Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Hip Jams for the May 2-4: Toronto Mike'd #1257
Episode Date: May 19, 2023In this 1257th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike is joined by Jamie Dew and Tyler Campbell as they kick out their favourite May 2-4 long weekend Hip jams. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by G...reat Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, the Yes We Are Open podcast from Moneris, The Moment Lab, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.
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Today, to kick out the tragically hip jams for a May 2-4 long weekend,
are Jamie Dew and Tyler Campbell.
Hey, Mike. How's it going?
Good. Jamie, let's let the people know you are live from our East York location.
Is that correct?
You are not here in studio.
That's right, I'm at TMTS Studios in East York.
Yes.
That's my favorite York, East York.
Love it in East York. North York can go fuck itself.
Yeah, no, I never liked North York, to be quite honest with you.
It's too cold.
It's too cold.
Right.
Who wants to go up that north?
York.
I used to live in York, not York region, but the borough of York.
It's got some nice qualities to it.
Like the junction is there.
There's some nice things.
But East York is the best.
I agree.
Tyler Campbell.
Live in studio, Tyler Campbell.
Here, live in the flesh.
Hello.
You've got a great voice, Tyler, if I've told you that before.
You've mentioned it a couple times.
Honestly.
Well, that's very nice of you to say.
Can we trade voices for a week? Sure Tyler, if I told you that before. Thank you. You've mentioned it a couple times. Honestly. Well, that's very nice of you to say. Can we trade voices for a week?
Sure, man.
I would do that.
I mean, you have a great voice too, Jamie,
but man, listen to Tyler's pipes.
Read me this phone book, please.
Absolutely.
He sounds dynamite.
All right, so we're here today
because this is a Friday of a long weekend,
but not just any long weekend.
This is the May 2-4 long weekend.
For many of us
Canadians, we like to mark the launch of summer with the May 2-4. Now, we never know what we're
going to get. It could be rainy and eight degrees, or it could be sunny and 25 degrees. But this
symbolically, would you two agree, this symbolically is the beginning of summer for most of us?
I mean, maybe it's just me, but for me, this is the beginning of summer for most of us i mean maybe it's just me but for me this is
the beginning of summer you know right here right here right now yeah yeah this is jesus jones is
that jesus jones right yeah yeah right now yes yeah so we're gonna kick out the jesus jones
jams for the may 24 long weekend jamie we each pick three right well we each now we all pick
the same one name another another Jesus Jones song beyond.
I've got to think about it. Yeah, I don't think I could.
Okay, I always get them confused in spiral carpets anyways.
Okay, so Jamie, you are famous for many reasons,
but one reason in the hip community is that you were a host of the Fully and Completely podcast.
Is that podcast dormant?
Is it still active?
It is largely dormant at this point.
We didn't complete our task of going through every piece of ephemera,
but we came pretty darn close.
I mean,
we did all the Gord solo record.
Well,
no,
see,
we didn't even do all the,
but why not?
Like,
why did you leave this job unfinished?
Scheduling with my partner, like, really is what it came down to, you know.
The pandemic really ruined things for us in a pretty big way.
So now what we do is we do a May Long Weekend pod list every year.
And a pod list is a playlist of songs in podcast form. So I get all the listeners to
submit their cover songs and we kick out the hip jams that way. Like we send video or pardon me,
we send the podcast out with, you know, 10 or 10 or 12 hip jams on it that our listeners created.
And it turns out really well. Awesome. Okay. You have a new project we're going to celebrate in
just a moment. Uh, I would just want to turn to the VP of sales and ask him, uh, have you closed
any deals lately? VP? You know, I've got a lot of things cooking. Uh, I've got, uh, I've got some
more free time now. Uh, my, uh, my full-time gig is, uhtime gig is some might say my career is
dormant.
We've got some things
in the hopper, but yeah, many, many deals.
What's in that hopper? Am I allowed to peek
in the hopper? I can't even show you what's in the hopper, man.
It's really hot stuff, though.
We're going to see. Hey,
Jamie, I got a question for you.
Sure, honey.
I know that the pod is dormant,
but has there been any talk of resurrecting?
Because I got to hear those last few apps, man.
There has not been.
Oh, wow.
I'll be honest with you.
Did you have a falling out with your partner?
Be honest.
No, not at all.
It's the whole real talk.
No, not at all.
Okay.
He started his family and that was...
What? Selfish of him.
Yeah, unacceptable.
Yeah, very very very selfish i
mean greg i started families they never interfered with my podcast yeah that's true i mean i don't
understand this i started a family i can't podcast about the hip anymore i don't know that that's it
i don't know that i'm just saying scheduling has been really like like brutally difficult and
on both our parts so fair enough yeah we we've moved
on and i started a new project yeah well hey that's the thing okay let's talk about the new
project then i have a rant of sorts i want to deliver and you two oh my god will give me your
feedback it's a hip related of course and then i'm going to just establish the premise for all
the fotms listening we each brought three of our favorite tragically hip May 2-4 long weekend jams.
So we each brought three jams
we love listening to on the May 2-4 long weekend,
aka Victoria Day weekend.
But you know what?
Fuck her, man.
This is the May 2-4.
I think we should rename it.
Maybe it should be the Gordownie weekend, okay?
So we're going to each bring three jams
and then we're going to finish it up with a jam that we all share.
So you're going to hear 10 tragically hip jams
that we all associate with this long weekend in May.
But I'm going to play a little trailer I found online,
and then we're going to find out what Jamie's new project is about,
and then we're going to get to my rant,
and then we're going to get to Jam 1.
And during Jam 1, I'm going to go to my fridge.
Tyler.
Yes, sir.
You're here in person.
Therefore, you get to enjoy the fresh craft beer I have in my fridge from Great Lakes Brewery.
Do you want a lager, an ale, or an IPA?
I actually even have vodka soda right now.
What are you feeling right now?
I think I would go with a lager, please.
You're going to get a lager.
So I'm going to do that during Jam 1,
which will be in about an hour and a half.
Okay, so let's get to this trailer, Jamie,
and then we're going to talk to you about it.
Here we go.
If you've ever wondered what it would be like
to hear the Tragically Hips music
for the first time again,
you don't have to wonder anymore.
Music fans Pete and Tim
may never have heard of the band before,
but they're ready to face the music.
Join them Friday, May 19th on a journey through the hip's discography,
accompanied by their guide, JD.
After this debut, the crew will have a new episode waiting for you every Monday of the summer.
Getting Hip to the Hip will be available on all podcast platforms.
Subscribe, share, rate, and review the show
wherever you get your podcasts.
That's you, Jamie.
That's me.
Okay. Tell us about this new project, Getting Hip to the Hip.
tell us about this new project, Getting Hip to the Hip.
Yeah, well, in my exploration through another podcast that I do called Meeting Malchemists,
I went to Europe last year and I met a bunch of people. And two of them, I really loved the way they talked about music and the way they vibed about music.
But the challenge was one of them was living in Spain and one of them was
living in Portland. And I didn't quite know how to leverage that, you know, musicality that they
had between them. And then it dawned on me that they both come from Southern California.
And I asked them the question, had you ever heard of the Tragically Hit before? And,
you know, vaguely they had one of them lived in an apartment where somebody had a sticker on a truck that they saw, so they knew the band existed.
One of them was a bartender.
Pete was a bartender.
So he was able to, you know, deal with some expats that, you know, enlightened him to a certain degree.
But none of them had
really given it a listen. So the idea here is that I'm their Sherpa and I take them through
the discography one week at a time, one episode at a time, uh, covering one album. And it turns out,
um, which is really neat. This is very tragically hip of it. If you take all of their releases,
including the live record,
including the EP to start and including the EP to finish,
Saskadalkia,
there is one record a week
that lasts all summer.
If you start in May,
May long weekend,
it ends in Labor Day weekend.
So, you know,
it was just a fun idea
to take these guys through
and see what exactly
they were going to think.
And they hate them,
right?
I'm not going to.
Yeah.
Episode one,
five minutes into episode one.
I fucking hate this band.
And it's like,
Oh,
what do I do now?
But okay.
So getting hip to the hip,
uh,
when can people subscribe to your fine new project?
Uh,
podcast drop today.
Okay.
And the second episode goes out.
What a coincidence.
Mondays.
It'll be Mondays after that.
Okay.
So it's May.
I got to timestamp this because I'm still getting notes from someone.
Oh, I just heard Scotty Mac on Toronto Mic.
I'm like, that was five years ago.
Okay.
So May 19th, 2023.
This is the day.
If you're hearing us on this day or later, which means it would be impossible to hear us before this date, because we're recording this on May 19th.
It's happening now.
You can subscribe to Getting Hip to the Hip,
and Jamie talks to a couple of non-Canadians
about the Tragically Hip music going album by album.
It sounds like this would be interesting to hear somebody react to the hip
who didn't know these songs.
This is exciting.
Yeah, and it's turned out to me to be,
you know, it's helped me revisit
the first time that I listened to the band,
and we're going to be reaching out to listeners
and asking them when
it was the first time they listened to the band
to sort of get that
vibe from them,
because it's,
it tends to be memorable for
people. And now you, me, and
Tyler, we're all three Canadians.
We grew up with the Tragically Hip,
and of course, we're all three fans.
That's why we're doing this episode today.
So it's one of those things where
we'll never, like, it's tough to remember.
I actually remember hearing
like Blow It High Dough on Q107
in the late 80s,
and I still remember,
because I said to my buddy Joe,
I'm still friends with Joe.
He lives here in New Toronto. I said, I still remember, because I said to my buddy Joe, I'm still friends with Joe. He lives here in New Toronto.
I said,
I got to get this album up to here
because I just heard,
then I heard a couple of other jams.
Q107 played New Orleans is Sinking
and they played Boots or Hearts.
Those were the three I heard.
And then I said,
I got to get this album.
I love this band and they're Canadian.
It's like, I got to get this.
And I still remember we went downtown
and I picked up Up to Here
and he picked up Billion Dollar Babies by Alice Cooper,
which is great because he's a big Alice guy.
But so I can kind of remember that feeling of like,
what the fuck is this?
And it hit me hard and I've been hooked ever since.
But it would be,
it's neat that you're going to do this exercise.
Okay, so let's get to these jams.
But I promise like a mini rant.
I think last night this would have been a longer, angrier rant,
but then I slept on it,
and I, as usual, polished the edge here.
But a couple of days ago,
I tweeted that you, Jamie, and you, Tyler,
were joining me to kick out Tragically Hip Jams.
Okay, I said we're kicking out Tragically Hip Jams.
You know where this is going. Okay, I said we're kicking out tragically hip jams. You know where this is going.
Okay.
I do now.
F-O-T-M, Jake Gold replied to say it's the tragically hip
and that consistency is important.
That's his line.
Consistency is important.
It's the tragically hip.
We're not kicking out tragically hip jams.
We're kicking out the tragically hip jams.
I find that phrasing to be awkward, okay?
I'm an English major.
I can usually hear awkwardness in my brain damaged mind,
but I can hear that to say,
we're kicking out the tragically hip jams.
To me, it's easier to say,
we're kicking out tragically hip jams or we're
kicking out hip jams which i think is probably the easiest just lose tragically completely
fully completely if you will it kind of irks me when the uh again i like the man he's been here
but when the manager of my favorite band of all time calls me out on calling this band Tragically Hip
instead of The Tragically Hip,
it irks me because here we are today,
the Friday of our long weekend,
we're going to devote an entire episode
to the music of one band
and what it means to Canadians
during the May 2-4 long weekend.
And the idea that consistency matters
because listeners might not know exactly what band we're celebrating here
is ridiculous.
It's absolutely ridiculous.
It was almost enough for me at the time I wanted to cancel the app
and I didn't want to do that to you, Jamie,
because I want to help promote your new project.
But I think it's dumb.
I think it's pedantic.
I think it's annoying.
It's unnecessary.
Nobody kicks out the Beatles jams. I got a nice tweet about that i'll reference in a minute but you know as far as jake is
concerned i respect the fuck out of jake gold he's an fotm everybody should go listen to episode 438
but i've been doing this for 11 years and not a single member of the Tragically Hip, my favorite band of all time, by the way,
has ever appeared on Toronto Mic'd.
And I've made the request multiple times.
When Rob Baker was on Hebsey on Sports,
shout out to Ridley Funeral Home,
I wrote Jake afterwards to see,
can we get Rob Baker on Toronto Mic'd?
And let's just say that was,
this is now episode 1257
and it's still completely Hipless.
So I would just say say real talk here is
that the pedantic chastising of references to tragically hip without the the it's not only
annoying but it's enough to make me want to stop celebrating the band fully completely what's your
reaction tyler campbell to so yeah i mean, I share your feelings about it being kind of annoying
and pedantic. I do wonder if
Jake is just a bit
with him. No, because it's continuous, and I've had people
on like Michael Barclay who wrote the
unauthorized book, and he gets the same.
Fair. Jason Schneider's
had the same. Yeah, and you know,
I responded to you on Twitter yesterday, and I said,
you know, it makes sense. Management can
dictate to radio or media what the band should be called, but you can't tell fans what to call.
I'm not even sure they can do that, to be honest.
Well, I mean, they're going to be called what they're going to be called.
You can try.
There's a lot like, you know, if you called a band, let's say you called a band Led Zepp or something.
Or, you know, I mean, Martin Streak was famous for this, that he would call the Beastie brothers or he would call you know uh nirvana he
had a nickname for anyway um i want to hear jamie's take but i'm going to read a couple of tweets real
quick one is from brad faye who's a good fotm uh more of a springsteen guy i think but he says uh
what's your favorite the beatles song said nobody ever that was brad and then dan spearin who's a
good fotm he wrote in to say didn't the
60s end this debate most bands have a vanishing the beach boys beatles rolling stones monkeys
velvet underground it's an all beatles weekend etc etc i get the debate is a bit more if you use
the hip as it loses the michael ness smith inspired irony. But then he says he's going to go listen to some hip.
But what's your take on all this, Jamie?
I want to hear it before we get to Jam 1 from the Tragically Hip.
Well, initially I was going to say, well, that is their name.
That is their name.
Their name is the Tragically Hip.
The Beatles' argument, though though is really sound uh i mean
you know it truly is sound i think that when i'm writing about the band it gets awkward from time
to time like when i'm when i say hey i'm jamie and i run uh the tragically hip podcast that sounds
awful to me right so like that stuff gets a little bit awkward.
I don't know.
I think it's cool. So it sounds to me like you're saying...
The manager of your favorite band texted you.
I think that's kind of cool.
That is true.
He does text me and he does DM me
and I have a good relationship with Jay Gould
even though no members of the Tragically Hip
have ever appeared on Toronto My Day.
Jamie had a member of the Tragically Hip.
I'm sure.
How many members of the Tragically Hip have you appeared on Toronto My Hip. Jamie had a member of the Tragically Hip. Oh, I'm sure. How many members of the Tragically Hip have you had on your various podcasts, Jamie, do?
Well, I will tell you that we've had Paul Anglois.
He came in person.
And we did Craig Northey and Rob Baker of the Strippers Union.
Two so far.
And you want to scoop?
Yeah, of course.
We're interviewing Gord Sinclair next week.
Oh, shit.
Yeah.
See, there you go.
You're kicking ass, you're taking names,
and I'm unworthy.
But I will tell you, somebody did DM me
like a cap of like an Instagram post.
I think it was Paul Langlois.
I can't remember now.
But I think where he refers to the band as Tragically Hip.
Because again, it would be awkward for you to say like,'re gonna kick out the tragically hip song so i would just say
be grateful that we give a shit about the band and that we love the band and that we celebrate
the band just be grateful i asked gordep about spoons versus the spoons and he's like he doesn't
care like he's just honored that you want to see him live you want to listen to their music like
it's about uh it's about the music right just don't call me late he's just honored that you want to see him live. You want to listen to their music. Like it's about,
uh,
it's about the music,
right?
Just don't call me late for dinner.
Just don't call me late for dinner.
Okay.
So we got that out of the way.
I did tone it down quite a bit.
Okay.
Here's another fun fact before,
cause jam one is coming up right now.
And then I'm going to get this beer for Tyler,
but I have made a decision that when we wrap up at the end of the show,
I will,
uh,
fade out Rosie and gray by the, uh, the lowest of the of the low not lowest though they don't use that right it's just lowest lowest
of the low they're just lowest of the low i'm gonna add that to all bands just uh it used to
be the pink floyd like that was originally the band name okay i did not know and i think it was
the fleetwood mac as well see we got to bring back to everything. Okay. So I'm going to fade out Rosie and Gray
like 10 seconds
after we wrap
as opposed to
what I've been doing
for the last several years.
I've been playing
the whole song
because I love hearing it.
So I've been playing it.
But then somebody pointed out
to me that they're
on a bike ride.
And I don't listen
to my show on bike rides
because I'm there for them.
But I can totally see
that the episode ends
and you want to go
to the next episode. But if you don't know how to work your see that you the the episode ends and you want to go to the next episode
but if you don't know how to work your like uh headphones that have the buttons on it or whatever
you're kind of stuck like it's not easy necessarily to skip to the next track sometimes when you're
biking so i can see like i got two and a half more minutes of rosie and gray would be mildly
annoying maybe so i'm gonna play play less Rosie and Gray after each
episode. Such a great
song though. Pinko commie making
concessions to cyclists.
Cyclists ruin everything right Jamie?
Agreed.
Okay good. Alright
we're going to start with you Jamie because you're
the host of Get Hip to the Hip
and we're going to play some of the song
then I'll fade it down and then we're going to play some of the song, then I'll fade it down,
and then we're going to talk about it,
why you chose it,
and why it's a good made 2-4 jam for you.
So my last question before I press play on jam one.
Jamie Dew,
are you ready to kick out the hip jams?
Oh, God, yes.
Am I ready?
Made a bunk on American myth And take my life in my hands
Where the great plains begin
At the hundredth meridian
At the hundredth meridian
Where the great plains begin
Driving down a corduroy road With the wheat standing shoulder high We'll be right back. At the 100th Meridian At the 100th Meridian Where the great planes begin
Left alone to get gigantic
Hard, huge and haunted
A generation so much dumber than his parents
Came crashing through the window
A raven strays along the line of a road
Carrying a mighty old skull
The wires whistle their approval
Off down the distance At the 100th Meridian Outro Music I don't even want to fade it down.
Loving it.
Jamie, talk to me.
It's not easy to fade any of these songs down.
They're tremendous.
Yeah, and this is a, I mean, to me,
this is a standout song on a standout record.
Fully Completely is, you know, the logical starting point, I think, for a lot of people in their hip journey.
You know, they broke the jeans in or broke the shoes in with Up To Here and Road Apples.
And then we get this really refined record fully completely this very produced
very rich sounding and then there's this song on on it that is dirty sounding uh it sort of stands
out it it um is different than the rest of the record and when i think of um may 2 4 i think of a
roaring fire i think of beer i think you know, maybe a smoke or two.
And just listening to really great, great music.
And this would be, I love that you started the playlist off with this because this would be a great kickoff to, you know, any great May 2, 4 party.
Of course, I love this song as well, but I do have trouble with the studio version
because so many times I've heard the hip play this song live and that part that Gord does at double speed.
Like, I can't hear it at regular speed now.
Like, if I die of vanity, promise me, promise me you'll bury me someplace I don't want to be.
I love it, and I love it fast.
What do you think when you hear the studio version in its regular speed?
Well, it reminds me of listening to it for the first time. So I, you know, I do appreciate it.
I also love the fact that this song in a way replaced New Orleans is Sinking is the song
that they started doing experimentation inside of. Right. You know, it really became a big
road test, this song. So you're right. The song is better live, but I almost dare you to name me a hip song that isn't better live.
True that,
but this is the most dramatically changed.
Like,
I mean,
obviously you,
like you said,
there's these,
these parts of,
uh,
new Orleans is sinking and songs,
jam songs,
if you will,
we're in the middle,
other songs kind of pop in and different songs,
like even songs are even like invented or created during that part, right?
And then we all listened to the version of,
was it Highway Girl and the version
in the Killer Whale Tank?
Like this is all part of being our age
and growing up in Canada.
But that song, I think, 100th Meridian
is one that's most dramatically different
every single time you've heard it live.
And I don't know when they started
doing that part, Double Speed. Maybe I need to get Jake Gold back in studio and find. And I don't know when they started doing that part, double speed. Maybe I need to
get Jake Gold back in studio and find out.
Do you guys know when they started? Because I can't
remember them not doing it faster
live.
What do you mean, Tyler? Do you know? Go ahead, Jamie.
No, you go ahead, Jamie.
It seems to me that they started playing it live and then they would do
like a hard stop.
And then he would come in
you know, like he would come in with that really
fast uh yeah if i die of vanity promise me promise me you won't bury me yeah chance me i don't know
like they definitely didn't do it on the first tour um like i saw fully completely on tour and
they didn't do it there so it it morphed yeah i feel like it was around like the uh another
roadside attraction, outdoor
festival shows where they started kind of doing that stuff. I don't know, I could be wrong.
What are your thoughts on At the 100th Meridian, Mr. Tyler Campbell? I love that song. It is
probably in my top 10 hip songs. I agree with you, the live version is superior. But to Jamie's
point, like it does does it does bring back
those memories of hearing that album for the first time uh and uh yeah i love it i love it both ways
i love it this is a great start and i'm going to ask tyler to pop open his great lakes lager
from great lakes beer on the mic with pleasure okay and i have a sunny side because nothing
says summer to me like Great Lakes is
summer side.
Summer side.
That's another one.
Sunny side IPA.
Yum.
Oh yeah.
Jamie,
wish you were here.
I'd pass you a cold one,
but thank you.
Great Lakes for sending over the fresh craft beer.
Now,
Jamie needs to talk while we drink.
Okay.
Let's get another song going.
All right.
Enjoy your drinks,
gentlemen.
Let's go to the next track.
So this is Tyler's first
May 2-4 long weekend hip jam. The beautiful love
The dangerous time
We get to feel small
From high up above
And after a glimpse
Over the top
The rest of the world
Becomes a gift child The pendulum
swings
for the horse
like a man
Out over the rim
Is ice cream to him
The beautiful love
The dangerous turn
We get to feel small But not out of place at all
Gift shop.
Gift shop.
Yes.
So, 1996, Trouble at the Hen House.
This is the only one of their LPs that was released in May.
And it was released May 16th, I believe, 1996.
May 14th.
May 14th. Thank you, Jamie. See, Jamie knows.
Jamie knows his shit.
And by the way, that's the kind of fun facts I'm looking for, Tyler.
So, yeah.
So, obviously, this is getting heavy rotation, that May 2-4 long weekend and all of them since.
And for me, you know, there are three great sort of moods or times that you want to capture with a May 2-4 song.
One is the drive up.
Another is sitting around the campfire.
And another is sort of that late night campfire, post-campfire hang.
Right. And for me, this is that getting on the road let's get hype for the weekend
this is that this is that song right i love the the first 90 seconds how it builds like so yeah
it's complete then at the 90 sec almost exactly 90 seconds in dropping the hammer boom let's go
you're getting on the 400 and sitting in 20 kilometer an hour traffic.
Right. Now,
Jamie, what are your thoughts on
Gift Shop? Well, this is
this, Trouble at the Hen House is one of
my favorite records. I think it's in my top three
for sure.
And this kicks off that record
in just such a beautiful way.
I can, I really like
the way that Tyler has divided this up
into sort of a triumvirate.
And this being that drive up,
I can totally see that having the excitement.
It's the first song you listen to
as you pull out your driveway and you're all excited.
And then it really is like three hours.
And you're thinking back at our two hour and 45 minute mark,
you're thinking about, God, I just want to listen to gift shop.
Yeah, exactly.
Inspired Choice, absolutely.
I will give a little teaser that I will also be kicking out a song
from Trouble at the Hen House.
So a little teaser for everybody, but Inspired Choice gift shop.
And again, I think Jamie said it earlier, like all hip songs are better live.
And this sounds great in the cans right now, but one of the songs I loved hearing live,
but that might apply to all of them.
So lest we forget, I know we all three got together on the one year anniversary of Gord Downie's passing
to kick out hip songs. uh it still gets me here we are how many years later but that i'm never going
to see another live hip show with the original lineup ever again and it still gets me man
brutal yeah i'm with you there 100 it dawns on me every couple days, especially working with Tim and Pete on the podcast
because I'm continuously saying, you know, how...
You're telling them you got to see the hip live
and then you remember, right?
Exactly, and they're like, you asshole.
We're not going to get to see them live.
All right, what a start.
I'm going to kick out my first hip May 2-4 jam.
Beautiful. One remembers it was back in old 72. We all squeezed the stick and we all pulled the trigger.
And all I remember is sitting beside you. You said you didn't give a fuck about hockey.
I never saw someone say that before.
You held my hand and we walked on the long way.
We loosened my grip on Bobby Orr.
Isn't it amazing anything's accomplished
When the mental sensation gets in your way
Now an ambition whispering over your shoulder
Isn't it amazing you can do anything Love this song so much.
You're going to hear that a lot today.
Thanks, Mike.
Thank you.
And I was thinking May 2-4,
we're all going to see fireworks this weekend, right?
Woo!
Absolutely.
Sounds amazing.
It's funny because I'm recording with this Rodecaster Pro board and I've connected my mics to it.
And of course, every time I go into the microphone settings on the bottom, it says Phantom Power.
And every time, I'm not an audio, I'm not Andrew Stokely, okay? I'm not an audio guy by trade.
So it's still, like, exciting to me to see Phantom Power in the wild.
And I'm like, yes, Phantom Power.
Okay, Fireworks.
This is the third single from Phantom Power,
which is the Tragically Hip's sixth studio album.
And it was released in,
can't believe how long ago it was now,
but November 98.
Wow.
Crazy.
You know, so many parts of the song too.
This part I love, you know,
I'm listening to in the background.
I'm like, how do I talk over this?
Okay.
Who will I pick on for this trivia?
Let me start with Tyler
because I can reach out and grab him here.
Okay.
Can you, this is the third single i mentioned can you name the first single from phantom power and then jamie we'll see if you can do the uh name the second single from phantom power first single
i know the poets right i know the first one poets is the first single from phantom power can you
jamie name the second single knowing that fireworks is the third single from Phantom Power. Can you, Jamie, name the second single knowing that Fireworks is the third single?
And again, another teaser.
You ready for this?
I'm going to kick out...
Well, we're going to kick out the fourth single
from Phantom Power later in this episode.
But Jamie, do you know the second single from Phantom Power?
I don't right now, no.
I know the first one was Poets.
Okay, it goes to Tyler then.
I feel like I'm Monty Hall here.
Okay, Tyler, do you want to steal this from Jamie?
So Poets, then a song, and then Fireworks.
And then a song we're going to play later.
Is it Escape Is At Hand?
No, that's a good guess.
Something On.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, of course.
It's funny.
Something On, because these monster. Oh, of course. It's funny. Something On
because these monster singles
come off of Phantom Power
and Something On
gets kind of buried
by the great noise
by the other singles,
I think.
So good.
Okay.
Phantom Power, by the way,
and this song
for what it's worth.
And I don't care about
charts and stuff.
It actually doesn't matter
of the Tragically Hip,
but this was a very successful
single for the tragically hip,
and it peaked at number nine
on Canada's RPM singles chart.
Can you guys name the producer?
Oh.
Steve Berlin.
Yeah, Steve Berlin.
Yeah, so Steve Berlin
from Los Lobos.
Los Lobos,
best known for creating
the Hebzeon Sports theme song
for five years.
All right.
And do I still have it loaded up in my board?
Steve Berlin from Los Lobos probably produced this jam as well.
Do the Murray.
Okay.
So shout out to a big hip fan and friend of Jake Gold.
Hebsey, Mark Hebsey.
Hebsey.
Shout out.
I hope he's enjoying his retirement here.
Okay.
I'm going to my board.
I'm just going to tell Tyler
I've got a meat lasagna for you in my freezer.
Actually, it's not in the freezer.
I had to make room
because Monica just went shopping.
It's right here in this red box right now.
You could chomp into it like Garfield.
I love me a palm of pasta lasagna.
Did you guys love Garfield,
the anthology books?
I used to get them at the book fairs and stuff of the Garfield
comics in the 80s. Oh yeah, sure.
Yeah, I love me some Garfield. Me too.
I was never into Garfield. No?
Is Jamie younger than us, Tyler?
I think maybe a little bit.
Maybe, okay. There was a period.
July 74. Oh my god.
We're all 74.
There's something about the year 1974
and the hip which was formed in
1984. Jamie, ask me
how I know that.
How do you know that? Tyler's wearing
a hip hoodie which says
the hip. Shouldn't it say the tragically
hip? It should say the tragically hip.
Consistency matters. Why does everything say the hip?
Since 1984 it says
on the album. Riddle us that Jake Gold. Come on Jake. Jake does everything say the hip? Since 1984, it says on the album. Riddle us that,
Jake Gold. Come on, Jake. Jake, tell me the truth.
Jake, is the hip okay, or is it just
you don't want tragically hip without the
but you're okay with hip without
tragically? I just need some direction here.
I'm sure I'll hear from Jake.
Hopefully, he's okay with all this.
Okay, so I'm now going to the
second jam from Jamie D, but I do want to quickly
just thank Palma Pasta
for sending over the lasagna for Tyler.
Palma Pasta is delicious, authentic Italian food.
They got four locations in Mississauga and Oakville.
All FOTMs know you go to palmapasta.com.
They're the best.
They cater a number of the TMLX events.
They catered my wedding 10 years ago.
Delicious.
Shout out to Palma Pasta.
You ready for your second jam, Jamie?
Too bad.
Wow.
I love this idea.
We should do it every May too for it.
But the same songs every time.
I shot a movie once in my hometown.
Everybody was in it for miles around.
Down at the speedway, some kind of Elvis thing.
So kind of feel this thing Well, I ain't no movie star
But I can get behind anything
Yeah, I can get behind anything
Let's do that
Head it out, get it all out Yeah, stretch that thing This is life. The driver likes his river, never likes the stars.
Rose of passion, rose of passion, man, something just threw him off.
Well, sometimes the faster it gets, the less you need to know.
But you gotta remember remember the smaller it gets
the further it's gonna
go when you blow
it high dough
when you blow
it high dough
you guys getting there over there
I'm pretty sure
it's genuine
Jamie Dew thank you for kicking out Blow It High Dough buddy it's a great'm pretty sure it's genuine Jamie Dew, thank you for kicking out
Blow It High Dough, buddy
It's a great song, isn't it?
Such a good song
And it brings me back to that first moment
I heard the Tragically Hip
Me as well, and that's why I selected it
Because I can imagine that
At this May 2, 4 party that I'm at
There's somebody who hasn't heard the hip before
And this is a great way... What parties are you going
to?
Jamie, seriously, I don't think I can
go to a party. I don't think
anyone there has not heard the hip.
What parties are you going to,
Jamie, do you know? It's a very international party.
Yeah, fair, fair.
And I don't know. I just
think, you know, it's a great
way to have that first listen.
It's just the buildup and then into that spectacular vocal
and then the chugging, thrusting guitars.
It's a driving, powerful song, and it makes you want to get up and dance
and in some cases makes you want to sing on a podcast
and you know
it's just a great song
fucking great song
Tyler what do you think?
yeah no it's fantastic
and that drive
of this song
shout out to Johnny Faye
for laying down that hi-hat beat
Stuart Copeland style on the hi-hat.
That's right.
So Gore Downey gets a lot of the attention
being this attention-grabbing, charismatic front man
with the killer whale tank rants
and just the look and the dancing.
And lest we forget, every member of this band is solid AF.
I love the fact they kind of like organically get together in Kingston or whatever.
What a happening.
This is like the Beatles, man.
It's like, oh yeah, I was going to high school.
George and John meet in high school or whatever.
And everyone but Ringo kind of buddies
from the local Liverpoolian or whatever high school.
This is amazing.
These guys all got together and they sound like this.
And they sounded like this through the end.
Yeah.
Like 13, 14 records, a couple of EPs, live records, greatest hits records.
It's all dynamite.
Yeah.
This song never fails.
It's all dynamite, like you said.
Shout out to J.J. Walker.
Was it J.J. Walker or Jimmy Walker?
Jimmy, quote, J.J. Walker. Oh, both okay i think it was i believe it was the jimmy i think jj was his
character name on good times and shout out to the gar the garfield who loved that man loved his
lasagna we love the garfield i don't know what he's up to these days but those uh those mid to late 80s anthologies, you know, Odell?
What was the name of the dog?
Odie.
Odie, yeah.
Yeah.
I liked the far side.
Well, that was smarter.
That was smarter.
Listen, as I matured, I realized how dumb Garfield was.
But I got to say, I had posters like, I hate Mondays.
Oh, fuck Mondays, man.
Because at these book fairs we'd have where I would get, you know, you're supposed to buy smart books and I would buy Garfield.
But they had posters too.
Like I would buy like a Garfield poster saying I hate Mondays and I would hang it on my wall.
I saw a meme the other day and it was a picture of Ted DiBiase wearing the million dollar tuxedo and the million dollar belt.
And it said, this is me with $7 marching into the Scholastic Book Fair when I was in grade three.
Yeah, for seven bucks,
you would get yourself a poster and a book.
Today, you don't even get a bookmark for seven bucks, right?
No, you make it like a bandit.
You're coming out like a bandit.
Wow, okay.
I wonder, I got to go to the Pirate Bay
and see if I can get some of those maybe in PDF format.
Who knows?
Okay.
Love that this, I love this song.
I love the version you chose.
Holy smokes.
I'm going to say that a lot,
but here's Tyler Campbell's
second hip jam
for this May 2-4 long weekend.
Do it.
I'm turning this song
into a movie.
Starring Peter O'Toole
as the curmudgeonly lighthouse keeper.
Woo!
Jodie Foster in the role of Susan.
I want to see that movie, man.
Right?
It would be Willem Dafoe, though, now.
Yeah.
It's called The Nurse Patient.
I had this dream where I relished the frame And the screaming filled my head all day Settling into the pocket of a lighthouse
Some rocky socket of the coast of France
Dear
An afternoon for a thousand men tied in the water. In here.
Five hundred more crashing.
Mad men as parasites.
Fight with your blood.
Scary.
As I've kicked this jam out many times,
because it comes up a lot on jam kickings,
I remember there's nowhere to fade down in this song.
No, there's not.
It's just like the waves.
There's no chorus.
There's no bridge.
And it works.
It has no right working like this.
So, Tyler, your jam, you start.
All right.
Jamie and I will chime in.
All right.
First trivia question for you, Mike.
What day was this live album, Live Between Us, released?
Oh, man, I don't know.
May 24th, 1997.
Wow, May 24th.
Yes, sir.
I should have guessed that, but I'm not so bright since my brain damaged.
So this is not a traditional campfire sing-along.
It's not your Scared or your Wheat Kings, which are like the platonic ideal of that genre.
But this is one of the songs that, you know, if you know the hip, you know the song, you know all the words.
It's fun to sing.
You can just belt it out.
Oh, yeah.
But is it wise?
Because you go boating on way too far long weekends a lot.
Is it a smart song to sing on a boat ride?
Sure.
It's like watching, you know.
It's like the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
It's like watching a plane crash movie on a film or on a flight.
Right. Yeah. Right.
Yeah.
Right.
So, you know, you could make an argument
that this song could fall into any of those categories.
It could be a drive-up song.
It could be a late-night hang song.
But this, for me, is a campfire song.
You know, it's probably played toward the end of the campfire
when, you know, the lightweights are starting to go to bed,
the drunk and obnoxious people are still around.
They're singing along.
They're listening to the live version
because they want to do the ad-libs that Gord does.
Right.
And it's just, I love this version.
I love the Peter O'Toole and Jodie Foster movie references.
The songs that he references at the end,
maybe we can bring it back up for his sort of outro ad-libs.
Yeah.
You're jamming.
You tell me.
You just go like this, like a conductor.
He sings the lyrics to two CanCon jams at the end. ad-libs. Yeah. You're a jam. You tell me. You just go like this, like a conductor.
He sings the lyrics to two CanCon jams
at the end.
One is...
Oh, here we go.
Penny Moore?
Bring it up here.
It's all I'll never do.
It's all I'll never do.
I come and I call out
and it's just one thing
And just one time I thought I'd let you go away
And just one time I thought I'd let you go away
Go
Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on
I want it till you tell
Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on
Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on
Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on
I want it till you tell
Come on I want to do your town There's a bad time to ignore
Cause we don't give a shit no more
If you want help, don't look next door
Mistakes are drawn in my mind
I'm not done enough Next door, mistakes are drawn in my mind
Haven't I done enough to burn out?
Haven't I been there to help out? Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,
What a perfect segue, Tyler Campbell.
Perfect, because that song I'm hearing at the end there,
It's a Bad Time to Be Poor,
is a real static song.
I believe in response to Mike Harris' cuts.
That's right.
And you, my friend, let's reveal this now.
You're a volunteer delivery person for the west end phoenix
west end phoenix that's right amazing published by cool dave badini right look at this it's all
coming together now this is exciting listen up everybody we have tickets to and i want tyler to
uh share some info about this but it's called do, do we call it WEP Fest or WEP Fest?
Yeah, I think you could call it WEP Fest.
WEP Fest.
So WEP, of course, is West End Phoenix, WEP.
WEP Fest is three days of stories, ideas, and music.
And where is this happening?
It's at the Transat Club,
which is Brunswick and Bloor.
Brunswick and Bloor, the Transat Club.
Okay.
And it's three days.
So it's like Tuesday, May 23rd.
It's Thursday, May 25th.
And it's Saturday, May 27th.
What's going on?
And before you tell us what's going on,
I'll just let all FOTMs listening know
that we have a pair of tickets to each of these days.
So Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday,
we've got a pair of tickets courtesy of Dave Bedini
and it's all because Tyler Campbell
does a great job delivering the West End Phoenix.
So tell us
more about the event and then we have to on the fly
decide how we give away the tickets.
Yeah, sure. So yeah, it's three days.
So Dave and the gang
at West End Phoenix
put together... Dave Bedini's going to be
there. I believe going to be there.
I believe he'll be there. And he'll take a selfie with you.
Sure he will.
Will he wear the hat?
Generally, he wears hats.
Okay, gotcha.
Yeah, yeah.
Yes.
Yeah.
Might be the fedora.
It might be a ball cap, you know, but he'll be wearing a hat.
He'll be wearing a hat.
Yeah.
Okay.
So, yeah, it's three days.
So, the first day, the 23rd, it's a book launch.
Cory Doctorow, who's like a sci-fi kind of futurist writer.
Kind of a big deal. Kind of a big deal.
Conversation with Ron Deibert, who's
a great professor and writer
and Dr. Nancy Oliveri.
May 25th,
the Thursday, it's an album launch
with John Southworth.
And we got some sad news
just the other day. That's right.
I believe his father just passed away. His father just passed
away. Oh. Who was a musician
in his own right. Interesting.
Actually, let's shout out Mark Weisblot
from 1236 who tipped us off.
Yeah. Interesting musician,
interesting career, John Southworth's
father. And in a moment I'll
take up this gentleman's name. But
I would, you know, it would be, I would say shout
out to Ridley Funeral Home, but this just happened.
So I won't say that, but I will let people know
that Mark Weisblot himself is coming on Toronto
Mic'd in early June and he hasn't been on
Toronto Mic'd in 2023.
That's huge.
That's going to be like an eight hour episode.
That is huge.
So yeah, John Southworth and the South Seas.
Yeah.
And Elamin Abdel-Makmoud, who would be an
excellent guest if you could ever get him on, on the show. He's an excellent writer. Oh, I do it in a heartbeat. Yeah. And Elamin Abdelmakmoud, who would be an excellent guest if you could ever get him on the show.
He's an excellent writer.
Oh, I do it in a heartbeat.
Yeah.
And Samir Kash,
who is another excellent musician.
Any relation to Andrew Kash?
I believe it's his son.
Yeah, there you go.
Okay.
And then the 27th,
which is the Saturday,
is the Queer Songbook Orchestra.
Special guests,
Nico Stratis,
who's a great writer,
Lucas Silvera, Jacqueline Valencia, is the Queer Songbook Orchestra. Special guests, Nico Stratis, who's a great writer, Lucas Silvera,
Jacqueline Valencia, Phoebe
Wang, Carrie Manders, lots more.
So that'll be a fun event as well.
Okay, so it's $50 for all three
days. You get a pass for $50, which
is a great deal. And you go to westandphoenix.com
to pick that up. But we have, like I said,
a pair of tickets for each night. So
maybe it's as simple as this.
Tweet at Toronto Mike,
tweet your favorite May 2-4 hip song.
What is your favorite tragically hip song
to listen to in the May 2-4 long weekend?
Tweet it at Toronto Mike,
and then I'll DM you to get the details.
I send to Dave Bedini to get you your pair
of tickets first come first serve here I've got
a pair for each night tell me what night you want
you want the Tuesday the Thursday
or the Saturday and
again shout out to Dave
Bedini who's a good FOTM and
good on you Mr.
Campbell for delivering that
fine independent newspaper
it's a lot of fun and And Dave's a cool guy.
And there's lots of, I mean, it's a great
paper as well.
There's lots of great writers who are writing
every issue.
And Nautical Disaster is a fucking amazing
song.
And that whole line, I remember listening to
him sing that song when we knew he was
terminally ill.
I remember the line, headed for home.
It's like, it always,
like I would just cry listening to that words and thinking about that context.
For sure.
And the other,
the other King Kong jam,
which,
which sings it's a temple by Jane Sibury.
Okay.
See,
I missed that one.
Yeah.
Did you know that Jamie?
Did not.
Okay.
I feel better now.
Jamie's much smarter than you and I,
Tyler.
Well,
he is.
Yeah.
Um,
but I love that.
I love that live version.
I think as we've said earlier, I think the live versions,
as great as the album versions are,
the live versions always outstrip the studio versions
just because there's so much energy, there's so much passion.
You know, you get the unpredictability of Gord,
you get the band kind of following along.
And that's a perfect example of a live version
that really just pushes a song to another dimension.
Jamie Doo, what's your thoughts on Nautical Disaster?
Definitely one of my favorite tracks of all time.
I've performed it live.
I've got to, in university, my first year,
end of my first year,
I got some of my friends to learn it
who were in a band who were doing a show.
And they called me up just to do one song
and we just nailed it.
Like it was an epic
moment in my life it just felt so cool because i remember where i was the first time i heard
this song um it was at uh at the roadside attraction on my 19th birthday uh in between
new orleans and zincon you know they launched it in the middle of New Orleans is Sinking. And it's like, holy Jesus.
So many songs come out of the jam that break in New Orleans is Sinking.
The first time I ever heard it was also in the middle of New Orleans is Sinking
at the Kumbaya Festival.
Shout out to Molly Johnson.
Yeah, that they broadcast on MuchMusic.
And Gord's wearing his Save the Humans sweatshirt.
And I believe the way he introduced
New Orleans Sinking is
no Canadian band,
no Canadian musician
would be anything without a song
about a nautical disaster. This song is called
Nautical Disaster. And then they go into
New Orleans Sinking.
So great.
And lest we forget, that's one of the two songs
that they tragically hit
performed live
on Saturday Night Live.
That's right.
That's right.
Yeah.
Okay, yeah.
Grace too.
Because I had this chat
with Jake Gold in the program.
Why not?
Because you're introducing
Americans to this great
Canadian band
that we already love.
Why not do a,
I don't know,
greatest hits of sorts?
Like maybe give them,
I don't know, New Orleans is sinking and I don't know, greatest hits of sorts? Like maybe give them, I don't know, New Orleans is Sinking
and I don't know, Courage or something, whatever.
And they, no, they did their two current singles, if you will,
from the new album, just as if they were doing Ralph Ben-Murigy live.
Thoroughly perplexing the American audience.
Right.
And then again, the famous story confirmed by many,
including Jake Old on this program, but of course the that the first line of uh grace too that's right uh gourd uh just heard
them introduce dan akroyd introduced the tragically hip and it's you know supposed to be a fabulously
rich and he says tragically hip but that's a mistake well because he was going to do some
little signal or shout out to his nephew i think that's right and he he just
kind of he blanked for a second and the only the only thing he could think of think to sing was
tragically hip amazing yeah i saw the tragically hip on new year's eve 1999 and uh with my first
wife and my dear friend rosie we were together. And this is the song that the Tragically Hip played right after we counted down to midnight
and realized that Y2K wasn't going to shut down the Air Canada Center.
This is my second May 2-4 Hip Jam. First thing we climb a tree
And maybe then we talk
Or sit silently
And listen to our thoughts
illusions of someday
cast in a golden light
no dress rehearsal
this is our life And that's where the hornets stung me
And I had a feverish dream
With revenge and doubt
Tonight we smoke them out
Tyler, sing it with me, brother!
You are ahead by a century
You are ahead by a century
You are ahead by a century
Ahead by a century. Ahead by a century.
Wow.
Speaking of lyrics that sounded different when we learned we were going to lose Gord,
I'm telling you, that no dress rehearsal, This Is Our Life,
that one hit so differently in that final tour by the Tragic Clip.
And I think that was 2016 2016 if I remember correctly.
This is the lead single
from their fifth studio album.
This is from Trouble
at the Hen House.
Another big hit. This is one of the biggest
tragically hip singles in
Canadian, in Canada.
It was... I think it is.
It is absolutely number one.
It was one, this is a fact, think it is absolutely the number one. It was one...
This is a fact.
It was one of the
10 most played songs
in Canada in 1996.
So of all the songs,
and that includes,
you know,
let me think,
that includes like
Oasis,
Pearl Jam,
you name it.
You name the big
fucking artists.
Canada.
Okay.
Wow.
Okay, Blue Jays.
Okay, Blue Jays,
which was played
six... Let image of the math
On this
162 divided by 2
Played many times
And
It was nominated
For best single
At the 1997
Juno Awards
How does it not win?
Who's going to find out
Who won that?
Find out who won
Best single
How does a head
By a century Not win that award? out who won best single. How does a head by a century
not win that award?
1997 Junos
best single.
Tyler,
the VP of sales
is Googling it.
That's bananas.
Yeah,
it's fucking bananas.
They won group
of the year
that year.
They won group
of the year,
but this did not win
single of the year.
Bullshit.
I demand a recount.
Is it too late?
Oh, here we go. Here we go. go uh single oh well the the song that won was ironic by atlantis oh i atlantis did it again okay
all right okay well that's a big thing fair enough okay fine all right so we're talking
quite a bit about the final tour and the last show which i I remember was August 20th in Kingston.
I watched it, of course, in...
I say of course because all listeners
know I was in Inganish, Nova Scotia
on a road trip of my family
and we watched the final hip
concert from August
20, 2016.
This was the final song
performed by the
Tragically Hip at their final concert on August 20, 2016.
And the day that they announced Gord Downie's death,
and I remember coming into my basement,
playing Fiddler's Green and recording something.
It's in the feed right now, if you find it.
That was October 18, 2017.
That sad day.
Seven years ago.
Almost seven years ago.
Such a sad day.
And this was the, this
song, Ahead by a Century, was the
most played song on Canadian radio
that day. So of all the tragically
hip songs when radio stations across
this country were marking the death
of Gore Downie, this
was the most, the most
preferred song, Ahead
by a Century.
Hey, Jamie, do you recall the original lyrics for this song?
I do, yeah.
No pun intended on do.
Yeah.
It's first thing we climb a tree and maybe then we talk.
I touch your cunt, you touch my cock.
Then maybe marriage, then maybe man and wife. No dressunt. You touch my cock. Then maybe marriage.
Then maybe man and wife. No dress
rehearsal. This is our life.
Would the bank still have picked it up? Because I
hear it in bank commercials now.
Or Ann with an E.
That's right. It was the theme to Ann with an E.
Right. Ann with an E. But is it
Scotiabank? I don't remember which bank. I think it was Scotiabank.
It could be TD. It could be anything. You're right.
But it's an instrumental version. Or maybe it's not even maybe it's kids singing
or is that like a canadian tire commercial it was like you know what there was canadian
tires is this jake gold's doing the catalog is for sale everybody call jake and make a deal but
i'm hearing it all over the place like and how do you feel about that as a as a fan of the hip
as we kick them out here for the may 24 like like i'll start with you tyler but how do you feel when
you watch a Canadian Tire
ad or a bank commercial
and you hear one of these great hits?
I don't blame
any artist or band for
monetizing. It's hard
to make money, so I don't
blame them. Well, they can't tour anymore. They can't tour anymore,
exactly. Well, they can, I guess, but they couldn't tour
anymore. Yeah, exactly. So I don't
blame them, but at the same time, I kind of hate it
because it's like I'm hearing it.
It's like an annoying version.
It's on all the time.
It just gets in your head as an earworm.
And yeah, I can't say I'm a fan.
Jamie, what do you think of that?
I like it.
To me, it's an extension of the brand.
You know, like you get to hear the music in different contexts
and different realms.
And it keeps it, you know, permanent.
It keeps it fresh.
I've been able to, you know, introduce my kids to some of it through a Scotiabank commercial.
Through a Scotiabank commercial.
Hey kids, let's watch a Scotiabank commercial together.
I just realized this is why at least three members of the band have been on your podcast and zero members of the band have been on my podcast.
Because you're even okay with them in a bank commercial.
Of course.
You're playing ball with these guys.
I want them to be compensated.
Plus Jamie pays them to be on
another show. I pay in
lasagna and beer. That's pretty good here.
It is good.
We talked about all the songs that have come out of
New Orleans is Sinking,
The Bridge or whatever. The jams they do during these live performances.
This is another one of those.
So Ahead by a Century was developed by the improvised bridge jams during live performances of New Orleans is Sinking.
That's a fun fact for all of you.
I found that fun.
Please enjoy my fun facts here.
Okay.
I will take a moment to shout out
recyclemyelectronics.ca
because that's where you go, Jamie,
if you have some old electronics,
some old devices,
some old tech
that you want to dispose of.
You don't throw that
in the garbage.
The chemicals in there
end up in the landfills.
It's terrible for Mother Earth
and everybody that lives on this wonderful planet Earth.
Go to recyclemyelectronics.ca
and find a place near you
where you can drop it off for safe disposal.
You won't need to drop off the new wireless speaker.
I'm giving Tyler Campbell right now.
Tyler Campbell, that wireless speaker is yours.
A wireless speaker.
Jamie, I owe you a wireless speaker,
but Moneris sent that over i'm drinking beer while i talk so it's gonna just degrade here but
maneras sent over the wireless speaker because they want you to use that to listen to season four
of yes we are open which is an award-winning podcast hosted by FOTM Al Grego, who just lost his streak of consecutive TMLX events.
Great to see you, Tyler, at TMLX 12.
Great to be there.
Great to see you.
I missed seeing Al's cuddly face.
He went to 11 in a row, and then he finally missed one.
Now Michael Lang.
Ugh, that guy.
Michael Lang.
Fuck that guy.
Shout out to Langeranger who has a wonderful feud
with Tyler Campbell here.
Langer is 12
for 12. We celebrate Langer
today and we also
encourage you to subscribe to Al Grego's
excellent and inspiring podcast.
Jamie, it'll inspire the heck out of you
because he interviews small business owners
and entrepreneurs about how they're doing with their
business and it'll inspire you, Jamie.
Very cool.
Yes, we are open.
You got it.
Season four, ready for your ears.
Final jams for all of us,
but then it's a bit of a psych out
because we're going to kick out our final jam
and then we're all like the communal final jam
we're going to kick out to close off this great show.
But Jamie, here is your third jam.
All right.
All right. The Reactor's down
I guess for Labor Day today
It's the first day I ain't seen a grape
Too much steam from across the lake
From across the lake
Hey, that's a morning
Yeah the late Hey that's a morning Yeah
I'm not
making straight
You said someone's
paying
When something's too cheap
Somebody's paying something
You said someone's
paying something And said someone's paying something
Is there a morning?
Yeah, yeah
Say those little things that don't make anyone feel better
Yeah
It didn't take too much to upset her
Nothing that could clear the room
To say one little thing that could make me feel better
Under this morning moon
Yeah Under this morning moon Yeah
Yeah
Jamie, thank you for kicking out Morning Moon
because I feel like maybe we've been a bit predictable.
I feel like, oh, you could guess a lot of the jams we've kicked out so far,
but I feel like Morning Moon will surprise some people
as one of your three May 2-4 jams.
Talk to me about it.
Yeah, I wanted to go a little bit off the page,
off the script, I suppose.
The beaten path, if you will.
The beaten path, yes.
We Are The Same is an album that is divisive.
There are many people who consider it
among their favorite records. There are many people who consider it among their favorite records. There are many
people who consider it the very worst of the Tragical Half. I think it's somewhere, you know,
somewhere in the middle is the truth. And I think this is a standout song on the record. It reminds
me of driving in a car. It reminds me of AM radio. It's just got a really here and now sort of vibe to it.
And the here and now in this case is, you know, May 2, 4,
and the morning after, the fire might still be a little bit, you know, emery.
Everybody is a little worse for the wear.
But, you know, you're putting on this song,
and everybody's, you know's just sort of singing along
as they make breakfast.
Yes.
Maybe even cracking their first beer.
Who knows?
The hair of the dog.
That's right.
Yeah, no, that's exactly right, Jamie.
That's the fourth sort of time
when you need those songs
is in the morning
when you're just kind of getting yourself together.
And this is a perfect example of that.
And it's a great example,
I think of sort of that late period hip where Gord's voice is really kind of
expanded.
He's really learned to be a singer and,
and has is showing off his range and it sounds beautiful.
Like it's,
it's really,
really lovely to listen to.
Yeah.
Great.
I love it.
It is that kind of
come down song
or whatever.
Like, it's just
sweet AF
as the kids are saying now.
And it's,
yeah, you've partied hard.
Now it's the next morning.
It's inspired choice too
because
a lot of times
you'll hear people
talk about the hip,
hip, hip, hip, hip
and then it's like,
what?
Like, everything ends
at the end of the 90s? It's like, no, there's
still a lot of great hip to come.
For sure. I do
love that album, too. There's some
just absolutely amazing songs on it.
Tyler Campbell.
Yes, sir. Let's do it. Again,
a reminder, we have a communal jam
at the end, but this is Tyler's last
independent choice here.
I just thought
like when people do tweet at toronto mike and they tell me their favorite tragically hip song
for the may 2 4 weekend and they they gotta let me know of course in the dms at least uh let me
know which night of the uh wep wep fest the west end phoenix fest night they want. Maybe use the hashtag WEPFEST,
W-E-P-F-E-S-T.
It might make my life a little easier
to make sure that I get the tickets to you.
So that's a late-breaking request
by yours truly.
Late-breaking story.
Late-breaking story on the CBC.
That's a great song,
but that's not a May 2-4 long weekend jam
by the hip as far as I'm concerned.
Okay.
So I will tell you about, quickly here, tell you about the Moment Lab, because they specialize in public relations.
They have a team of experienced professionals who know how to craft stories that resonate with your audience and generate positive media coverage.
I'm more than honored to introduce you to Matt and Jared at the Moment Lab, and you can learn more about how they can help you
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So I want to thank the Moment Lab
for fueling the real talk here
and helping make great episodes like this possible.
Tyler Campbell, you ready for your final jam?
You know it. guitar solo In September of
Isle of Moor
The desultory sea
Grew more so through the night
And made one think of
The tawny paws
And Aspen drum
Tomorrow's the road light
And a palooza bankhead
From Canada
Somewhere far off
Peaceful sleeping
And done with acting
Past the dire wolves there Somewhere far off, peaceful, sleeping, and done with acting.
Past the dire wolves of the land.
Newfoundland's a call.
Close to nowhere.
Halfway across.
Nevermore here.
Spence getting broader.
No bigger boat spin. Done by this water. This is the end of the show. Done by less water The dire wolf Yes, guy.
Oops.
Yes, guy.
Oh, now I owe Taddy another 200 bucks.
Thank you, Tyler.
You know how much of my money he has?
He's a rich man.
So, you know, this is the late night hang song.
Everyone's gone to bed. There's a few people left So, you know, this is the late night hang song. Everyone's gone to bed.
There's a few people left, maybe two or three.
And these are the songs that are like, you know,
you're sort of prone to philosophizing, orating,
thinking about the deep meaning behind these lyrics in this song.
You know, you're into whatever leftover bottle of who knows what
you could find in the kitchen.
This song
is also about a nautical disaster.
It's 1828.
There's a brig called the
Despatch, which was sinking off the Isle of Morn
in Newfoundland.
163 people are on board, and they were
saved by a family, the Harveys, and their
Newfoundland dog named Harryman.
Huh?
I didn't know that. Yeah.
Did you know that, Jamie?
I believe Greg told me that story when we were
recording the
fully and completely. Yeah.
But I didn't know it going
in for sure, no. And it's, I love
this song so much. Like, it's just such a, like,
the lyrics are so beautifully
crafted and just the little turns of phrase,
like done by this water done by less water,
the Newfoundland pause,
the Newfoundlands pause.
Like it's just such a beautifully composed song.
Yeah.
Uh,
it's also inspired by a poem,
uh,
by Wallace Stevens called sea surface full of clouds,
which starts if I may,
uh,
in that November off to Wantepec,
the slopping of the sea grew still one night
and in the morning summer
hued the deck and made one think
of rosy chocolate and gilt umbrellas.
Paradisal green gave
suavity to the perplexed machine of ocean
which like limpid water lay.
So he's taken
some of the... Wow.
He always was a very literate thinking man's yeah
so he sort of took the the the lyrical structure that wallace stevens had had laid down and and
twisted it and and wrote his own story with it but this song this song to me is that late night
hang you're with like maybe two other people and just belting it out because you're
the only ones who know it you i love the way you structured like i know jamie gave you props but
my turn now to give you props vp of sales i don't care if you sell a fucking thing you i you got a
great voice and great uh perspective on this these things and uh love having you on this May 2 for a hip celebration.
Fantastic to be here.
Jamie,
any thoughts on the dire wolf before I kick out my final jam?
I mean,
the record that it comes on is a record that everybody needs to listen to
more.
It's a violet light.
And it just seems like one of those records that again,
like Tyler was talking about and Mike was talking about,
people forget that the hip existed after,
you know,
1999,
but they're there and there's really great records.
And In Violet Light is probably one of the,
you know,
better records on the latter half of the,
of the,
of the run.
You know,
if you like Phantom Power,
give In Violet Light a listen.
For sure.
Yeah.
In the forest of
whispering speakers you should listen to uh inviolate do you remember that last tour
remind me guys uh which shows did you guys see in the final tragically hip tour i saw the middle one
the middle one okay and that was so i saw the middle one too which when it was originally
announced was the last one that's. And then they added the third one
which I couldn't have made anyway
because we were on a road trip
to Prince Edward Island.
But Tyler,
did you get to any of those?
I did.
I was at the last one.
You were at the last one.
Well, the last Toronto one.
The last, yeah.
Yeah.
Of course, yeah.
Now,
so you and I were at the same one, Jamie.
And the way they,
that tour was like
they had blocks of like albums.
Like there was an
in violet light block or whatever and
i remember uh thinking to myself it's an underappreciated album and it's beautiful
beautiful album in violet light and i even like the artwork and everything with that album it's
tremendous me too okay my five we're almost done here i can't believe it i'm glad okay so the great
lakes is fueling me and i i need it for this next jam because I kicked out this jam. I think this is one of my favorite
hip songs of all time from
what might be my, like look now
many years, so it was like 89 I
guess when I first discovered the Tragically
Hip. So here we are so many decades later
and the album I probably go
to return to the most often
is Road Apples. I'm staring
off at the
vinyl, the vinyl,
the Road Apples,
not that I can play it because I don't actually have a record player,
but I have the vinyl for Road Apples
and I still return to it.
I mean, my wedding song is on there
and this jam was like the big single
and when I hear it,
I just want to drink my Great Lakes beer.
So I'm going to listen to this.
I'm going to drink my beer
and I'm going to celebrate
the May 2-4 long weekend.
Are you guys with me?
I'm with you. Let's do it.
Yes.
Little Bones.
Little Bones.
Get your drink on. Get your Great Lakes.
Let's go. Then I'll butter your cute finger up It's the start of another new year
Then I'll call the newspaper up
Two fifty for a hot bar
And a bucket of half more beer
Happy hour, happy hour
Happy hour is here The long-necked shot, clear gone
So is football, Kennedy style
Famous last was taken on wrong
Wind up on the very same pile
250 for a decade
And I'm a fucking half for a year
Happy hour, happy hour
Happy hour is here
I can cry begging why
Tell me wherever I find
Just to give me life
I'm confused to describe the tip
Baby, eat this chicken stone
It's full of bob and little bones
Baby, eat this chicken stone Not only the first song, the first track on Road Apples,
but also the first singles.
And you know what it's like when there's that big album up to here
and there's so much
anticipation like this is what i miss this is what i miss the most of being like a teenager
where music was all that fucking mattered is that that anticipation for the follow-up like i remember
it like with verses from pearl jam and in utero from nirvana and of course road apples like oh
the follow-up and then you get that lead single that hits radio yeah and this was Road Apples like oh the follow up and then you get that lead single
that hits radio
and this was it
it's like this hit
in much music
radio's playing
the new single
and you listen
and you're like
I'm so fucking ready
for this new hip album
like just
just hook this shit
to my vein
and that was
Little Bones man
the first single
from the
big
the album
after the big album, you discovered
the band. That should be a toast
theme. I think it should be a surprise. But okay.
I'm going to shout out some songs that are on Road Apples
because Jamie
shouted out fully, completely, which
is such... So many big singles off
that. So well produced. But lest
we forget, Little
Bones, Twist My
Arm, Cordelia, Long Time Running, Three Pistols, Fiddler's Green, The Last of the Unplugged Gems.
All of that and more.
What an album.
On Road Apples.
What an album.
Jamie, what do you think of Road Apples, buddy?
It's a stone cold classic.
You know, and it's just an embarrassment
of riches on that record it's it's to think that they were writing those types of songs
you know that were so catchy i i call that the the early the early phase of the hip and i'm sure
most people do uh but but but really you know they're they're landing they're sick in the landing at
this point and getting ready to you know wrap up that era with fully completely but up to here
road apples and fully completely just have an essential place in my library and you referenced
earlier you referenced uh saskadelphia which was the original name for road apples right and this
was a lot of those songs we hear on Saskadelphia came out of
the sessions for Road Apples, right? That's right, yeah.
Absolutely. Yeah, this was the first album that... Sorry, Jamie.
No, no, no. Tyler, please. Let's hear those beautiful pipes.
Yeah, no, this was the first album that really, really hooked me. I had heard
sort of New Orleans Sinking and Blow It High Dough,
but I bought this on cassette in the summer of 91,
and I listened to it almost every day, back to back, like all the way through.
It was just every song, killer.
It's a playthrough.
For sure.
And as we speak, it is mid-May, and in mid-June,
I celebrate my 10th wedding anniversary to the lovely Monica Rina.
And she agreed that our wedding song would be Long Time Running.
So that's how sweet she is.
And yeah, just such great jams on this album.
I mean, and Fiddler's Green, again, was the first CD,
the first compact disc I ever bought.
Oh, wow.
Oh, mine was Forever Your Girl by Paula Abdul,
but I'm going to delete this.
I'm going to edit this in post so that never gets out there.
I don't want anybody to know.
I'm not even sure I remember what the first CD I bought was.
It was not.
I remember the first vinyl I bought was Rio by Duran Duran,
and the first cassette I bought was Built for Speed by the Stray Cats.
Well, that was the first LP I ever bought was Built for Speed.
I loved it.
Yeah, it was great.
Great album.
Yeah, yeah.
Rock This Town and Stray Cats Strut.
Oh, wow.
Somebody was over.
Oh, Alison Dora was over here just last week.
And I said, oh, where do you live these days?
And she goes, I live in Brighton.
And then I broke into-
Rumble in Brighton.
It's a rumble in Brighton tonight.
Bring side seats for the neighborhood fight. Yeah, rumble in Brighton tonight, which broke into Rumble in Brighton. It's a Rumble in Brighton tonight. Bring side seats for the neighborhood
fight. Yeah, Rumble in Brighton
tonight, which is from Built for Speed. That's right.
I loved Built for Speed. That was a great album.
Wow. Okay. So next year
let's all get together and kick out our
favorite Stray Cats, James,
for the May Too Far Long weekend.
Alright, I'm just killing time because
I know it's coming to an end and I'm
enjoying the Great Lakes. I'm enjoying the company.
I'm enjoying the tunes.
They sound so great in the headphones
and whether you call them the Tragically Hip
or Tragically Hip or Hip or The Hip,
the music is what matters and it's incredible.
Are you guys ready?
This is a song we share,
so none of us picked this,
but I am of the opinion this is
the definitive
May 2-4
hip song. I'll play it
and then we'll all talk about it. You ready?
Yes. You betcha.
Oh, it's so good!
Woo! I left your house this morning
About a quarter after nine
Could have been the Willie Nelson
Could have been the wine
But when I left your house this morning
It was a little after nine
It was in Bob Cajun
I saw the constellations
Reveal themselves one star at a time
Okay, but we all have to cheer when he says that night in Toronto, okay?
I want to hear Jamie.
I want to hear you.
I want to hear Tyler.
Just a big cheer when he says that night in Toronto.
I drove back to town this morning
With working on my mind I thought of maybe quitting
Thought of leaving it behind
Went back to bed this morning
And as I'm pulling down the lines
Yeah, the sky was dull and hypothetical
And falling one cloud at a time
That night in Toronto
And it's checkered flowers
Running on horseback And keeping water restored Oh, man. in 20. Woo!
Oh, man.
Well, now the May 2-4 weekend
may commence. We're ready now.
Jamie, let's start with you.
I know we all want to say something about
Bob Cajun, but let's start with you.
Jamie Du, host and producer
of Getting Hip to the Hip.
So, finish this episode and actually pause the episode right now.
Subscribe to that podcast and then come back.
Jamie, Bob Cajun, what a jam.
What a jam indeed, right?
It's, I mean, it's about a cottage community.
It's talking about the artistry of the night sky
and the constellations within it.
It oozes me too far.
It oozes me too far.
It talks of wine and Willie Nelson.
There's nothing better at a campfire than beer and Willie Nelson,
but I'll take the wine if it's going around.
Can I ask you about this?
Okay, so let me ask you.
Now, when I listened to this song
when it was new
and that was in,
you know,
it came out in February 1999.
It was a single from Phantom Power.
I mentioned we'd hear more
from Phantom Power.
What an album Phantom Power is.
Look at the singles
that came off of Phantom Power.
Yeah.
It's strong.
It's really strong.
This song won Juno Award
for Single of the Year in 2000.
There was no Alanis beating them on this one.
So 2000, okay.
But that line, okay,
could have been the Willie Nelson.
Okay, so I interpreted it
as the music of Willie Nelson,
but I have subsequently been told
that was code for cannabis.
Oh, yeah.
Have you guys heard that?
So they're talking about,
yeah.
So could have been the Willie Nelson could have been the wine.
Is that taken both ways?
Is that open to interpretation?
Yeah,
sure.
Has anyone commented on it from the band?
Because now I think it does mean cannabis,
but forever.
I thought it was literally Willie Nelson.
I mean,
they were probably playing some Willie at the same time.
Sure.
I mean, here's the thing we know about this band that maybe we didn't know back in the
Road Apples days.
This is a band that we envisioned making Road Apples, drinking Labatt's Blue or Molson
Canadian, or fully completely for that matter.
But this was a band that was a weed-smoking band from the beginning.
Shocking.
What?
Shocking. I? Shocking.
I mean, with their rolling papers now
and for a time
they had their own strains of marijuana.
Cannabis friendly.
Yeah.
That was code probably.
Willie Nelson was code for cannabis.
I'm hip to it now.
Pun intended.
Tyler, what do you think of Bob Cajun?
An appropriate way to end
the May 2-4 hip special.
That really is the ultimate May 2-4 hip special? That really is the ultimate
May 2-4 song. That is
a campfire classic for sure.
And just
again, everyone
singing it, belting it out.
Bob Cajun,
beautiful little town
just outside Peterborough.
But it could be any town.
Okay, so I have some info on this.
Oh, here we go.
So what was key to Gord was he needed something to rhyme with Constellation.
There you go.
Okay.
Not too many words rhyme with Constellation.
But I'm going to take a, I read this on Wikipedia.
Okay, so I'm going to read it verbatim as it's at this moment.
Anyways, this is how it's written on the Wikipedia page for the Bob Cajun song.
Okay.
This is how it's written on the Wikipedia page for the Bob Cajun song. Okay.
The song resulted in the town of Bob Cajun coming to occupy what has been described as a mythical place in Canada's collective imagination as the archetype of a Canadian cottage country paradise.
So I actually am unfamiliar with Bob Cajun.
Like, what was it before this song?
I know, I think that wiki nails it. Now it's like
a myth. It's a mythical place
in our collective imagination that
it's the May 2-4 long weekend.
Let's imagine ourselves on the waterfront
and Bob Cajun
listening to the Tragically Hip
and it does sound to me
like paradise.
And in my mind's eye
as I listen to the beautiful
composition that is Bob Cajun,
I'm there, man.
I got my Great Lakes. I'm there.
I'm happy. Tyler, are you happy?
I'm happy, man. It's the best.
It's, yeah.
Nowhere else I'd rather be.
What's important here is, is Jamie
do happy. Jamie, this was great fun.
Thanks for doing this. Are you there?
I'm always thrilled to be on your show,
man.
Always.
And talking to hip is one of my favorite things to do.
So clearly because you're getting hip to the hip in your new podcast and I
wish you much success.
I mentioned earlier that yes,
we are open was an award winning podcast.
I can tell you Toronto Mike has never won any awards,
but I will bet that getting hip to the hip will win you multiple awards,
and I wish you much luck with it.
Thanks a lot, Mike. That means a lot.
Now, I don't know these places that give out the awards.
It could be just some guy in his basement making it.
Maybe it's you, Jamie.
Maybe I have to pay for it.
That's right.
You win, but it's going to cost
you five grand, but then you can tell people
you're an award-winning podcaster.
That's right.
This will be the first time
I fade down
rosy and gray.
Only like ten seconds after we finish
talking, but I want to thank you again, Jamie,
for zooming in
and kicking out some May 2-4
Tragically Hip Jams. Thank you very much.
Tyler Campbell, always a pleasure.
Always a pleasure. You know, I don't give a fuck
if you sell anything. You're always going to be my
VP of sales. That's right. One day.
One day I'll sell something.
I believe it.
And that
brings us to the end
of our 1,257th
episode of Toronto Mic'd.
You can follow me on Twitter.
I'm at Toronto Mic.
Jamie,
I knew you were something
like you were fully podcast
and then you became something else.
What is the Twitter handle you want to promote here?
Best place to find me right now is at getting hip to the hip.
Getting hip to the hip.
That was available?
Wow.
Okay.
So follow Jamie at getting hip to the hip.
Tyler, how can people follow you?
They can follow me at Tyler A. Campbell on Twitter.
I don't tweet a whole lot, but hey, say hi.
You can just retweet my stuff.
Yeah, that's pretty much all I do.
Great Lakes Brewery, that's your best friend for the long weekend.
They're at Great Lakes Beer.
Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta.
Tyler, you got your lasagna.
Can't wait.
Shout out to Garfield.
Maneris is at Maneris. You got your lasagna. Can't wait. Shout out to Garfield. Mineris is at Mineris.
You got your speaker.
Recycle My Electronics are at EPRA underscore Canada.
The Moment Lab are at The Moment Lab.
And Ridley Funeral Home are at Ridley FH.
Brad Jones, who's the funeral director at Ridley Funeral Home,
literally gifted me two tickets to the Blue Jays game tonight.
And I'm going to be sitting in his seats with my oldest daughter, Michelle,
as the Jays take on the Baltimore Orioles.
And I know you two gentlemen will be there later in the weekend,
so I'll try to get us off to a winning start here.
See you all next week.
But I wonder who Yeah, I wonder who
Maybe the one who doesn't realize
There's a thousand shades of gray