[Hairbird]

I've heard it mentioned before that "Escape is at Hand for the Travellin' Man" is about someone who commits suicide. I doubt that I ever would have thought of that personally, but I suppose (looking at the lyrics) that it could be true. Still, I can't imagine how anyone could have jumped to that conclusion strictly by the words alone. Did Gord or one the others ever mention that Escape is about a suicide (either real or fictional)? If so: who said it, when & where. If not, can anyone explain what I'm missing, because I honestly can't say that I could have ever read between the lines that well! Thanks.

[mrlayance]

Wow, that is the first I have heard of that. I never really thought of the lyrics that way. But you could be right.
We will see if anyone else knows.

[Rye]

This is the story I heard...

In 1991 or 1992, The Hip and Nirvana were double booked at a club somewhere in the States. Gord was playing pinball and Kurt Cobain was laying on a pool table. Gord tried making conversation, but Kurt didn't really have much to say. There was some speculation that the song could have been looking back on that meeting. I think I read something like that on the alt.music Tragically Hip discussion. Someone there said that there is a full account of the meeting between the two in the book about Canadian music called "Have Not Been The Same" or something like that. I have read a bit of the book, but the exact title escapes me.

[Christian Schutz]

Yo, my first comments on the hipbase:

The song is actually about the lead singer from the Chicago based early nineties alternapop band Material Issue. They made waves with the college hit "Valerie Loves Me". Their lead singer Jim Ellison committed suicide in the late nineties.

[kari]

Christian is correct, it's about the singer from Material Issue.

[thecompletist]

Christian is correct, it's about the singer from Material Issue.

Where is this source from...did Gord meet Jim Ellison at some point or just read about it? and...

Why does it say this on their site then...

Escape is at Hand for the Travelling Man is a tune that people who follow us live will have heard, but not like it is on the record.

The story is great. You meet these people that are in exactly the same boat and you have a natural kinship. You say "Oh man, we gotta get together," you really hit it off, and then at end of the night you go your separate ways and continue doing your thing and probably never see them again. It's strange. But it's quite a common event, meeting people that you feel like you've known all your life, and then you really only know them for half an hour.

When we worked on Escape in the studio, I was never really satisfied with what I was doing on the song. I decided I'd try something completely different and do a sort of atmospheric guitar part, sort of 'whale sounds' or whatever you want to call them. So I set up a delay unit and did numerous takes on different speeds. I'll never ever be able to play it like that. In the space of two or three seconds you'll hear three different delay speeds, which you just can't really do. Rob Baker

Jeffro

[kari]

Gord once said in an interview that the song was about the singer from Material Issues.

[Hairbird]

Gord once said in an interview that the song was about the singer from Material Issues.

Does anyone know which interview, and if there is a transcript or recording of it? I'm very interested by this story. I'll have to look into Jim Ellison and Material Issues a bit, I've never heard of them before.

[Ryan2]

From the easy to find martyr's concert in chicago on part 2 of the show Before escape is at hand .. Gord says this for jim ellison - on kazza put search - Martyrs - its soundboard quality from phantom power tour....