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A Student Approach to Song Lyrics: The Exact Feeling

May 26, 2009 By 3 Comments

In honour of The Tragically Hip’s latest album, We Are The Same, released April 7th, here’s 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 #7: The Exact Feeling

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Title

  • the ex-act feeling: My favourite theme of theirs is reflecting on songwriting, singing, and performing… I find myself looking for it in every song

Interesting Words

  • “I got no more innarest”
  • “The perimeter, the ceiling / Just to dribble somewhere new”

Images

  • Performing — in a circus ring, as a busker, at a concert

Favourite Quote

Not the singularity

Of a thousand million dreams

Not a prosperity that means

I never have to say a thing

Possible Paraphrase

“Here comes that feeling that I always get when I’m here in front of a crowd. But, do I still want it? Yes! It’s all I’ve ever wanted. I remember when I had to try so hard to please a crowd. Now, I’m here. I’m drunk on the very idea of singing. And I want this to continue. I don’t want to go anywhere. Let’s make this tour last forever… because it feels great.”

SUMMARY

I like to hear about where The Tragically Hip gets their inspiration and perhaps I spend time looking too hard for that… Perhaps this is a stretch to suggest that the feeling they get from performing live is their motivation to write, sing, and tour?

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A Student Approach to Song Lyrics: The Depression Suite

May 23, 2009 By 2 Comments

In honour of The Tragically Hip’s latest album, We Are The Same, released April 7th, here’s 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 #6: The Depression Suite

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Title

  • Depression — very sad, or The Great Depression, or an indentation?
  • Suite — obviously the songs grouped together in the same manner of Downie’s poem “The Michigan Suite (for W.)” from Coke Machine Glow, but it could also be a pun on the hotel room suite, or on a sweet candy
  • “The Rock” — the past? or the planet? or Newfoundland? or a guy trying to be a steady, solitary, lone, tough cowboy?
  • “NewOrleansWorld” — the present (NOW)? or climate change reality? or a guy wanting a second chance?
  • “Don’t You Wanna See How It Ends?” — the future? or possibly the speaker saying, ‘You’re two-thirds of the way through this song, stick around for the finale.’ (And, incidentally, I don’t want it to end… I want it to keep going.)

Interesting Words

  • “the requisite strangeness”
  • “perfect fifths low skids and Arctic howls”
  • “honey” — there’s that word again! (see Honey, Please and Now The Struggle Has A Name)
  • “Don’t you wanna see how it ends?” // “Doncha wanna see how it ends?”
  • Place names: Chicago (unless it’s either the band or the musical), New Orleans without the Gulf of Mexico, Florida without the ocean, and Athabasca

Images

  • head under the pillow
  • “the early morning light’s a pale cranberry”

Literary Devices

  • onomatopoeia: the sound of the siren, “Aaa-aah-aah not now-wow-wow”, sounds like someone saying, “Ah, not now.” (is it the tempting and deathly Sirens from mythology, or simply an emergency vehicle?); also “howls” and “boom”
  • repetition: “I-I-I-II”, and “gimme-gimme”, and “a little weird a little weird”; also, the last three stanzas (and therefore the last two minutes) of the song are identical — I wonder if this will allow for a lot of improvisation in concert?
  • assonance with “o” in The Rock: pillow, Chicago, whole, low, going, closing, morning; out, sounds, howls, now-wow-wow; you, through, too

Connections

  • “lost in the Barrens” — a Farley Mowat title
  • “you left me born on the stairs” — a shocking image, or is this a reference to a baby left on a doorstep?
  • “What if this song does nothing?” — as in many other Hip songs, it seems that Downie might be questioning his own inspiration, or the potential impact the song may (or may not) have

Favourite Quote

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

Possible Paraphrase

“Attempting to drown out every sound, I put my head under a pillow. However, I can still hear you asking me if everything is okay. What I need is another chance; I’ll try really hard and I’ll succeed this time. I’ll win. But, perhaps you don’t believe me? Maybe you don’t want to stick with me? Maybe you simply want me to settle down here? I can’t. I need to move on. Are you coming with me?”

SUMMARY

This song is probably among my all-time favourite Hip songs (along with The Last Recluse, and Gus: The Polar Bear from Central Park, and Escape Is At Hand For The Travellin’ Man, and The Dark Canuck, and on and on…), and I don’t know if this song is about substance abuse, about Farley Mowat, about climate-change, or about The Hip reflecting on their successful career and on their future. So, I’ll assume the latter and be quite content to be proven wrong.

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A Student Approach to Song Lyrics: Now The Struggle Has A Name

May 19, 2009 By 6 Comments

In honour of The Tragically Hip’s latest album, We Are The Same, released April 7th, here’s 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 #5: Now The Struggle Has A Name

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Title

  • Now the struggle has a name?! — When, exactly? At the end of a performance? After 12 albums? After all these years?
  • What, exactly, is the struggle? — Is it the attempt to please an audience? Finding inspiration? Fighting an addiction? (If it’s the latter, is it an addiction to a substance, to the music, or to the act of performing?)
  • And, what exactly is the name that you’ve given this struggle? — Is it “Honey Watson”? (Is Honey Watson really someone’s name, or is it a direction given such as Holmes saying, “Watson! Please pass the honey!”)

Interesting Words

We are the same    it hasn’t changed

I still feel the same

I love when The Hip take an album title from an obscure line rather than a title track — Of course, this album title makes the listener wonder:

  • After 12 albums and a couple of decades, we’ve managed to stay together, we’re still the same band members, or
  • We’re still, essentially, the same — success hasn’t gone to our heads, or
  • Though this album, as the one previous, is experimental, we’re still the same band that gave the world ‘Little Bones’, or
  • Listen to the variety of sound that we’ve been able to produce on this album, from Kenny G to Alan Jackson, we can do it all, we’re the same as any sound you can find on any popular radio station

Other interesting words include: sin, truth, and reconciliation.

Images

  • sunshine on a mirror
  • “I struggle on” — Either someone still wallowing in pathetic anguish, or it could be someone plodding ahead and still giving it their best effort in the manner of the little blue engine

Literary Devices

  • simile: “gone like an attraction” — What’s gone? The moment? The song? The apology? (And is the apology someone saying ‘I’m sorry’ or is it apologetics in the manner of defending a belief or a position?)
  • repetition: “Honey Watson” and “If it feeds the need”
  • metaphor
  • rhyme
  • biblical allusion (Psalm 103:16)

Connections

  • the image of “the sun in a mirror” is reminiscent of Morning Moon‘s “bulb in a mirror”
  • the lines of “if it dies, it dies” reminds me of Downie asking the listener of The Depression Suite, “What if this song does nothing?”

Favourite Quote

Now the apology done    applause can begin

Possible Paraphrase

“Here’s another song for you, take it or leave it. It might take off and be successful; it might not. I’ve always struggled to write music and to please an audience, and I always will. But, I’m only human and I will die someday, as will my music. Gone. Now, take it or leave it, this is my latest effort. And there’s more to come.”

SUMMARY

This is quite possibly my favourite song on this album (though I probably said the same of ‘The Last Recluse’ and I’m sure that I’ll say the same of ‘The Depression Suite’)! I like how the symphonic orchestra sound gives it an anthem-like quality, especially when The Hip is singing about their best subject, self-reflection, and giving us a glimpse of the struggle and the success of singing, song-writing, and performing. It is inspiring. It seems, to me, to be one of three anthems on this album (along with ‘The Last Recluse’ and ‘Country Day’), and it is certainly a song that will happily get me to my feet everytime.

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A Student Approach to Song Lyrics: Coffee Girl

May 9, 2009 By 5 Comments

In honour of The Tragically Hip’s latest album, We Are The Same, released April 7th, here’s 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 #4: Coffee Girl

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Title

  • just having recently seen Peter Donaldson‘s speech in the first act of David Mamet‘s Glengarry Glen Ross, I must admit I thought the title may be a racial comment regarding the protagonist’s skin tone
  • more likely, however, the protagonist works at Tim Hortons and is miserable

Interesting Words

  • “Beautiful and disaffected”
  • “The Hardscape or your shoes”

Images

  • “Get to the back door / Look around then turn the key” — is she nervously looking around because she’s afraid of being attacked or because she’s up to something mischievous? Or, is she casually taking her time, reluctant to begin her shift?

Literary Devices

  • alliteration and personification: “Hangover hanging on by the fangs / Walk to work on wild feet”
  • repetition (repeating a word in the line following): “hard to leave your bed” and “hard summer sheets”; “to work” and “to the back door”; “turn on all the lights” and “turn the key”..

Connections

  • one moment the emphasis on the beat places the song in a dance club, and the next moment I feel that I’m listening to Acker Bilk
  • the repeated line “Hey there Coffee Girl” seems either like a casual and friendly greeting, or like a customer calling for a refill in an arrogant or degrading manner.
  • Ol Cat Power and Classic Beck — Cat Stevens? and Beck?
  • “Taking cannons to fools / When all you need’s a BB gun” — though this is similar to a line from Downie’s book Coke Machine Glow (cannon to a pea-shooter fight), I can’t follow the placement of it here.

Favourite Quote

The Hardscape or your shoes

When the moon’s behind the hill

Possible Paraphrase

“I know that it can be hard to get up in the morning and get to work. I see you in the coffee shop on your shift, drowning your sorrows in that old music you’re playing: Cat Stevens, Beck, and Beware Purveyors of Cool. I know that you’re having a hard time lately and that it’s been particularly bad since you started seeing this guy. And, he’s not going to leave you alone.”

SUMMARY

Though several of my peers have listed this track as their favourite on the album, it hasn’t grabbed me yet. Perhaps the speaker in this song is singing about his Ex, not wanting to believe that his relationship with her is over and refusing to accept that she’s with another (“It’s hard to leave your bed” and “It was perfect til / He came along and wrecked it”). Or, perhaps the speaker is simply describing a day in the life of the protagonist — a girl going through the motions of life, work, and love.

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A Student Approach to Song Lyrics: Honey, Please

April 20, 2009 By 1 Comment

In honour of The Tragically Hip’s latest album, We Are The Same, released April 7th, here’s 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 #2: Honey, Please

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Title

  • ‘Honey’ as a name or a nickname, and the speaker is either pleading for loving attention or is giving a sharp scold.
  • Saying “pass the honey, please” — where ‘honey’ could be the sweet, sticky stuff we get from bees and spread on toast, or it could be a metaphor for something of worth, something inspiring.

Interesting Words

  • County — the ‘regional municipality’ didn’t quite fit; the Hip strives to remain local, provincial
  • whisper
  • feeling

Images

  • walking home under a starlit sky: is it a metaphor for the songwriter (guy), the muses (girl), and fate (stars)?

Literary Devices

  • rhyme and repetition:

Under all the stars of the County with you tonight

Under all the stars of the County with you by my side

Under all the stars of the County shining bright

Under all the stars of the County with you tonight

Connections

Favourite Quote

When all ‘the poetry of the earth’

Might be all there is

It might still have some worth

Yeah but I can’t dance to it

Possible Paraphrase

“I’m not in the mood to try to write this song today, I just want you to put it into my head — just the way that you would sing it. Whenever I’ve struggled in the past, or felt inferior, you’ve helped me by whispering it to me. Perhaps, however, the answer to this writer’s block is on the other side of this struggle. I’ve tried so hard, and you’ve helped me. And all of this poetry might last, it might remain.”

SUMMARY

I think that this may be Gord Downie’s description of the task of songwriting, telling himself that he shouldn’t have to work so hard at it, that it will perhaps come to him in his sleep, or out for a walk, or from being with his love, or … whenever. But, why? Just because?

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A Student Approach to Song Lyrics: Morning Moon

April 15, 2009 By 3 Comments

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.

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Poetry Unit… aka The Tragically Hip 101

April 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment

I remember a professor at university tell our class a story about his visit to a second-hand CD store, where he witnessed a 16 year old skater-boy purchase a box set of The Beatles. Our professor chided us, “The Beatles was my generation! Don’t you have a band that defines yours?” Of course we have; and in the time and place that I’m from, it is The Tragically Hip that has defined a generation.

Three days ago, TTH released their twelfth album — 14 if you include their live album and their compilation of favourites. Interesting that the latest album is entitled We Are The Same. Well, it’s playing over the iPod as I type this and I’ve got to say, they don’t sound the same.

I remember nine years ago thinking that Music @ Work was experimental. Little did I imagine that World Container and now We Are The Same would be in the band’s future. Only Track #3 “The Last Recluse” reminds me of the Hip I once knew (similar sound to “Leave” from In Violet Light). Nevertheless, the further I get into this album, the more attached to it I am becoming. In that respect, The Tragically Hip is exactly the same. Their songs have rarely grabbed me the first time I’ve heard them, yet they seem to have far greater staying power than any other music I’ve ever listened to.

As I have not been able to make it through a poetry unit yet without including at least one TTH song, all of my students have become familiar with this band. The class always finds this a welcome break from the textbook poetry, and I find Gord Downie’s lyrics among the best for introducing many of the literary devices in our curriculum: rhyme, alliteration, repetition, oxymoron, tone, mood, etc. My students especially enjoy speculating on speaker, symbol, and theme; not in small part due to the fact that I myself can only speculate on Downie’s purpose.

I’ve run into people from Washington State and Sweden, and on the streets of Osaka who agree that The Tragically Hip is one of the top bands of the last 20 years. And in Elmira, Ontario, on a muddy infield just about where second base will be placed in a month or two, best friends agree that every Hip album has been well worth the adventure, that there has rarely been a more genuine band.

——
Image by SMN

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