A feature by John Mazerolle

38 Years Old 38 Years Old Share by email Twelve men broke loose in seventy-three

From Millhaven maximum security

Twelve pictures lined up, across the front page

Seems the Mounties had a summertime war to wage (Ron Bull/Getty) Up to Here, 1989 Millhaven Institution is a maximum security prison in Bath, Ont., near Kingston. The song is based on Gord Downie's childhood memory of 12 men escaping from Millhaven in 1973, according to the authors of Have Not Been the Same: The CanRock Renaissance 1985-1995. It was actually 14 convicts in 1972, and the rest of the song is fiction. Downie does have a brother Mike, as referenced in the song, which led some fans to believe the lyrics about Mike killing a man in revenge for a rape were true. They're not. Up to Here, 1989 Photo: Millhaven Institution. (Ron Bull/Getty)

Montreal Montreal Share by email The snow is so merciless

Poor old Montreal

In spite of everything that's happened

Yeah, in spite of it all (CP) Unreleased, written from 1989 to 1991 Montreal was written in response to the shooting deaths of 14 women at École Polytechnique on December 6, 1989. Arguably the strongest of the Tragically Hip’s unreleased songs, it was slated to be part of the album Road Apples (1991) but was never recorded. The song, angry and grieving in equal measure, includes the lyric "Don't you worry/Her mama's gonna make her look good," which could be a reference to the burial of one of the victims. During a performance of the song in Montreal, Downie introduced it, somewhat cryptically, by saying it was "about the identification process." The file of the recording is from the Hip fan site A Museum After Dark. Unreleased, written from 1989 to 1991 Photo: Montreal in a snowstorm. (CP)

The Luxury The Luxury Share by email The Golden Rim Motor Inn

Soft water and colour TV

So consumed with the shape I'm in

Can't enjoy the luxury Corby Hart) Road Apples (1991) There was a real place called the Golden Rim Inn in Golden, B.C., just off the Trans-Canada Highway. Apparently the band stayed there once after their tour bus broke down in the mountains. The establishment is now a Days Inn that advertises wireless internet instead of its colour TVs. Road Apples (1991) Photo: The Golden Rim Motor Inn in Golden, B.C. ( Corby Hart

Born in the Water Born in the Water Share by email Smart as trees in Sault Ste. Marie

Victorious mother tongue

Passing laws just because

Singing songs of the English unsung Fungus Guy /Wikipedia) Road Apples (1991) The song lashes out at Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.'s 1990 declaration that it was an English-only city, a controversial decision made during the national debate over the Meech Lake Accord. The Soo’s declaration was struck down by the courts and a subsequent mayor later apologized for it. All is forgiven, bassist Gord Sinclair told fans in 1996: "To... suggest that we should boycott the city or would allow this one event to permanently colour our feelings towards the people there is as stupid and intolerant as the event which prompted the song." Road Apples (1991) Photo: The Sault Ste. Marie Museum in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. ( Fungus Guy /Wikipedia)

At the Hundredth Meridian At the Hundredth Meridian Share by email Me debunk an American myth?

And take my life in my hands?

Where the Great Plains begin

At the hundredth meridian

At the hundredth meridian

Where the Great Plains begin Tracy Munson) Fully Completely (1992) This concert staple is perhaps less Canadian than it seems — it references the U.S. twice, the Netherlands once and the video was filmed in Australia. But what the hey: the 100th meridian is in Canada (and the U.S. and Mexico), and is indeed more or less where the Great Plains begin (or end). During live performances, Downie sometimes changes the opening lyric to “Me debunk a Canadian myth?” Road Apples (1991) Photo: Free-roaming bison in Grasslands National Park, Sask. ( Tracy Munson

Wheat Kings Wheat Kings Share by email Sundown in the Paris of the prairies

Wheat kings have all their treasures buried

And all you hear are the rusty breezes

Pushing around the weather vane Jesus Neil Fisher) Fully Completely (1992) Wheat Kings is about David Milgaard, wrongly convicted for the rape and murder of Gail Miller in 1969. Milgaard spent more than two decades in prison before he was released in 1992. Downie, writing to Bob Mersereau for the book Top 100 Canadian Singles, said the song "is entirely about David Milgaard and his faith in himself. And about his mother, Joyce, and her absolute faith in her son's innocence. "And about our big country and its faith in man’s fallibility. And about Gail Miller, all those mornings ago, just lying there, all her faith bleeding out into that Saskatoon snowbank." Fully Completely (1992) Photo: Broadway Bridge in Saskatoon, Sask. ( Neil Fisher

An Inch an Hour An Inch an Hour Share by email 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 Trey Eden) Day for Night (1994) Springside Park is in Greater Napanee, Ont., not far to the west of the Hip’s hometown of Kingston. It includes a cascading waterfall. If Downie’s lyrics are known for their Canadiana, water is probably their most common motif. Whether it's rain falling "in real time" or "Tom Thomson came paddling past," it’s a rare thing for three songs to go by on a Hip album without some reference to water. "Water is stronger than rock," Downie once wrote in an online chat with fans. "Water threatens to, at anytime, flood in and obliterate the chalk drawing. We leave a temporary impression similar to that of a hull on the surface of the sea. I could go on and on." Day for Night (1994) Photo: Heron in Springside Park in Napanee, Ont. ( Trey Eden

Titanic Terrarium Titanic Terrarium Share by email There's a trace o' mint

Wafting in from the north

So we don't f--k with the 401

It's bigger than us or

Larger than we bargained

I guess it's just not done

(CP) Day for Night (1994) Titanic Terrarium is one of Downie's favourites songs lyrically, according to Have Not Been the Same: The CanRock Renaissance 1985-1995. "It envisions the planet as the great unsinkable ship, likewise at the mercy of those who built and steer her," the authors write. The authors say the lesson lies in avoiding human arrogance, illustrated by the song's example of staying off Highway 401 when the weather gets bad. Day for Night (1994) Photo: A stretch of Highway 401 in Toronto. (CP)

Bobcaygeon Bobcaygeon Share by email It was in Bobcaygeon

I saw the constellations

Reveal themselves

One star at a time

(Getty) Phantom Power (1998) Perhaps the most famous Canadian location in the Tragically Hip's catalogue, Bobcaygeon is a community in the Kawartha Lakes region of Ontario — in other words, cottage country. Downie has often said the song is about a cop from the big city (Toronto) and a girl from the country (Bobcaygeon), though in later years he's mused aloud that maybe it's about two men. "Small town, lots of stars, you know," Downie told a San Francisco radio station in 1998. "You could use any town, really, you want. Bobcaygeon rhymes with constellation. Sort of." Phantom Power (1998) Photo: Long exposure of stars over Bobcaygeon, Ont. (Getty)

Bobcaygeon Bobcaygeon Share by email That night in Toronto

with its checkerboard floors

Riding on horseback

and keeping order restored

Til the men they couldn't hang

Stepped to the mic and sang

And their voices rang

with that Aryan twang (Getty) Phantom Power (1998) Downie has said the bar in this song is on Spadina Avenue, which means it's almost certainly Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern (which is technically on Queen Street, near Spadina). The iconic bar does in fact have checkerboard floors. The Men They Couldn't Hang is the name of an actual British band and one of their most popular songs is about a 1936 riot between anti-fascist groups and London's Metropolitan Police, who were protecting a fascist march. ("With courage we shall beat those Blackshirts down.") Downie's lyrics may therefore be an allusion to a number of anti-Semitic riots that have happened in Toronto, most notably the Christie Pits riot of 1933. Phantom Power (1998) Photo: The Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto. (Getty)

Thompson Girl Thompson Girl Share by email Thompson Girl

I'm stranded at the Unique Motel

Thompson Girl

Winterfighter's shot on the car as well

Looks like Christmas at 55 degrees

This latitude weakens my knees City of Thompson) Phantom Power (1998) Thompson, Man., is in fact at 55 degrees latitude, "where opportunity is endless," according to the city's website. The narrator of the song begs to differ, referring to the winter as a siege to be endured. "Grunt work time between dream state and duty," Downie croons, which is also how he was describing touring at the time. "This is grunt work," he told CBC in 1999. "What I'm doing is the daily life. It's where the grist is. It's in the travelling." Phantom Power (1998) Photo: The T-1 mine in Thompson, Man. ( City of Thompson

Thompson Girl Thompson Girl Share by email Thompson Girl

Walking from Churchill

Across the icy world

With polar bears it's mostly uphill

But when she saw that nickel stack

She whistled hard and I whistled back (CP) Phantom Power (1998) Churchill, which is in Manitoba's far north, is polar bear central. A good reason to head south, maybe, but the walk from Churchill to Thompson would be a long one at 400 km. Unless you have a plane or a train, that may be what you have to do, because there's no access road. And after all that ice and snow, the Vale nickel operation in Thompson might be a whistle-worthy sight. Phantom Power (1998) Photo: Polar bear, Churchill, Man. (CP)

Lake Fever Lake Fever Share by email I'll tell you a story

About the Lake Fever or

We can skip to the coital fury

You didn't say

Yes or no, neither

You whispered, 'Hurry.' (Library and Archives Canada) Music@Work (2000) Lake Ontario is not name-checked directly, but the "lake fever" in question is a cholera outbreak that arrived in the Town of York, now Toronto, by ship in the 1800s. Downie described the love song before a performance in 2000. "He's all intellectual saying, 'You know on these very shores, just off these shores, there were boats that weren’t allowed to dock 100 years ago because of cholera.'" "And he's sort of saying, 'Would you like to hear a story or have sex?' And she’s saying 'Hurry,' which is kind of ambiguous. And I think she’s sort of saying, 'First the story, then the sex.'" Music@Work (2000) Image: Lake Ontario at Fort York. (Library and Archives Canada)

Lake Fever Lake Fever Share by email Want to be your wheezing screen door

Want to be your stars of Algonquin

Want to be your roaring floorboard

Want to break the hearts of everyone

(Eve Kraicer) Music@Work (2000) Algonquin is Ontario’s third-largest provincial park, roughly a four-hour drive north of the Hip's stomping grounds in Kingston. The song is in part the story of two young lovers discussing a cholera outbreak, but this passage seems to simply be a poetic way of saying, "I want to be your everything." The first half of this section of the song is the only place in the Hip's catalogue that guitarist Paul Langlois takes lead vocal. Music@Work (2000) Photo: Canoes tethered in Algonquin Park, Ont. (Eve Kraicer)

Toronto #4 Toronto #4 Share by email Tell me when it's imminent

So you won't have to rise and fall alone

Or endure the wonder of survival

The wipe-out loss

The elation of free fall

The rock bottom

The sweet betrayal

Alone (CP) Music@Work (2000) Downie said in 2000 that this song was inspired by a phone call from his brother about his ailing grandmother, the Tragically Hip fan site A Museum After Dark says. The song's lyrics are a tribute to her and a promise to be bedside when death comes. Toronto is referenced in the title only, and its significance is unclear. Music@Work (2000) Photo: CN Tower, Toronto. (CP)

The Bear The Bear Share by email I think it was Algonquin Park

It was so cold and winter-dark

A promised hibernation high

Took me across the great black plate of ice

Now I’m the Islander Rob Marchand) Music@Work (2000) This is the second mention on Music@Work of Algonquin Park, which is about 300 km from the band's hometown. The song seems to be, in part, about a bear that finds itself being hunted by men when it accidentally ends up on an island. Bears turn up a number of times in the Hip's discography. Problem Bear and Gus: The Polar Bear from Central Park are two strong songs from the back half of their careers, while Downie is stalked by a polar bear in the video for Yer Not the Ocean. Music@Work (2000) Photo: Bear cub, Algonquin Park, Ont. ( Rob Marchand

Vancouver Divorce Vancouver Divorce Share by email I love your paintings

— don't take your colours away

I've grown more fearful of them every day

Swimming up their dark rivers to discover your source

A source of strange and unrequited remorse

And I found the end of the world, of course

But it's not the end of the world, of course

It's just a Vancouver divorce (CP) Coke Machine Glow (solo album, 2001) "Imagine if your relationship was predicated on where you live," Downie said before a 2010 performance of this song, the second track off his first solo album. "In other words if you can't make it here, you can't make it anywhere." This marital breakdown between the narrator and a painter also has two other Canadian signposts in its verses. It includes a reference to the ceremonial last spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and mentions an even more venerable Canadian institution: Tim Hortons ("Sitting here at the Hortons/So you know this is important"). Coke Machine Glow (solo album, 2001) Image: Mountain Forest, Emily Carr (CP)

Nothing But Heartache In Your Social Life Nothing But Heartache In Your Social Life Share by email When are you thinking of disappearing?

When the evacuation’s underway

And not for all the pot in Rosedale

Could you possibly get them to stay? (CP) Coke Machine Glow (solo album, 2001) Rosedale is an affluent Toronto neighbourhood a little north of the downtown core. This deeply weird spoken-word track off Downie's first solo album includes filmmaker Atom Egoyan on classical guitar. Egoyan had used Downie's music in his 1997 film The Sweet Hereafter. This pairing led to one of the most Canadian cultural convergences ever: a Canadian-made movie set in British Columbia starring Toronto's Sarah Polley, who on the soundtrack sings Courage, a Tragically Hip song with a passage lifted from The Watch That Ends the Night, a Montreal-based novel by Nova Scotia-born author Hugh MacLennan. Coke Machine Glow (solo album, 2001) Photo: Joggers in Rosedale, Toronto. (CP)

Silver Jet Silver Jet Share by email Silver jet, a satellite, a green star

Silver jet way overhead

Silver jet evergladed grey sheers

Silver jet, so far off already

Silver jet Clayoquot Sound to Cape Spear (CP) In Violet Light (2002) Clayoquot Sound is on the west coast of Vancouver Island, which Downie contrasts with Cape Spear, the easternmost point of the country. Downie and Clayoquot Sound have a history. Logging of the area's ancient, old-growth forest drew global attention in the early 1990s, and Downie was one of the writers (along with Daniel Lanois, Midnight Oil's Peter Garrett and Hothouse Flowers' Liam Ó Maonlaí) of the 1993 song Land, which raised money for the Clayoquot Defence Fund. Downie’s verse in Land comes back to his frequent motif of water ("Water's not just the purity..."). In Violet Light (2002) Photo: Clayoquot Sound, B.C. (CP)

Silver Jet Silver Jet Share by email Silver jet, a satellite, a green star

Silver jet way overhead

Silver jet evergladed grey sheers

Silver jet, so far off already

Silver jet Clayoquot Sound to Cape Spear (Shutterstock) In Violet Light (2002) Cape Spear is the easternmost point in Canada. Downie wrote in 2002 that Silver Jet is "just another in a long line of tunes praising the greater glory of the mute machines [i.e. airplanes] that make us... that put us together... in our place." The rest of the song's lyrics, with references to the Bible, Shakespeare and Hollywood, are indicative of how Downie likes to make immediate use of any inspiration. "I generally use it up, as Raymond Carver would say, and don't save a thing for later," he told the Toronto Star in 2010. In Violet Light (2002) Photo: Lighthouse on Cape Spear, N.L. (Shutterstock)

A Beautiful Thing A Beautiful Thing Share by email The phone rings and it brings Niagara Falls

And 3 o'clock in the morning

"You'd better be dyin" — and you were —

So we talked about time

And where it went (Shutter) In Violet Light (2002) "'You'd better be dyin'... isn’t that how most people answer the phone when it rings at 'ungodly' hours?" Downie wrote on the Tragically Hip’s website in 2002. Downie said that the song was inspired by one of his favourite children’s stories: Miss Rumphius by American Barbara Cooney. "In this story, Miss (Alice) Rumphius moves through her life from young girl to old woman, emulating the life of her grandfather (to travel the world... to return to her house by the sea...) and trying to honour his request: 'You must do something to make the world more beautiful.'" In Violet Light (2002) Photo: Niagara Falls, Ont. (Shutterstock)

The Dire Wolf The Dire Wolf Share by email In that September off

Isle aux Morts

The desultory sea

Grew more so through the night Kelly Davis) In Violet Light (2002) Isle aux Morts is a small town in southwest Newfoundland, not far from the ferry terminal where boats arrive from North Sydney, N.S. During a performance in 2009, Downie said that despite the timeframe in the lyric, the song was inspired by a rough ferry crossing in February. The song follows the pattern of Sea Surface Full of Clouds, a poem by Wallace Stevens: "In that November off Tehuantepec/The slopping of the sea grew still one night." In Violet Light (2002) Photo: Ferry near Isle aux Morts, N.L. ( Kelly Davis

The Dire Wolf The Dire Wolf Share by email At the Dire Wolf's best

The Newfoundland paused

So desperate as

To be a lost cause

Floyd Garrett) In Violet Light (2002) It's unclear at various points in this song whether "the Newfoundland" is a reference to the island or the dog species indigenous to the area. Given that the Dire Wolf is a stand-in for the ocean, it's a reasonable guess that Downie means both. "This is yet another tale of maritime woe," Downie wrote online when the album was released. "I feel a certain pride in adding The Dire Wolf to the list of descriptive phrases that aspire and fail to describe the sea. It is, after all, one's job as a writer to try." Downie notes that with their webbed feet, Newfoundland dogs have saved "many an imperiled fisherman." In Violet Light (2002) Photo: Bella, a Newfoundland dog. ( Floyd Garrett

Problem Bear Problem Bear Share by email Writing a song about

Lake Memphremagog

And tonight I don't believe

There are words to spare

And be a tip and a nod

Admitting it's half the defeat (CP) In Violet Light (2002) Lake Memphremagog is a lake that straddles the Quebec-Vermont border, and sits in an area that has frequent bear sightings. Downie loves to take disparate ideas, put them in the same song and see how it all sorts itself out (such as a hockey card and a bomber-pilot's fifty-mission hat). In Problem Bear, he references "two tough-talking goalies really going at it" and contrasts it with an apocryphal quote about Voltaire’s dislike of Shakespeare. As one does. In Violet Light (2002) Photo: Lake Memphremagog, Que. (CP)

Ultra Mundane Ultra Mundane Share by email To make it inside

With a wristband, alright

To see Etobicoke coyotes

To get pretend scars

To see like a pair

To feel as welcome

As a sneeze in a motorcycle helmet Eric Chudnoff) In Violet Light (2002) Given the line about a wristband, Gord Downie may be imagining a rock band or sports team called the Etobicoke Coyotes. But coyotes are an issue in Etobicoke (and other parts of Toronto), as they sometimes go after cats and dogs. The stuffed coyote pictured here was on display in front of a local bakery. When the bakery closed, the coyote was never seen again. In Violet Light (2002) Photo: Stuffed coyote in Etobicoke, Ont. ( Eric Chudnoff

Christmastime in Toronto Christmastime in Toronto Share by email 'Always the wind

And the persistent snow

Gets into your eyes and your mouth

And every fold of your coat'

Everyone hates you

But they don't know what I know

Besides, it's Christmastime

Christmastime in Toronto (CP) Battle of the Nudes (solo album, 2003) Christmastime in Toronto is a love letter to the city. While three of the Hip's five members still live in Kingston, Downie moved to Toronto soon after the band's career took off. He was quick to give the musical community there the opportunity to open for the Hip during tours and other events at the height of their popularity. Downie's favourite lyric in the song isn't by him: the "persistent snow" quote is from The Wife by Anton Chekhov: "Again the flying horses, the strange voice of drunken Nikanor, the wind and the persistent snow, which got into one's eyes, one's mouth, and every fold of one's fur coat..." Battle of the Nudes (solo album, 2003) Photo: Toronto skyline. (CP)

Fly Fly Share by email There's Mistaken Point,

Newfoundland

There's Moonbeam,

Ontari-ari-o

There are places I've never been

And always wanted to go Government of Newfoundland and Labrador) World Container (2006) Mistaken Point is a spot in extreme southeastern Newfoundland — so named because if you mistake it for nearby Cape Race, you’ll end up running aground. Downie has said the song is about emigrants. "I fly, 'cause woe betide a guy who just lives to fight," the lyrics say. Downie can be heard riffing on the lyrics during the band’s 2005 concert film, That Night in Toronto. World Container (2006) Photo: Mistaken Point, N.L. ( Government of Newfoundland and Labrador

Fly Fly Share by email There's Mistaken Point,

Newfoundland

There's Moonbeam,

Ontari-ari-o

There are places I've never been

And always wanted to go Luc Boudreau) World Container (2006) Moonbeam is a township of 1,100 in rural Ontario roughly halfway between Toronto and Thunder Bay. Its biggest claim to fame is arguably its roadside novelty "flying saucer." The way Downie sings “Ontari-ari-o” is likely a nod to A Place to Stand, a Place to Grow (Ontari-ari-ari-o!), a provincial theme written in 1967. World Container (2006) Photo: Flying saucer attraction in Moonbeam, Ont. ( Luc Boudreau

The Depression Suite The Depression Suite Share by email 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? (CP) We Are the Same (2009) The Hip's longest song, The Depression Suite moves between three stories in three locations: one in a Chicago hotel room; another in a New Orleans casino; and this final story about a relationship breaking down in the chill of an oilsands camp. Downie said during a 2009 concert that the song goes "straight north to the northern part of northern Alberta, which is like Florida without the ocean, up to the tar sands to a little trailer that I promised you was no mansion." The song includes the lyric "I didn’t come to get lost in the Barrens," which could be a reference to Lost in the Barrens, a novel by late Canadian author Farley Mowat. (The novel’s alternate title: Two Against the North.) We Are the Same (2009) Photo: Workers residence, Athabasca, Alta. (CP)

Queen of the Furrows Queen of the Furrows Share by email "'Win Toronto!'

Yelled the Queen of the Furrows

'This is how we farm

'Hens cluck and roosters crow

'You are my heart

'Staring down from the bureau

'To be apart? Is that why you have to go?'" Angus MacAskil) We Are the Same (2009) Queen of the Furrows is a pageant held in some agricultural areas. The P.E.I. Plowing Match and Agricultural Fair says it judges girls in this competition in five categories: scholastic, talent, plowing, evening wear and an interview with judges. It's not clear exactly what "Win Toronto!" means, though the song might be about a relationship with an urban-rural divide. We Are the Same (2009) Photo: Michelle Hynes, Queen of the Furrows, 2010 Dundas Plowing Match, Dundas, P.E.I. ( Angus MacAskil

Skeleton Park Skeleton Park Share by email In Skeleton Park,

One fine summer evening

The sun teased the dark,

like the last strawberry

I could hear them on the breeze

Hear them moving through the trees

The ghosts of the Rideau Canal start to sing Will S.) We Are the Same (2009) McBurney Park in Kingston, Ont., is better known as Skeleton Park. The site used to be the city's primary burial ground and may contain as many as 10,000 bodies, some of which are very near the surface. Among those buried at the cemetery were workers on the Rideau canal killed in a malaria outbreak in the early 1800s. Remains turn up from time to time, including the year We Are the Same was recorded. This recording comes from the Tragically Hip fan page A Museum After Dark. We Are the Same (2009) Photo: McBurney Park, Kingston, Ont. ( Will S.

Moon Over Glenora Moon Over Glenora Share by email There's a smudge of moon over Glenora

Ferry spotlight's on the ice ahead

And over your shoulder

And through the snowflakes

There's an aloneness Brian Westhouse) The Grand Bounce (2010) Glenora, Ont., is a small community in northern Lake Ontario, on the southern shore of the Bay of Quinte. It's reachable by a free, 15-minute ferry ride from the community of Adolphustown. Downie said before a live performance in 2010 that the song is about the ferry operator and the drudgery of riding the boat back and forth while everybody else gets to leave — then again, Downie may just have been ad-libbing. The Grand Bounce (2010) Photo: Ferry near Glenora, Ont. ( Brian Westhouse

The Dance and Its Disappearance The Dance and Its Disappearance Share by email In orangey glows

And sudbury yellows

We are the dance

And its disappearance (Shutterstock) The Grand Bounce (2010) Sudbury is the most populous city in northern Ontario. Whether Downie is referring to sun, pollution, the city's iconic Flour Mill silos, the shade of paint Sudbury Yellow or a combination thereof is anyone's guess. The inspiration for the main thrust of the song is clearer: a quote from Canadian dancer and choreographer Crystal Pite, who said dance is an "extreme expression of the present," because it disappears immediately and leaves no artifacts. "We embody both the dance and its disappearance." To which Downie wrote: "Dancers say the coolest things." The Grand Bounce (2010) Photo: Smokestack in Sudbury, Ont. (Shutterstock)

Goodnight Attawapiskat Goodnight Attawapiskat Share by email Attawapiskat

City by the Bay!

A diamond dazzling

O Attawapiskat

You're on your way (Reuters) Now for Plan A (2012) The Hip travelled to Fort Albany, Ont., near Attawapiskat, in 2012 as part of a celebration of Cree culture and education. The band previously wrote a song about First Nations issues called Now the Struggle Has a Name (2009). The "diamond dazzling" is likely a reference to the Victor Diamond Mine near Attawapiskat. The mine is controversial because some people don't believe nearby aboriginal communities see a fair amount of the economic spillover. "I'm maybe not painting an accurate picture," Downie told CBC in 2012, speaking about the song. "But at least I'm trying to paint a picture that isn't the picture we all kind of just accept and forget about." Now for Plan A (2012) Photo: Attawapiskat, Ont. (Reuters)

Take Forever Take Forever Share by email When I broke down

I always thought I'd go to Calgary...

Calgary to have my heart attack

Calgary the place to do it

It's a fact (CP) Now for Plan A (2012) Take Forever is, in part, a song about flying to see a loved one. It includes some of the "man machine poem" imagery Downie used on the Hip's 2012 album Now for Plan A, around the time his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, as well as the band’s latest record. ("She’s the poem, I'm the machine," he told CBC News.) Why would Downie say that Calgary is the best place to have a heart attack? Because it is. A 2010 study done by scientists at the University of Calgary showed that the city is the most advantageous place to have a heart attack because of its access to life-saving angioplasty at the Foothills Medical Centre. Now for Plan A (2012) Photo: Calgary skyline. (CP)