Musicians pick dream Tragically Hip set list

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This article was published 23/07/2016 (3689 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

With the Tragically Hip’s much-anticipated Man Machine Poem tour kicking off last night in Victoria, B.C., many longtime Hip aficionados are imagining a dream set list constructed from the band’s vast catalogue of classic Canadian songs.

The 15-concert run stretches across much of Canada — they perform in Winnipeg on Aug. 5 — giving Gord Downie and his cronies plenty of opportunity to mix up the set lists and keep fans on their toes.

Before the band steps onto the stage, we asked some musicians which song they’d most like to hear and why it resonates with them.

Raine Maida of Our Lady Peace — Grace, Too

“In 2004, I travelled to Darfur with War Child (an organization that works with children in war zones). We were provided housing in a United Nations shack. It was three of us and two UN personnel who were stationed there to decide whether the unspeakable sadness in Darfur was in fact genocide or not.

“Not long after I returned from Sudan I came across an article on Grace, Too. The journalist wrote that Gord described the song as being about the UN and the complexities surrounding this controversial entity. This blew my mind and I immediately began re-evaluating the song, trying to decipher the lyrics and apply my personal experience — I’d witnessed the UN ego and power first hand.

“His lyric about ‘When the appearance of conflict meets the appearance of force’ was now the perfect metaphor for the incredible circumstance and authority that came together there.

“I’ve not always been forthright with journalists as far as the true meaning behind songs I’ve written and I wouldn’t be surprised if Gord was trying to throw the journalist off his lyrical scent. Regardless, Grace, Too, has a strength and weight that feels beyond this world.”

 

Sean McCann, singer and former Great Big Sea guitarist — Scared

“The song for me is a dissertation on the nature of fear itself and where it ultimately comes from — within. I have lived through much and while this song doesn’t let anyone off the hook, I always take comfort in its frank analytical approach.

“We have nothing to fear but ourselves and the sooner we face that truth, the quicker we will all be able to move forward into real freedom.”

 

K-os  — Ahead By a Century

“That’s my song. The whole video, that guitar. That everything. I remember sitting on the floor watching it when it came on MuchMusic like, ‘This is the best thing ever.’

“(Downie) was the first person I listened to where I was like, ‘This dude has something to say.’ That’s always why I’ve wanted to be a part of pop culture — to say something.”

 

Ontario-raised Broadway actor Ramin Karimloo — 38 Years Old and When the Weight Comes Down from the album Up to Here

“Lyrically (38 Years Old) is quite a dark song… but it was (Downie’s) voice that really I found haunting. That song sort of opened the doors for me to start listening to more of the Hip.

“For (When the Weight Comes Down) it’s hard to go down that route and say, ‘What a great song!’ but I love the melody. It’s so rare. I don’t think I’ve ever actually heard him do it live. The way they do it you’re still bopping away, but you’d like, ‘What’s he saying there?’”

 

Gordie Johnson of Big Sugar — Boots or Hearts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjMmBXF0_pY

“Grady, my band in Texas, covered Boots or Hearts on our third album. To me a great cover is one which retains its message while still providing a platform for individual interpretation. Boots or Hearts is that kind of song. Like any really great blues song it makes a universal observation about the human condition.

“You could have told me that Gord Downie was a great blues artist and I would have believed you. To date it is the only Hip song that I know by name but it’s such a badass song.”

 

Ron Sexsmith — Ahead By a Century

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEtgmbRZ0ys

“As a fan of melody, I’ve always loved Ahead By A Century. I don’t claim to know exactly what it’s about but it reminds me of childhood and of things being predestined in a similar way that the song Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd does. Endlessly thought provoking.”

 

Scott Helman — Wheat Kings

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL6IlKP3UOI

“Growing up in cottages and Canadian landscapes, the song was always a go-to. The loon at the beginning always evoking a sense of pride in where I was from. And then the beautiful and heartbreaking story of a man wrongly convicted.

“So beautiful. Such a cornerstone of Canadian culture. References I could always understand — ‘hung with pictures of our parents’ prime ministers,’ ‘late-breaking story on the CBC’ — still make me teary eyed.”

 

Adrian Sutherland of Midnight Shine — Fiddler’s Green

“It seems to me he’s singing about a mother and her son longing for something — a husband and father. In some strange way, I could relate to what he’s singing about. (I used) to cover the tune many moons ago.”