According to their email tease:
"Tangled in tangents
Talking to Gord Downie is kind of like watching Charlie Brown's futile attempts at kicking a football out of Lucy's hands."
Hmmm....
cratch:
The article is only available online to subscribers. I refuse to subscribe to the Irrational Post, in an effort to hasten its timely demise, so I can't read it. But I think I may have to steal a copy today.....
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Tangled in tangents: Tragically Hip front man Gord Downie is notorious for waxing philosophical in lyrics - and in conversation
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Talking to Gord Downie is kind of like watching Charlie Brown's futile attempts at kicking a football out of Lucy's hands.
The Tragically Hip's big, bald-headed kid is willing to take a run at answering questions, but as the words spill out of his mouth, he often pauses or sighs with frustration.
It's as if Downie has second thoughts about revealing his innermost musings because he knows he can't score a verbal field goal and he'll end up lying on his back, alone and dejected, yet again.
True, he's not the most articulate speaker or lyricist -- the Canadian rock icon likes his tangents, especially in the middle of one of the Hip's songs, much to the delight of fans. He also isn't entirely comfortable with leaving his words in the hands of journalists.
"I'm not very good at it," says Downie, as he tries to explain the inspiration behind one of the tracks on the group's latest album, In Between Evolution.
"Good luck. I've read stuff I've sort of said and it's so disjointed. Maybe the person, rightly or wrongly, is trying to write the way I talk, but oh my god, I've seen so much of it, I can't necessarily fault the writer anymore."
The track in question is Heaven is a Better Place Today, which tightly weaves several themes together in classic Downie style. It was partially inspired by the death of Dan Snyder, a centre with the Atlanta Thrashers, and a flood that washed out a bridge and killed two young men near Whistler, B.C., where Downie and the Hip were working on In Between Evolution. He says the song is also a reflection of U.S. foreign policy.
"It's kinda complex -- and bear with me -- but here's a bunch of young boys in their 20s, losing their lives and just how tragic that is," says Downie. "Ultimately, compared with these boys who are going over to Iraq and this idea of the culture of life that Bush talks about. You get the sense life maybe ends at birth. Uh, yeah. There's a certain sense of hypocrisy going on there and I don't know. I just want to write about it."
Downie isn't an overtly political lyricist -- he's not overt when it comes to anything, he jokes -- but he's a student of public affairs and fascinated by the U.S. monolith. It Can't Be Nashville Every Night was a reaction to country star Toby Keith's patriotism, while If New Orleans Is Beat was inspired by Downie's recent visit to New Orleans, the Hip's unofficial second home.
The Kingston rockers recorded 2000's Music@Work in the Louisiana city and one of the Hip's most famous tracks is New Orleans Is Sinking from 1989's Up To Here.
Downie tries to be obtuse when asked whether the two songs are related -- both refer to water, one of his favourite sources of imagery. "The river takes and takes and takes and takes," he bleats on If New Orleans Is Beat. "I had my hand in the river/My feet back up on the banks," he sings on New Orleans Is Sinking.
"[If New Orleans Is Beat is] not a companion piece, but I didn't set out to write it that way," says Downie.
"I found myself in New Orleans and I was looking for my favourite coffee shop. It used to be an interesting place you could hold up and say, 'Here's a place where nothing changes' and I went and took a couple people traipsing through the Quarter, looking for my favourite coffee shop and it had been turned into a Chamber of Commerce. It was heartbreaking ... well, not heartbreaking. God, I need some perspective if that's heartbreaking."
He was able to gain a lot of perspective on the recent U.S. presidential election. Downie, guitarists Robby Baker and Paul Langlois, bassist Gord Sinclair and drummer Johnny Fay spent time in the lower 48 states, particularly during the World Series and the run-up to the Bush/Kerry showdown. The band is now back in Canada for a three-week tour and an appearance at the Grey Cup in Ottawa on Nov. 21 .
Downie is always learning, ever observing. He seems to glean the most philosophical of nuggets out of the tiniest moments -- such as a buggy ride with his son.
"I was with my son and we were in Ottawa and we had a few hours to kill and ... aw geez," says Downie, as if he feels he's already said too much and wants to strike his words from the record. He groans, then continues his story.
"We get into the buggy and he goes, 'Where are you from?' and my son says 'Toronto!' and the guy says, 'Sorry.' I said, 'We really like it there.' And he said, 'That'll pass.' I just thought, 'Wow.' Yeah, if you live here, you start not to take these things personally. Then you realize, maybe you shouldn't take anything like that seriously -- where you live, be it your city, province or country. Extrapolate that further to nationalism and the wars that go on over that."
Punt! It sounds like Downie just kicked the football out of the stadium.
who wrote that piece? a 7th grader? the guy is all over the place. Why would he even mention the world series if you dont quote gord on it at all. That is a poorly written article.
Is that the entire article?? It reads like there should be more.
thedoog-much abliged for retyping that... very cool. that gord is disjointed is the undestatement of the year
thanx again-chris
direwolf74 Wrote:Is that the entire article?? It reads like there should be more.
Yeah, that's the Post's new banner moto.
I didnt realize that M@W was recorded in New Orleans. What an idiot.
Damn...that really sucked!!
Granted sometimes Gord can be a little difficult to capture in essence, but I have found that when placed in a familiar and friendly element he has been more than willing to speak candidly. It sounds to me like Gord just wasn't comfortable with this clown at all. Can you imagine if we had an hour to sit down with Gord and pick his brain, I guarantee you that we'd come up with something much more poignant than this tripe.
Whoever that putz was ruined a golden opportunity to capture who he is and what he truly stands for.
Horseshit!!!
Goulet!!!
the article's all-over-the-placeness is a reflection of how gord talks. Its a clever little thing the journalist did. It's common in feature peices.
i'm pretty sure VS is about the bridge, M@W was recorded in T.O., and this guy probably doesn't have the cranial capacity to understand half of what was said to him, FIRE HIS ASS!
btw, the kick was good.
I think the bridge in question in VS was the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which was in the USA and fell a number of years ago, it wasn't washed away...and the bridge mentioned in the article was in Whistler, BC. I don't know.
M@W was recorded at the Bathouse and Kingsway. I guess the guy was sorta right.
fingernailsonhull Wrote:I think the bridge in question in VS was the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which was in the USA and fell a number of years ago, it wasn't washed away...and the bridge mentioned in the article was in Whistler, BC. I don't know.
ahh yees, that's right, i remember some confusion over the issue of the bridges in another thread. :thumb:
horrible article!
I agree with Roy about how it reflects how he talks, but It made Gord sound like an idiot!
How in the hell did this guy get a journalism job for a national paper? Was the owner of the paper drunk? MY LORD