A Student Approach to Song Lyrics: Morning Moon

In honour of The Tragically Hip’s latest album, We Are The Same, released April 7th, I’m going to post a brief series that demonstrates the manner in which I expect my students to approach poetry — without any research, and without any input from those who may know Gord Downie’s purposes for each song. I will analyse and speculate on each song’s possible meanings. For me, the poetry of TTH’s music is great literature; among the best.

Track #1: Morning Moon

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Title

• time of day: early morning sunrise with the moon still in the sky
• given the melancholy tune, the title’s a possible pun on ‘mourning’
• the idea that night and day are interchangeable (night = day)

Interesting Words

• The Reactor (with a capital letter possibly to show local familiarity with a power plant)
• Labour Day (first Monday in September)
• plume
• ain’t (it ain’t often that I see this word in print)

Images

• the absent plume of steam
• moon at sunrise across the lake
• lightbulb shining in a mirror

Literary Devices

• ‘m’ alliteration: morning moon
• ‘t’ alliteration: didn’t take too much to upset her
• assonance: seen steam,
• repetition: From across the Lake
• rhyme: other than repetition, only the second last stanza has a rhyming pattern of ABAB

Connections

• reminds me of looking out over the early morning lake at New Liskeard
• reminds me of a poem in my daughter’s poetry collection: ‘The Early Morning’ by Hilaire Belloc
• interesting that it is when the power is out (the reactor shut off) that the speaker is able to see; similar to being able to see the stars when away from urban light

Favourite Quotes

Say those little things that don’t make anyone feel better

Possible Paraphrase

“Looking out over the lake this holiday morning, I was actually able to see the moon because there wasn’t any steam coming from the power plant. Standing there, I got to remembering some of the things that you used to say, things that really bothered someone else. Do you remember how she was always so easily bothered? Oh well, cheer up! Though I try to shed light on the situation, I may just be a reflection of you — little things that I say may bother others, too.”

SUMMARY

The song gives me the impression of a son speaking to his father or grandfather — someone with whom he has an obligated relationship rather than a relationship that he has sought out; someone from whom he has received TANSTAAFL advice. With the tonal jump halfway through a line, the mood implies a hopeful resignation where the speaker is willing to believe it will get better, without really thinking it will. The bulbs and mirrors perhaps allow the speaker to see only representations of the real thing; but, the real thing — possibly his happy home — is no longer a reality.