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I'm on a quest to dispell a rumour that I heard from a friend of mine whom I consider to be a well informed fan of the Tragically Hip....he told me that around the time of Day for Night, where the Tragically Hip made, what some could consider, a "radical" change from the norm, Gord was under the persuasion of the all-mighty "horse"
Some of these lyrics that Gord conjoures can only make one wonder as to the true mental stability of the man, who has bordered on that fragile line of insanity and brilliance.
I am of the belief that he is truly one of the last real poets of our time, but I am curious to hear your retorts to this allegation that I have heard on a repeated basis throughout my tenure as a Tragically Hip fan.
Goulet!!
Gord???....why'd they change a face like that???
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not coming down on you here goulet but if say you had a problem with heroin in the past and overcame it, would you like people saying such in discussion boards? i for one would like to leave it buried only for my inner circle,if anybody, to know.
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I toiled with the idea of posting it for a long time..but I thought it was a post worth reviewing...I am of the persuasion that it is complete horseshit!!!
Even if it is true, it should be stated that regardless of anyone's past demons the magic that is spun through this man's head is the likes of which ye may never have the appreciation of hearing again, and should be treated as such.
Thanks for your views, like I said I just thought it was a point worth reviewing....one can only imagine how many times this point has been brought up with another extremely accomplished artist, Scott Wyland...
Goulet!!!
-Why'd they change a face like that???
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well, he was definately on something crazy back in the day, need proof? watch the SNL performance. as we all know H was all the rage back in the early 90's... :?.
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I've actually heard that he was into cocaine, especially during the Fully Completely era...listened to ARA Ottawa '93 today...there's a bit of rage in his voice...who knows though. I for one wouldn't be surprised.
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I don't know how many times there needs to be a post about the hip and drugs..I'm not sure about anyone else, but i'm sick of them...who cares?
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Please believe me that I am not on a witch hunt here...Christ!!! how many of us out here can honestly profess that we have never indulged in the "seedy underbellly' of life's halluncinogenic world....that is not my point...my point is to outline a meer shift in the literary wizardry which is Gord Downie in that magical period between FC and DFN...who knows what lyrical spleandour we may have been deprived of had it not been for the influential nudge of the "unmentionables"....
Goulet!!!
-Why'd he change a face like that???
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My thought is this....
If he was using, he was. Is he now? Only those who are closest to him know for sure. If he's not, more power to him. DFN was the better part of 10 years ago. Is his state of mind at the time relevant now? You decide....
Myself, I choose to remain blissfully ignorant and just enjoy the music and what it means to me.
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I think this is a discussion best left to those in the know, and not a public forum. Speculation only fuels rumours which undermine the quality of this board.
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That's one way to look at it, but sometimes, when you're really captured by a work of art, you want to know what influenced it. You simply cannot admire Kubla Khan without noting that Samuel Taylor Coleridge was practically in a zombielike state from opium. Sometimes the humanity, the poetic essence, of a work of music is made even more dramatic and powerful by knowing what's behind it. Blood On The Tracks means so much more knowing it was written in the wake of a failed but wonderful relationship; you might say it doesn't matter now what Bob Dylan was suffering from in 1974, but once you know, the little allusions start popping up everywhere...everything starts to mean something once you understand the context.
I do understand where you're coming from, Pam...and much of the time, I'm perfectly happy to just groove to DFN's dark grungy rock experience, but some of the time when I'm looking for something a little more cerebral, I want to know what's behind the music and what - for better or worse - had an impact on the writer at the time. It's powerful art and it makes you think, that's why I keep coming back to it. Just an opinion.
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It's a fine line here, partly because of the pervasive tendency to REDUCE great work to whatever substances an artist is taking at the time. For instance: on the one hand, Dylan's breathtaking surrealist output in the mid 1960s obviously owed some of its flavour and specific imagery to drugs. On the other hand, look at the amount of effort that's been squandered in obsessing over supposed 'drug' references in those mighty songs; or consider the way brilliant efforts like 'Tambourine Man' or 'Visions of Johanna' have been caricatured as 'drug songs.' The fact is that Bob was an artist in complete command of his craft when he wrote those tunes. Drugs might have altered his perceptions somewhat, but whatever he did owed way more to the Beats and Rimbaud. And something similar would seem to be true of Downie's high-water marks in DFN.
But I want to go further and tackle Grooveless Touque's point. I never found knowledge of Dylan's private life terribly meaningful for appreciating 'Blood.' I mean, you don't need his diaries to know that that's a record about soured relationships. For that matter, the great tune 'Sara' is actually diminished by the knowledge that it was written to win back his wife. These things always seem like voyeuristic distractions from the work (e.g., 'who really wore that famous blue raincoat??' 'Who is Sara in real life?' Aren't these questions entirely missing the point?).
It might be interesting to know about Downie's drug intake in roughly the same way that it might be titillating to know about Downie's sex life (which presumably also influences his work!). But since I don't see that (a) Downie could NOT have written any of those tunes without substance abuse and (b) any of those songs have specifically to do with drugs, this seems like voyeurism to me.
Which is not to knock on Touque's approach to interpretation. It's just not one I share.
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LIKE OMG DOODZ FIRE IN THE HOLE IZ ALL ABOUT HITTING A BONG! AND VAPOUR TRAILS IZ ABOUT SMOKING DOOBZ! AND BLOW AT HIGH DOUGH IZ ABOUT COCAINE! AND AT THE HEART OF THE MELT IZ ABOUT BEING ON ACID AND SEEING THINGS START TO MELT :mrgreen:
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KWT, I don't think "Sara" was written to win back his wife...it's all the more tragic because it's reflecting on the "denial" stage of a sense of loss from the "acceptance" stage. Dylan was writing as though it might make a difference even though he knew it would not. I find that additional knowledge of the circumstances makes the song even more powerful to me...it's looking back on what was lost and knowing it can never be recovered. That makes the heartache expressed even more compelling. In this case I disagree entirely with you on every count because I feel knowing where exactly he stood at the time makes it more than a simple schmaltzy pleading-for-her-return song.
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Alot of the greatest artistic minds that have actually been remembered by society were either under the influence of drugs (they found clay pipes with marijuana residue in Shakespeare's backyard) or the artist was mentally disturbed (impulse to cut off one's ear? fucking yikes!).
I could provide a superlong list with artists who indulge but I won't.
The last thread on here that debated drugs and the Hip was closed.
I do drugs. I like the Hip. I listen to the Hip on drugs. But for some people it will lessen (or greaten) their love for the music if they found out the Hip were junkies. For me, it doesn't. But some people might change their view on the Hip. Who cares? I guarantee you that the Hip have tried various drugs, how far they went is only known to them though.
