Cameron Carpenter – 10CC – Hip Hip Hooray
Let’s celebrate. There is still hope. We get a chance to see them again and thank them for what they mean to the fabric of Canada. Recently we have had no warning and no chance to say thanks or goodbye, this time we do. My history with the band goes back a long way and I hope Johnny Fay, Gord Sinclair, Rob Baker, Paul Langlois and Gord Downie have a farewell tour that will go down in rock’n’roll history. Take your victory lap boys, you have earned it. Tickets go on sale Friday June 3 and the dates are as follows:
July 22 – Victoria – Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre
July 24 – Vancouver – Rogers Arena
July 28 – Edmonton – Rexall Place
August 1 – Calgary – Scotiabank Saddledome
August 5 – Winnipeg – MTS Centre
August 8 – London – Budweiser Centre
August 10 – Toronto – Air Canada Centre
August 12 – Toronto – Air Canada Centre
August 16 – Hamilton – First Ontaio Centre
August 18 – Ottawa – Canadian Tire Centre
August 20 – Kingston – Rogers K-Rock Centre
For ticket details go to thehip.com/shows
On June 14th the band will release their 14th studio album “Man Machine Poem”. I am looking forward to it, but right now I want to look back to ten Hip songs that always meant something special to me.
- “Last American Exit” – The Tragically Hip EP – 1987
The first song that really grabbed me. Maybe it was because I had family in the area (Odessa, Ontario),my cousins Wendy and Shelly, and being a small town just outside of Kingston they knew, and went to school with some of the boys. It was obvious right from the beginning that the Hip were going to sing about their country. This EP was originally released on RCA in Canada and I was at MCA when we wrestled the band away and began an amazing relationship between band and label and made bands want to sign with us. If it wasn’t for the Hip and Kingston I don’t think I would have ever been able to convince The Headstones to sign with us.
- “Blow at High Dough” – Up To Here – 1989
I remember sitting in the board room at 2450 Victoria Park Avenue when we all gathered to watch the video for this song and thinking what the hell. What was he singing about, what does it all mean. I wasn’t sure, still might not be, but boy, the lyrics were brilliant and the song just rocked.
- “New Orleans Is Sinking – Killer Whale Tank” – B-Side of “Long Time Running” – 1991
The most famous version of the song and the one that Gord gives arguably his greatest stream of consciousness rant. I still smile every time I hear it.
- “Locked in the Trunk of a Car” – Fully Completley – 1992
This was the album we all thought was going to break the band south of the border. By this point we had sold over a million albums in Canada and the band was big enough to put their own festival together “Another Roadside Attraction”. If I had to give somebody one Hip album to try out, this would be it. If they didn’t get “Courage (for Hugh MacLennan)”, “At The Hundredth Meridian”, “Fifty Mission Cap” and “Wheat Kings” then they would never get the Hip. Their most Canadiana album ever.
- “Nautical Disaster” – Day for Night -1994
“Day for Night” holds a place in my heart as it was the last Hip album for me at MCA Records. Writing this I can look up and see my multi-platinum award that the label presented me when I left to work at the Hard Rock Cafe`. For my money one of their greatest songs.
- “Grace, Too”- Day for Night – 1994
I still remember the immense sense of pride I felt when Kingston native Dan Aykroyd, respendlent in his Canada tee-shirt said something along the lines of: “It is my honour to introduce to America my friends The Tragically Hip” on a 1995 episode of Saturday Night Live. Alas it wasn’t the tipping point for success in America and I think at that point the band siad forget about it, Canada is home, we’re the biggest band in this country, let’s just embrace that.
- “Bobcaygeon” – Phantom Power – 1998
I had left the Hip behind and I had left my boys The Headstones behind but there was Hugh Dillon in the video for this song and once again there was a sense of pride. I usually don’t like videos but this one works perfectly for the song.
- “My Music at Work” – Music@Work – 2000
Although I didn’t spend as much time with full albums anymore there was always a gem or two on each new release. When I first heard this one I knew the band still had it.
- “The Kids Don’t Get It” – World Container – 2006
I think we started playing this song when I was working at XM Canada (now SiriusXM). Once again, the boys still had it.
- ? – Man Machine Poem – 2016
I am going to leave this space blank as I know there is going to be a song on the new album that is going to leave a huge emotional mark.
(Editor’s Note – This is the first single release from the album. Man Machine Poem will be released on June 18th 2016)
=CC=
Cam’s column appears every Thursday.
Follow Cam on Twitter @CC59, Instagram @Cambo1959 and Spotify @Cambo59
Contact us at: dbawis@rogers.com.
Cameron Carpenter has written for The New Music Magazine, Music Express, The Asylum, The Varsity, The Eye Opener, The New Edition, Shades, Bomp!, Driven Magazine, FYI Music News, The Daily XY, New Canadian Music, NXNE Magazine and Don’t Believe A Word I Say.
Segarini: Don't Believe a Word I Say 
May 26, 2016 at 3:26 pm
Their video for the darkest one is a hoser classic!