeah, I have to imagine a lot of that, uh, came back in, into this particular one. And I mean, how long was the band together before this came out? 12 years, something. Almost, almost 15 or 20, maybe.Track 3:[16:57] Yeah, well, yeah, from the very beginning, but since the recording stuff started, so, you know. 87, the first one came out in 87. Yeah. This, to me, it felt like a release valve for everything that Gord couldn't or wouldn't put on Hips. It wasn't polished, you know what I mean?Track 3:[17:18] And he had all, I mean, there's a hundred pages of poetry and all these songs that are, you know, objectively strange.Track 3:[17:27] Um, and I, I think it just stuff that he knew wouldn't fly on a hip album that he had carried with him for years. And like I said, that show in 94 that he was work workshopping this stuff and it didn't make the cut with the band. So let's use it up now. Now, I'm very curious, as we get into the songs, to hear what you guys are thinking about some of these songs in their objective strangeness, as you put it, Justin. Or, you know, are some of them hip-adjacent? Are there any on here that you think, you know, the band could have put together? Obviously, other than the last track, which they did, and we can compare and contrast that when we get there. But are we ready to go into this record track by track? Let's do it. All right, we start with Star Painters. Who wants to kick this one off?Track 3:[18:29] Well, I'll take it. Yeah, Star Painters to me was like a palate cleanser. This was like Gord saying, this is not a hip album. And right off the bat, it's, it's a little strange. Uh, you got the accordion and, um, you know, the almost like a spoken word type thing. And yeah, it's just very obviously not the hip. So the first line, um, is, uh, ended up in music at work with freak turbulence. The myth is neither here nor there. So there are definitely, you know, there's some continuity there. And I think those two albums came out the same year. Didn't they? 2000. Coke Machine Glow was 2001 Okay well But Very close Very close They were likely recorded Right around the same time Yeah Yeah.Track 3:[19:19] There are themes that do persist for sure. But yes, this is not a hip song to be clear. I agree. And Craig, yeah, I think you hit it right on the head. You know, Gord was like, hey, come along for the ride, but this is going to be something different.Track 3:[19:40] And I really appreciate it. I mean, and I've heard that this song actually turned people away, right? Right. Like they didn't want to give it any more of a listen because of it. And, you know, I can say, yeah, I can say that, you know, for me again, I'm hip starved. So I'm actually really surprised at myself that I didn't dive in at the time and that that it really took this project to, you know, get me to start paying attention. Attention and at first it was difficult you know obviously this song but the entire album was like you're like you wanted a little more hip but then you had to understand you know what he needed to get out this song honestly for me is is one of my favorites off of the album and i'll tell you why it's the line the star painters are taking over now the scaffolding is in place your anesthesiologist tonight is washing up and on her way like i heard that and i just stopped and smoking your joint.Track 3:[20:50] Packing it up yeah getting the next one it it it it's it's it's gordon it's it's it's the, this is this song this album is not going to be for the faint of heart and uh and you know strap in like you said buckle up so i i had never heard anything by the dinner is ruined but you know trying to dive into to see what these guys are about the avant-garde and very strange ambient sounds and there's uh accordion and all kinds of weird stuff and that's very much dinner is ruined i i did listen to them um during this process and with that in mind on On the rest of the album, they feel pretty restrained compared to what they would normally have written or put out. But I think on this first one, they're just kind of like, to hell with this. We're going to do what we're doing. Yeah, sequencing is so important. You know, when you make a record, there's no accident that this song is first, like Greg said. You know, that sort of palate cleanser, introducing what the concept of this record is going to be. And you're right like if you came here expecting fully completely part two you know you're barking up the wrong fucking tree so there's that yeah vancouver divorce.Track 3:[26:08] Yeah, definitely a departure from the first track from Star Painters, right? This is a, I mean, almost written for radio hit. It's so easy to listen to and it's so addicting. The thing that really struck me, and it took me a couple of listens to hear it, but the bass is just one note over and over like a heartbeat, just a rhythm. And it's just the same note for 20, 25 seconds. And then, you know, it, it moves on from there, but, um, it was really, it was lovely. Um, but I, uh, one of the things that, that started to strike me and I don't know if it was Vancouver divorce or, or something else, but I think there's two schools of thought about this album. And again, this is a common theme with Gord Downie is it's either a little bit about Adolf Hitler or it's really a lot a bit about Adolf Hitler.Track 3:[27:13] There are so many ties to World War II throughout this album and the book and everything that Gord kind of does. Um, and I, I, I tried not to think about that going into all this, but it does, it does kind of get there, um, pretty quickly. I think, I don't know. I don't know if Vancouver has anything to do with the song or it's just, it fits well, you know, like the way that he explained writing Bob Cajun, it just, it rhymes. Right that's the town we're using you know i know in one of the live clips i saw before this song he said something about you know if if this couple can't make it in in paradise which in this case paradise is vancouver um debatable debatable maybe but um he um yeah then then i guess they can't make it anywhere yeah and i i didn't get any world war ii from it but i i didn't dive into lyrics quite as heavily i'm more of a music guy the lyrics are the last thing i digest when i listen to music so it takes me multiple listens um i don't typically read lyrics i like them to sort of hit me you know over the years um yeah did you guys get the uh the hortons reference.Track 3:[28:27] That one made me chuckle so the thing that i that i picked up on the hortons thing is he says sitting here at the hortons so you know this is important nobody sits at a tim hortons well they used to it used to be it used to be like a bar yeah oh yeah and it had lots of tables and chairs Yeah. And that's, that's far different from our experience with, with any Hortons chain down here. Yeah. Well, the thing that I think is interesting is that syllabically he could have said Tim Hortons, but instead he says the Hortons. The Hortons. I wonder if that's like to avoid the.Track 3:[28:57] Commercialism of saying Tim Hortons or like, it's just an interesting choice when it's the same number of syllables. Yeah. And I also think just, um, a lot of times Gord will choose a word that is almost unrhymable on purpose. And I think this is one of those cases Hortons. So it must be important and important. Yeah. It's, it's just, I love that. I love that. How about you, Kirk?Track 3:[29:21] What do you think? From a music standpoint? Cause like Craig, I, I, I do, do i i enjoy both and and and i'll end up reading lyrics as i go and and in this particular thing it was hard not to read uh a lyrics just to understand the connection as you're listening but this is one of those songs as well when when you think about it here you know how they recorded like holy crap how did they get that big of a sound out of what you you know at least in the the research that i did was very minimalist type of recording you know this kind of a squarish box and and and not really acoustically treated and you know in in you know you know in in the heart of toronto and all kinds of other stuff going on like i heard as well like they were being evicted and so they only had a certain time schedule to be able to get this recorded and then you hear the story about how like they're having a party downstairs and they're throwing couches around and gourd shows up and in his cowboy hat and goes uh hey would you guys mind you know being quiet for a little bit i'm i've tried to record i just can't imagine you're in that room and gourd down he walks in and says hey i'm recording tracks upstairs i think he was with kevin hearn from uh.Track 3:[30:36] You know uh bare naked ladies and and and uh and then they go back up and they record but just the fullness of this, this album. Um, and to me, I, you know, that's the thing I wanted to mention. Uh, uh, I believe it was this tune when you hear the keys, I don't know that Kevin got a credit on it, but I know he recorded a couple of tunes here. And so for me, I'm actually a pretty big BNL fan and I've seen them 20 times, something like that. But Kevin Hearns keys was very kind of prevalent. Um, and even if it wasn't him, you could, you could definitely hear the influence of it. So the powerfulness of this song is, is, is palpable for sure. Yeah. Yeah, looking it up, I think it was, sorry, it was, yeah, Jose Contreras played the organ on this tune. So he's the leader of By Divine Right, which is another very cool Canadian band that I remember listening to. I had their first album. But yeah, Kevin Hearn is definitely all over this album. Them yeah i gotta say as well from a lyrics perspective my money there's a phrase in this song that belongs on the podium along with you know it could have been the willow nelson could have been the wine you know taking advice from a prost or taking a compliment from a prostitute the line which by the way i play that song every night for my daughter at bedtime and my wife still Still haven't caught on yet.Track 3:[32:00] That's a good line. What the hell is this? You said it's art. Just fucking mirror it. Mirror. Yeah. Like you hang up your hat when you write a line like that. You just, you're done for the day. Put your briefcase together and you walk out the door, punch out, you know, that's a fucking great lyric. So I think, I think if, if I may, the, the person being divorced is an artist in this story. Right. right? And there are many references to art. There's the line, when the stampede's an optical course, when ancient train has hit old transient horse. And ancient train and old transient horse were capitalized. And I said, what the hell is that? So I deep dove that. And it is in reference to horse and train, which is a Canadian painting, which is based on a poem written by a South African anti-apartheid poet with the line and against a regiment. I oppose a brain and a dark horse against an armored train, which is just spectacular imagery.Track 3:[33:03] But again, tying in the art theme to the first line is such classic Gord Downie writing. Jesus Christ. Yeah. You've just blown my mind. Blown my mind. Like for real. This is track two. So get me. Yeah. Yeah. And I have to say too, the noise guitar at the end by I'm assuming Dale Morningstar is just amazing. I have a thing for loud, screechy feedback guitars. It just puts me in this state of zen for some reason. Like if you know the song Drown by Smashing Pumpkins, there's like four minutes of feedback at the end. And to me, that is so relaxing.Track 3:[33:45] I have that same thing written down, Craig. I have excellent screeching guitar going into and continuing through the third verse and out. One of the other things I have written down, though, I just want to share with you guys quickly. This is just sort of funny. When he says he's sitting at the Tim Hortons, or he's sitting at the Hortons, I know that's not true because on two occasions, I was walking down the Danforth and saw him sitting in the front bench of Timothy's Coffee, coffee, which is like a, like a Starbucks adjacent brand that doesn't exist anymore, but it used to. And it was minutes from his house. I didn't know where his house was, nor did I stalk him, but I knew it was in the area, like minutes away. And he would just sit there and he was sitting there with a, with a fucking notebook the one time and another time he was on a Mac book. But to me, it was, you know, one of those cool moments that I was like, I live in the same neighborhood. It's Gord Downie. This is so cool.Track 3:[34:41] Man, I wish that the Tim Hortons here in the States had a place to sit because mostly you just find them at a rest stop on the highway or you go in and you order a donut and you leave kind of establishment. No Hortons down here in California. I have to travel. Thankfully, I get to travel a lot for work. And if I see a Hortons, it's like, it's immediate picture and text to my family because we did a road trip and, you know, we went through Detroit and we went through Niagara and went through Toronto. And so my family fell in love with Tim Hortons. So is there a sponsor, right? JD? Oh yeah. The big sponsor. I'm eating Timbits right now.Track 3:[35:22] Mmm. Delicious Timbits. Thanks Tim Hortons. Um next up is uh sf song and to me this is like observational songwriting 101 to me i can just picture him under the covers of his hotel room with a pillow over his head trying to drown out the sound of this chambermaid tap tap tapping and knock knock knocking on the door it sounds as though and then him walking through the lobby and out into the front area of the phoenix hotel and he just describes everything he sees now i'm sure there's more to it than that but to me that's just beautiful.Track 3:[36:03] Yeah. Yeah. For me, one of my first shows was actually in San Francisco at the Fillmore West. And, um, you know, there's been some, you know, or so I've, so I've researched, there's been some pretty classic, uh, um, shows that have happened there. And, you know, I, I had a pretty, pretty amazing experience as well. I was with, with the Canadian friend that had, um, you know, introduced me to them and, and, uh, uh, but you, when I heard that song at first, I just immediately thought, you know, I'm like, hmm, I wonder if he was writing the song when he was there, when I saw him in 2000. And, uh, you know, whether he is or not, that's what I'm going to go, go to, go to bed with and stick to. I also noticed and really appreciated, um, uh, the breathing in the beginning of the song. Um, and then the reference towards the end, uh, about it, uh, uh, I miss my lung, Bob.Track 3:[37:04] That we talked about and, and, and, and then remembering the ads, remembering the ads that were going around at the time on the sides of buses and on, um, on, on billboards and, uh, you know, growing up in, in, in Southern California and, and, uh, seeing smoking ads. And then all of a sudden smoking ads start going away. And then you see the ad of, I miss my lung, Bob, or Bob, I miss my lung. I like to paraphrase. Yeah. I, uh, that's one of the lyrics I had to look up. I had no clue that was an actual thing. So that was pretty neat to, to come across those posters. I remember them from when I was a kid, of course, I'm East Coast, so it's not like they were around here, but I do remember seeing it on the news or something like that, the campaign.Track 3:[37:52] The other thing that struck me was Chambermaid and the references to Chambermaid, which are a continuation of Phantom Power, right? With vapor trails and escape as a hand. Right. Right. I also picked up on the click, click, click. You mentioned J.D. Off the top and those sounds. And he later on experimented with those types of things like drip, drip, drip and We Want to Be It and the chick, chick, chick of the matches in Seven Matches.Track 3:[38:24] Oh, wow. Yeah, it's just a little thing I picked up on. And also, I have a note here about just the low register, like just him singing in that beautiful low voice. And he, on this album, covers so many different subtleties in the way he uses his voice. Like a song like Coming Up Canada Geese, all of a sudden he's just a totally different singer, singing very um yeah almost like an indie indie rock singer yeah totally get that um you know also i think there's many examples of him singing in alter egos on on this record really expanding his repertoire you know as it were right like we start to hear him singing like this on the post phantom power records uh on occasion and um it's not startling because we're sort of used to it should we move on to trick rider only if you want me to cry right like this okay so this song says it's it's dedicated to c it's i believe it's his daughter I don't know. On the album that comes along with the new release, his daughter, I'm blanking on the name, starts with a C, reads this poem.Track 3:[39:53] So I'm guessing she was the girl on the horse.Track 3:[39:56] So I can't remember the name, Claire maybe or Chloe or I forget. Makes complete sense.Track 3:[40:04] I don't know this, so I'll ask it. How many kids does Gord have and are they spread out in age quite a bit? I don't know the second part of the question, but I know he's got four. There's Lou and Willow, who both played on his former partner's record, played keyboard and drums, respectively. And then there's Willow, who is an artist, like painter and jewelry artist, and she's very talented. She did the away as mind cover as well I did know that I think I think I asked that question because at the end you know of Gordon's life he did that interview with Peter Mansbridge, and talked about his son and got very emotional and his son was young he referenced his age and said he was quite young and this was 2016 or 17 whenever the interview was, and which would have been 15 years after this album came out.Track 3:[41:03] So, that's where my head went with how many, how old, just trying to put the puzzle pieces together. I was going to make mention when I was doing a little bit of research, there was a, uh, uh, you know, a fan video, uh, when, when I guess they toured this album and I believe they were actually in, uh, it might've been in Vancouver when they're playing it, but he was, you know, having an exchange with, with someone in the audience about, you know, uh, your nightlights on going to bed. And uh i think the fan might have been thinking that the song was about something else and and he referenced that right back to her very quickly in kind of a snide mark saying i don't think it means what you think it means about going to bed and and uh that stuck out to me it was you know one that he had no problems interacting with the fan and and kind of correcting them on on their interpretation uh of the song but it the song is is is beautiful and in so many different ways and you know all of us being fathers and and and having you know those experiences and and then obviously having the emotional tie-in with with gordon and what he's done with the band you know in the tragically hip and and and then with his solo stuff and and uh it it's it's gorgeous it's beautiful whatever adjective you can come up with that that uh you know brings that feeling to you.Track 3:[42:31] As a father in those moments when you're just you can't even can't even process i did this i had a hand in this and this human is is going to grow out into the world and And I'm a better human because of it. And to be able to, you know, put that, um, you know, in lyrics and in a song, uh, again, just adds to the, uh, adds to the amazement, uh, that that gentleman was able to give us.Track 3:[43:04] Yeah. And the vocal performance by both Gord and, uh, Julie Dwaran is, is so full that they have such control of their voices. Pitch perfect, emotional, just such a song. Her soft awe in the background puts this song over the top. It wouldn't be the song without her contribution to it. That's no disrespect to Gord, but the song isn't the same without Julie Dwaran. And I thought that my favorite father-daughter song was Thrown Off Glass from In Violet Light, But this one, my daughter is the one jumping off shit. She is trick riding 24 hours a day and I'm like, oh my God, kill me. Yeah. So I looked it up. It is Claire Downey who reads the poem on the new edition. So I'm guessing that's who C could be. Got to be.Track 3:[44:05] The song is way too personal for it not to be. is is julie did i understand that she's she did some stuff with the hip as well yeah, yeah she sang um in some live shows with them and i think was part of some tribute stuff at the end too i may be wrong um i know i know kate fenner was um on one tour as a backup music Music at work. But I feel like, I'm pretty sure I've read, yeah, that Julie was on, doing some backups on one of the albums. I could be wrong. Yeah, I remember that too. I feel like, maybe now for Plan A, possibly. That sounds right. I know, although I know... Oh, yeah. Oh, that's her name. Yeah.Track 3:[44:52] Also from Kingston. There's another woman who does now for planning the title track. Yeah, Sarah Harmer. She's the vocal on... Anyways, that's a different album, different band. Different podcast. Different podcast, yeah. Oh, and I have to... Last thing about Trick Rider for me is that slide guitar that just doesn't quite hit the note. I just love it. It's kind of that quarter tone or something. It reminds me of, if you know the Faith No More cover of Easy, right before the solo when Mike Patton goes up to the, ew, and almost like purposely is in between notes. I just think it's so neat. I was going to say both vocally and musically with a variety of instruments throughout several songs, obviously this one as well, is there's just that, it's not quite there, but it's also, it adds again to that character of the song. I heard something or read something about one of the musicians, I believe the guitar player that, that was part of this, like he hit a note and he, he would just beat the shit out of it until it became the note that was right for the song, whether it started off right or not, he, it, it was going to become that.Track 3:[46:03] And, and I love that thought or that prospect, right? We get so, we get so caught up in, Oh, everything's got to be perfect. I got to tune my guitar up exactly right. I've got to have the mic place perfectly. And I've got to have, you know this tonality and and sometimes it's just good to just just let it go and let that emotion come through more so than you know the technical note of itself yeah yeah there's no such thing as a wrong note if it's you know played with with with confidence and intention and yeah yeah so next we go to a song that i think could totally be a hip jam to me this song he's singing It's the first song on the record where he's singing in a tone in a register that we recognize.Track 3:[49:09] So Craig, you said it, um, this is punk rock and Gord loved punk rock, right? Yeah. Yeah. Um, but it's old guy punk rock. Like it's, it's, this is guys who are not punk rockers anymore trying to, to do punk or at least the story, right.Track 3:[49:26] Um, within the song. And, and I'm not saying that about the musicians that played the song. I'm saying that about the story Gord tells here that, you know, they're, they're, they're buying weed from each other in a cornfield, right? In the dark you know um like i can picture my old man and his uncles or and his brothers my uncles just you know hiding from the cops at age 50 55 years old just feeling like be cool man shut up uh i love this song yeah great song i i gotta say i'll take the bullet guys here's my first criticism even though as much as i love um how they recorded it my goodness gracious i needed the drummer to use some sticks and not brushes like i needed to feel that those drums coming through in this song and and to make it punk rock like it was like they they you know hey let's find the jazz drummer to do the punk song um and not that it didn't serve it well and it's a in fact probably what i would have liked was that drum track with the brushes and another drum track on.Track 3:[50:35] Top of it with sticks and then also maybe adding the mics to get more of the tonality of the drums but again now that's just the music guy and me going i wanted to hear that i needed to hear that snap i needed to hear that crack i needed to hear the pop right sorry gonna use a uh a breakfast cereal reference but um i i i i wanted that for this song still love it it's It's funny because it opens on snare hits. Right.Track 3:[51:08] Yeah. But if I'm not mistaken and I'll, I'll completely eat my words, I believe they use brushes throughout Craig. Do you, did you go that deep or what did you think? I didn't, but I know for me, I definitely noticed that it, it, it felt like it should be heavier but i think that's part of what gave the song character was those heavy guitars that almost sounded like they were played at a low volume in a room jamming and i i thought it just gave it a unique character and and i have to say though my favorite part is actually at the end when when all of a sudden i actually picked up a guitar today just to see what was going on with this and and they go up from you know they're playing and you know you're one four five e e b and a and then um they go right up they just go up to that f and i know the first time i heard it it's just just so striking it just sounds so out of place and then after you've heard the song a couple times just so perfect such a such a great dissonance and.Track 3:[52:05] Really really um almost like a two you know 2000s indie rock feel almost like an arcade fire kind of three years before arcade fire was doing it kind of thing so wow it felt like a one take demo to me and they said fuck it it's good like run it i like that we'll do it live yeah me too do it we'll do it keep it but kirk yeah i think um it would be really interesting to see what the hip would have done with with that song like a fully polished yeah you know but but i felt the same about the next song chandler um you're listening to it again today in fact and again was like man with some different instrumentation you know change changing the tempo a bit on this is this is absolutely the uh potentially a hip song uh for me you know uh and uh yeah hard hard not to uh go into you know as he speaks about letting the opening the window inviting the vampires in and if i'm not mistaken this this song did pretty well was it a single.Track 3:[53:15] I don't think any of the solo stuff did particularly well. It was sort of under the radar, especially after this record came out. This record was highly anticipated, but I think early on the word got out that it wasn't hip, and so there were a lot of hip people that jumped up. A lot of people stayed on board, don't get me wrong. but um there was a good cohort that sort of veered away and it's interesting that the sum of the parts you know um the hip are it just goes to show you how magical they are as a as a fivesome because you take one component away you know and it's just not the same like gort sinclair's solo record is dynamite so are you know paul's three records they're really really good but they're not the hip yeah you know so i'm just and i think this is where i got it from i'm just you know looking looking up on spotify and if you go to gordonie this song has the most downloads of all the solo stuff oh okay so that that makes a lot of sense yeah i know there's a there's definitely a video for this yeah yeah but i i don't recall ever hearing.Track 3:[54:31] This song anything from this album on the radio i i had i did hear some later songs um but definitely not that you know that i heard so this is where hitler comes in big time um the.Track 3:[54:47] Hitler had a very odd sleeping pattern. He stayed up very late and would go to bed at like 6, 6.30 in the morning and then get up at noon and just spend his whole day working out maps and plans and this is where the advancement is and all this stuff. And there are so many, if you read between the lines references about the night of a thousand missteps, the loss that made him dogged, or it could have been the doggedness that caused the loss in the first place.Track 3:[55:18] And Chancellor, I mean, that was Hitler's position, you know? Wow. Marching armies in the night, smiling strangers riding by on bikes. That would be, you know, when the allies come into Paris or something, you know? Children's smoking, which there was a huge anti-smoking campaign in Germany during World War II, sloganeers. And he mentions in one of the first lines, invite the vampire in, open the windows before we go to bed to get the coldest air in the room, which is just before the sun comes up. And then at the end, talking about a few things that vampires don't like, all the things referenced between the vampire references are Hitler-ish things. So I don't know it that's that's where my head went and then um before you are wow i know that but but damn it i'm following gordon's path you know and he like i said he references justin you're taking us into dark places my friend and the word chancellor for me it was like hmm and then i started to kind of read into it and i was like yikes and by the way guys spoiler alert this won't be the last time i talk about hitler during this thing not that i love him let's put that out there but there are There are some real references to the war throughout this album. Yeah, that's really interesting.Track 3:[56:41] My mind went a completely different direction. I was thinking like a chancellor of a university. And again, I didn't read the lyrics. I didn't dig that deeply in. But it was funny because my daughter really likes this song. We kept playing in the car and I was explaining what a chancellor of a university was. And she said, oh, I thought it was like Chancellor Palpatine. Wow. and it turns out she was she was the right one yeah i guess she was she was closer than i was yeah wow look at that cross my read is so completely vastly different again my read is like bittersweet and romantic uh the chorus yeah i couldn't be a chancellor without you on my mind if i wasn't if i wasn't obsessed with you or thinking about you all the time time. Um, you know, who knows what I could have become. And on the, and in the video, isn't he riding around? He's on the swan boats. It's just, it does not make me. Swans. Yeah. Yeah. He does not make me, uh, feel like, like, uh, like he's referenced, referencing world war two, but that's fascinating. I can't wait to hear it again now.Track 3:[57:49] But at the end of that video, if you watch the full video at the very end, he's, it's revealed that he is the guy working the dock at the, at the swan boats and he takes off his coat and underneath it is a uniform that says guy. And he's the one taking the coins or the tokens or whatever for the people to ride the swan boats. So it's kind of like, uh.Track 3:[58:13] You know, when Hitler was a struggling artist before he became this global force and kind of took control, you know, he was romanticizing the idea of, of being chancellor of Germany. Wow yeah wow and i don't know wow reference to it or yes it's dark man because and again think of think of uh the song scared every hip show you go to everybody's everybody's slow dancing that's not a slow dance it's like we talked about in the other podcast it's like yeah that's the hips trick right or it's gorge yeah yeah 38 years old same thing long running same thing fiddler's green you know and and on and on and on these slow slow songs are are yeah miserable yeah and i have to say good yeah yeah yeah yeah and and the the vocal phrasing that the gourd uses on this just that, laid back where he just sort of hesitates on certain words i just just love it he's so unique that way. I think that's what separates him as a singer, is that phrasing.Track 3:[59:22] Oh, yeah. This is a really hard album to sing. And you guys are musicians and you play guitar and other instruments. I've always been a singer. And I cannot keep up with Gord on this album. I just can't. Like the chorus of this song, like, I'm discovering uses for you. But the way he throws uses for you together, it's like, it's almost like one overlaps the other. And it's like, that's impossible. And then on the more quaint side, I love that he rhymes pajamas by mispronouncing in a gourd-like way windows to rhyme with pajamas, right? Instead of windows. Oh, so great. By the way, that uses line, again, going back to Hitler's underlings, you know, doing experiments on twins and stuff like that. Like, this is, I think this is a dark one. I'm going to listen to it again tonight. And I can't wait to hear it. No.Track 3:[1:00:19] I hope I'm wrong. I think you're right. No, we know he likes the Second World War.Track 3:[1:00:26] And, you know, we've heard references to, you know, Nazis moving works of art or Russians moving works of art, you know, to stave off the Nazi army. And really quick, sorry, really quick shout out for the piano player. I'm guessing it was um hern but but man that piano is is really nice improvised piano solo yeah yeah it's a very sweet sounding song yeah bait and switch man yeah he got us the never ending present i was listening and and if you're a you know canadian of my age you knew right away who was singing backup so that was Stephen Drake because my mind went right to Wendy under the stars and um and you know right back to my you know my first car and being you know 16 years old and listening to the radio and and hearing the odds for the first time and and yeah just an unmistakable voice the harmonies are very distinct you know distinctly the odds and distinctly The one thing that I picked up was he mentioned his shoes were polished, which as we learned in the longtime running doc that he polished his shoes before every show.Track 3:[1:01:46] So I think he's talking about himself and it's kind of an introspective – I mean, he says I in every song, but I think this one might actually be about himself personally.Track 3:[1:02:00] I picture him standing on Broadview Avenue waiting for the streetcar. He says bus, but in my head it's a streetcar. And all the rest of the lyrics are the stuff that happens until the bus crashes the hill. Him dropping money inside the little money grabber on a bus. There's talk of that um but what i really what i really love about this song is how ahead of his time he is because this is like living in the present like being in the moment is so important and i've learned like through my mental wellness journey like how important it is to live in the moment and the idea that the moment can be never ending if you come about it with the right frame in my mind is so refreshing to hear. Amen. And of course they named the, um, uh, Michael Barclay wrote the book with using the title of the song.Track 3:[1:03:05] Sorry, I'm going to take a little detour off of this that I just have to bring up being, being the, uh, for the South American and someone that, uh, uh, you know, again, was always starving for hip. I've loved in this journey, discovering other Canadian bands. You guys were mentioning the odds. And, you know, I did the research a little bit on the dinner's ruined. And of course, you know, of the real statics from, you know, grace too. And we're all richer for having heard them. And, um, uh, I'm, I'm very excited, you know, during this to be able to take a dive into that music that I never got. Right. Cause I like Justin, you were lucky because you get a lot of that music, uh, in the Northeast.Track 3:[1:03:49] Um, no, no, no, we only get the hip and rush. Rush. There's no Canadian music except for the hip and Rush. I will say that. And Alanis, of course. but to do as a you know as a musician and and and being a big fan of many canadian bands you know rush is up there for me bare naked ladies is up there for me um obviously the tragic the hip is up there for me um but these other bands uh blue rodeo that has i think a little bit of a a um you know it did well here in the states um of course alanis and some of the others you know i want to I know more about the, uh, the ones that didn't get, uh, similar, similar stories to the tragically happened. And I'm really excited about taking that journey as well. And I love that, you know, that's one of the things that I've heard about in different, uh, uh, reading and, and interviews is Gord was such a proponent of getting, I mean, music out there, but, but specifically, obviously Canadian music and, and giving, you know, these, these not as well-known bands an opportunity.Track 3:[1:04:56] So, um, sorry, I just needed to take that little side journey there and, and, and share that with you guys. I'm with you. I'm with you a hundred percent. Just going off what you were saying, yeah, apparently Gord would actually stand side stage and watch a lot of these bands. Like he would just stay there for the whole set. And all these bands, you know, Eric's Trip and The Odds, they were all change of heart. They all played with the hip.Track 3:[1:05:23] And for me, it's been fun because I've been doing the same thing. I was listening to The Odds last night and I couldn't believe how many hit songs they had. You know they're a band i enjoyed but never really really got into i think i've seen them live a couple times but man they had their pop song they were yeah that's exactly it they were they're you know pop writing you know machines but yeah i'm excited i'm excited about the journey for sure and and especially getting connected with you guys and having the experience you know know, uh, um, uh, being from Canada and, and, and really experiencing that not only on the radio, but, but live as well, that, uh, that's going to be a great journey. Cause isn't it great when you go to see, you know, you go to see one of your favorite bands and the opener shows up, you never heard of them. And, and all of a sudden they become, you know, one of your favorites and you're, you're falling around and, you know, and then it's always hard if they do make it, you're kind of like, man, that was my band, but I liked it when they were small, you know, I want them to be big, but not that big. I, that's, I mean, I mentioned it with, with the hip, you know, like all my experiences and I got to see them, I don't know, seven, seven, eight times, something like that.Track 3:[1:06:36] Like the biggest venue I saw them in was, was probably 1200 people. And, um, you know, the Troubadour, I got to see them in and, and, and up in San Francisco, the Fillmore's, you know, it's, it's over a thousand, uh, might be closer to actually, I'm not sure. I'll have to look that up. But the thing that I loved about it is, you know, I'm a hockey guy. And I think I mentioned the story to, to you, JD, like we're close to the ducks and the Kings and, and most hockey teams are, you know, 50 plus percent, if not close to 70% Canadians. And so I'd go to a show, I'd be in Hollywood and I'd look over and be like, Oh, Hey, look, there's Luke Robitaille or, you know, Oh, there's Chris Pronger. There's, you know, Scott Niedermeyer, you know, I'm hanging it out and oh oh hey paul korea how's it going you like the hip too you know and um what an experience and then canadian actors as well i got to meet dan akroyd at at the house of blues hollywood and he introduced the hip on stage and then you know he's rat so uh you know for me it's so weird um when you talk of this band they were a club band to me you know i i've seen what they've done and where they've played. And so anyway, I I'm, I'm taking us off the, the album, but just wanted to share that with, with you gents. No, that's cool.Track 3:[1:08:04] So now we take a hard, right. And, um, we get the track, the soundscape, uh, nothing but heartache in your social life.Track 3:[1:11:14] Did you say a hard right or a hard Reich? Because again, the Hitler.Track 3:[1:11:20] I'm serious. So again, this goes back to the poetry and there's a poem called Toiletten in the book and it is about Hitler's, I'm not even inferring this, this is about Hitler's podium at Zeppelin Field in Nuremberg and it now has signs pointing tourists to the toilet. Um, and the, uh, similarities between that poem and this song or spoken word, whatever, um, it's a hundred percent about that. And Gord even stumbles on a lyric that they, that they leave in the song, um, when the podium sprouting weeds and he stumbles on rendered ridiculous by the time. So the podium is this massive concrete structure that when you see film of Hitler speaking to 150,000, 200,000 Germans during wartime, that's where this is. But it's still there, and it's sprouting weeds, and the podium and its purpose have been rendered ridiculous by the times. When are you thinking of disappearing? I mean, when are you falling off the map when the unknown that you're fearing is in the clearing? That's totally about surrendering in the war and the allied forces moving across the field to wipe out the Nazis.Track 3:[1:12:46] When you're getting king-size satisfaction in the turnstiles of the night from all the shaky pill transactions, if that's not Jewish prisoners going to a concentration camp running down the train tracks in the middle of the night. I don't know what it is. It's, again, a very dark thing, and I think it leads to Hitler's suicide. That's when are you thinking of disappearing? Yeah.Track 3:[1:13:16] And it is interesting to note that the asterisk that comes with the title in the lyrics, it says Dale Morningstar provided echoing screams at the end of the song. It doesn't just say backing vocals or call and answer. It's echoing screams. I was wondering who was calling back and forth with them. They kind of sound like, even though the topic sounds quite serious, they're having some fun with it. At the end kind of yelling back and forth with each other and um and also of note um adam agoyan the filmmaker plays plays uh the classical guitar on this track and and one other track and so he's uh i think i read that that maybe this song was sort of based off some some things he brought in, came into the studio one day and they they sort of riffed off what he was doing and put this sort of spoken word. I also got, I don't know if you guys got this, but I almost got like an M&M vibe, like just like attitude wise. And of course I believe this would have been before M&M anyways, but, but just that, that sort of attitude and way he was rattling off these lines.Track 3:[1:14:29] Yeah, I get it. Absolutely. So the other me, you know, I was trying to get my, my head out of World War II with this, and it was easy to see in 2024 that Gord predicted the future of social media, right? This is before Facebook and MySpace and all this stuff, but this is 100% in line with everybody's mental health problems stemming from not having enough likes on their posts, right? This could absolutely be interpreted 20 plus years later in that way, if you were to look at it from that angle. Yeah, I...Track 3:[1:15:13] Obviously still like absorbing everything in the referencing that you're speaking of, uh, Hitler and world war two and, and how, you know, JD and Craig were like, didn't necessarily get that right away. I, I definitely, you know, heard the references. I, I knew of the references from some of the hip tunes. Um and uh and then just seeing this whole journey that he's taking with just coming out there with a solo album in the first place and then you hear about how um and again it's it's you know i don't know the exact i haven't spoken with the other members but some of the solo stuff really caused a bit of a rift within the band and then if you start thinking about the product of the hip you You know, this is where a big portion of their fan base starts turning away.Track 3:[1:16:04] And I wonder if that tension came through in some of the music. For me and you, Justin, we discovered them during this time. And like most bands, you don't become close to them. And, you know, I'll take a few exceptions. You know, Led Zeppelin. I wasn't there when the albums came out. But the band meant a lot to me later in life. But nothing like, I'll give an example of other bands, Rush and Barenaked Ladies. I went to those shows when those albums came out, same thing with The Hip, as it relates to 2000 and beyond. And so my reference point is there. Um, and then Gord goes off and decides to, to do this solo work. And, um, and not only does he does the solo work, but he starts taking that poetry side in the book that comes out along with it. He starts throwing in spoken word and we could spend a lot of time with the discussion about poetry versus spoken word versus lyrics versus, um, uh, you know, the, the, the written prose and, and, and where it all comes together and the different attitudes towards it. Um, but I, I'm, I'm honestly kind of shaking inside just thinking about the, the ability that, that Gord has to take a historical perspective.Track 3:[1:17:23] Area and put it into a spoken word and or song. But then in the same breath, depending on how you come at it, you get something completely different. If you don't know those references specifically, you're going to find something from a meaningful standpoint. So sorry. I mean, you really got me goosebumps in there, Justin. Well, I think that if I had never read lyrics from the hip, I would never have approached it from this angle.Track 3:[1:17:51] But it's kind of hard to not look at some of that stuff. He did an interview in the early 90s with some TV, whatever, and they said, what are your songs about? And he said, all of our songs are about war. And I remember seeing that on YouTube about 10 or a dozen years ago and thinking, oh, okay. Now, whether he was speaking Speaking of literal war or a relationship or conflict within the band or whatever, family, something, but there's a struggle or something that needs to be resolved in each one of these songs. And so I've, for better or worse, looked at a lot of hip stuff from that point forward, whatever year it was, as is Gord talking about literal war here. And that's just where I picked up on. Was he a history-type major? Did he have family that maybe participated in the war? There is a short poem in the book that is about his grandfather serving in World War II.Track 3:[1:18:56] Yeah, I could see that. Both my grandparents served in World War II, and I was a history major, and so I can see where that tie comes from.Track 3:[1:19:08] I hope we can move past the war stuff soon. Thanks justin yeah anything else from you craig well yeah i know i have nothing to add other than i love the little bait like bass kind of jazz odyssey thing that steven drake goes off on at the end if you if you notice the last like five seconds he just does this little improvised producer as well noodle it's pretty right bass player yes yes yeah engineering okay engineer anyways yeah Yeah, engineer. Well, that's what we got for you for this first episode. We're going to take a break and recuperate and recalibrate and take some electrolytes and we'll be back. 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Welcome to Discovering Downie. I'll be your host, jD as we listen in on the experiences and analysis from three huge fans of The Hip who have a blind spot for Gord's solo works. Meet Craig, Justin, and Kirk as they part in this epic 11-part podcast.We kick the show off by starting at the start with Coke Machine Glow part 1.Transcript:Track 2:[1:26] Welcome, music lovers. Long Slice Brewery presents Discovering Downy.Track 3:[1:34] Hey, it's JD here, and I'm joined by my pals Craig, Justin, and Kirk from Chino. While our love for the hip unites us, Gord's solo ventures remain uncharted territory for our trio.Track 3:[1:47] Hence, I've gathered this team of enthusiasts to delve into the musical repertoire of the enigmatic frontman of the tragically hip, the late gourd downey so come along with us on this exploration as we navigate through his albums one by one in chronological order embarking on our quest of discovering downey we've assembled quite the motley crew here to talk uh to talk about gourd's oeuvre and we're excited to do that we're going to do this all summer long so buckle up fellas how are you doing not too bad living the a dream amazing excited excited to go on this jaunt with you you gents for sure yeah it should be pretty fun i agree i agree completely i i am i am from a hip starved uh area of the world which you know i guess most of the u.s unfortunately was hip starved for a long time but specifically down here uh in the la market i got to see some amazing shows in really small places but like to, to like find a hip album in a record store or, you know, like anything that comes close to hip preference for me, I just like, I get all giddy. So when we, you know, we connected to talk with other hip fans, um, was pretty exciting, but then just to learn more about Gord, um, yeah, this is, this is going to be quite the adventure, my friends, quite the adventure.Track 3:[3:17] Yeah, I think so. What do you think, Craig?Track 3:[3:20] Yeah, I've been sitting in this room, my office slash music room, with a couple of unopened Gord CDs that I have collected over the years and just looking for the right moment, I guess. And along came that moment, and thanks to you, JD, to make this happen and to bring me on board. Ah, but I am but one hand on the rudder. The other three hands you see belong to Kirk, Justin, and Craig. Egg so there's that justin tell us about your experience with the hip so uh the u.s is hip starved for the most part but uh growing up in vermont we are just quebec junior and uh we get a lot of uh tv and radio stations uh down here in the greater burlington area so i i grew up with hip on the radio and um i didn't really know anything about him but in high school i discovered phantom power on my own.Track 3:[4:19] And, uh, that was it. I've been hopelessly blissfully lost ever since. And, um, my dad was kind of a hip fan, but you know, I think he was from like the old, you know, the, the hip crowd that they were trying to get rid of in the nineties, you know? And, uh, and so when I, when I came along, it was music at work and, you know, kind of the newer stuff that, that the old man probably wouldn't have liked too much, but, um, yeah, it's been a lot of fun. I got to see three hip shows and I was at the show in Ottawa two nights before the finale, uh, which was really amazing. Um, I got to see him in a basketball gym in Burlington and I got to see him in a bar in Albany, New York. And, uh, I feel like I got the, a pretty good sample size. Uh, I love them. I love them. Yeah. How about you, Craig? You have a unique role in this trio as well with your Tragically Hip experience. Share some of that with us.Track 3:[5:19] Um, yeah, I've, I've been a big hip fan way back going to probably grade eight when I, when I first heard, I think New Orleans on the radio and, uh, you know, I liked it and I, um, I didn't buy the album right away. I was into heavier stuff at the time. I was a big GNR fan and I was kind of a metal guy. And, uh, then I heard 38 years old and funnily enough, I thought it was, um, uh, Tracy Chapman at first, when I first heard the voice, the vibrato and, you know, it's just on faintly in the background. And then I kind of turned it up and this is a good tune. And then, you know, they, they announced it was the hip. And so I went out and got the CD. I think I maybe ordered on Columbia house through my, uh, through my parents or, you know, five CDs for, for a penny or whatever. And, uh, 12 here in the U S yeah.Track 3:[6:09] And yeah, I've been a huge hip fan ever since. And, and, um, yeah, I've been to, I think maybe 15, 16 concerts and, um, yeah, about a year ago, year and a half ago, I started playing in a hip tribute and it's just been a blast to sharing the music with, you know, the fans who don't get to see them anymore. And, you know, I wish I could, I wish they were still around and I could quit my job as a hip tribute guitar player, but unfortunately they're not playing anymore. I wonder if there's a Tracy Chapman angle, I wonder if we can get Luke Combs to cover some hip stuff and get them on the mainstream radio. you. It's a great idea. It's actually not. I don't think I want to hear that. No, but definitely giving them the credit they deserve. And man, Craig, like I seriously got goosebumps when you'd mentioned Tracy Chapman, like, you know, if you guys saw the Grammys, you know, that was performed and Tracy just sounded amazing. And, uh, I hadn't thought of it from that perspective. And, and yeah, I think you hit that spot on that. I haven't looked it up, But I'm guessing if you look up the release date of Fast Car and up to here, I'm going to guess they're within a year. Yeah, that's probably very true.Track 3:[7:27] So let's start at the start here with Coke Machine Glow. Kirk, any nuggets that you gleaned from production notes, anything like that, that you gathered on your fact-finding mission? Yeah, absolutely. Um, you know, I, I actually did because I'm a musician as well and, and, and do appreciate, uh, what goes into making an album. Um, uh, there, there was some pretty good information out there and, you know, especially knowing the hips catalog and, you know, they've had, they've had some different experiences from different producers and engineers and, and different recording experiences. And, um, so, you know, of course you're going, well, I'm going to get a lot of that. And, and then boom, you get hit right upside the head with, you know, But in the research that I did, I mean, they basically just, you know, had a couple, I think they had a kick mic and an overhead mic and just kind of a room mic. They played everything acoustic because they wanted to hear Gord's vocals.Track 3:[8:30] They were in, I believe, in the studio that is no longer there. It was like a loft in Toronto that was owned by a couple of musicians that were a part of, you know, the band that was there and part of the recording team. Um and obviously getting all their you know getting all their schedules together and and you know various musicians from from various different bands within the area and uh and they just wanted this to be uh just kind of that raw essence right that it you know for us as hit fans at least for me like that's where i fell in love is like whether you listen to the music or see them live, like the energy that comes out of every song is, is palpable on so many different levels. And, and, you know, I think those that, that have had the experience to enjoy their music and especially live, like there's such an energy to it and whether it's, uh.Track 3:[9:29] You know, whether it's one of their upbeat, you know, just rocking tunes or, or, you know, a simple acoustic there, they really know how to capture the emotion. And this album, Coke Machine Glow, I mean, yeah, wow. I mean, it was, again, it just felt like maybe one mic in the room and they just were circled around each other and they went for it. And one of the other notes that I heard that I thought was pretty surprising is they got a lot out of what was actually recorded and it sounded a lot bigger than what took place. I can get that. You could get a small little eight-inch speaker and, uh, put a mic on it and it could sound like you've got, you know, four Marshall, you know, full stacks grinding in front of you. So, you know, there's definitely some magic that can happen in the studio, but, um, uh, yeah, I, I think, uh, you know, I do a lot of stuff in theater and we always talk about how the set or the lights or the sound can become a character. And I think for me, the production elements of Coke Machine Glow became a part of the album.Track 3:[10:37] It had to be done that way, in my opinion, to be able to capture the energy that it did. Yeah it's very sparse sounding production wise like obviously there's songs and we'll get into them really rich and really lush and uh you know have a lot going on but predominantly this record like you said is pretty sparse craig i wonder what you learned um in your research about the album proper.Track 3:[11:09] Well, I went into this with a different approach where I purposely didn't look at any info for the first couple of weeks. And then I actually planned on recording this without having looked it up, but I decided I couldn't not. And the reason I had to look at the liner notes is because I was hearing all these voices that I recognized from Canadian bands. And what I was really thinking about was um what was can con and and the uh you know all the if you don't know the the story of can con basically it's the canadian content rules that um you know radio stations in canada have to play a certain amount of you know canadian written produced um music and the variety of musicians playing on this album we've got you know sky diggers we've got eric's trip we've got the hip We've got Dinner Is Ruined, who wasn't a band I had heard of out West, but looked them up today and quite interesting. And just this all-star cast of musicians from all these really cool indie bands. And that's what really struck me. Yeah, I couldn't put it better. An all-star group. And I should have mentioned, I guess, The Odds, of course, with Stephen Drake. He was so heavily involved with engineering and playing bass on it. And, and, uh, that was the voice that actually I was referencing. And I'll talk about that on the track when it comes up. Oh, cool. Okay.Track 3:[12:36] Justin, I'm wondering for you what the title means to you. What does it evoke? Um, I kind of, my brain goes to the golden rim motor in right. And late at night in a hotel, just kind of looking out the window and there's that freaking coke machine that's probably buzzing and nothing's cold in it and there's that glow lighting up a couple of cars outside the hotel room um it seems like a pretty good time to write an album or a book of poetry yeah just in my my mind went the same place yeah the lofty pines motel the the golden rim motor in.Track 3:[13:19] Yeah. There's a couple other hotels mentioned on this record as well. There's the Phoenix. Um, I'm trying to think, is there another one? Hmm. There's a poem, uh, in the book, Minneapolis hotel room. Oh, wow. Yeah. So definitely a road record, huh? Yeah, for sure. Yeah. And the other thing I think that, um, I didn't know going into this, that it was so closely connected to the phantom power album with a lot of songs that now with the re-release of phantom power we're we're seeing alternate versions of you know mystery and some of these other songs which is really really neat to discover at the same time yeah i agree with that i i delved pretty deeply into the the poetry book and it was amazing how many references to hip songs especially of that era um but even dating back to the early nineties with some live shows and how long this material had incubated. I bought, I don't know which album, but it came with a recording of a concert in 94. And there are several references that made their way into the poetry or into the lyrics of some of the songs.Track 3:[14:31] It's not on the music album, but it's in the, I think it's the first poem in the book was was bumblebee what is now bumblebee as the bonus track from phantom power right um the usa today bit was in this concert in 94 and it took you know years for that to come out and and there are other references from that show that are that are in coke machine globe of the album and the book it's it's really interesting how long it took for all this stuff to, surface. You have to imagine though, that as, as a writer, you know, you're going to go into recording an album and, and, you know, Gord being primary, you know, after a time writer, you can end up with some stuff that just doesn't make it. And, you know, it's hard to let go of stuff. You know, if you've, if you've done any type of creation, I don't care if it's video creation or writing or poetry or songs or whatever, like it's hard to just let that stuff go. Cause it's, It's whether you're telling a story about yourself or something you experienced or, you know, you want to get it out there, especially if you're a creative person. So I imagine Gord had, you know, and you read all the time and you hear on the interviews and he carries around a notebook and is basically writing every day.Track 3:[15:47] So uh but it is it is amazing and especially being a hip fan to see you know i noticed that as well when i was listening to some of the bonus stuff like hey wait that's a hit song why is that on here yeah you know and then you got to go back and you got to find the album that it's on because i was like justin i i wasn't introduced until the hip you know until i think 2000 uh with a canadian friend that i worked with and then i actually took a trip up to vancouver and it was like there's hip everywhere and i was like this is what's this all about how come i don't know about these you know this this band so yeah you know that i i really kind of came into play during that time and and beyond so of course i love the stuff that that came before it but for me there's something about being a part of what gets released when you're you know i'm i'm buying the albums or cds as they're coming out and then i'm seeing the tour so you know of course that heavy content with with, with those particular albums. So yeah, I have to imagine a lot of that, uh, came back in, into this particular one. And I mean, how long was the band together before this came out? 12 years, something. Almost, almost 15 or 20, maybe.Track 3:[16:57] Yeah, well, yeah, from the very beginning, but since the recording stuff started, so, you know. 87, the first one came out in 87. Yeah. This, to me, it felt like a release valve for everything that Gord couldn't or wouldn't put on Hips. It wasn't polished, you know what I mean?Track 3:[17:18] And he had all, I mean, there's a hundred pages of poetry and all these songs that are, you know, objectively strange.Track 3:[17:27] Um, and I, I think it just stuff that he knew wouldn't fly on a hip album that he had carried with him for years. And like I said, that show in 94 that he was work workshopping this stuff and it didn't make the cut with the band. So let's use it up now. Now, I'm very curious, as we get into the songs, to hear what you guys are thinking about some of these songs in their objective strangeness, as you put it, Justin. Or, you know, are some of them hip-adjacent? Are there any on here that you think, you know, the band could have put together? Obviously, other than the last track, which they did, and we can compare and contrast that when we get there. But are we ready to go into this record track by track? Let's do it. All right, we start with Star Painters. Who wants to kick this one off?Track 3:[18:29] Well, I'll take it. Yeah, Star Painters to me was like a palate cleanser. This was like Gord saying, this is not a hip album. And right off the bat, it's, it's a little strange. Uh, you got the accordion and, um, you know, the almost like a spoken word type thing. And yeah, it's just very obviously not the hip. So the first line, um, is, uh, ended up in music at work with freak turbulence. The myth is neither here nor there. So there are definitely, you know, there's some continuity there. And I think those two albums came out the same year. Didn't they? 2000. Coke Machine Glow was 2001 Okay well But Very close Very close They were likely recorded Right around the same time Yeah Yeah.Track 3:[19:19] There are themes that do persist for sure. But yes, this is not a hip song to be clear. I agree. And Craig, yeah, I think you hit it right on the head. You know, Gord was like, hey, come along for the ride, but this is going to be something different.Track 3:[19:40] And I really appreciate it. I mean, and I've heard that this song actually turned people away, right? Right. Like they didn't want to give it any more of a listen because of it. And, you know, I can say, yeah, I can say that, you know, for me again, I'm hip starved. So I'm actually really surprised at myself that I didn't dive in at the time and that that it really took this project to, you know, get me to start paying attention. Attention and at first it was difficult you know obviously this song but the entire album was like you're like you wanted a little more hip but then you had to understand you know what he needed to get out this song honestly for me is is one of my favorites off of the album and i'll tell you why it's the line the star painters are taking over now the scaffolding is in place your anesthesiologist tonight is washing up and on her way like i heard that and i just stopped and smoking your joint.Track 3:[20:50] Packing it up yeah getting the next one it it it it's it's it's gordon it's it's it's the, this is this song this album is not going to be for the faint of heart and uh and you know strap in like you said buckle up so i i had never heard anything by the dinner is ruined but you know trying to dive into to see what these guys are about the avant-garde and very strange ambient sounds and there's uh accordion and all kinds of weird stuff and that's very much dinner is ruined i i did listen to them um during this process and with that in mind on On the rest of the album, they feel pretty restrained compared to what they would normally have written or put out. But I think on this first one, they're just kind of like, to hell with this. We're going to do what we're doing. Yeah, sequencing is so important. You know, when you make a record, there's no accident that this song is first, like Greg said. You know, that sort of palate cleanser, introducing what the concept of this record is going to be. And you're right like if you came here expecting fully completely part two you know you're barking up the wrong fucking tree so there's that yeah vancouver divorce.Track 3:[26:08] Yeah, definitely a departure from the first track from Star Painters, right? This is a, I mean, almost written for radio hit. It's so easy to listen to and it's so addicting. The thing that really struck me, and it took me a couple of listens to hear it, but the bass is just one note over and over like a heartbeat, just a rhythm. And it's just the same note for 20, 25 seconds. And then, you know, it, it moves on from there, but, um, it was really, it was lovely. Um, but I, uh, one of the things that, that started to strike me and I don't know if it was Vancouver divorce or, or something else, but I think there's two schools of thought about this album. And again, this is a common theme with Gord Downie is it's either a little bit about Adolf Hitler or it's really a lot a bit about Adolf Hitler.Track 3:[27:13] There are so many ties to World War II throughout this album and the book and everything that Gord kind of does. Um, and I, I, I tried not to think about that going into all this, but it does, it does kind of get there, um, pretty quickly. I think, I don't know. I don't know if Vancouver has anything to do with the song or it's just, it fits well, you know, like the way that he explained writing Bob Cajun, it just, it rhymes. Right that's the town we're using you know i know in one of the live clips i saw before this song he said something about you know if if this couple can't make it in in paradise which in this case paradise is vancouver um debatable debatable maybe but um he um yeah then then i guess they can't make it anywhere yeah and i i didn't get any world war ii from it but i i didn't dive into lyrics quite as heavily i'm more of a music guy the lyrics are the last thing i digest when i listen to music so it takes me multiple listens um i don't typically read lyrics i like them to sort of hit me you know over the years um yeah did you guys get the uh the hortons reference.Track 3:[28:27] That one made me chuckle so the thing that i that i picked up on the hortons thing is he says sitting here at the hortons so you know this is important nobody sits at a tim hortons well they used to it used to be it used to be like a bar yeah oh yeah and it had lots of tables and chairs Yeah. And that's, that's far different from our experience with, with any Hortons chain down here. Yeah. Well, the thing that I think is interesting is that syllabically he could have said Tim Hortons, but instead he says the Hortons. The Hortons. I wonder if that's like to avoid the.Track 3:[28:57] Commercialism of saying Tim Hortons or like, it's just an interesting choice when it's the same number of syllables. Yeah. And I also think just, um, a lot of times Gord will choose a word that is almost unrhymable on purpose. And I think this is one of those cases Hortons. So it must be important and important. Yeah. It's, it's just, I love that. I love that. How about you, Kirk?Track 3:[29:21] What do you think? From a music standpoint? Cause like Craig, I, I, I do, do i i enjoy both and and and i'll end up reading lyrics as i go and and in this particular thing it was hard not to read uh a lyrics just to understand the connection as you're listening but this is one of those songs as well when when you think about it here you know how they recorded like holy crap how did they get that big of a sound out of what you you know at least in the the research that i did was very minimalist type of recording you know this kind of a squarish box and and and not really acoustically treated and you know in in you know you know in in the heart of toronto and all kinds of other stuff going on like i heard as well like they were being evicted and so they only had a certain time schedule to be able to get this recorded and then you hear the story about how like they're having a party downstairs and they're throwing couches around and gourd shows up and in his cowboy hat and goes uh hey would you guys mind you know being quiet for a little bit i'm i've tried to record i just can't imagine you're in that room and gourd down he walks in and says hey i'm recording tracks upstairs i think he was with kevin hearn from uh.Track 3:[30:36] You know uh bare naked ladies and and and uh and then they go back up and they record but just the fullness of this, this album. Um, and to me, I, you know, that's the thing I wanted to mention. Uh, uh, I believe it was this tune when you hear the keys, I don't know that Kevin got a credit on it, but I know he recorded a couple of tunes here. And so for me, I'm actually a pretty big BNL fan and I've seen them 20 times, something like that. But Kevin Hearns keys was very kind of prevalent. Um, and even if it wasn't him, you could, you could definitely hear the influence of it. So the powerfulness of this song is, is, is palpable for sure. Yeah. Yeah, looking it up, I think it was, sorry, it was, yeah, Jose Contreras played the organ on this tune. So he's the leader of By Divine Right, which is another very cool Canadian band that I remember listening to. I had their first album. But yeah, Kevin Hearn is definitely all over this album. Them yeah i gotta say as well from a lyrics perspective my money there's a phrase in this song that belongs on the podium along with you know it could have been the willow nelson could have been the wine you know taking advice from a prost or taking a compliment from a prostitute the line which by the way i play that song every night for my daughter at bedtime and my wife still Still haven't caught on yet.Track 3:[32:00] That's a good line. What the hell is this? You said it's art. Just fucking mirror it. Mirror. Yeah. Like you hang up your hat when you write a line like that. You just, you're done for the day. Put your briefcase together and you walk out the door, punch out, you know, that's a fucking great lyric. So I think, I think if, if I may, the, the person being divorced is an artist in this story. Right. right? And there are many references to art. There's the line, when the stampede's an optical course, when ancient train has hit old transient horse. And ancient train and old transient horse were capitalized. And I said, what the hell is that? So I deep dove that. And it is in reference to horse and train, which is a Canadian painting, which is based on a poem written by a South African anti-apartheid poet with the line and against a regiment. I oppose a brain and a dark horse against an armored train, which is just spectacular imagery.Track 3:[33:03] But again, tying in the art theme to the first line is such classic Gord Downie writing. Jesus Christ. Yeah. You've just blown my mind. Blown my mind. Like for real. This is track two. So get me. Yeah. Yeah. And I have to say too, the noise guitar at the end by I'm assuming Dale Morningstar is just amazing. I have a thing for loud, screechy feedback guitars. It just puts me in this state of zen for some reason. Like if you know the song Drown by Smashing Pumpkins, there's like four minutes of feedback at the end. And to me, that is so relaxing.Track 3:[33:45] I have that same thing written down, Craig. I have excellent screeching guitar going into and continuing through the third verse and out. One of the other things I have written down, though, I just want to share with you guys quickly. This is just sort of funny. When he says he's sitting at the Tim Hortons, or he's sitting at the Hortons, I know that's not true because on two occasions, I was walking down the Danforth and saw him sitting in the front bench of Timothy's Coffee, coffee, which is like a, like a Starbucks adjacent brand that doesn't exist anymore, but it used to. And it was minutes from his house. I didn't know where his house was, nor did I stalk him, but I knew it was in the area, like minutes away. And he would just sit there and he was sitting there with a, with a fucking notebook the one time and another time he was on a Mac book. But to me, it was, you know, one of those cool moments that I was like, I live in the same neighborhood. It's Gord Downie. This is so cool.Track 3:[34:41] Man, I wish that the Tim Hortons here in the States had a place to sit because mostly you just find them at a rest stop on the highway or you go in and you order a donut and you leave kind of establishment. No Hortons down here in California. I have to travel. Thankfully, I get to travel a lot for work. And if I see a Hortons, it's like, it's immediate picture and text to my family because we did a road trip and, you know, we went through Detroit and we went through Niagara and went through Toronto. And so my family fell in love with Tim Hortons. So is there a sponsor, right? JD? Oh yeah. The big sponsor. I'm eating Timbits right now.Track 3:[35:22] Mmm. Delicious Timbits. Thanks Tim Hortons. Um next up is uh sf song and to me this is like observational songwriting 101 to me i can just picture him under the covers of his hotel room with a pillow over his head trying to drown out the sound of this chambermaid tap tap tapping and knock knock knocking on the door it sounds as though and then him walking through the lobby and out into the front area of the phoenix hotel and he just describes everything he sees now i'm sure there's more to it than that but to me that's just beautiful.Track 3:[36:03] Yeah. Yeah. For me, one of my first shows was actually in San Francisco at the Fillmore West. And, um, you know, there's been some, you know, or so I've, so I've researched, there's been some pretty classic, uh, um, shows that have happened there. And, you know, I, I had a pretty, pretty amazing experience as well. I was with, with the Canadian friend that had, um, you know, introduced me to them and, and, uh, uh, but you, when I heard that song at first, I just immediately thought, you know, I'm like, hmm, I wonder if he was writing the song when he was there, when I saw him in 2000. And, uh, you know, whether he is or not, that's what I'm going to go, go to, go to bed with and stick to. I also noticed and really appreciated, um, uh, the breathing in the beginning of the song. Um, and then the reference towards the end, uh, about it, uh, uh, I miss my lung, Bob.Track 3:[37:04] That we talked about and, and, and, and then remembering the ads, remembering the ads that were going around at the time on the sides of buses and on, um, on, on billboards and, uh, you know, growing up in, in, in Southern California and, and, uh, seeing smoking ads. And then all of a sudden smoking ads start going away. And then you see the ad of, I miss my lung, Bob, or Bob, I miss my lung. I like to paraphrase. Yeah. I, uh, that's one of the lyrics I had to look up. I had no clue that was an actual thing. So that was pretty neat to, to come across those posters. I remember them from when I was a kid, of course, I'm East Coast, so it's not like they were around here, but I do remember seeing it on the news or something like that, the campaign.Track 3:[37:52] The other thing that struck me was Chambermaid and the references to Chambermaid, which are a continuation of Phantom Power, right? With vapor trails and escape as a hand. Right. Right. I also picked up on the click, click, click. You mentioned J.D. Off the top and those sounds. And he later on experimented with those types of things like drip, drip, drip and We Want to Be It and the chick, chick, chick of the matches in Seven Matches.Track 3:[38:24] Oh, wow. Yeah, it's just a little thing I picked up on. And also, I have a note here about just the low register, like just him singing in that beautiful low voice. And he, on this album, covers so many different subtleties in the way he uses his voice. Like a song like Coming Up Canada Geese, all of a sudden he's just a totally different singer, singing very um yeah almost like an indie indie rock singer yeah totally get that um you know also i think there's many examples of him singing in alter egos on on this record really expanding his repertoire you know as it were right like we start to hear him singing like this on the post phantom power records uh on occasion and um it's not startling because we're sort of used to it should we move on to trick rider only if you want me to cry right like this okay so this song says it's it's dedicated to c it's i believe it's his daughter I don't know. On the album that comes along with the new release, his daughter, I'm blanking on the name, starts with a C, reads this poem.Track 3:[39:53] So I'm guessing she was the girl on the horse.Track 3:[39:56] So I can't remember the name, Claire maybe or Chloe or I forget. Makes complete sense.Track 3:[40:04] I don't know this, so I'll ask it. How many kids does Gord have and are they spread out in age quite a bit? I don't know the second part of the question, but I know he's got four. There's Lou and Willow, who both played on his former partner's record, played keyboard and drums, respectively. And then there's Willow, who is an artist, like painter and jewelry artist, and she's very talented. She did the away as mind cover as well I did know that I think I think I asked that question because at the end you know of Gordon's life he did that interview with Peter Mansbridge, and talked about his son and got very emotional and his son was young he referenced his age and said he was quite young and this was 2016 or 17 whenever the interview was, and which would have been 15 years after this album came out.Track 3:[41:03] So, that's where my head went with how many, how old, just trying to put the puzzle pieces together. I was going to make mention when I was doing a little bit of research, there was a, uh, uh, you know, a fan video, uh, when, when I guess they toured this album and I believe they were actually in, uh, it might've been in Vancouver when they're playing it, but he was, you know, having an exchange with, with someone in the audience about, you know, uh, your nightlights on going to bed. And uh i think the fan might have been thinking that the song was about something else and and he referenced that right back to her very quickly in kind of a snide mark saying i don't think it means what you think it means about going to bed and and uh that stuck out to me it was you know one that he had no problems interacting with the fan and and kind of correcting them on on their interpretation uh of the song but it the song is is is beautiful and in so many different ways and you know all of us being fathers and and and having you know those experiences and and then obviously having the emotional tie-in with with gordon and what he's done with the band you know in the tragically hip and and and then with his solo stuff and and uh it it's it's gorgeous it's beautiful whatever adjective you can come up with that that uh you know brings that feeling to you.Track 3:[42:31] As a father in those moments when you're just you can't even can't even process i did this i had a hand in this and this human is is going to grow out into the world and And I'm a better human because of it. And to be able to, you know, put that, um, you know, in lyrics and in a song, uh, again, just adds to the, uh, adds to the amazement, uh, that that gentleman was able to give us.Track 3:[43:04] Yeah. And the vocal performance by both Gord and, uh, Julie Dwaran is, is so full that they have such control of their voices. Pitch perfect, emotional, just such a song. Her soft awe in the background puts this song over the top. It wouldn't be the song without her contribution to it. That's no disrespect to Gord, but the song isn't the same without Julie Dwaran. And I thought that my favorite father-daughter song was Thrown Off Glass from In Violet Light, But this one, my daughter is the one jumping off shit. She is trick riding 24 hours a day and I'm like, oh my God, kill me. Yeah. So I looked it up. It is Claire Downey who reads the poem on the new edition. So I'm guessing that's who C could be. Got to be.Track 3:[44:05] The song is way too personal for it not to be. is is julie did i understand that she's she did some stuff with the hip as well yeah, yeah she sang um in some live shows with them and i think was part of some tribute stuff at the end too i may be wrong um i know i know kate fenner was um on one tour as a backup music Music at work. But I feel like, I'm pretty sure I've read, yeah, that Julie was on, doing some backups on one of the albums. I could be wrong. Yeah, I remember that too. I feel like, maybe now for Plan A, possibly. That sounds right. I know, although I know... Oh, yeah. Oh, that's her name. Yeah.Track 3:[44:52] Also from Kingston. There's another woman who does now for planning the title track. Yeah, Sarah Harmer. She's the vocal on... Anyways, that's a different album, different band. Different podcast. Different podcast, yeah. Oh, and I have to... Last thing about Trick Rider for me is that slide guitar that just doesn't quite hit the note. I just love it. It's kind of that quarter tone or something. It reminds me of, if you know the Faith No More cover of Easy, right before the solo when Mike Patton goes up to the, ew, and almost like purposely is in between notes. I just think it's so neat. I was going to say both vocally and musically with a variety of instruments throughout several songs, obviously this one as well, is there's just that, it's not quite there, but it's also, it adds again to that character of the song. I heard something or read something about one of the musicians, I believe the guitar player that, that was part of this, like he hit a note and he, he would just beat the shit out of it until it became the note that was right for the song, whether it started off right or not, he, it, it was going to become that.Track 3:[46:03] And, and I love that thought or that prospect, right? We get so, we get so caught up in, Oh, everything's got to be perfect. I got to tune my guitar up exactly right. I've got to have the mic place perfectly. And I've got to have, you know this tonality and and sometimes it's just good to just just let it go and let that emotion come through more so than you know the technical note of itself yeah yeah there's no such thing as a wrong note if it's you know played with with with confidence and intention and yeah yeah so next we go to a song that i think could totally be a hip jam to me this song he's singing It's the first song on the record where he's singing in a tone in a register that we recognize.Track 3:[49:09] So Craig, you said it, um, this is punk rock and Gord loved punk rock, right? Yeah. Yeah. Um, but it's old guy punk rock. Like it's, it's, this is guys who are not punk rockers anymore trying to, to do punk or at least the story, right.Track 3:[49:26] Um, within the song. And, and I'm not saying that about the musicians that played the song. I'm saying that about the story Gord tells here that, you know, they're, they're, they're buying weed from each other in a cornfield, right? In the dark you know um like i can picture my old man and his uncles or and his brothers my uncles just you know hiding from the cops at age 50 55 years old just feeling like be cool man shut up uh i love this song yeah great song i i gotta say i'll take the bullet guys here's my first criticism even though as much as i love um how they recorded it my goodness gracious i needed the drummer to use some sticks and not brushes like i needed to feel that those drums coming through in this song and and to make it punk rock like it was like they they you know hey let's find the jazz drummer to do the punk song um and not that it didn't serve it well and it's a in fact probably what i would have liked was that drum track with the brushes and another drum track on.Track 3:[50:35] Top of it with sticks and then also maybe adding the mics to get more of the tonality of the drums but again now that's just the music guy and me going i wanted to hear that i needed to hear that snap i needed to hear that crack i needed to hear the pop right sorry gonna use a uh a breakfast cereal reference but um i i i i wanted that for this song still love it it's It's funny because it opens on snare hits. Right.Track 3:[51:08] Yeah. But if I'm not mistaken and I'll, I'll completely eat my words, I believe they use brushes throughout Craig. Do you, did you go that deep or what did you think? I didn't, but I know for me, I definitely noticed that it, it, it felt like it should be heavier but i think that's part of what gave the song character was those heavy guitars that almost sounded like they were played at a low volume in a room jamming and i i thought it just gave it a unique character and and i have to say though my favorite part is actually at the end when when all of a sudden i actually picked up a guitar today just to see what was going on with this and and they go up from you know they're playing and you know you're one four five e e b and a and then um they go right up they just go up to that f and i know the first time i heard it it's just just so striking it just sounds so out of place and then after you've heard the song a couple times just so perfect such a such a great dissonance and.Track 3:[52:05] Really really um almost like a two you know 2000s indie rock feel almost like an arcade fire kind of three years before arcade fire was doing it kind of thing so wow it felt like a one take demo to me and they said fuck it it's good like run it i like that we'll do it live yeah me too do it we'll do it keep it but kirk yeah i think um it would be really interesting to see what the hip would have done with with that song like a fully polished yeah you know but but i felt the same about the next song chandler um you're listening to it again today in fact and again was like man with some different instrumentation you know change changing the tempo a bit on this is this is absolutely the uh potentially a hip song uh for me you know uh and uh yeah hard hard not to uh go into you know as he speaks about letting the opening the window inviting the vampires in and if i'm not mistaken this this song did pretty well was it a single.Track 3:[53:15] I don't think any of the solo stuff did particularly well. It was sort of under the radar, especially after this record came out. This record was highly anticipated, but I think early on the word got out that it wasn't hip, and so there were a lot of hip people that jumped up. A lot of people stayed on board, don't get me wrong. but um there was a good cohort that sort of veered away and it's interesting that the sum of the parts you know um the hip are it just goes to show you how magical they are as a as a fivesome because you take one component away you know and it's just not the same like gort sinclair's solo record is dynamite so are you know paul's three records they're really really good but they're not the hip yeah you know so i'm just and i think this is where i got it from i'm just you know looking looking up on spotify and if you go to gordonie this song has the most downloads of all the solo stuff oh okay so that that makes a lot of sense yeah i know there's a there's definitely a video for this yeah yeah but i i don't recall ever hearing.Track 3:[54:31] This song anything from this album on the radio i i had i did hear some later songs um but definitely not that you know that i heard so this is where hitler comes in big time um the.Track 3:[54:47] Hitler had a very odd sleeping pattern. He stayed up very late and would go to bed at like 6, 6.30 in the morning and then get up at noon and just spend his whole day working out maps and plans and this is where the advancement is and all this stuff. And there are so many, if you read between the lines references about the night of a thousand missteps, the loss that made him dogged, or it could have been the doggedness that caused the loss in the first place.Track 3:[55:18] And Chancellor, I mean, that was Hitler's position, you know? Wow. Marching armies in the night, smiling strangers riding by on bikes. That would be, you know, when the allies come into Paris or something, you know? Children's smoking, which there was a huge anti-smoking campaign in Germany during World War II, sloganeers. And he mentions in one of the first lines, invite the vampire in, open the windows before we go to bed to get the coldest air in the room, which is just before the sun comes up. And then at the end, talking about a few things that vampires don't like, all the things referenced between the vampire references are Hitler-ish things. So I don't know it that's that's where my head went and then um before you are wow i know that but but damn it i'm following gordon's path you know and he like i said he references justin you're taking us into dark places my friend and the word chancellor for me it was like hmm and then i started to kind of read into it and i was like yikes and by the way guys spoiler alert this won't be the last time i talk about hitler during this thing not that i love him let's put that out there but there are There are some real references to the war throughout this album. Yeah, that's really interesting.Track 3:[56:41] My mind went a completely different direction. I was thinking like a chancellor of a university. And again, I didn't read the lyrics. I didn't dig that deeply in. But it was funny because my daughter really likes this song. We kept playing in the car and I was explaining what a chancellor of a university was. And she said, oh, I thought it was like Chancellor Palpatine. Wow. and it turns out she was she was the right one yeah i guess she was she was closer than i was yeah wow look at that cross my read is so completely vastly different again my read is like bittersweet and romantic uh the chorus yeah i couldn't be a chancellor without you on my mind if i wasn't if i wasn't obsessed with you or thinking about you all the time time. Um, you know, who knows what I could have become. And on the, and in the video, isn't he riding around? He's on the swan boats. It's just, it does not make me. Swans. Yeah. Yeah. He does not make me, uh, feel like, like, uh, like he's referenced, referencing world war two, but that's fascinating. I can't wait to hear it again now.Track 3:[57:49] But at the end of that video, if you watch the full video at the very end, he's, it's revealed that he is the guy working the dock at the, at the swan boats and he takes off his coat and underneath it is a uniform that says guy. And he's the one taking the coins or the tokens or whatever for the people to ride the swan boats. So it's kind of like, uh.Track 3:[58:13] You know, when Hitler was a struggling artist before he became this global force and kind of took control, you know, he was romanticizing the idea of, of being chancellor of Germany. Wow yeah wow and i don't know wow reference to it or yes it's dark man because and again think of think of uh the song scared every hip show you go to everybody's everybody's slow dancing that's not a slow dance it's like we talked about in the other podcast it's like yeah that's the hips trick right or it's gorge yeah yeah 38 years old same thing long running same thing fiddler's green you know and and on and on and on these slow slow songs are are yeah miserable yeah and i have to say good yeah yeah yeah yeah and and the the vocal phrasing that the gourd uses on this just that, laid back where he just sort of hesitates on certain words i just just love it he's so unique that way. I think that's what separates him as a singer, is that phrasing.Track 3:[59:22] Oh, yeah. This is a really hard album to sing. And you guys are musicians and you play guitar and other instruments. I've always been a singer. And I cannot keep up with Gord on this album. I just can't. Like the chorus of this song, like, I'm discovering uses for you. But the way he throws uses for you together, it's like, it's almost like one overlaps the other. And it's like, that's impossible. And then on the more quaint side, I love that he rhymes pajamas by mispronouncing in a gourd-like way windows to rhyme with pajamas, right? Instead of windows. Oh, so great. By the way, that uses line, again, going back to Hitler's underlings, you know, doing experiments on twins and stuff like that. Like, this is, I think this is a dark one. I'm going to listen to it again tonight. And I can't wait to hear it. No.Track 3:[1:00:19] I hope I'm wrong. I think you're right. No, we know he likes the Second World War.Track 3:[1:00:26] And, you know, we've heard references to, you know, Nazis moving works of art or Russians moving works of art, you know, to stave off the Nazi army. And really quick, sorry, really quick shout out for the piano player. I'm guessing it was um hern but but man that piano is is really nice improvised piano solo yeah yeah it's a very sweet sounding song yeah bait and switch man yeah he got us the never ending present i was listening and and if you're a you know canadian of my age you knew right away who was singing backup so that was Stephen Drake because my mind went right to Wendy under the stars and um and you know right back to my you know my first car and being you know 16 years old and listening to the radio and and hearing the odds for the first time and and yeah just an unmistakable voice the harmonies are very distinct you know distinctly the odds and distinctly The one thing that I picked up was he mentioned his shoes were polished, which as we learned in the longtime running doc that he polished his shoes before every show.Track 3:[1:01:46] So I think he's talking about himself and it's kind of an introspective – I mean, he says I in every song, but I think this one might actually be about himself personally.Track 3:[1:02:00] I picture him standing on Broadview Avenue waiting for the streetcar. He says bus, but in my head it's a streetcar. And all the rest of the lyrics are the stuff that happens until the bus crashes the hill. Him dropping money inside the little money grabber on a bus. There's talk of that um but what i really what i really love about this song is how ahead of his time he is because this is like living in the present like being in the moment is so important and i've learned like through my mental wellness journey like how important it is to live in the moment and the idea that the moment can be never ending if you come about it with the right frame in my mind is so refreshing to hear. Amen. And of course they named the, um, uh, Michael Barclay wrote the book with using the title of the song.Track 3:[1:03:05] Sorry, I'm going to take a little detour off of this that I just have to bring up being, being the, uh, for the South American and someone that, uh, uh, you know, again, was always starving for hip. I've loved in this journey, discovering other Canadian bands. You guys were mentioning the odds. And, you know, I did the research a little bit on the dinner's ruined. And of course, you know, of the real statics from, you know, grace too. And we're all richer for having heard them. And, um, uh, I'm, I'm very excited, you know, during this to be able to take a dive into that music that I never got. Right. Cause I like Justin, you were lucky because you get a lot of that music, uh, in the Northeast.Track 3:[1:03:49] Um, no, no, no, we only get the hip and rush. Rush. There's no Canadian music except for the hip and Rush. I will say that. And Alanis, of course. but to do as a you know as a musician and and and being a big fan of many canadian bands you know rush is up there for me bare naked ladies is up there for me um obviously the tragic the hip is up there for me um but these other bands uh blue rodeo that has i think a little bit of a a um you know it did well here in the states um of course alanis and some of the others you know i want to I know more about the, uh, the ones that didn't get, uh, similar, similar stories to the tragically happened. And I'm really excited about taking that journey as well. And I love that, you know, that's one of the things that I've heard about in different, uh, uh, reading and, and interviews is Gord was such a proponent of getting, I mean, music out there, but, but specifically, obviously Canadian music and, and giving, you know, these, these not as well-known bands an opportunity.Track 3:[1:04:56] So, um, sorry, I just needed to take that little side journey there and, and, and share that with you guys. I'm with you. I'm with you a hundred percent. Just going off what you were saying, yeah, apparently Gord would actually stand side stage and watch a lot of these bands. Like he would just stay there for the whole set. And all these bands, you know, Eric's Trip and The Odds, they were all change of heart. They all played with the hip.Track 3:[1:05:23] And for me, it's been fun because I've been doing the same thing. I was listening to The Odds last night and I couldn't believe how many hit songs they had. You know they're a band i enjoyed but never really really got into i think i've seen them live a couple times but man they had their pop song they were yeah that's exactly it they were they're you know pop writing you know machines but yeah i'm excited i'm excited about the journey for sure and and especially getting connected with you guys and having the experience you know know, uh, um, uh, being from Canada and, and, and really experiencing that not only on the radio, but, but live as well, that, uh, that's going to be a great journey. Cause isn't it great when you go to see, you know, you go to see one of your favorite bands and the opener shows up, you never heard of them. And, and all of a sudden they become, you know, one of your favorites and you're, you're falling around and, you know, and then it's always hard if they do make it, you're kind of like, man, that was my band, but I liked it when they were small, you know, I want them to be big, but not that big. I, that's, I mean, I mentioned it with, with the hip, you know, like all my experiences and I got to see them, I don't know, seven, seven, eight times, something like that.Track 3:[1:06:36] Like the biggest venue I saw them in was, was probably 1200 people. And, um, you know, the Troubadour, I got to see them in and, and, and up in San Francisco, the Fillmore's, you know, it's, it's over a thousand, uh, might be closer to actually, I'm not sure. I'll have to look that up. But the thing that I loved about it is, you know, I'm a hockey guy. And I think I mentioned the story to, to you, JD, like we're close to the ducks and the Kings and, and most hockey teams are, you know, 50 plus percent, if not close to 70% Canadians. And so I'd go to a show, I'd be in Hollywood and I'd look over and be like, Oh, Hey, look, there's Luke Robitaille or, you know, Oh, there's Chris Pronger. There's, you know, Scott Niedermeyer, you know, I'm hanging it out and oh oh hey paul korea how's it going you like the hip too you know and um what an experience and then canadian actors as well i got to meet dan akroyd at at the house of blues hollywood and he introduced the hip on stage and then you know he's rat so uh you know for me it's so weird um when you talk of this band they were a club band to me you know i i've seen what they've done and where they've played. And so anyway, I I'm, I'm taking us off the, the album, but just wanted to share that with, with you gents. No, that's cool.Track 3:[1:08:04] So now we take a hard, right. And, um, we get the track, the soundscape, uh, nothing but heartache in your social life.Track 3:[1:11:14] Did you say a hard right or a hard Reich? Because again, the Hitler.Track 3:[1:11:20] I'm serious. So again, this goes back to the poetry and there's a poem called Toiletten in the book and it is about Hitler's, I'm not even inferring this, this is about Hitler's podium at Zeppelin Field in Nuremberg and it now has signs pointing tourists to the toilet. Um, and the, uh, similarities between that poem and this song or spoken word, whatever, um, it's a hundred percent about that. And Gord even stumbles on a lyric that they, that they leave in the song, um, when the podium sprouting weeds and he stumbles on rendered ridiculous by the time. So the podium is this massive concrete structure that when you see film of Hitler speaking to 150,000, 200,000 Germans during wartime, that's where this is. But it's still there, and it's sprouting weeds, and the podium and its purpose have been rendered ridiculous by the times. When are you thinking of disappearing? I mean, when are you falling off the map when the unknown that you're fearing is in the clearing? That's totally about surrendering in the war and the allied forces moving across the field to wipe out the Nazis.Track 3:[1:12:46] When you're getting king-size satisfaction in the turnstiles of the night from all the shaky pill transactions, if that's not Jewish prisoners going to a concentration camp running down the train tracks in the middle of the night. I don't know what it is. It's, again, a very dark thing, and I think it leads to Hitler's suicide. That's when are you thinking of disappearing? Yeah.Track 3:[1:13:16] And it is interesting to note that the asterisk that comes with the title in the lyrics, it says Dale Morningstar provided echoing screams at the end of the song. It doesn't just say backing vocals or call and answer. It's echoing screams. I was wondering who was calling back and forth with them. They kind of sound like, even though the topic sounds quite serious, they're having some fun with it. At the end kind of yelling back and forth with each other and um and also of note um adam agoyan the filmmaker plays plays uh the classical guitar on this track and and one other track and so he's uh i think i read that that maybe this song was sort of based off some some things he brought in, came into the studio one day and they they sort of riffed off what he was doing and put this sort of spoken word. I also got, I don't know if you guys got this, but I almost got like an M&M vibe, like just like attitude wise. And of course I believe this would have been before M&M anyways, but, but just that, that sort of attitude and way he was rattling off these lines.Track 3:[1:14:29] Yeah, I get it. Absolutely. So the other me, you know, I was trying to get my, my head out of World War II with this, and it was easy to see in 2024 that Gord predicted the future of social media, right? This is before Facebook and MySpace and all this stuff, but this is 100% in line with everybody's mental health problems stemming from not having enough likes on their posts, right? This could absolutely be interpreted 20 plus years later in that way, if you were to look at it from that angle. Yeah, I...Track 3:[1:15:13] Obviously still like absorbing everything in the referencing that you're speaking of, uh, Hitler and world war two and, and how, you know, JD and Craig were like, didn't necessarily get that right away. I, I definitely, you know, heard the references. I, I knew of the references from some of the hip tunes. Um and uh and then just seeing this whole journey that he's taking with just coming out there with a solo album in the first place and then you hear about how um and again it's it's you know i don't know the exact i haven't spoken with the other members but some of the solo stuff really caused a bit of a rift within the band and then if you start thinking about the product of the hip you You know, this is where a big portion of their fan base starts turning away.Track 3:[1:16:04] And I wonder if that tension came through in some of the music. For me and you, Justin, we discovered them during this time. And like most bands, you don't become close to them. And, you know, I'll take a few exceptions. You know, Led Zeppelin. I wasn't there when the albums came out. But the band meant a lot to me later in life. But nothing like, I'll give an example of other bands, Rush and Barenaked Ladies. I went to those shows when those albums came out, same thing with The Hip, as it relates to 2000 and beyond. And so my reference point is there. Um, and then Gord goes off and decides to, to do this solo work. And, um, and not only does he does the solo work, but he starts taking that poetry side in the book that comes out along with it. He starts throwing in spoken word and we could spend a lot of time with the discussion about poetry versus spoken word versus lyrics versus, um, uh, you know, the, the, the written prose and, and, and where it all comes together and the different attitudes towards it. Um, but I, I'm, I'm honestly kind of shaking inside just thinking about the, the ability that, that Gord has to take a historical perspective.Track 3:[1:17:23] Area and put it into a spoken word and or song. But then in the same breath, depending on how you come at it, you get something completely different. If you don't know those references specifically, you're going to find something from a meaningful standpoint. So sorry. I mean, you really got me goosebumps in there, Justin. Well, I think that if I had never read lyrics from the hip, I would never have approached it from this angle.Track 3:[1:17:51] But it's kind of hard to not look at some of that stuff. He did an interview in the early 90s with some TV, whatever, and they said, what are your songs about? And he said, all of our songs are about war. And I remember seeing that on YouTube about 10 or a dozen years ago and thinking, oh, okay. Now, whether he was speaking Speaking of literal war or a relationship or conflict within the band or whatever, family, something, but there's a struggle or something that needs to be resolved in each one of these songs. And so I've, for better or worse, looked at a lot of hip stuff from that point forward, whatever year it was, as is Gord talking about literal war here. And that's just where I picked up on. Was he a history-type major? Did he have family that maybe participated in the war? There is a short poem in the book that is about his grandfather serving in World War II.Track 3:[1:18:56] Yeah, I could see that. Both my grandparents served in World War II, and I was a history major, and so I can see where that tie comes from.Track 3:[1:19:08] I hope we can move past the war stuff soon. Thanks justin yeah anything else from you craig well yeah i know i have nothing to add other than i love the little bait like bass kind of jazz odyssey thing that steven drake goes off on at the end if you if you notice the last like five seconds he just does this little improvised producer as well noodle it's pretty right bass player yes yes yeah engineering okay engineer anyways yeah Yeah, engineer. Well, that's what we got for you for this first episode. We're going to take a break and recuperate and recalibrate and take some electrolytes and we'll be back. 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Rick Mercer is back to discuss their 'Will They or Won't They' tour and the joy of spreading "mirth" to audiences across Canada. They reflect on their favourite tour experiences and share some behind the scenes moments, including the misconception that Peter Mansbridge is traveling with them and doing the voiceover for their show from backstage. Jann and Rick discuss their on-stage dynamic and chemistry and the enjoyment they get from making people laugh, along with the importance of respect and kindness to eachother. They also discuss the changing landscape of television and the possibility of future projects together. This week's episode is brought to you by the home and auto insurance brand Canadians trust most, Intact Insurance. In case you're not familiar with THE Rick Mercer; he is a Canadian comedian, television personality, political satirist and author. He is best known for his work on the CBC Television comedy shows This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Made In Canada and Rick Mercer Report. He is the author of four books all of which have been national best sellers. Mercer has received nearly 30 Gemini Awards and Canadian Screen awards for his work on television. His CBC Television special Talking To Americans remains the highest rated Canadian comedy special ever with 2.7 million viewers. Rick holds Honorary Doctorates from Memorial University, Laurentian University, University of British Columbia, McMaster University, Bishop's University, Brock University and the University of Guelph. In 2014, he received Honorary Doctorates from the Royal Military Academy and from University of Western Ontario and York University. He is on the board of directors of Historica Canada, an organization dedicated to promoting Canadian history, identity and citizenship. They are the "Heritage Minute" people. He is also a recipient of the Governor Generals Performing Arts Award for lifetime achievement and in 2014 was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada. He is a native of St. John's, Newfoundland. Find out more about Rick Mercer: https://www.rickmercer.com/ Jann, Caitlin & Sarah also discuss their fabulous 'company dinner' this week at Gia (don't forget to check out Stefanos Sandwiches), and Caitlin tries to pull Jann further into reality television. Keep sending your voicenotes in at www.jannardenpod.com (click the little red microphone at the bottom of the page) and have a great long weekend! We are thrilled to be working with our friends at Intact Insurance again and they've got so many great tips for any Canadian long weekend HERE. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today an encore presentation of an episode that originally aired on November 8th 2023. A very strange couple of days for Joe Biden.  Weekend polling was disastrous for the Democrats, but last night's voting results were anything but. What to make of that is the topic for SMT today with Bruce Anderson.

An exchange over the weekend has set the relationship between Benjamin Netanyahu and Joe Biden in a very hard place. Biden first gave an interview on Saturday night and then Netanyahu responded on Sunday. The two men, it seems, couldn't be further apart on how to resolve the crisis in Israel and Gaza. Today, Janice Stein deconstructs the interview with Biden that started the weekend back and forth. Plus we unveil the question of the week!

Is he just too old, stumbling and incoherent? Not last night it seems. Joe Biden's energetic State of the Union address last night is getting mostly positive reviews and may have given him at least temporary relief from the wolves that seemed poised to ruin his re-election bid.  Bruce and Susan (filling in for Chantal) start with that and quickly move into Canadian politics -- a convincing Conservative by-election win, and how long can the government sustain increased spending? 

The passing of Brian Mulroney had many of you thinking about the country's prime ministers and suggesting who was the most consequential. We have your answers on this week's Your Turn. Plus a very personal commentary from the Random Ranter this week, one many will identify with.

Listen to Peter Mansbridge's chat with Former Prime Minster of Canada Brian Mulroney in South Africa in 2013 for the CBC.

When Brian Mulroney passed last week so did an era in Canadian politics. But did some of the lessons of leadership that he possessed carry on to new generations of leadership? Conservative James Moore and Liberal Gerald Butts carry on their non partisan conversations on The Bridge, started in 2022, this week with the Mulroney legacy as the topic.  

For the first time since Oct 7, a split is open and obvious in the Israeli war cabinet of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Benny Gantz is heading to meetings in Washington against his prime minister's wishes raising questions about Israeli government solidarity and what it means to the situation on the ground in Gaza. All this while a new temporary truce seems imminent. Janice Stein gives us her take on the situation.

The 18th prime minister of Canada was a force, a huge force. He changed the country in many ways, some worked, some didn't. He was also a major force on the international stage for himself and for Canada. Today the full hour on Brian Mulroney with Bruce, and filling in for a vacationing Chantal, the Toronto Star's Susan Delacourt. 

The question this week was this: Name the one thing you would do to improve health care in Canada". You obviously care about this issue as most research shows health care is one of the top items bothering Canadians, and your letters show that you have ideas for solutions.  Lots of ideas.  Plus the Random Ranter has the issue that's on his mind this week.

When the longtime CBC news anchor began his career as a reporter in the early 1970's, giving people the news was among the most trusted and important occupations in the country. When he retired in 2017, it was the era of "fake news", as trust in the media was at an all-time low. Seven years later, it's even lower than that.So what happened? Did the media lose people's trust? Did the internet do it for them? How does a legendary face of Canadian news grapple with the fact that, if he were in the chair today, less than half of Canadians would trust the news he delivered? Can anything be done to fix it? Or is it already too late?GUEST: Peter Mansbridge, former anchor of CBC's The National, host of The Bridge podcast

The statistics are surprising to say the least. Wildfires are burning in different parts of the country already, some have been burning through the winter.  Are we prepared for what seems almost certain to come from fires to drought? Chris Hatch covers climate for the National Observer from Vancouver and he's our guest.

Jeff kicks off the show with the Athletic's Mark Lazerus to recap last night's celebrations in Chicago for Chris Chelios' jersey retirement alongside Patrick Kane's return. They discuss if the Blackhawks made the right decision by letting Kane move on and if there could ever be a reunion between the two parties, before reflecting on Chris Chelios' career. Then, Jeff is joined by Colby Armstrong to tee up tonight's edition of Rogers Monday Night Hockey (16:10). They kick things off discussing Matt Rempe's big first week in the NHL, his interview with Peter Mansbridge, their own experiences with Jean Beliveau, and if Sidney Crosby can will the Penguins into a playoff spot. Later on, Kevin Allen of Detroit Hockey Now stops by to discuss the Red Wings' win-streak, Kane's impact in Detroit, if MoTown could go on a deep playoff run, and much more (50:55)! The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

They've been going on for months now, but what's really happening inside the Gaza Peace Talks and are things close to resolution. We've been here before but never clinched a deal. Could this be different? Janice Stein is with us for her regular Monday briefing.  Plus we reveal our question of the week!

Little things can make a difference is the old saying. And this week a little thing seemed to have some people wondering whether the Liberals have given up any chance of winning the next election. Chantal and Bruce have their thoughts on that and a lot of other things from Ukraine, Pierre Poilievre to walks in the snow.  

A potpourri of concerns this week as the question was pretty general -- What's On Your Mind? Most deal with concerns about the world stage and specifically how desperate things look to many of you. Letters from across the country today, plus a commentary you won't soon forget from the Random Ranter.

Today an encore presentation of an episode that originally aired on January 2nd. Watergate and Richard Nixon brought him fame, and fifty years later Bob Woodward is still doing the journalism that is chasing another U.S. President.  A wide-ranging interview to kick off another year of The Bridge -- Woodward's take on everything from Donald Trump to the state of the media.

On Episode 484 of Spittin' Chiclets, the guys are joined by Peter Mansbridge (01:25:38) to talk about his legendary career as the voice of Canadian broadcasting as well as his love for the game of hockey. But first, the guys go over an incredible week of hockey with the Chiclets Altcast, Jaromir Jagr getting his jersey retired, and the awesome Stadium Series in New Jersey. Later on in the show, the guys talk about the firing of Jarmo Kekalainen and Auston Matthews stellar play. Lastly, the boys go over everything that's going on around the league from Nashville not getting to go see U2, Phil Kessel in Vancouver, and much more. But most important, how many podcasts should Pasha be suspended for?You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/schiclets

This weekend marks the second anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Now experts worry whether this prolonged conflict could threaten the future of world peace. Today a special edition of the Bridge that brings together two of our favourite foreign affairs experts. Veteran correspondent and author Brian Stewart and internationally respected analyst Janice Stein. Their thoughts on where we are entering the third year of a major European based war.

Two potholes for the Liberals in their path to try and find recovery.  One serious. A scandal that could last a while. The other perhaps not so much. Plus the ugliness surrounding demonstrations in Canada on both sides of the Israel-Hamas war -- what does it say about the country. Plus a lot more with Bruce and Chantal.

This week's question was simple -- what one thing would you do to improve air travel in Canada? Your answers certainly show what concerns you most and it has to do with baggage. Lots of entries today competing for the first place prize! Also the Random Ranter takes his swing at auto theft -- what he thinks the real problem is.

Marci Ien made her name as a Canadian television journalist anchoring some of CTV's most important programs. Today she's a federal cabinet minister responsible for women and gender equality. She was born in Toronto of Trinidadian descent. Today a feature interview with Marci Ien about her path as a Black Canadian and how she reflects on Black History month.

Donald Trump's latest claim of what to expect from a second Trump presidency has the alarm bells ringing in NATO capitals around the world. Trump says he'd abandon any NATO country that fell behind in defense expenditures and would tell the Russians to invade if they want to. Really?  What would that mean? Dr Janice Stein is with us for her regular Monday appearance on this subject and a lot more - Ukraine, Israel, Pakistan.  

Auto theft was the issue for the national political leaders this week and it's worth asking why. So we do on Good Talk this week including focusing on the minister of public safety, Dominic LeBlanc and why we should keep an eye on him for the future. Also today, who's buying Jagmeet Singh's threat to pull the plug on the deal keeping the Liberals in power? And BCE's latest slash at journalism in Canada and what it means.

Your answers to this week's question -- what's one thing you or your family do to fight climate change? Once again, there are lots of answers from across the country. Some expected, some innovative, some surprising. Plus the Randon Ranter on what for some Canadians may be the country's biggest issue this year.

Today an encore presentation of an episode that originally aired on May 1st. An extended conversation with Canadian author, comedian and yes, icon, Rick Mercer.  If he was still doing his famous rants today what and whom would he be ranting about?  But we start with an engaging story about a meeting between a young Prince Charles and an amazing woman from northern Scotland. All this as the excitement (not) builds towards Coronation Day on Saturday.

A feature interview with the author of an extraordinary new book that explores he world of chance, chaos and why everything we do matters. He's Brian Klaas a university professor in London, England. When you hear his stories and his theories you'll be thinking about how your own life has been impacted by  "flukes". I sure did.

The fear since October 7th has always been that this Israel-Hamas conflict could turn into a wider war. Well, it has and Dr Janice Stein joins us to give us her take on what it now means.  Plus some surprising intrigue in Ukraine, and Janice delivers on her promise to also give us some "good news".  We'll also unveil the question of the week.

Some new intelligence on Canada's vulnerability to foreign interference is worrying to say the least. It suggests that interference by foreigners is deeply embedded in Canadian politics on every level. But the unanswered question is are we any different than most western countries? And Alberta's trans-gender decisions have not surprisingly become an issue too. Bruce and Chantal have their say on this and electoral reform plus more.

A special edition today as we ask Dr Samantha Nutt of War Child Canada to break down her most recent trip to South Sudan, basically to take us with her. So get your maps ready because this will bring you into the heart of one of the most challenging places on earth -- thousands of dead, millions of displaced .. many facing civil war and starvation.

Talks in Paris between Israel, Qatar, the US and Egypt began over the weekend and optimists feel they could lead to a deal to stop the fighting in Gaza within days. Dr Janice Stein gives us her take on what's possible and what's not. Also, Ukraine and North Korea add to today's agenda.

John Kennedy used to say, aside from indigenous people, we are all either immigrants or descended from immigrants. That was true in the US and it's true in Canada. So how do we resolve what is becoming a major issue in Canada -- immigration?  Plus, the Liberals have a cabinet retreat next week, so what? Will it make a difference? And, what now for Rachel Notley? Bruce and Chantal on all these and more. 

This week's question was this: If you could name one thing to make us better communicate with each other, what would that change be? Do you have the answer to polarization? You sure offered a lot of possibilities and today we air them out. Plus the Random Ranter in a way you've never heard him before. Literally.