[andrew sharpe]

Attawapiskat isn't a city. Am I the only one bothered by this...

[southtampacane]

I feel like a terrible person for saying this, but Gord's divorce is a source of curiosity for me in the "what happened?" sense. (Same thing with Neil and Pegi Young.) I know we have no right to know, but Gord being so public about her struggle with cancer (and his challenges in dealing with that) and then everything post his diagnosis and finding out they'd split prior to that just leaves an itch I can't scratch. And I feel awful for wondering, but it's there nonetheless.

It doesn't make you a terrible person. It just means you are honest. I actually think about this all the time and candidly that whole chain of events breaks my heart. I know things like this happen all the time and we never know what someone's relationship is like in the privacy of their own home but this had to suck. I'm glad he had his kids and brothers around him at the end but if that we're me it would really hurt.

[cochise]

I feel like a terrible person for saying this, but Gord's divorce is a source of curiosity for me in the "what happened?" sense. (Same thing with Neil and Pegi Young.) I know we have no right to know, but Gord being so public about her struggle with cancer (and his challenges in dealing with that) and then everything post his diagnosis and finding out they'd split prior to that just leaves an itch I can't scratch. And I feel awful for wondering, but it's there nonetheless.

It doesn't make you a terrible person. It just means you are honest. I actually think about this all the time and candidly that whole chain of events breaks my heart. I know things like this happen all the time and we never know what someone's relationship is like in the privacy of their own home but this had to suck. I'm glad he had his kids and brothers around him at the end but if that we're me it would really hurt.

Neil and Peggy was a curious one to me as well. Unless they put on a great act for all these years, they always came across to me as one of the strongest marriages out there. All the years and everything they had been through together, it just didn't make sense to me. I was literally shocked and saddened when I heard they had separated.

I am not saying I know Neil's sister well, but a small acquaintance in ways. I would never ask the details, but it sure seems she took Peggy's side on whatever it was that happened.

[potsie]

Attawapiskat isn't a city. Am I the only one bothered by this...

"City" fits within the context of the song. Good Attawapiskat, while often mistaken for a sharp-tongued protest song, is not sung through clenched-teeth anger. To me, it drips with sarcasm. Attawapiskat is far from being a city (there are about 2000 residents there), far from being "diamond dazzling", and given the over-crowding, poor housing and suicide crisis, the descriptor of "You're on your way!" is far from appropriate.

[edgoffin]

I actually think about this all the time and candidly that whole chain of events breaks my heart.

I listened to this album many times while this thread was running, and have continued to listen to it over the past weeks. Likely listened to it more times in the past month that I did when it was released, though I have always enjoyed the album for the most part.

Knowing how the story ends, and making the leaping assumption GD was being more autobiographical in his writing than before (until Introduce Yerslef), I see this as only a breakup album. Based on the interviews at the time, I'd interpreted some songs to be about cancer & recovery (At Transformation or The Lookahead, as examples), but now have a totally different read on this collection of songs. Love and gratitude is there, but far more unease, sorrow, and separation -- many mentions of distances apart.

I think GD was being very veiled in the media around this album release, where at the time I thought he was being his most open and explicit about lyrical influences. Take Love is a Curse and Frozen in My Tracks, most of this album, add Here, In The Dark and you have a depressing but honest collection of lyrics reflecting on the trials of relationships.

[andrew sharpe]

Attawapiskat isn't a city. Am I the only one bothered by this...

"City" fits within the context of the song. Good Attawapiskat, while often mistaken for a sharp-tongued protest song, is not sung through clenched-teeth anger. To me, it drips with sarcasm. Attawapiskat is far from being a city (there are about 2000 residents there), far from being "diamond dazzling", and given the over-crowding, poor housing and suicide crisis, the descriptor of "You're on your way!" is far from appropriate.

Thanks potsie. Looking at the song differently now. I knew my discomfort was misplaced. In Gord We Trust.

[Moof_Milker]

I been listening to this album a lot lately too. I definitely enjoy it more now than I ever have. And speaking of Gord and the media, I just re-listened to 2 of his interviews on CBC from this time. One is with Strombo, and the other is with the former host of Q...whose name eludes me. Although both interviewers do ask some lame questions, but both are worth a re-listen to gain some insights into Gord's thinking at the time:

Q: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://youtu.be/Og9xY61HJJs">https://youtu.be/Og9xY61HJJs</a><!-- m --> (<- around the 25 min mark Gord explains the "City by the Bay!" line)
Strombo: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://youtu.be/nDMcC01iCqM">https://youtu.be/nDMcC01iCqM</a><!-- m -->

[Chris Tanz]

I actually think about this all the time and candidly that whole chain of events breaks my heart.

I listened to this album many times while this thread was running, and have continued to listen to it over the past weeks. Likely listened to it more times in the past month that I did when it was released, though I have always enjoyed the album for the most part.

Knowing how the story ends, and making the leaping assumption GD was being more autobiographical in his writing than before (until Introduce Yerslef), I see this as only a breakup album. Based on the interviews at the time, I'd interpreted some songs to be about cancer & recovery (At Transformation or The Lookahead, as examples), but now have a totally different read on this collection of songs. Love and gratitude is there, but far more unease, sorrow, and separation -- many mentions of distances apart.

I think GD was being very veiled in the media around this album release, where at the time I thought he was being his most open and explicit about lyrical influences. Take Love is a Curse and Frozen in My Tracks, most of this album, add Here, In The Dark and you have a depressing but honest collection of lyrics reflecting on the trials of relationships.

Also listen to More Me Less You for the heartbreaking reality of relationships

[Killer Whale Tank]

"Through the night it'd been raining venom" is the line I keep circling back to in this context. That's about as bad as a relationship gets, man.

[edgoffin]

"Through the night it'd been raining venom" is the line I keep circling back to in this context. That's about as bad as a relationship gets, man.

That line I always equated with chemo until relistening to the whole album more recently and starting to get a different take on many songs. Same as you, I started seeing venom as an argument and the song about regret afterward

One line that always struck me as odd, “To the dream of being here comes the night” - it felt like there was an extra few words in there..until I heard Van Morrison “Here Comes The Night”. The band did cover Them songs in their early days.

[potsie]

"Through the night it'd been raining venom" is the line I keep circling back to in this context. That's about as bad as a relationship gets, man.

That line I always equated with chemo until relistening to the whole album more recently and starting to get a different take on many songs. Same as you, I started seeing venom as an argument and the song about regret afterward

One line that always struck me as odd, “To the dream of being here comes the night” - it felt like there was an extra few words in there..until I heard Van Morrison “Here Comes The Night”. The band did cover Them songs in their early days.

The Van Morrison connection is an interesting idea. That song details the end of a relationship and would fit well with At Transformation. "Figuring you're not the goods" dovetails nicely with "Wonder what is wrong with me Why can't I, accept the fact she's chosen him" from 'Here Comes the Night'. In both cases the narrator has come to the realization that he doesn't have, or no longer has, what his partner is looking for. "I didn't when it was happening" could be the narrator's hindsight analysis that he was oblivious to the fact that his partner had fallen out of love with him a while ago. Now, the game has gone quiet, he's lost the love of his partner, and the experience has been transformative for him.

[andrew sharpe]

Q: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://youtu.be/Og9xY61HJJs">https://youtu.be/Og9xY61HJJs</a><!-- m --> (<- around the 25 min mark Gord explains the "City by the Bay!" line)

Thanks! I had seen that interview and forgotten that bit about Attawapiskat. Gord is such a great interview under the right circumstances. I did get sad when he said, "and we'll keep going back."