[sean.bonner]

[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]

[Moof_Milker]

I heard someone say that FC and DFN are like two opposite seasons: FC is summer (warm and bright) and DFN is winter (cold and dark). I can buy this theory. Even the respective album covers evoke this imagery. Got me thinking about the cold/winter references on DFN, so over my morning coffee I used the Hip's website to go over the lyrics looking for explicit references to winter and winter-related lines. I decided to only pull out explicit references, no allusions to winter or inferencing on my part - just explicit references. While I was at it, I looked at a few other lyrical patterns. No analysis here though, just observations...

Mentions of cold/snow/winter:
Greasy Jungle: “…I saw a soulful gymnast melt in the air and shudder just above the snow”
Yawning or Snarling: “And you're chilled to the tips of your fingers”
Fire In the Hole: “Ah the nights are getting cold. All your secrets will be told”
An Inch an Hour: “Tonight the winter may have missed its mark. You can see your breath in Springside Park. Coffee-coloured ice and peeling birch bark. The sound of rushing water in the dark.”
Titanic Terrarium: “There's submarines out there under the ice”
Titanic Terrarium: “We don't declare the war on idleness when outside it's cold and shitty”

Mentions of water - a Downie hallmark:
Daredevil: The entire song – sample lyric: “The bell's picking up speed there's water leaking in”
Greasy Jungle: “I stood at your sink and I felt your warm water”
Nautical Disaster: Entire song
Inch an Hour: “The sound of rushing water in the dark.”
Titanic Terrarium: Entire song. Sample lyric: “There's submarines out there under the ice”

Use of reported speech - another Downie hallmark:
Grace, Too: He said, “I’m fabulously rich…”
Daredevil: He said, "What I'm going through is essentially all true.”
So Hard Done By: She said, "Sorry I can't go on with this."
Thugs: She said, "I've looked around and i like your hair the best."

Use of Proper Names
So Hard Done By: “Candy”
Nautical Disaster: “Susan”
Thugs: “Ruby”
Inevitability of Death: “Terry”
An Inch an Hour: “Trudeau” “Neil”

Lines repeated in different songs -- something Downie likes to do
Emergency: “But your finger starts to wiggle and landscapes emerge”
Impossibilium: “But your finger starts to wiggle and landscapes emerge”

Canadiana - again, only explicit references here. For example, I don't think "Terry" is Terry Fox...might be but that's open for debate/interpretation.
Titanic Terrarium: “There's a trace o' mint wafting in from the north so we don't fuck with the 401”
An Inch an Hour: “No struggletown no bemused Trudeau”

I was also curious about how old Gord Downie was when this album came out. He was 30. Again, curiosity got the best of me, so I wanted to see how old Gord was for each of the Hip albums released thus far. Here ya go:

EP: 23
UTH:25
RA: 27
FC: 28
DFN: 30
TATH: 32
PP: 34
M@W: 36
IVL: 38
IBE: 40
WC: 42
WATS: 45
NFPA: 48
MMP: 52

[potsie]

I heard someone say that FC and DFN are like two opposite seasons: FC is summer (warm and bright) and DFN is winter (cold and dark). I can buy this theory. Even the respective album covers evoke this imagery. Got me thinking about the cold/winter references on DFN, so over my morning coffee I used the Hip's website to go over the lyrics looking for explicit references to winter and winter-related lines. I decided to only pull out explicit references, no allusions to winter or inferencing on my part - just explicit references. While I was at it, I looked at a few other lyrical patterns. No analysis here though, just observations...

Nice post. I mentioned in a previous post that the "through line" of the album seems to be "unease": characters in uncomfortable situations, whether due to conflict, disaster, or, as you've pointed out, unpleasant temperatures. I wouldn't go so far as to say this is a "concept", but I think it's a way that the album can be tied together. I'll take a swing at this idea song-by-song, ignoring some of the metaphors along way, and apologizing in advance that I'm reaching a little with some of these:

Grace, Too: The anxious negotiation between a prostitute and a john
Daredevil: "And the real wonder of the world is that we don't jump too"; the "high-place" phenomenon, the strange and uncomfortable urge to jump that people get when standing on bridges or overlooking the falls.
Greasy Jungle: The uneasiness that most feel in the presence of grieving others at a funeral home.
Yawning or Snarling: The apprehension that would accompany a situation where cops are trying to control a crowd. The uncomfortably hot day time temperatures, and the equally uncomfortable cool night time weather.
Fire in the Hole: The dangers that those toiling in mines have to confront. "Ah the nights are getting cold"; again, uncomfortable temperatures.
So Hard Done By: The awkwardness of strip club
Nautical Disaster: The distressing feeling of being left to drown in the cold Atlantic waters, bypassed by full lifeboats.
Thugs: Conflict in a relationship
IOD: Death, the most discomforting topic to discuss.
Scared: A story of fear (or the conquering of fear)
Inch and Hour: “They used to scare the living shit out of me”; discussion of a situation/band invoking fear and discomfort.
Emergency: The decay of a relationship in the setting of a dark bar
Titanic Terrarium: Bad weather, roaches and ants, nautical disasters.
Impossibilium: The uncomfortableness that results when the work of keeping a relationship together feels like a payload that is too much to bear.

To quote the Bard (and misrepresent a little), DFN seems to be Downie's "Winter of discontent".

[potsie]

I was also curious about how old Gord Downie was when this album came out. He was 30. Again, curiosity got the best of me, so I wanted to see how old Gord was for each of the Hip albums released thus far. Here ya go:

EP: 23
UTH:25
RA: 27
FC: 28
DFN: 30
TATH: 32
PP: 34
M@W: 36
IVL: 38
IBE: 40
WC: 42
WATS: 45
NFPA: 48
MMP: 52

UTH, RA, FC and DFN by age 30 is a pretty respectable accomplishment. Reminds me of the fact that the Beatles broke up before McCartney turned 30... amazing to think of all he accomplished in his 20's!

[potsie]

[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]

On DFN there is not only a "rocket in a pocket", but there is also a "pocket in a socket"...

[sean.bonner]

A rocky pocket in a socket!

[tbroomhe]

I've never been able to get in to Titanic Terrarium or Impossibilium. IMHO, Day For Night is a stronger album if it had of ended with Emergency and these two songs remain in the vaults.

[MojoPaw]

This album was massive in my life.

If someone had a gun to my head, I'd have to say Fully is my favourite, but both this and Road Apples are masterpieces as good a 3-in-a-row as any band in history.
i think this one has the most depth of any Hip album. Scared, Grace, Thugs, and Yawning Or Snarling are the one's I had to learn all the parts on guitar virtually from first listen, and Scared is the Hip song I have played to others more than any other.

Wonderful, amazing record I know on a subconscious level by now.