The Tragically Hip - Nautical Disaster

[nickabokka]

Can someone please tell me exactly what this song is about? One of my favourite songs! this band is amazing!! Love the hip!

[RB26EH]

The drums in this song get your head banging...one of the most powerful songs ever written.

[DetroitSquirreL]

The show at The Cobo Center in Detroit was where they recorded the live cd

[vhdtim]

windsor has the the best strip clubs!!!!!!

[JCAR0407]

Love it!!!

[p1ippers]

75%....

[WestCoastEx]

One of my favourite TH song but GD messes up @ 1:20. Doesn't appear to be improvising. Stretches to catch up and does @ 2:20. Seen them do much better versions.

[captamerka]

My favorite Hip song. I was lucky to live in Buffalo and know some great Canadian bands like the Hip and Lowest of the Low that not many people in the deeper US have.

[first799]

Best band in the world!

[calhip20]

rush is overrated lol but the hip are so underrated and generally unknown by many people, they deserve so much more credit. even today, we are the same is one of their best alums and its brand new. the hip are canadas best band

[Annonymus121]

@calhip20 Rush is not overrated, but I do agree the hip are underrated

[manguy2000]

Funny, I saw Gord Sinclair in the will call lineup at the Metallica concert in Ottawa last month. He was wearing a Hip jacket, cool guy. Very nice.

[raptorsfan92]

you mean Gord Downie?

[0ri0ninh3ll]

The bass player...

[CJWINTERS12]

thisis the best canada band ever!!!! but the usa have'nt had the pleasure of hearing it !!!! k-cee k-sum must have fucked up thereal americans!!!! new orleans should be sinking!!!!

[manguy2000]

They do not come close to RUSH. No one does. Not just the best band in Canada, but the world. At least in the top 5.

I am sure even the HIP would agree.

[PureBeef87]

Neil Young > Rush

[raptorsfan92]

Big fan of Both but the things Rush did with a 3 man band are incredible.

[snopro505]

@manguy2000 gotta agree, hip are great, but Rush is almost going on 35 yrs of absolute awesomeness!! who can argue that neil peart is the best drummer in the world??!!

[sweetswing1]

What is crazy is that the world hasn't embraced this band. In particular Day for Night and Trouble at the Henhouse are incredible and deep albums. They need to drop Bob Rock as a producer though...

[Lennon4life1968]

Well done Detroit!! Well done Southern Ontario!! Well Done to the Hip. It must have rocked!

[gitsumjosh]

i was born in anchorage, can i renounce my citizenship?canada rocks!

[swassontelus]

@gitsumjosh We Canadians are aware that you Alaskans are trying to get into our country. We are wary of you lot, especially when you start opening up Alaskan restaurants.

[gitsumjosh]

@swassontelus Oh,I was a military brat,born Alaskan only to be NEBRAskan,which sucks more,i wonder...

[DENISTHEMENACE77]

Just saw them in Ottawa amazing!

[adriangogan420]

bummed they didn't get to play at the hill!

[halifaxredemption]

Still my favorite Hip song after all this time.. and the live version is incredible.

[FreakwaveNL]

Tragically its hip to say these things. I wonder what they think of next

[ThankGodForACDC]

Gord is Good...not God.

Thanks, Jesus.

[tammywhitey]

stellar performers the best Canadian band ever??? Hell yeah and the best band in the universe ever Gord is God

[spspraul]

Ummm....I guess if the best Canadian band is your opinion...that's okay...but numbers and fanbase don't lie....Rush is the greatest Canadian band ever...plain and simple...

[kngfsh256]

just saw them do this song on tour - outstanding

[joshau88]

my friend josh wrote this song

[hipfans]

Wrong.

[waterthrustone]

yes very wrong. gordon downie wrote this song

[metarika2]

This is by far the most profound song I have ever heard. The first time I heard it I contemplated for weeks what it would be like to be the guy who has to either push his friends into the water to die or die himself in the hope that maybe some of his friends would live. How can 10 men drift off into the night leaving thousands of their commrades to die? And they didn't die quietly, they were clinging to their pant legs and begging. And scratching at the hull with their fingernails.

Profound.

[Kieran84ire]

Yeah, thinking about that...I dunno which would be harder. I don't know if I could live with myself if I survived at someone elses expense.

[888luckystriker]

@metarika2

One of the best lyrics ever written

[swassontelus]

@metarika2 more food for me

[p1ippers]

Anyway Susan if you like our conversation is as faint as the sound in my memory

As those fingernails scratching on the hull

[verrry420]

Same shirt as This Night in Toronto... what year was that? They are so awesome!!

[xUnbeatabl3x]

that was in 2004

[riderfanszmul]

i bet 80% of people there were from Windsor

[hipfans]

I doubt it.

[riderfanszmul]

well probably a very good percentage

[TheFunnyGuyUpNorth]

Don't you mean Kingston? where they are from? lol

[riderfanszmul]

well it was in detroit thats why

[GtrMstr30]

@riderfanszmul

80% of us were.

[GtrMstr30]

@riderfanszmul

80% of us were.

[rocknrollrosy]

Hey Hip Fans! I am going to see the Hip in Kelowna, BC, Canada on a live feed in a movie cinema...we can talk to them after the concert promoting the new album. How lucky am I! I also lived in Toronto when they came out and it revived my rock n roll soul and I was also born in Detroit and turned many of my friends on to the Hip there!

Love them

[Pepsifan323934]

Best song by The Tragically Hip!

[BeoProductions]

i'll 2nd that. love the live between us version!

[pianoman9494]

I saw this show @ the Fox....No explaining that night....Great Mix....Baker was in Rare form that night...Sometimes Great Shit happens in Detroit

5th Row Stage left......

Pianoman

[kngfsh256]

The song is about the sinking of the hospital ship Armenia that was torpedoed by the germans in the second world war and resulted in the loss of 7,000 souls. And the last line is haunting - if you understand it.

[hotjrgman]

yea i thought the song was about the battle of dieppe in World War II where the Canadian's went ashore and were basically slaughtered...

[ScottOScottOScottO]

You would be wrong. Read above.

Dieppe was a national shame, but this isn't about it.

[flushes]

You have got to love a crowd that sings along to a song with no chorus.

[edeymcredey]

that dude looks baked haha

[spenney007]

hes burnt

[spenney007]

THAT SONG IS AWSOME!!!!!!!! I LOVE IT

[senschic]

oh how i miss my boys! Living in Central pa doesnt really give you any chance at seeing them :(

[illuminatedmorons]

this song is about the nwo. he had a dream he was the illuminati. i dont know if hes on thier side. he refers to the ones left in the water as parasites. thats us. the people. but the dream. hes alright.

i looked up the name susan. artists do this. they mention a name for its definition. its not a women he was talking with, it was god. he contacted god through taking the blue lotus. thats what gave him his dream. the blue lotus was used in ancient egypt to talk to the gods. her choice.

[pooheinous]

fuck you and your hippy conspiracy bullshit. i hate you

[illuminatedmorons]

whatever your heinous. why would i expect anything reasonably intelligent

[drummingwild]

this sounds like gord downie himself talking..lol

[matthewdryden]

Actually, the song is about the sinking of a ship.

:P

[illuminatedmorons]

being used as a metaphore for what?

[illuminatedmorons]

multilayered? thats english right?... do you understand the word?

[matthewdryden]

Gord once said in a interview that this song was specifically about this event. They even based a movie on it...The Nurse Patient (staring Peter O'Toole and Jodie Foster). It's really about that man reliving his nightmare of the sinking ship, the Bismark, if I'm not mistaken.

I don't understand your hostility, but I'm sure you mean well.

[illuminatedmorons]

ok. whats the hundrinth muridian? the nexus?

is this the park he hung out in as a child? or some obscure event. look. the hip are really into thier art. i dont disagree that he wrote this song about the event of a ship sinking. however a artist draws upon past history to make a statement for today. so whY? did he just want to say.. "hey a ship sank" no. you people are being stupid. thats why im hostile. stupid stupid people. so whats he trying to say? ship sinking sucks? dummies.

[ariexmae]

you are an idiot. this song is from the perspective of a canadian soldier in the battle of diep, pre d-day invasion. hes reliving it in a dream.

[illuminatedmorons]

"if you like suzanne. our conversation is just as faint a sound in your memomry as those fingernails scratching on my haul."

why would suzanne have the scratching of the fingernails in her head too? fine maybe hes just comparing. maybe its just coincidence that the name suzanne comes from the blue lotus. a flower thats been used to talk to god for more then 3000 years.

yup. im a idiot. idiot because i know more then you and there fore draw more lines.

love how im dumb for knowing more

[ariexmae]

the fact is there is no one interpretation. its a song. a song i believe to be about the battle at dieppe, or perhaps the sinking of the lancastria, the bismarck or perhaps a combination of all of them. or maybe everyone is wrong and there isnt a proper assumption. you are talking to me about plants used to talk to god ? .. god ? .. you mean .. that giant non existent, never tangable fairytale in the sky ? .. surrrre. and yes you are an idiot. its SUSAN. not suzanne.

[illuminatedmorons]

susan.. suzanne. these to words are totally unrelated. the douchbag is right. they are so different its safe to assume they have no connected origin(sic). the word that actually meant lilly i think was spelt shnnah or something, im not sure.

but yes it grew as words do(despite douchbags that say they dont) to become susanne.

[illuminatedmorons]

oh... and when i give this song a clever interpretation. i base it on all of the hips other works. i base it on interviews. i base it on what seems to be the hips intention in this world. and yes i even consider the jodie foster movie.

take my word for it. because i am really good at criticizme. spelling i am not. memory gets fuzzy with details. but.... everythings a google away. get to work. google definition suzanne for a start. its a start. but then maybe you wont end up a douchbag...

[purrrrrrple]

lol, now that is one syndrome that you hope they DON'T find a cure for. :0)

[oregondukfan]

I have been diagnosed with "Gordon Downey Syndrome".

[CraniumDrainum]

What's really "tragic" about the Hip in the U.S. is that you need to live in an U.S. border city to appreciate them! I lived in Buffalo during the `90's and the energy and the music rivals Pearl Jam! I think that Vedder might have stolen a few moves from Gordon Downie. But now I live in NC and there are relative unknowns shame,shame,shame.

Some idiot on Vh1 said one time that the Barenaked Ladies are "Canada's best kept secret"(HA!)

[drummingwild]

playing at pemberton festival out by whistler this weekend!!gonna be good times!!weeeeeeeeee!!

[NightrainFM]

I am Australian and i frickin love this band, thank you for the education from some Canadian visitors!

[zigzag789789]

kcik ass long live hip

[lyzaya]

Dear Gordon Downie, please never ever stop being so abnormally awesome.

[diehardmercfan]

Could listen to the hip for days on end.

[yeldarb3316]

I cannot wait for bluesfest in Ottawa, Ont whee they are playing on July 3rd this year!!! Going to be an awesome outdoor event!!

[southbeachlovee]

i love gord

[1hipfan]

i went on a road trip to se them in grand rapids the orbit room? what a show sam roberts opened for them, i also met them at the rockand roll hall of fame when i went to cleveland, amazing

[germy112000]

It was an amazing show. I did Detroit, Grand Rapids and Chicago that tour too, but Grand Rapids was over the top the best.

[jebber5]

GORDIE!!

[stett99]

gords fucked. i love him

[carswell98]

Gord's insanity on stage makes me so happy, seriously, he just does waht he wants, and says what he feels, could you ask for a better frontman?

[frenchytml]

sure it's packed in the states, but remember, that it's in detroit...LOTS of canadians only a short drive away!

[hipfans]

And do you have a point?

[gloucesterfarian]

love this band!!! I think gordy must have smoked too much weed b4 the show. looks like he forgot the "500 more were thrashing madly" part,then starts talkin his ass off towards the end of the song.lol

[jambourijunkie3000]

people say they dont have a good fan-base down in the states? i say that looks pretty packed. Although i wish i could have seen them back when it would have been in a bar, not that there is anything wrong with bigger concerts

[dkmi]

I was lucky enough to see their show at Cobo Arena. That show was released as Live Between Us. Also got to see them in a bar in Grand Rapids. Canada's biggest rock band at the time and we were watching them in a bar. It was unreal. Toledo Zoo show for Phantom Power tour was special as well. Good thing I'm in Detroit. I would have never heard of them if I lived South or West of here.

[TIAMI2]

The hip #1 Band of all time

[dead97gsx]

I was there...

[hipfans]

So was I!

[goodtwoknw]

no you weren't. lol hip rocks!!!!!

[darkjuggalo13]

me too.

[hobbes937]

This song should be a movie

[ashleycambone2]

They're turning this song into a movie, starring Peter O'toole as the curmudgeonly light house keeper, with Jodie Foster in the roll of Susan, it' called the Nurse patient........

[goodtwoknw]

You got that off 'Live Between Us' eh?

[woodedgood]

Best Fucking song EVER!

[hoser777]

gord is a sweaty monkey

[pounanni3100]

you are a sweaty monkey

[1v2h3f]

are you a V.T. girl?

[wyldsydeDOTNET]

Something good eventually had to come out of Canada and the Hip are it. We should just start saying they are from the States and get it over with. hehe settle down Canucks. I am joking

[Chewy2284]

hope y'all doing alright, thank you Hip for doing what you do, time is so precious, I know everyone reading this knows that

[phantompwr]

Lot's of love from Holland.

Me and my brother are fan from Road apples.

Do I need more to say!!!!

We have seen them in september in Amsterdam.

Always great. This tim I took me 8 years old with me! he's a fan too!!

Always a nice ambiance and lots of nice people!

thank god for having ---------------> the Hip

[kissfanfamily]

how can you even compair the hip and rem

[Cifrocco]

Been seeing the hip since the 80's, one of Canada's best music products. Way better than REM ;-)

[CokeMachineGlo]

The Tragically Hip = the last great Rock n Roll band

[Chapnoon]

saw them in edmonton not too long go,they lived up to my expectations by far,when some dude said that tokyo police club was the best canadian band i felt like punching him.tragically hip is the best canadian band ever and will ever be!! maybe in the future we might have some one better likely not.

[snowfeathers1]

HIP HIP HIP !!!love it and hes awesome

[neeonzen]

Saw the THIP during thier Road Apples tour.  Blew me away-

[teemudog]

The Hip are so freaking.... "...and 500 more were thrashing madly, as parasites might, in your blood..."

Who else could sing these lyrics? The Hip are the best, by far.

[martino1978]

saw them in AB, Brussels, yesterday eve...they were awesome!!!

[joseeange]

Saw the hip in Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada last week. Fucking awesome. Hope they did The Drop Off for you guys at The Astoria. I was looking forward for them to do the Drop Off, my fav from World Container and Fly but they didn't do them. All well, still fucking awesome.

[sportsportsport]

next friday....at 7:30pm at the london astoria....the hip will be mine.

[mervwilliams]

My fave Hip song...hope they do this at The Astoria show in a few weeks time.

[valav77]

the hip rules live

[bashafacin]

Gives you goosbumps on the back of your neck

[populationpominville]

this is deffantly their best song, i luv it how it kcks in

[icewaltz222]

What is the song playing in Julian's Monte Carlo in the Trailer Park Boys where Jacob is driving through the forest and eventually into a river in the episode: We don't call people without wings angels so we call them friends

[Guitarrr12345]

The Drop Off, i think..

[perryftw]

The Dropoff

[equinox24]

awesome dance skills!

[apostropheYes]

I've been a fan of this song for 15 years, though I'm not like a hardcore hip fan. I have never, before reading this page, connected it to historical events. I've simply enjoyed it!

[kidtronic]

Yeah, and my father-in-law, a quiet unassuming man who suddenly told us all about it at 73 took the radar station at dieppe and made it out despite the mortar round that got his leg., Monte cassino was worse, it broke his heart. the Hip rule.

[burningbushmen]

no he is not drunk, that is how he acts. it makes more sense when you actually see them in concert. i really liked seeing them when they were cheap. Bufffalo loves the Hip.

[KnightTemplar76]

well i guess regardless whatever it's about,there's no doubt that this song proves it's point, whatever it is.

[allottastuff]

If you have to ask, you would'nt know anyway

[frustratednoname]

too bad he fucked it up though and forgot some of the song!

[DorfTube]

I'll NEVER get tired of the 'nowhere left to sweat' Gord. :)

[frustratednoname]

more like just a regular, run of the mill "Gord" moment. Love him.

[blackorblack]

heh, that looks more like a drunk moment...

[metrakos]

is gord having a stoner moment in this one?

[verrry420]

He's havin' a Gord-ism..

[KnightTemplar76]

Maybe some of you heard about this or not but this song is actually about the canadian raid on Dieppe,France during world war two.just listen to the lyrics.

[gutsdozer]

Yes and no...Gord wrote the song using the Battle of Dieppe as a metaphor for a failing relationship.

[TragicallyStewart]

I hate to break it to you guys, but the Nautical Disaster Gord is referring to is actually the sinking of the Bismarck. I know it sounds like Dieppe (which is what I thought at first) but it's not.

[skoblin]

Actually...it's not even about the Bismarck....no lifeboats...only 2000 on board...not 4000.

[TragicallyStewart]

I realize the numbers are off, but they don't match up with Dieppe either. Although there were about 6000 Allied soldiers not even close to 4000 died. However, I have to admit that at least some of the song is based on Dieppe because of the live in Glastenbury bootleg (when he dedicates Courage to Winston Churchill). Due to Downie's lyrical style, it is most likely that the song is not just based on one thing. Like most Hip songs it is probably a composite of many events and experiences.

[skoblin]

That about sums it up perfectly.

[bmantx929]

Excellent! Nice footage and sound too.