i was just reading the upto here thread and it got me thinking that Another Midnight is one of their best kept secrets. it's only been played 6 times since the hip started, and hasn't been played since 1991, it didn't even make the cut for an evening with the hip tour. I think this is a great tune that's way under exposed, so if you're kind of new to the hip and don't know much of their earlier stuff take a listen. what do you guys think of this song.
Darnell
You are dead on, its a great song. I love throwing it on when I am in the car heading up north to the cottage. Just something about it, maybe its the fact that I dont ever hear it on the radio or on any Hip boots I have.
macyme Wrote:i was just reading the upto here thread and it got me thinking that Another Midnight is one of their best kept secrets. it's only been played 6 times since the hip started, and hasn't been played since 1991, it didn't even make the cut for an evening with the hip tour. I think this is a great tune that's way under exposed, so if you're kind of new to the hip and don't know much of their earlier stuff take a listen. what do you guys think of this song.
Darnell
Wow! I have thought that for years, I absolutely agree, without starting a favorite songs thread here, I have to say its one of my absolute favorite Hip songs, Ive always wanted to hear them play it live. I actually have never heard that song played live, I dont own many bootlegs of the Hip, maybe someone could recommend a good sounding boot with Another Midnight on it perhaps???
I was reading all the "songs played" and "how many times", statistics and I was thinking that of all the songs on the first 5-6 albums, the only songs that I hadn't heard them play were "Fiddlers Green" and "Another Midnight". In April 1991, they were playing the Bayou in Washington, D.C. It was the night of the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship, so there was only about 200 people in the bar (if that). The band was incredible, one of the 2-3 best shows I've ever seen (by ANYBODY) and they played for at least two hours. Road Apples was the new album and they played everything off that, nearly every song off Up to Here and they played quite a few off the EP (incredible "Werewolf" where Gordie transformed into a wolf by the end of the song). They must of abandoned any setlist they had because they started talking between songs to figure out what to play next, and even did a great cover of J.J. Cale's "I'll Make Love to You". At one point between songs someone in the balcony yelled out for "Another Midnight". Gordie got a wierd look on his face and kind of turned to look at the band. Then he said "I think we forgot how to play that song".
Strange. There must be some kind of back story or meaning to that song that made them drop it. Like "Fiddler's Green", I just figured that if they didn't want to sing it, they wouldn't want to talk about it, and I have never asked them about it.
i'm very curious as well, if any hipbasers talked to the boys during the cdn tour it would be great to find out why they don't play it. I mean it would be different if they only played it once in a blue moon but they've abandoned it for over 13 years, there's got to be a story behind it.
Hey Bigblackie, do you recall them playing Born in the Water that night? I think there's only one known date of them playing it.
macyme Wrote:i'm very curious as well, if any hipbasers talked to the boys during the cdn tour it would be great to find out why they don't play it. I mean it would be different if they only played it once in a blue moon but they've abandoned it for over 13 years, there's got to be a story behind it.
I put this on my site as my opinion of it...
"This seems to be a song about a couple who died, mingled with phrases by the actual couple themselves, the story of their lives, meager at best, and their impressions as they slip into the great beyond and their plea for just a little more time. No matter how much can be accomplished, everyone wishes for more time and their lives look insufficient when they’re on their death-bed. "Can’t they let us run wild for just another midnight?""
Well, now, with the mention of Fiddler's Green not being played (widely-believed to be due to some death in the family) maybe Another Midnight is not that far behind?
good point LB, i know gord said at the vermont show in 2000 i believe that fiddlers green was meant to be personal and private song and shouldn't have never been released.
macyme Wrote:good point LB, i know gord said at the vermont show in 2000 i believe that fiddlers green was meant to be personal and private song and shouldn't have never been released.
I had written that about Another Midnight a couple days ago and then with this thread; people talking about Fiddler's reminded me of what I wrote. The lyrics to AM do seem to be about the loss of something, it could stretch out to be a loss of innocence or be about growing-up... but what if it was about a couple who died? It would make sense. But they also don't play other songs from the early years so maybe it's not... just a thought though...
I dunno...'Midnight' always came off to me as having some good lines, but, really, reeking of dubious ungraduate poetry. So my theory is they dropped it because Gord was embarassed by it. But, to each their own...
Killer Whale Tank Wrote:I dunno...'Midnight' always came off to me as having some good lines, but, really, reeking of dubious ungraduate poetry. So my theory is they dropped it because Gord was embarassed by it. But, to each their own...
Well, that's entirely possible. The majority of their first songs don't make the cut on setlists, especially when standing up to their more experienced songs, so it's possible it's just considered as "immature"... I still think the song is about a dead couple going to... well, heaven or hell, either one. But, like you said, to each his own.
:thumb:
Still, to this day, it is one of their catchiest and most "hum-able" tunes.
~Scott
I could be wrong, but I thought they did Fiddler's with Ashley MacIssac in Saskatoon for the ARA.
Hip 11, I'm almost certain that they played "Born in the Water" that night and at least one other time that I saw them on that tour, maybe in Halifax in August 1991? I remember because it wasn't one of my favorite songs at the time and went to get a beer.
I like the interpretation that the song is about a couple asking for "Another Midnight". Another reason I love the band. Two people can hear lyrics that aren't incredibly abstract and hear two different stories.
The other theory that Gordie may have been embarrassed isn't too out there either. He apologized at the show at the Bayou for the lyrics in Werewolf. "I wrote these when I was young and feeling really tough, rip you up like a big chain saw ... I'm sorry"
On a somewhat related note, on the Phantom Power tour, they played "Locked" at Bohagers in Baltimore and he said they were playing it in honor of Edgar Allen Poe. I love that song and hadn't heard them do it in a while and told him after the show that I enjoyed hearing it. He just looked at me and said "I hate singing that song". I was shocked and said "You're kidding me, it's great!" and he just shook his head. I know they still whip it out once in a while, but consider yourself lucky if you hear it.
Wow, what a great little insight about 'Locked'---and I'm with you, I love that one. I always enjoy hearing artists giving their opinion about their work.
Here's the question: WHY would Gord hate singing that song? Is it embarassment at the tune---unbelievable at that may be---or is it just that it's hard to sing, what with the lurch from low- to high-octaves and the hollering finale? Thoughts??