I've noticed in listening to shows from this tour Gord seems to be making an effort to drop the "Tragically Hip" line from grace, too in favour of the original, "fabuously rich". This has been a staple for the past few tours, and is an obvious crowd pleaser. He even went so far in Portland after belting out the old lines, and the crowd obviously a bit shocked to claim "It's still the same song".
So are there any thoughts on the change? I thought after leaving it out of Toronto, for the DVD, that this was the nail in the coffin. I for one don't mind at all. It seems at times to be a line simply to grab the crowd, which is a bit unnecessary. Or maybe it's been replaced with the line in the Blow...."Out at the speedway, same Tragically Hip thing", which I prefer, almost a "We're the Tragically Hip, thanks for coming, it's been a blast."
So it's just a thought that hopefully sparks a bit of discussion...
When first done, it was sooooo cool...I mean, its just so perfect...really...the first time I heard him do that, I was so damn impressed. I thought 'you just made the best damn song even better, how the hell do you do it!?'
But like all things, they get tired, and an expectation arises....so its good to put it away.
But any way you slice it, it is their greatest song, THE greatest live song of all time....it could not be more perfect.
It's just a phase... we all go through them...
Doesn't Gord Downie often rearrange a verse here with a verse there, or switch up a key line with something irrelevant (ie. "Rusty Rocket" instead of "Rocky Socket" on Nautical) ... its not unheard of for him to omit verses, chorus' or even half a song in favour of a solo. The man spits it out as it comes, he's on the go... he is the walking-singing-dancing poster-boy for a Nutri-Grain Bar commercial on the 'Prozac Gone Wrong(!!!)' FOX Special... the mis-cues, the subtle jabs at politicians and media guru's, the self-guided approach to other artist's lyrics, the one liner's that make sense, but only if you dig... and of course the rant's...
"Winston Churchill... one of the greatest Canadian killers of all-time... hes no friend of mine...
You can convert that into the pound... buy yourself a Union Jack"
But back to the original topic... I think it'll be back next tour...
Back next tour eh?
I like that....sort of lends itself to the whole "In Between Evolution" thing...as if it needed to be stated again...that was an incredible title for this record/tour.
vicariousmartyr Wrote:When first done, it was sooooo cool...I mean, its just so perfect...really...the first time I heard him do that, I was so damn impressed. I thought 'you just made the best damn song even better, how the hell do you do it!?'
But like all things, they get tired, and an expectation arises....so its good to put it away.
But any way you slice it, it is their greatest song, THE greatest live song of all time....it could not be more perfect.
Well said. :thumb: I think its their best live song too. Just gets the crowd going.
He did say "said I'm Tragically Hip" and "Same Tragically Hip thing" in Halifax, so maybe he decided he likes it still??
Anyway, I like it better with it in, it's a nice live thing...
das_hips Wrote:It's just a phase... we all go through them...
actually, it's just a phrase...he tends to go through them... (edit: or, they tend to go through him?)
jf
I don't think anything has changed here at all. He has alternated between the two for nine and a half years now. Not neccesarily "ok, tonight I'm gonna say "Tragically Hip" because last night I said "Fabulously Rich" and I have it in my calendar to say "Fabulously Rich" again tomorrow night..." etc. It's 100% spontaneous. There's no pattern in it, nor is there any point in trying to detect one. One thing's for sure - whenever that first line of lyrics from Grace come out, the crowd responds, and they ALWAYS respond noticeably louder when it's "He said I'm Tragically Hip..." That's the only pattern I see in this whole thing.
p.s. I like the "down at the speedway, same Tragically Hip thing..." too. But that too is something that has been many, many things over the years. A few times in Denver, it's been "Same John Elway thing".
I think it really work for live shows. The 'Tragically Hip' part in Grace and Blow seems to get a huge reaction from the crowd, so why not. And if you're expecting it, it'd almost be a downer to hear fabulously rich. They were kind of done back to back in Halifax because Blow ended encore 2 and Grace started encore 3, I thought it was great, and from the reaction of the crowd. I think most other people agree. No reason to stop doing it really when it adds to the live show.
Ever since the first time I heard Grace on the radio (way back in the day when 89X played the best music in Detroit) I've been convinced that in the earliest stages of the song's development, it was the opening lyric and was only changed to "fabulously rich" later in the writing process, most likely because they didn't want to sound self-absorbed.
Visualize it: the boys are in the studio and Gord S. says "hey check this groove out" and starts pluckin' out the bass-line; Johnny joins in with a subtle yet direct beat, Rob & Paul strum a few chords and the vibe begins to form. Gordie's head bounces slowly to the rhythm as the verse-structure starts to repeat. His body begins to sway and undulate. As the rapture envelops him, he's possessed by the sonic wave of power. Eyes closed in a trance-like state, he reaches for the microphone, pulls it toward his face and snarls "He Said I'm Tragically Hip..."
That's my theory an' I'm stickin' to it. 8)
~Scott
A few comments here:
(1) before the Hip played Saturday Night Live, my theory was you could tell if a song was stupid if it mentioned the name of the band/singer (think about a zillion ridiculous self-referential rap songs, or S Club 7 songs, for example). Then Gord sang, "He said, 'I'm Tragically Hip'" and I had to do some seeeeeeerious sitting down and rethinking my theory. Serious, disturbing, inward-looking rethinking. In the end, I don't think I changed my mind - it's a bit of a cheap ploy, I think.
(2) At the Toronto concert, my wife, who has been exposed for her Hip-naivety in my posts in the past, after hearing the opening stanza of Grace Too, commented, that they should sing "He said, I'm Tragically Hip'" instead of fabulously rich. I patted her on the head and said, yes, they sometimes do that.
(3) At the end of that concert, they sang "same Tragically Hip thing" and my wife kinda made a face at me.
(4) interestingly (or not) for some reason the "same Tragically Hip thing" doesn't offend me and my delicate sensibilities as much as the Grace Too line.
(6) Gord use to mix up the names of the actors in Blow more -- for a while now he seems to be stuck on Ann Margaret.
(5) I like when he sings "Canadian" instead of "American" myth in 100th; I like when he sings "into that boxing ring" instead of "into that wedding ring" in Blow.
(6) My new favourite: Silver Jet: "as if the wolves of Northumberland themselves, we're coming to our rescue".
Okay enough of the numbered list:
CT
I want Gord to sing "We're Tragically Hip" everytime it's played.
When he doesn't sing it, it feels like he'strying to avoid giving the crowd what they want, and why would you ever want to disappoint the audience?
i have to admit i was a little disappointed about hearing "fabulously rich" instead of "tragically hip" at the november toronto show (seeing after hearing the infamous "he said i'm..." i mouthed the words "tragically hip" only to be embarassed for singing the wrong thing) i got over it when gord decided to blocked off all of yonge street instead of main street for his faith parade...never heard that one before
I like em both. I have a friend rich that prefers Fabously rich....so it's ok with me either way...
Haha, that WOULD be cool if your name was Rich... :lol: