[Stephen Dame]

Just got this from "the band:"

If it sounds like us, then sure, it is!

TTH

Now the great debate, does it "sound" like The Hip?

To my ear it doesn't.

Yeah, I have to lean to "no." There are a bunch of tracks out there listed as "The Tragically Hip" songs, including one very popular version of "Nautical" done by some garage band I keep seeing.

So, I'm thinking this is just another mislabelled song. Somebody once said it was The Hip, and it stuck.

I take their answer to be an "if it's on the internet it must be true" sarcastic denial. You'd think if they'd done it, and produced it so well (it's cleaner than most unreleased Hip stuff and demos) it would have been for a reason, and they'd be willing to claim it as their own.

But the lake it is said, never gives up her dead... and I'm guessing this will remain a mystery.

I just gave up and went with this on the site:

The Mystery Of The Hipwreck: As early as summer 2000, an instrumental version of Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald" began appearing on file sharing sites such as Napster, Kazaa and their descendants. It was, and still is, credited to The Tragically Hip. It doesn't appear on any album demo's, it wasn't performed live, and nobody seems to be able to verify if it is a Hip song or not. I e-mailed "the band" in June of 2005, and they responded with:
"If it sounds like us, then sure, it is!
TTH"
Perhaps they enjoy a good mystery.

[j-monster]

I just listened to this tune (downloaded it some time ago), and it doesn't sound like the Hip, it doesn't sound like Pearl Jam, I don't think it sounds like the Rheostatics... quite frankly I'm not sure who it sounds like.

The tune doesn't even sound like Lightfoot's version... it sounds like it is repeating the same chord progressions and structures a couple times during the song, but those chords don't match up with Lightfoot's "Wreck".

Colour me stumped!

[The Darkest Canuck]

it was me! IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII DID IT!

[das_hips]

I'm not too sure which song we are talking about anymore. I have a song on my computer somewhere labelled "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by "The Tragically Hip". The song I have is definitely not a cover of the Lightfoot tune, but more-so just includes the wishy-wash feel of the ocean and sombre chord progressions, much like the original, but does not share any other similarities with the Gordon Lightfoot tune.

If this is the song we're talking about, then I think it is the Hip. The song contains no singing, it's purely instrumental; the reason I believe it is the Hip is simple. Rob Baker professed through the Strippers Union website that some of his songs are named after the influence and sound behind them (while I was part of a band for three years we had originals titled 'Young', 'Matt Good', 'Foo Fighters', and 'Incubus', partly for identification purposes, but ultimately because of the tone similarities between our song and similar songs by established bands). I can easily see this song being a Baker original, aptly title 'Wreck' because of the tone and mood of the song, being recorded on a jam session tape, and later released (how have we come upon 'Blonde Solid' and 'Work That Hard'? Nobody reallys knows, the songs just make their way out there).

I think it's the Hip, and if this isn't the song we're talking about, I'm not sure what to think. The Rheostatics version of 'The Wreck' is just a jazzed up off-tempo rendition, which includes lyrics, and as far as I can tell, Pearl Jam has never really had an interest in covering Lightfoot.

When's that B-Side compilation coming out? It's all I really need to be happy...

[chris]

Here's the song I think that we're talking about: Save this linked MP3.

I agree with das_hips regarding the description and that it's not a cover; but I don't think that it's The Hip.

[Tthip]

Here is what Rory wrote once before when we discussed this in the forum on "The Wreck" being performed:

"The Hip were playing the Corel Centre in Kanata, ON on November 28th, 1996. They were in the middle of At the Hundredth Meridian, starting to jam, when Gord Sinclair started plucking out the haunting bassline of Edmund Fitzgerald. The band followed suit, and Gord Downie proceeded to sing his own version, with his own improvised lyrics to the song, basically making fun of Mike Harris. The recording is out there, and it is well worth the time and effort to get it."

Rory
Halifax

[chris]

Here is what Rory wrote once before when we discussed this in the forum on "The Wreck" being performed:

"The Hip were playing the Corel Centre in Kanata, ON on November 28th, 1996. They were in the middle of At the Hundredth Meridian, starting to jam, when Gord Sinclair started plucking out the haunting bassline of Edmund Fitzgerald. The band followed suit, and Gord Downie proceeded to sing his own version, with his own improvised lyrics to the song, basically making fun of Mike Harris. The recording is out there, and it is well worth the time and effort to get it."

Rory
Halifax

It was seeded to etree...
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=9803">http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=9803</a><!-- m -->
And the fixed tracks:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=10031">http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=10031</a><!-- m -->

Maybe someone could seed these to our tracker, or reseed them at etree??

[Hairbird]

Maybe someone could seed these to our tracker, or reseed them at etree??

That's were I seeded it originally Chris:

http://tracker.hipfans.com/torrents-deta....php&id=10

I don't have the files on my hard drive anymore, but if someone needs a seed, and there's none out there, I can try to rip my disc again.

[chris]

Hmmm... how did I miss this post? I thought that I'd downloaded every single show that's been uploaded, but I must have missed this one.

If someone still has this on their hard drive, please reseed it.

[Bootlegger420]

Ive heard a very differnet version of this song so I dont know what to think now the song posted by CHris was not the song ive heard the song ive heard sounds exaxctly like the orig G light foot version but with rocking guitar like the hip so now im really confused

SHANE

[das_hips]

Here's the song I think that we're talking about: Save this linked MP3.

I agree with das_hips regarding the description and that it's not a cover; but I don't think that it's The Hip.

That's the song I have on my computer, and, really, it does sound like a Fully Completely Demo to me...

I have the 'Wreck of The Low Income Housing' somewhere burned on a CD... I'll try and dig it up tomorrow

[Stephen Dame]

The file we're talking about is a full, studio recorded, instrumental jam. It's the one das_hip describes and which Chris has linked. I found it on Kazaa about five years ago listed as "The Tragically Hip." That's the file folks have been e-mailing me about. We can now say that it is not in fact a Hip tune:

My follow-up question:

Is it safe to say that The Tragically Hip never recorded a studio version of "The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald?"

Their answer: "Yes, it's safe to say."

So there we go: it aint The Hip. Somebody inform the internet.