The Tragically Hip

[fox69]

"The Dark Canuck"

"The Dark Canuck"



This one is for you
And it goes on and on and on
When nothing seems to do
For when the doubtless and the wrong
Ask, "Can I help you?"
In that way that says, "I can't"
Or claim we're all the same
Just inconsistent
Or pretend all understanding
Turned out to be pretence
Then pretend the pretence of understanding
How long does it take? Depends

You can cast your doubts
Turn them inside out
Hang them upside down

Till their art falls out
The short answer's forty eight hours
Let your heart all out
The short answer's forty eight hours
Till their art falls out
The short answer's forty eight hours
Let your heart all out
Summon up all your power

If you need a good connection for drugs
Or a strong tolerance for alcohol
Too little religious education
Some pain threshold
If from the outside
There's no demand for what you do
And inside there's an army waiting
For their marching orders for you
Come sit on my swing seat
Come sit on my porch
After ten at night, smoke your cigarettes
If you like, of course

You can cast your doubts
Turn them inside out
Hang them upside down

Till their art falls out
The short answer's forty eight hours
Let your heart all out
The short answer's forty eight hours
Till their art falls out
The short answer's forty eight hours
Let your heart all out
Summon up all your power

And it goes on and on and on

If we ever get home
Let's don't compare
Let's relinquish all our holidays
And drive in premieres
If we ever get home
I'm going to have me three children
Apple, Zippo and Metronome
That's what I'm going to name them

And get celebrity skin
The illusion of tough
I'm going to talk about nothing
Till nothing's enough
If we ever get home
And the subject comes up
This war isn't for children
War is nothing's enough

In the clouds of blood at the end of Jaws
In the misted cars honking their applause
At the drive-in double feature
At the heart of dark enough
It's Jaws and The Dark Canuck
Should we stay for The Dark Canuck?
Yeah, everyone, hands up
Who's for The Dark Canuck?
I think we relinquished enough
And it's still dark enough

And it goes on and on and on

 

[fox69]

"The Darkest One"

"The Darkest One"



Come in, come in, come in, come in
From under these darling skies come in
It's warm and it's safe here and almost heartening
Off to a time and place now lost on our imagination

Where you don't complain but you still do
And you don't explain if you want to explain
What you believe you say without shame, "I just do"
To say what you mean you don't mean what you say or you do

Where the wild are strong
And the strong are the darkest ones
And you're the darkest one

Come in, come in, come in, come in
From thin and wicked prairie winds come in
It's warm and it's safe here and almost heartening
Here in a time and place not lost on our imagination

Where you don't explain but you still do
And you can't complain if you want to complain
Where you're real instrumental or supple or sexy as hell
Where you say, "I believe" or say without shame, “I can't tell”

Where the wild are strong
And the strong are the darkest ones
And you're the darkest one
Oh you're the darkest one
And if that's what you want
Oh then you're the darkest one

 

[fox69]

"The Depression Suite"

"The Depression Suite"



Under the pillow
I bury my head and try to shut Chicago out
As it turns out there's a whole other world of sounds
of perfect fifths low skids and Arctic howls

all saying are you going through something?
are you going through something?

Under the pillow a little room to breathe
the early morning light's a pale cranberry
I hear the Aaa-aah-aah not-wow-wow
of a siren faraway and closing steadily

saying Are you going through something?
Are you going through something?
cuz I-I-I-I I am too

Under the pillow
I can hear you whisperin' are you going through something?

well honey are you going through something?
Are you going through something?
Then I-I-I-I I am too
Then I-I-I-I I am too

Then I-I-I-I

I am too

Gimme gimme gimme gimme-gimme
Gimme an opportunity gimme-gimme
Put me put me put me put me-put me
In the saddle I'll ride you'll see

There's new work in the Day Room
I can't lounge on-line
Don't you laugh
I'd sell a giraffe and I'd give you half
Just to occupy my mind

I'll be driven my eyes always moving
I'll be riveted to the task yea
No smiling! That's important
I will make my face a mask

And I'm thinking just in passing
What if this song does nothing?
What if this song does nothing

Working in the new NewOrleansWorld
I'm emptying slots working like a ghost
I move through huge rooms with no windows
And no Gulf of Mexico

Gimmegimmegimme gimme-gimme
Gimme an opportunity gimme-gimme
Put me put me put me put me-put me
In the saddle please

I'll be driven my eyes always moving
I'll be riveted to the task yea
No smiling! That's so important
I will make my face a mask

And I'm thinking just in passing
What if this song does nothing?
What if this song does nothing?
What if this song does nothing
What if this song does nothing

Bring on the requisite strangeness
It always has to get a little weird a little weird
Yea you just bring on the requisite strangeness
Bring it on then disappear disappear
Go to be a man of the boom
To Florida without the ocean
But
Don't you wanna see how it ends?
When the door is just starting to open?
When Athabasca depends?
Don't you wanna see how it ends

I can hear you
But I can't stay here
You left me lost in the Barrens
You left me born on the stairs
It's minus 11
Inside my kettle
I didn't come to get lost in the Barrens
I didn't come to settle
To be a man on the moon
To get my little slice of heaven
Yeah
Don't you wanna see how it ends?
When the door is just starting to open?
And Athabasca depends
Doncha wanna see how it ends

Don't you wanna see how it ends?
The door is just starting to open.
Athabasca depends.
Don't you wanna see how it ends?
Yeah
Don't you wanna see how it ends?
I'm holding the door to the Barrens
And Athabasca depends
Doncha wanna see how it ends?

 

[fox69]

"The Dire Wolf"

"The Dire Wolf"



In that September off, Isle Aux Morts
The desultory sea grew more so through the night
And made one think of tawny ports
As Aspen trembling in tomorrow's thorough light
And of Tallulah Bank head and Canada Lee
Somewhere far off, peaceful, sleeping, and done with acting
Past the Dire Wolf's Lair on a Newfoundland's Paws
Close to nowhere and half way across
But never more here, expanse getting broader
Though bigger boats been done by this water
Though better boats been done by this water
Though better boats been done by less water

In that September off, Isle Aux Morts
Colourable seas grew more to through the night
And made one think of yawning shores
Gambier bleached in tomorrow's thorough light
And of Tallulah Bank head and Canada Lee
Somewhere far off, peaceful, sleeping, they learned to love sleep
At the Dire Wolf's Crest, the Newfoundland paused
Desolate's best was gotten across
We were never more here, expanse getting broader
When better boats been done by this water

At the Dire Wolf's Best, the Newfoundland paused
So desperate as to be a lost cause
You were never more hear, expanse getting broader
When better boats been done by this water
Where bigger boats been done by less water
And better boats been done by this water
When bigger boats been done by less water
And better boats been done by this water

 

[fox69]

"The Drop-Off"

"The Drop-Off"



When the summer's young
And nobody has their prices
No one is no one
And nobody in a crisis

There's no swimming past the drop off
Or feeling sorry for yourself
You don't go swimming past the drop off
Or else

You're a pistol, you're a gun
And suddenly I have no prices
I'm like a friend of Dylan's, Bob Dylan
Our shovels meeting in some crisis

But there's no swimming past the drop off
Yeah, we don't replace ourselves
You don't go swimming past the drop off
Or else

The fates are amok and spun
Measured and cut
And the past is meant to please us
You're a comet from earth
In a Kiss Alive shirt
Saying, "Holy fuck, it's Jesus"
The surface is green
And the dark interweaves
In a lonely iridescence
It's terribly deep
And the cold is complete
And it only lacks a presence
And nothing else

When the summer is done
And nobody sympathizes
You're no friend of Dylan's
Yeah, you won't see another crisis

There's no swimming past the drop off
Or feeling sorry for ourselves
You don't go swimming past the drop off
Or else

Personal stakes
Will get raised and get raised
Till your story gets compelling
If you lacked the sense
Or were willfully dense
Is forever in the telling
The surface is green
And the dark interweaves
In a lonely iridescence
It's terribly deep
And the cold is complete
And it only lacks your presence
And nothing else
Nothing else
Nothing else
And no one else

 

[fox69]

"The Exact Feeling"

"The Exact Feeling"



The exact feeling is coming back around
The tiger's wheeling
And covering some ground

I'm up to my torch, I'm up to my tits
Maybe I got no more interest

In the exact feeling is all I ever tried to do
The perimeter, the ceiling
Just to dribble somewhere new

I'd be on my hands, I'd be on my knees
Saying, hey bartender, one more of these

For the exact feeling
The exact feeling maybe isn't what I think
Not the singularity, those thousand million dreams
Not a prosperity that means

I never have to say a thing
Maybe the exact feeling
Is on the other side of this feeling

And I remember stealing
Lying, begging loneliness
Flying, falling, kneeling
Trying to get 'em to notice

I'm not being sad, I'm not being dear
I only wanna stay with you right here

In this exact feeling, in your exact feeling
In this exact feeling, in your exact feeling
In this exact feeling, in this exact feeling
In this exact feeling

 

[fox69]

"The Heart Of The Melt"

"The Heart Of The Melt"



There's me then there's you
And I could dance with the puck
In a telephone booth
You said, "I don't give a fuck
Besides enough about you
And your "evil's banal"
'Cause as soon as Joni says "blue"
You're somewhere else"
Somewhere else

There's me then there's you
And I could not hear it yet
From the telephone booth
I do my hungover best
And say, "Enough about you
And your representative hell"
I jump in when you do
Like there's nowhere else

And then of course there's the dorsal fin
Closing in that you can't outswim
"It's not him that I got to outswim"
You said, "Just you"
You said, "Just you"

And there's the heart of the melt
And there's the narrowest flume
There's the somewhere else
When I'm with you there's nowhere else

There's me and there's you
There's me and there's you
You could not say enough
If there were several yous
That would not be enough
There's me and there's you
You're a beautiful you
A beautiful you
A beautiful you
Could not say enough
If there were several truths
It would not be enough
We're a beautiful two

 

[fox69]

"The Kids Don't Get It"

"The Kids Don't Get It"



You said, "If I ask you a question
Are you going to lie to me?"
I said, "Honey, is that your question?
'Cause, honey, that one's easy"

'Cause half the truth is
Just how much there is
The kids don't get it
No, the kids don't get it

I'm going to be an expert stranger
Better than the giant squid
I'm going to leave the stranger experts
Scratching their heads saying, "How'd he do it?"

When half the truth is
Just how hard it is
But the kids don't get it
No, the kids won't get it

I'll be the antlers
And I'll be the elk
I'll be the right whale
And I'll be parallel

The kids don't get it
that's right, the kids don't get it

I'll feel more than human
When the work's hitting home
I'll be aped by my ancestors
I'll state the plan as my own
I'll be gripping the city
I'll be hitting the town
You'll say, "I'd be hurt if you didn't"
When I come around

Yeah, that's right, the kids don't get it

I'll be as careless as you are certain
I'll get out of my own way
I'll stop to cry into the curtains
And like the greats before me go on stage

And if half true it's
Good enough for this
'Cause the kids don't get it
No, the kids don't get it

If I ask you a question
you going to lie to me?
Ah, honey, is that your question?
'Cause that one's easy

The kids don't get it
Just how hard it is
The kids don't get it
Just how much there is

 

[fox69]

"The Last Of The Unplucked Gems"

"The Last Of The Unplucked Gems"



Violins and tambourines
And this is what we think they mean
It's hard to say, it's sad but true
I'm kind of dumb and so are you

When the mystique varies thus
You can send a man to bury us
It's hard to say, it's sad but true
I'm kind of dumb and so are you

The last of the unplucked gems
The last of the unplucked gems
The last of the unplucked gems

 

[fox69]

"The Last Recluse"

"The Last Recluse"



We rode hard,
for the boat, as we could,
tears you said, understood, understood,
I said alright.
A crowd will be born ,
only born,I,
I want to watch for a sign,
in the night,
I watch a bomb go off in a young girls life.

Who were you..
The last recluse..
Who were you..
The last Canada girl..

Who were you?
what is it with you?
who were you?
Who were you?

When the wind comes up,
Surfers up,
What a scuzz
nothing up, with surprise
just ride you said,
ride and shut up.

I jump on broad,turned around
To wave goodbye,
You were only on your bike,
riding with my bike by your side

Who were you?
The black canoe.
Who were you?
The last of the __
Who were you?
You rode a lot __
As far as I know, it was you.

You broke my heart, from the start
made me work, work so hard.
To where I am,
To where I'd let you do it all again.

Who were you?
Who were you?
What do I do,
Without you?

Who were you?
The last recluse.
Who were you?
The last of the __

The last color..
The last Canada girls..
Who were you?
Who were you?
Who were you?
Who were you?