It started as a punishment.

In 2016, jD heard Greg LeGros pitch "Now For Plan A" on See You Next Wednesday - not as a bad pick, but as something deeply underappreciated that deserved a real listen. jD listened. Came back. And somehow, without either of them knowing it yet, that was the moment Fully & Completely was born.

Full circle, ten years later. Here we are.

About This Episode

jD and Greg LeGros return to the record that, in a weird and fortuitous way, started everything - The Tragically Hip's 2012 album "Now For Plan A." It's the most overlooked record in the catalogue. It's also, when you know what you're listening to, one of the most emotionally devastating.

The Hip recorded "Now For Plan A" while Gord Downie's wife was fighting cancer. Not every track maps directly to that experience - but enough of them do that, once you know, the whole album reorients. The desperation in the vocals. The urgency in the hooks. The tenderness buried inside songs that, on the surface, just cook.

jD and Greg go track by track through the full record, unpacking every song with the weight of that context - and without it, for the songs that stand on their own terms. They talk about what it means to watch a chemotherapy drip and write a lyric. About Gord's wife being "the look ahead." About a title that works on at least three different levels simultaneously. About why 'Goodnight Attawapiskat' is a precis for the last six years of the band.

They also set the scene for 2012 - the 100th Grey Cup in Toronto, the beginning of streaming, the vinyl comeback, Kendrick Lamar's arrival, and how Bruce Springsteen's "Wrecking Ball" tour changed at least one life in Hamilton that year.

This is a big one.

Why This Record Matters

jD puts it plainly near the end: "This is almost like a precis for the last six years of this band." The journey through cancer. The band songs. The Indigenous reckoning with a thousand mile suit and a community named out loud. "Now For Plan A" was released in 2012 with no context - and it quietly contained everything that was coming.

Greg's take is maybe the sharpest thing said in the episode: "How weird is it that he didn't get to release a record about his illness, and yet we've got track after track of him explaining how he feels about this illness."

You've got to love it. We've got to love it. Because they fucking loved it.

Also in This Episode

• The 100th Grey Cup: nine-and-nine Toronto Argonauts, Burton Cummings on the National Anthem, Justin Bieber and Gordon Lightfoot sharing a halftime show
• Why you should follow Burton Cummings on Facebook immediately
• The streaming-meets-vinyl moment of 2012, and why download codes were a genius move
• Greg's Springsteen conversion in Hamilton (it took three hours and he knew 15% of the songs)
• Greg's CanRock playlist on Spotify - four hours, search Greg LeGros
• The return of Time Bandits, Greg's other podcast - starting with 1980's "Battle Beyond the Stars"

Resources & References

• The Hip Compendium - Setlists, song history, full discography: compendium.tthpods.com
• Hipbase - Tragically Hip discography and catalogue data: hipbase.com
• This Is Our Life by Michael Barclay - the definitive Hip biography
• The Tragically Hip Archive - Live recordings and preservation archive
• Greg LeGros on Spotify - CanRock playlist + Time Bandits episodes (search: Greg LeGros)
• Yer Letter - Sign up for the TTH Podcast Series newsletter: subscribe.tthpods.com
• Facebook Community - community.tthpods.com

Listen & Follow

Listen now via home.tthpods.com | Follow on Instagram and Facebook @tthpods | Reach jD at [email protected]

#TheTragicallyHip #FullyCompletely #GordDownie #NowForPlanA #CanadianRock #TragicallyHipPodcast

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The Tragically Hip On Shuffle - Live Stream: 'The Luxury'

'The Luxury' sits in the middle third of "Road Apples" and somehow that's exactly where it belongs.

Track four of twelve. It doesn't announce itself. It doesn't demand anything from you. It just settles in - dark, jazzy, a little snarling - and waits to see if you're paying attention.

Turns out, a lot of people are.

This week on The Tragically Hip On Shuffle, jD is joined by three first-timers - Paul from Columbus, Jamie from LA (by way of Montreal, for the record), and Eric from Toronto, who also happens to shred guitar in Forever Hip.

Three rookies. One song. Zero consensus on where it ranks on "Road Apples." All the consensus in the world on 'The Last Recluse.' So there's that.

The tale of the tape: 

'The Luxury' comes from "Road Apples," released February 18th, 1991, and recorded at Kingsway Studios in New Orleans - Daniel Lanois' personal studio. Produced by Don Smith. Live debut: March 1st, 1991 at the Town Pump in Vancouver. Final performance: August 10th at the Air Canada Centre - the middle show of the Man Machine Poem Tour. It ranked #67 out of 169 songs on the TTHTop40 Countdown.

The conversation goes deep:

Jamie breaks down a single melodic note change Gord made on the chorus - from the studio recording through the Roxy in May '91 all the way to "Live Between Us" in '96 - and how that one shift changed the song's emotional register entirely.

Eric reads the lyrics as a vignette: a man fresh out of prison, hiring company for the night, seeing a colour TV and soft water as genuine luxuries.

Paul connects the song to the fire at his cottage near Tobermory, a Crown Royal in hand, just letting it sit.

They get into the "fleur-de-lis" line, the Playboy reference, the lyric flip on "why are you partial to that Playboy con," and Gord's famous "song about a man walking down the street shaking a banana" intro on "Live Between Us." There's also a live chat shoutout to Duxoop Douglas for the New Orleans connection.

Very good, yeah.

The live shuffle at the end of the episode lands on 'An Inch, An Hour' from "Day for Night." Next week.

Paul from Columbus is a lifelong Hip fan from Columbus, Ohio - and the guy who connected the July 1st, 1992 Molson Park poster to the raffle happening this Saturday at An Evening for Sara J. Bada bing.

Jamie from LA - originally from Montreal, where his love for The Hip was first forged at camp in '89 via a mixtape with 'New Orleans Is Sinking' and '38 Years Old' on it - is heading to Toronto at the end of the month to perform in the cast of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish with English supertitles at the Elgin Theatre. May 25th to June 7th. Go see it.

Eric from Toronto plays guitar in Forever Hip, who are performing this Saturday at An Evening for Sara J at the Firkin on Yonge. Patrick Downie will be there. Two sets of all your favourites and that song you're thinking of right now. Yes, that one.

Resources & References

• 'The Luxury' - "Road Apples" (1991), Kingsway Studios, New Orleans
• Produced by Don Smith | Released February 18th, 1991
• Live debut: March 1st, 1991 - Town Pump, Vancouver
• Final performance: August 10th - Air Canada Centre (Man Machine Poem Tour)
• TTHTop40 ranking: #67 of 169 (source: TTHTop40 Countdown, 2025)
• "Live Between Us" (1996) - the version that changed the song for Jamie
• Live at the Roxy, May 1991 - early live recording referenced
• Live at Metropole, October 1998 - referenced in conversation
• Setlist data: Hipbase | setlist.fm

An Evening for Sara J - This Saturday, April 11th The Firkin on Yonge, 207 Yonge St, Toronto. Doors 7 PM. Featuring Patrick Downie and Forever Hip. Tickets at tickets.tthpods.com. Every dollar raised goes directly to the cause.

Next episode: 'An Inch, An Hour' from "Day for Night." Live stream, 8 PM. Be there.

Join the community at home.tthpod.com @tthpods | youtube.com/@tthpods | j[email protected]

#TheTragicallyHip #TTHOnShuffle #RoadApples #GordDownie #TheHip #CanadianRockPodcast

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Getting Hip to the Hip - "We Are the Same"

Pete and Tim hear "We Are the Same" for the first time. Bob Rock, big strings, and a campfire album that divides fans right down the middle.

EPISODE SUMMARY

Released in 2009 and produced by Bob Rock, "We Are the Same" was the first record in over 20 years that made Tragically Hip fans wait longer than two years for new material. It debuted at number one. And it is, to put it diplomatically, a record that asks something of you.

Pete Marchica and Tim Lyden sit down with jD for their first full listen, and neither of them is ready for what they get. The conversation covers every track - from the country-laced AM radio chorus of 'Morning Moon' to the sprawling, emotionally devastating nine-plus minutes of 'Depression Suite,' which Pete calls fucking magnificent. There are Pink Floyd comparisons, David Gilmour guitar tributes, a detour into the agricultural meaning of 'Queen of the Furrows,' and a story about how Gord heard a CBC news correspondent's name as "Honey Watson" mid-song and just... went with it.

The residential school system, the weight of Gord's legacy as a voice for people who needed one, and the question of where that voice has gone in music today - those threads run through the episode too. Pete says it plainly. Tim agrees. jD doesn't argue.

Bob Rock takes some heat. The drum mixing takes some heat. The strings - which show up on approximately every song - take some heat. And yet, somehow, this episode ends with three grown men picking their MVPs and meaning every word.

'Depression Suite' is jD's. 'Frozen in My Tracks' is Tim's. Pete's? Listen and find out. Some things you've got to earn.

ABOUT THE HOSTS

jD is the founder and host of The Tragically Hip Podcast Series, a seven-show podcast network built out of love for a band and a community. He has raised over $35,000 for causes including the Downie Wenjack Fund, the Gord Downie Fund for Brain Cancer Research, and CAMH.

Pete Marchica is coming to you from Spain. He showed up this week with notes, opinions, and a strip club analogy that somehow makes complete sense in context.

Tim Lyden listened to this album later than he would like to admit, did a deep dive on Honey Watson's true identity the day before recording, and watched a crow destroy something in his backyard mid-episode.

RESOURCES & REFERENCES

• Tragically Hip discography and setlist data: Hipbase
• Live performance history: setlist.fm
• Band biography: This Is Our Life by Michael Barclay
• The Tragically Hip Archive - source for live recordings

IN THIS EPISODE

• Opening: jD on "We Are the Same" and the three-year wait
• The Italian fan translating Hip lyrics into his own melodic structure
• Track-by-track: 'Morning Moon,' 'Honey Please,' 'Wheat Kings,' 'Coffee Girl,' 'Exact Feeling,' 'Queen of the Furrows,' 'Speed River,' 'Depression Suite,' 'Love Is a First,' 'Country Day'
• The Bob Rock debate: production genius or too much Kool-Aid?
• Gord Downie, residential schools, and the question of who speaks for the people now
• MVPs, playlist picks, and a poodle skirt fundraising pledge

CALLS TO ACTION

Listen to Getting Hip to the Hip and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Join the community: community.tthpods.com

CONNECT

📸 Instagram: @tthpods ▶️ YouTube: youtube.com/@tthpods

📧 Email: [email protected]

#TheTragicallyHip #GordDownie #WeAreTheSame #TragicallyHip #GettigHipToTheHip #CanadianRock

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Fully & Completely: redux - We Are the Same

The Hip's most divisive record. The one that feels beige on first listen and breaks your heart on the fifth. jD and Greg LeGros go track by track through "We Are the Same" - and they don't hold back.

jD and Greg LeGros return for the 17th anniversary episode of the "We Are the Same" deep dive. The album nobody fully agreed on when it dropped in 2009, and the one that keeps climbing anyway. The production is neutered, Bob Rock wanted to sell records out of Starbucks, and yet - 'Depression Suite' is sitting right there in the middle of it, ten minutes long, and it is a monster.

They go track by track. 'Morning Moon.' 'Honey Please.' 'The Last Recluse.' 'Coffee Girl' (controversial, stay with them). 'Now the Struggle Has a Name' - which turns out to be about something much bigger than the melody suggests. And 'The Depression Suite,' which gets called hookless by critics in 2009 and is, in fact, enormously hooky.

Greg lands on 'The Last Recluse' as his takeaway song. jD goes with 'Depression Suite' but admits he's going to listen to 'The Struggle Has a Name' twice on the drive home with a different set of ears. There's a Sobeys story. There's a Gandharvas rabbit hole. There's a Honey Watson correction that opens the whole album up.

This is Fully & Completely: Redux. It's the same DNA as the original run. Not a sequel - a reunion. Start at the start.

What We Get Into

'Morning Moon' - The most complete recording on the album. Neil Young-adjacent, not in a bad way. Should have been the first single. Greg connects it to listening out a charter bus window watching Ontario roll by, and it clicks. The plume of smoke across the lake from Bath studio. Labour Day. Makes sense.

'Honey Please' - The Springsteen opening that the production keeps from becoming what it should be. Mission statement buried in the first verse: I don't want to look for words, I don't want to work that hard. jD reads it as Gord's note to himself - and maybe Bob Rock's - for this entire record.

'The Last Recluse' - Tragically Hip at their most Radiohead-adjacent, which is not a sentence you write about many Hip songs. A Springsteen-y tragic love story. The Radiohead gang vocal at the end earns its place. Who is the last recluse? Greg has a read. It lands.

'Coffee Girl' - The most contentious track. Greg calls it the basement for this band. jD goes to bat for it from the barista's point of view - working the early shift, knowing her name, getting off the bus stop north just to walk past. He doesn't fully win the argument. But he makes a run at it.

'Now the Struggle Has a Name' - This is where the episode opens up. Residential schools. Reconciliation. The first time Gord openly dedicates a full song to something this specific and this political. The applause can begin for the apology. That is a stinging line. And Honey Watson, it turns out, is Connie Watson - he misheard the name on the news, wrote it down, realized the mistake, and kept it anyway. Of course he did.

'The Depression Suite' - Nearly ten minutes. Three movements. Called hookless by people who weren't listening. Are you going through something? Because I am too is one of the great hooks in this catalogue - F sharp minor, Greg can't stretch his hand to play it, it still lands. 2009 was early to be this direct about mental health. The Hip were early, as usual.

'The Exact Feeling,' 'Queen of the Furrows,' 'Speed River,' 'Frozen in My Tracks,' 'Love Is a First,' 'Country Day'- The back half of the record gets a harder look. Some of it holds up better than they expected. Some of it still suffers from production that cuts the band off at the knees right when they should be rocking. 'Skeleton Park' - the bonus track, Apple Music Extra only, not on every format - is brought up as the song that should have been the closer. Never heard it? Go find it.

The Verdict

Greg's takeaway song: 'The Last Recluse' jD's takeaway song: 'The Depression Suite' The song to play someone to introduce them to this album: 'Morning Moon' - impossible not to like Does anything crack jD's personal top 25 Hip songs? No. He says so plainly. Is it still a good album? Yeah. It is. Greg likes 65% of it. He says so plainly too.

Coming Up

Next time out - a Hipstories episode with a very interesting guest. A Gord solo episode follows that. They'll get it to you as they get it to you. Life happens.

Resources & References

• "We Are the Same" - The Tragically Hip, 2009. Produced by Bob Rock. Recorded at Bath Studios (Ontario) and Hana, Hawaii.
• 'Depression Suite' - Track six on "We Are the Same." Nearly ten minutes. Three movements. The centrepiece.
• 'Now the Struggle Has a Name' - References residential schools and Canadian reconciliation. Among Gord Downie's earliest and most direct political statements on record.
• The Downie Wenjack Fund - Gord's commitment to reconciliation didn't stop with this song. It became the foundation for everything that followed, including "Secret Path." Learn more at downiewenjack.ca
• "The Ecstasy of Rita Joe" - Play by George Ryga, referenced in the Athabasca section of 'Depression Suite.' If you know the connection, tell them.
• The Gandharvas - Canadian band, not on Spotify in original form. Go find Kicking in the Water on YouTube. Start with 'The First Day of Spring.' You're welcome.
• Hipbase - Primary source for setlists, catalogue data, and discography information used throughout. hipbase.com
• This Is Our Life - Michael Barclay's biography of The Tragically Hip. The definitive source.

Support the Cause

The TTH Podcast Series has raised over $35,000 for causes including the Downie Wenjack Fund, The Gord Downie Fund for Brain Cancer Research, and CAMH. If this community has given you something, give something back.

Learn more and give

Stay Connected

Community: community.tthpods.com Subscribe to Yer Letter: subscribe.tthpods.com Instagram: @tthpods YouTube:youtube.com/@tthpods Email: [email protected]

Transcript available above. If you have information about the Athabasca / George Ryga connection in 'Depression Suite' - seriously, tell them. The forum is open.

#TheTragicallyHip #FullyCompletely #WeAreTheSame #GordDownie #CanadianRock #TragicallyHipPodcast

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Eight songs. One vinyl pressing so rare most fans have never held it. And a song that — based on all available evidence — was played live maybe three times before The Hip quietly let it go. jD, Joe from Toronto, Andy from St. Thomas, and Justin from Bridport dug into the self-titled EP and found something they weren't expecting.

Episode Summary

'I'm a Werewolf Baby' clocks in at number 140 out of 169 songs in the TTH Podcast Series community poll. And yet. Pull it up right now and try not to move. You can't. You will fail. That's the thing about this song — it doesn't care where it ranks. It just rips.

The song comes from the self-titled Tragically Hip EP, released in the Kingston area in late 1987 and distributed more widely in 1988. It was produced by Red Ryder guitarist Ken Greer. Lyrics by Gord Downie. Music by Robbie, Johnny, and Gord Sinclair. That songwriting credit breakdown — individual, named, specific — is one of the things that makes the EP a genuinely interesting document. That, and the fact that it pre-dates Paul Langlois on guitar. He played shaker on this one. And during the breakdown, apparently, Gord picked him up and carried him around the stage. So there's that.

Based on what setlist.fm and Hipbase can confirm, the song was performed live only three known times — debuting in 1987 at the Alma Combo in Toronto and last appearing April 11, 1990 at the Spectrum in Montreal. Why did they stop? The panel had opinions. Some of it comes down to New Orleans Is Sinking absorbing the sonic real estate. Some of it comes down to werewolves being out of fashion by 1990. Some of it, jD suspects, is that they just didn't love it anymore — and when your setlist is building toward "Nautical Disaster" and "Fifty-Mission Cap," this one starts to look like the eight-crayon box sitting beside the 128-count set with the built-in sharpener.

What the panel kept coming back to is the foreshadowing. The howl in this song, Andy from St. Thomas points out, is the same howl Gord would use between songs on the 2016 Man Machine Poem Tour — the final tour — with the mic pressed to his belly button. Nearly thirty years apart. Same sound. The embryo and the elegy.

Justin from Bridport came in having re-watched the docuseries specifically to prepare. He surfaced the detail that the song predates Paul's addition to the band — this was a holdover from the Davis Manning era, a relic that got dusted off and recorded because they needed one more song. That reframe matters. This wasn't a proud showcase. It was a polished demo. It was the bar band phase. It was fresh-out-of-high-school energy — and Johnny Fay was literally still a teenager when they tracked it.

Joe from Toronto, frontman of Forever Hip, put it plainly: the lyrics read like Paul Stanley wrote them. Which is not an insult, actually. It's just that from Gord Downie, knowing what came after, it reads like a deal with the devil got made sometime between this and "Locked in the Trunk of a Car." The growth from 1987 to 1989 is almost impossible to reconcile when you hear them back to back. Justin confirmed it — his algorithm served him 'I'm a Werewolf Baby' and then, immediately after, 'Blow at High Dough' from "Up to Here." Same band. Two years later. How.

Community poll results from the Facebook group (approaching 5,000 members - now there's a number): 58% love this tune, 26% tolerate it, 11% skip it, and 5% had never heard it before tonight. That 5% number surprised everyone. It probably shouldn't. If you came to The Hip through "Phantom Power," this EP is a different country.

Next week on The Tragically Hip On Shuffle: 'The Luxury' from "Road Apples." Three new panelists. One random song. Same deal.

The Guests

Joe from Toronto is the frontman of Forever Hip, the Tragically Hip tribute band playing live at An Evening for Sara J - April 11 at the Firkin on Yonge. This is his second appearance on The Tragically Hip On Shuffle.

Andy from St. Thomas is a lifelong Hip fan making his first appearance on the show. He came prepared, he admitted the EP was one he'd slept on, and his insight about Gord's 2016 howl being traceable all the way back to this song was the best moment of the night. He's a good dad. His daughter knew the Blue Album better than he did.

Justin from Bridport - the only Bridport in America, and a returning panelist working his way toward the five-timers sash. He re-watched the full Hip docuseries this week specifically to prep for this episode. It showed.

Resources & References

• setlist.fm - setlist and live performance data for 'I'm a Werewolf Baby'
• Hipbase - discography and catalogue reference. Thank you to Lance Robinson and the Hipbase team.
• The Tragically Hip Archive - for live recordings referenced in discussion
• The Tragically Hip Reddit community - Rico Borrega's song-by-song breakdowns of the full catalogue are worth your time. jD avoids reading them before recording. You shouldn't have to.

An Evening for Sara J - April 11, Firkin on Yonge

Hip fans in Toronto - this is the one. Live episode recording with Patrick Downie. Forever Hip on stage. Six Hip concert posters and a numbered Richard Beland fine art print of Chris Cornell up for raffle. All for a great cause. Tickets at tickets.tthpods.com.

Connect

Facebook community: community.tthpods.com | Instagram: @tthpods | YouTube: youtube.com/@tthpods | Email: [email protected]

#TheTragicallyHip #TTHOnShuffle #TheHip #GordDownie #TragicallyHip #UpToHere

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Some random odds and sods going on in TTH Podcast Series world at the moment.

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The Tragically Hip On Shuffle - Live Stream: Train Overnight

This week on The Tragically Hip On Shuffle, jD pulls 'Train Overnight' from "Music @ Work" - the twelfth track on the eighth album, a deep cut that earned exactly zero votes in the TTHTop40 fan-sourced countdown, landing in the company of only four other songs in The Hip's entire catalogue with the same distinction. 'Luv, sic,' 'Goodnight Josephine,' 'Sherpa,' and 'Are We Family.' That's the list. Five songs. Out of everything they ever recorded.

The panel doesn't agree on what to make of 'Train Overnight.' And that's exactly what makes this episode worth an hour of your time.

Kirk from Chino is the only panelist who saw it live - twice, in San Francisco and LA on the same tour. He noticed seven people on stage his first time seeing The Hip. A keyboard player, a female vocalist who occasionally played percussion. That was his frame of reference for what this band was.

Greg from Tacoma - who first heard The Hip on the same Seattle radio station that broke Nirvana, spent two years thinking the song was NRBQ, then proceeded to do guerrilla marketing for the band across the Pacific Northwest for the better part of a decade - brings the long-distance devotion that makes American Hip fans a particular breed of formidable.

Mike from Toronto was there from the very beginning. Jake Gold handed him a wristband at a Day for Night-era surprise show at the Horseshoe. Queen and Spadina. Nine in the morning. 300 people that night. He asks the question the whole panel keeps circling back to: if 'Train Overnight' had been on the first record, would The Hip have been The Hip?

The conversation moves through Gord's lyrical genius - specifically the line about apologizing like an old dictator might, which Greg calls one of those Gordism nuggets just buried in the song - through the bass work of Gord Sinclair (part McCartney, part Geezer Butler, all chug), through what it meant to be an American doing guerrilla marketing for a band most of your country had never heard of, and through the generational divide the Shuffle keeps surfacing: "Music @ Work" as exit point for one wave of fans and as entry point for another. Kirk came in through this record. Mike came in at the Horseshoe in '87. Greg found them in 1989. Same band. Three completely different doors.

Greg puts the whole arc into something sharp near the end: Day for Night as the blue period, the hangover after the nineties. Trouble at the Henhouse as the rosy-fingered dawn coming up the next morning. Phantom Power as the bright of day. And "Music @ Work" as a prism - every colour at once. The first record where they had 5,000 crayons instead of 64. You've got to love it.

Next week on The Tragically Hip On Shuffle: 'I'm a Werewolf Baby.'

Guests

Kirk from Chino - A returning Shuffle panelist and musician, Kirk came to The Hip through the later catalogue and has been going back to the beginning ever since. He saw 'Train Overnight' live twice on the same tour - San Francisco and LA. He's a co-host on Discovering Downie and plays in a cover band called The Darryls (his name is Larry). He has a solo album in the works and a debut live performance booked in San Diego, May 2. Follow him at Kirk Lane Music on Facebook and Instagram.

Mike from Toronto - A first-timer on the Shuffle and a lifelong Hip fan who was there from the very beginning - the Horseshoe, the Alma Combo in '87, a Day for Night-era surprise show where Jake Gold gave him the wristband. His go-to record is "Day for Night." He listens to every album start to finish on long drives. He also recommends Ryan Davis Roadhouse Band - playing the Horseshoe in June.

Greg from Tacoma - Another first-timer, Greg has been a Hip devotee since he heard them on the radio in 1989 - or thought he did, until he spent two years believing the song was NRBQ. His go-to record is "In Between Evolution," and Tacoma is name-checked in the 'Tacoma Narrows Bridge' lyric, which he notes with appropriate pride. He put a record out at 60. He is in the Tacoma, Washington area and has a crew of five who all attend Hip shows and all play in bands at least partially influenced by The Hip.

Links & Resources

• Submit to podList 7 - covers from The Tragically Hip EP through Day for Night: podlist.tthpods.com
• An Evening for Sara J - Saturday, April 11, Firkin on Yonge, Toronto: tickets.tthpods.com
• Discovering Downie (referenced by Kirk): available on all podcast platforms
• Kirk Lane Music: Facebook and Instagram https://hadeesmarket.bandcamp.com/album/missives-at-the-turn
• https://www.youtube.com/@HadeesMarket

Timestamps

00:00 - Pre-show promo: Joe from Forever Hip on An Evening for Sara J 01:37 - jD opens The Tragically Hip On Shuffle 02:27 - Introducing Kirk from Chino, Mike from Toronto, Greg from Tacoma 04:32 - Go-to Hip records: "Live Between Us," "In Between Evolution," "Day for Night" 09:05 - Mike's Horseshoe stories - from '87 to the Day for Night surprise show 12:26 - The reveal: tonight's song is 'Train Overnight' from "Music @ Work" 16:32 - Panel reacts after listening 17:02 - Greg on the Gordism nugget - apologizing like an old dictator might 23:51 - Mike: was "Music @ Work" a chapter closing or a door opening? 27:40 - The zero-votes revelation: only five songs in the entire catalogue 31:52 - Kirk saw it live. Twice. San Francisco and LA. 32:04 - jD on Paul Sinclair's bass line sounding like a chugging train 32:15 - Greg: McCartney, Geezer Butler, all over the song 34:01 - Kirk on guerrilla marketing for The Hip in California 37:00 - Mike: the only time he saw The Hip in the US was New York, 2012, NHL lockout 48:16 - Greg: the colour palette theory - 64 crayons to 5,000 49:55 - jD calls shuffle for next week 54:10 - Next week: 'I'm a Werewolf Baby'

🎟 An Evening for Sara J - April 11, Firkin on Yonge - tickets.tthpods.com 🎵 Submit to podList 7 - Hip covers from The EP through Day for Night - podlist.tthpods.com

Connect with the community

Facebook: community.tthpods.com | Instagram: @tthpods | YouTube: youtube.com/@tthpods | Email: [email protected]

#TheTragicallyHip #GordDownie #TTHOnShuffle #MusicAtWork #TragicallyHip #TheHip

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The Tragically Hip Podcast Series presents - "March 25th, 1995" (A podUMENTARY)

The Tragically Hip Podcast Series - TTHTop40 Countdown

March 25th, 1995. Saturday Night Live. Dan Aykroyd walks out, the band plugs in, and Canada holds its breath. Thirty years later, we went and found the people who were watching.

"I finally felt like we - maybe as a nation, as a people, as a culture - arrived."

About This Episode

Hey, it's jD here. This one is different.

March 25th, 1995 is a date that lives in the muscle memory of every Canadian Hip fan. The Tragically Hip on Saturday Night Live - introduced by Dan Aykroyd, two songs that weren't exactly designed for a mass American audience, and a performance that has been debated, replayed, and treasured ever since.

This is a poduMENTARY, not a regular episode - something else entirely. We went out to the community and asked a simple question: where were you? What we got back was something formidable. Seventeen voices. Seventeen Hipstories.

Basement house parties, university bars, dorm rooms, living rooms, a bar in St. Catharines, a campus pub at Queen's. Some people were jumping on their beds. Some were pretty sure they cried. One person was at the actual afterparty and watched David Spade walk away confused.

We also hear from Bill Kenny of the SNL Hall of Fame and Saturday Night Network Podcasts, who puts the episode in full context - what kind of season it was, how Dan Aykroyd ended up hosting, and why this one still holds up.

The songs were 'Grace Too' and 'Nautical Disaster.' The debate about whether those were the right choices has apparently never stopped. We get into that too.

So there's that.

"I remember Dan Aykroyd coming out wearing a shirt that looks like something a snowboarder would wear on Laundry Day and thinking, as a country, we deserve better swag than that."

Voices in This Episode

Community members and contributors, in no particular order:

• Alan Carver
• Bill Kenny - SNL Hall of Fame and Saturday Night Network Podcasts
• Christy Miskelly
• Dean Rainey
• Devon Law
• Erin Rizok
• Jason Kirby
• Jessica Novak
• Jeremy Schultz
• Kim Gill
• Mark Gordon
• Mike Foster
• Paul Do Forno
• Rich Raczelowski
• Ryan McNeil
• Sara J
• Scott McRae

Resources & Links

Mentioned in This Episode

SNL Hall of Fame and Saturday Night Network Podcasts

This Is Our Life - The Tragically Hip (Michael Barclay)

Hipbase - The Tragically Hip Discography & Setlists

The Tragically Hip Archive

Connect & Listen

All TTH Podcast Series links - home.tthpods.com

The Tragically Hip On Shuffle - Live every week

Email jD - [email protected]

Join Us Live - The Tragically Hip On Shuffle

Every week we pull a random Hip song and unpack it live with a rotating panel. No prep. No script. Just the song, the room, and whatever comes up. Join us - details and links at home.tthpods.com.

A Note From jD

Thank you to every single person who sent in a voice memo for this one. Seventeen people trusted us with a memory - a real one, the kind that lives in your chest - and that is not a small thing. This community is the whole point. Every time.

Get after it.

- jD / Host / Producer / The Tragically Hip Podcast Series - Est. 2018

#TTHTop40 #TheTragicallyHip #GordDownie #TheHip #CanadianRockPodcast #TragicallyHip

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Fully & Completely: Redux - World Container

Bob Rock, a divisive record, and the Tragically Hip song that might just be their best. jD and Greg came around. Hard.

October 17th, 2006. The Tragically Hip released "World Container" - their first of two records with producer Bob Rock, and one of the most divisive albums in the band's catalog. Twenty years later, jD and Greg LeGros are back for Season 2 of Fully & Completely: Redux, and the verdict is in: this record is better than you remember.

In this episode, jD and Greg dig into the landscape of 2006 - the Wild West of music piracy, the indie pop boom, Arctic Monkeys blowing up on MySpace, and a straight-ahead Canadian rock band trying to stay relevant without chasing a trend. Then they get into the album itself, track by track: the stadium-sized riff of 'You're Not the Ocean', the disco-beat weirdness of 'The Lonely End of the Rink', the complicated love letter that is 'In View', the cool-as-hell swagger of 'Fly', and the title track 'World Container' - which gets called one of the best Tragically Hip songs of all time. No argument here.

Greg also quit coffee. It almost killed him. We talk about that too.

This is Fully & Completely: Redux. Season 2. We're back.

"I missed the boat completely. Because this song is just perfect."

Greg LeGros from Toronto - co-host of Fully & Completely and the person most likely to make you reconsider a record you wrote off. Musician, music obsessive, and the only person jD trusts to go track by track through a Tragically Hip album for hours without losing the thread. This is their reunion after a longer-than-expected break - and it picks up exactly where it left off.

Mentioned or referenced in this episode:

• "World Container" (2006) - The Tragically Hip - produced by Bob Rock
• "Hipeponymous" (2005) - The Tragically Hip box set collection
• A Stranger to Myself: The Inhumanity of War, Russia, 1941-1944 by Willy Peter Reese - referenced in the 'You're Not the Ocean' discussion (Gord Downie connection)
• Hipbase - discography and catalogue reference
• HipMuseum - band history and archival reference

Related episodes:

• Fully & Completely: Redux - In Violet Light
• Fully & Completely: Redux - We Are The Same (up next)

00:00 - Cold Open: October 17th, 2006 01:45 - Intro & Season 2 is back 04:00 - Greg quit coffee (the dark side of a cleanse) 14:30 - The World Container year: 2006 in music and sports 28:00 - Bob Rock: the man, the myth, the Black Album 38:00 - Track by track: 'You're Not the Ocean' 48:30 - 'The Lonely End of the Rink' 57:00 - 'In View' - call your mom 1:06:00 - 'Fly' - Moonbeam, Ontario 1:14:00 - 'Luv (Sic)' and 'Kids Don't Get It' (recording gap at 1:03 - see production note) 1:22:00 - 'Pretend' 1:29:00 - 'Last Night I Dreamed You Didn't Love Me' 1:37:00 - 'The Drop Off' 1:43:00 - 'Family Band' 1:52:00 - 'World Container' - all songs are one song 2:02:00 - Final diagnosis & favourite track picks

Got a take on "World Container"? A song that still hits you different? Drop it in the comments or bring it to the community - we want to hear what you think.

💙 Leave a tip for jD: tthpods.kit.com/products/tipsforjd

"World Container" took its time getting its due. Greg wasn't sold. jD wasn't ready. And then - track by track, line by line - it got them both. "All songs are one song and that song is don't forget." That's not just a lyric. For anyone who's been listening to this network for a while, you know exactly what that means.

Next week: jD and Greg keep going. Bob Rock. Season 2. They're not done yet.

• The Tragically Hip On Shuffle - weekly live stream, one random Hip song, real-time community conversation - youtube.com/@tthpods
• Yer Hipstories: Reflections From The Final Tour - the oral history of the Man Machine Poem Tour - coming 2026

Web: home.tthpods.com

Facebook: community.tthpods.com

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#TheTragicallyHip #FullyCompletely #WorldContainer #GordDownie #TheHip #TTHOnShuffle

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The Tragically Hip On Shuffle - Live Stream: 'Vapour Trails'

Episode Date: March 19, 2026

Panel: Ryan from Toronto • Patrick from Toronto • Adam from Tampa

Intro

There’s nothing uglier than a man hitting his stride - and there’s nothing better than a panel that doesn’t agree on what that line even means.

This week on The Tragically Hip On Shuffle, jD pulled ‘Vapour Trails’ from “Phantom Power” - track eight of twelve from The Tragically Hip’s sixth studio record, produced by Steve Berlin, recorded at The Bathhouse in Bath, Ontario, and released July 14, 1998. It was a promo CD single that never got a video. It ranked #72 on the TTHTop40 Countdown. And for a song that lives in the shadow of ‘Bobcaygeon’ and ‘Poets’ on the same record, it had absolutely no problem holding its own for an hour of live discussion.

So there’s that.

About This Episode

‘Vapour Trails’ is a road song. Or a loneliness song. Or a song about Gord watching Mexican farmworkers from a highway somewhere in rural Ontario and being moved enough to write it down. It might be all three at once - which is, of course, exactly how Gord Downie worked.

jD is joined this week by Ryan from Toronto - a first-timer on the show and a veteran podcaster whose ear for music analysis makes itself known immediately - alongside returning panelists Patrick from Toronto and Adam from Tampa, both of whom came loaded with research, opinions, and very strong feelings about the back half of the “Phantom Power” discography.

• What followed was one of those conversations that starts with bass and drums and ends somewhere near ephemeral, the Canadian spelling of vapour, and whether Rob Baker was playing a Rickenbacker.

Coming Up

Next week on The Tragically Hip On Shuffle, jD hits shuffle again - and this time it landed on ‘Train Overnight.’ Three new panelists. Wednesday night. 8 PM. You know the drill.

An Evening for Sara J

Before you go - An Evening for Sara J is happening Saturday, April 11, 2026 at Firkin on Yonge, 207 Yonge Street, Toronto. Doors at 7:30 PM, live podcast at 8, Forever Hip takes the stage at 9.

Sara is one of our own, and this whole night is for her. There’s a live podcast with Patrick Downie, a 50/50 draw, a raffle, and every dollar raised goes to Sara’s GoFundMe. Go to tickets.tthpods.com to get yers now!

Early Bird tickets are $20 - and they won’t last. After March 25, it’s $25 general admission or $30 at the door.

Stay Connected

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• Email: [email protected]

Get Yer Letter

Want Hip news, album anniversaries, episode recaps, fundraising updates, and early previews delivered straight to your inbox every month? Subscribe to Yer Letter - the official community newsletter of The Tragically Hip Podcast Series. When you sign up, you’ll also get a free copy of The Complete Hip Discography v6.0 - every studio album, every solo record, every side project across all five members of the band.

Subscribe here: subscribe.tthpods.com

The Tragically Hip On Shuffle is part of The Tragically Hip Podcast Series - Est. 2018.

New episodes every Wednesday at 8 PM ET, live on YouTube and Facebook!

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