The Tragically Hip Top Forty Countdown: Song Thirty-Seven – Devin from Stouffville

Hey, it’s jD, and this week I’m joined by Devin from Stouffville — a high school teacher, card-carrying member of the Roadside Attraction alumni club, and one of those Hip fans who hit pause… and then came back with both arms wide open.

Devin’s Hipstory starts at a high school bonfire with a guy named Ramin, an acoustic guitar, and a copy of Wheat Kings. From there it was mixtapes, Columbia House orders, and a full dive into Road Apples, Day for Night, and Fully Completely before the ride started getting a little bumpy. Like many of us, she drifted from the band during the In Violet Light and Music @ Work years — but came back hard thanks to a certain Hip documentary and, well, this podcast.

We talk about the evolution of fandom, what it means to step away from a band you love, and how growing up changes the way the music lands. There’s talk of Molson Park, Ashley MacIsaac, buttons lost and found by flashlight, and playing The Hip for students who think “Yer Dad’s music” is somehow an insult. (It’s not.)

Also: She cried during the doc. But the good kind of crying. The “Paul Langlois just showed up to take care of Gord”kind of crying. You know the one.

🎙️ Next week: We head to Missouri with Dave from St. Louis — a Hip fan who got married with a lyric in his vows and once thanked Gord in person after a show in Detroit. It’s a good one.

💬 Pull Quote

“Your podcast brought me back to the whole band. Not just Gord — the whole band.”

👤 About Our Guest

Devin from Stouffville is a teacher, poet, and lifelong music fan who found The Hip in the sweet spot between high school parties and early adulthood. She saw her first Hip gig at Molson Park in ’97 — and hasn’t stopped reliving that show in her classroom speakers and Algonquin playlists since.

She may not have a blog, but her students know all about Long Time Running. And that’s more than enough.

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📜 Transcript follows below.

The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown

2025-05-23, 6:11 PM

The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown

Artist: jD

Year: 2025

Transcript

[0:00] A member of the DATC Media family. Previously on the Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown. I

can still recall the first time I heard that song. It was Springtime in Vienna. Lynn from Maine, what

do you remember about the first time you heard this song? Well, I saw it on YouTube. So I saw the

video the first time. And I was just a little confused because I obviously didn't understand what

Springtime in Vienna meant. But I went right to the paradoxes, you know, that life is basically full of

paradoxes. And that kind of hit me because that's pretty much how life is, right?

[0:44] Hey, it's JD here and welcome back to the Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown. It is an absolute

thrill to be here with you week over week where we're going to count down 40 essential tracks by

the hip that you selected with your very own top 20 ballots. I then tabulated the results using an

abacus and three bears. One that couldn't count, one that counted too quickly, and one that was

just right. I named her Righty. How will your favorite song fare in the rankings? You'll need to tune in

every week to find out. So there's that. This week, I'm joined by the Tragically Hip superfan, Devin

from Stouffville. How the hell are you doing on this hip-tastic day, Devin from Stouffville? I am doing

fabulous, actually. A little bit nervous, not going to lie.

[1:35] But what a great cause. What a great cause to be all nervous about. Yeah, right? We're just

sitting here talking about our favorite band, that's all. Absolutely, yeah. Yeah, no big whoop. And

without crying, because the last time I talked about them was the documentary, so. Oh my God.

Well, we'll get into that because I definitely want to know, you know, your thoughts on that for sure.

Let's just start at the start and get right into this. Talk to me about your hipstery or your Tragically

Hip origin story. Right. I cannot tell a lie though. It's going to feel a bit cliche, but it is what it is, as

they say. Um i was born in 78 so i was like nine when their first album came out i grew up with my

parents choice of music i think that's pretty much everyone's story right yeah i'm not but i had like

abba john denver traveling wilburys i had so much good music given to me by my parents but i

would say that it was the hip that i first like picked up and said this one's mine where i first went

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okay i don't care if you know it I don't care if you like it. Hey, Dad, listen to this. It was the first one

where I had something that I resonated with besides that my friends had. I mean, my friends love

the hip, but I was also in high school in like 92 to 97. Okay. So I came out of my new kids on the

block.

[3:02] So you went right from NKOTB to TTA? I had some in-between. All right. between um it was

you know it was grunge and it was u2 and it was all these incredible, bands but i listened to them

right i listened to them because that was big and that was who everyone was listening to i my first

tape was the columbia house i'm going to stick this sticker on and ordered it was u2 action baby um

but it wasn't until i was at a one of those famous fest parties we have in high school somebody

picked up a guitar his name is ramin shout out to ramin he was in a tragically hip cover band with

some old dudes but um there was him and he has a fantastic voice he's actually actually really well-

known stage performer now uh but uh he started singing weakings i was like shoot what is this like i

really needed to hear that song Everyone else was singing it, so I felt like a tool. I was like, I don't

know what this is, but I loved it. I loved it immediately. So that was kind of my first like, aha, who is

this moment? I knew nothing except that song first. So yeah, that's where it started.

[4:17] Wow. So, you know, you've germinated the seed at this point, and it's starting to sprout.

Where does the sprout go first from Wheat Kings on acoustic guitar? The Sprout goes backwards

first, because I asked my mother I like set. And so the first thing I needed to have was all of the

stuff so far. So it was fully completely. But then I went back to what was before. Although I did not

pick up their EP until later. It was too far back. I mean, in terms of the style of it, right? It was a little

too disconnected. Keeping in mind, I'm 15, 16, right, at this point. So Rhode Apple and Day for

Night and Fully Completely, that's where I lived in that for a long time. So when we were going to

any concert, those are the songs that were there at the time. So that's where the love happened.

That's where I'm like, oh, I'm in love with you.

[5:17] The music, the Canadiana of it, all of it. And then after that, I followed with them as they went.

So as each album came out, I went along for the ride, but the ride changed. It was not always the

ride I wanted, but I still loved them through all of it. I just ended up starting to cherry-pick what I

listened to, if that makes sense. So when did that occur?

[5:45] Around what time? I would say In Violet Light. Okay, like you listened to that one and then

walked away? Up to like i loved i'm you say live between us or live between you know it's i don't

know we need the uh inflection mark or the accent um but uh i you know i call it live between us me

too um up to phantom power okay that's where i was still heavy like i love all of it fog concert um it

was music at work in violet light that's when i was like oh i really love that song and I really loved

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that song but I had fallen, off because things had changed and again watching that doc I was like,

now I get it now I wasn't so crazy right there was a an ebb and a flow to what was happening with

them I just didn't know that until recently but yeah that's when I kind of went okay I don't love all of it

and I started to pull off the songs that I did so, you know still heavy rotation but I was always with

the old the old album yeah gotcha okay.

[6:53] So when was the first time you saw them live, Devin, from Stouffville? My first live hip show

was another roadside attraction at Molson Park in Barry in 97. And it was our last year of high

school. It was a perfect summer day. It was the first time I'd ever been to like a festival kind of thing.

Cool. Loved every nuance of it. It was fantastic. even like driving back into our town on vapors at

one o'clock in the morning when it was done after fighting to get out of the parking lot there's so

many reasons why it sticks out but that was my very first hip concert everything else was stadiums

and arenas so any highlights of that hip show any highlights of that first hip show like any songs

that you were like.

[7:39] Holy shit i just saw this song live i cannot believe it well you know i'm gonna say we can okay

yeah that makes sense because Ashley McIsaac that guy came out and did a fiddle interdude

which was amazing and that really stood out because it was dark and there was there was weed

smell everywhere and it was that moment where it's like this moment is fantastic we were pretty

close to the stage too which was uh which was amazing um really anything anything thing that got

the crowd up and going and so now at this point we're still in my my my glory days right this is still

road apple fully completely this is still that era so um yeah we kind of lived in there day for night

was in there so i'm also like a ballad girl so any kind of scared long time running i couldn't tell you

the whole set list but uh those were all on there though Those ones were there. Honey, I'm 46

years old. I don't remember all of the things, but a lot of them. I don't remember being disappointed

with anything. That's great. It was a fantastic experience. What a bow to put on the high school

career, right? It was pretty awesome. I got to do the same thing for Roadside, the first one in 93.

Oh, you were at Markham Fairgrounds. Yeah. Yeah, it was my 19th birthday the day of. I've got a

poster, a billboard on the back wall. Yeah. Another roadside attraction.

[9:07] Very nice. I have my button. I have a Q102, the edge, another roadside attraction button from

that concert. Oh, cool. And I have lost it at campgrounds and gone searching with flashlights in the

middle of the night to find it. So it has returned to me every time. So, yeah. Hip fandom is a

wonderful thing and it's a bizarre thing, right? Something that can make you crawl around on your

hands and knees with a flashlight. By the comfort station, actually, just going to say that.

[9:38] Oh, the comfort station for when you have to comfort really bad. Any other notable live

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memories? I hate to say it. Well, I'm not going to hate to say it. How should I put it? I don't

remember who I went with, but I remember seeing them, if that makes sense. So it was more about

going to see the concert. I've been at Hamilton. I've been to Hamilton Place, Molson Amphitheater

quite a bit, but not as many as I wanted. By the time I loved them as much as I did, I went to

university and did not have money to go to a lot of concerts. So I sort of didn't see a lot of concerts

as how I was out of university. And then I was going to the ones that were in stadiums and now

we're into like, you know, the albums I didn't know as well. So I guess for me, the highlights would

be going to a concert. And when you hear those first strains of those things that take you back to

when you're a teenager and just going, oh, my God, this is all I need right now. I can't say that I was

the best hip fan for a lot of years because I don't, I didn't know most of the songs on some albums

until your podcast. Oh, wow. That's pretty cool. And until the one with Justin and Tim. Yeah. And

then I went back and listened to Fully and Completely and went, oh shit, I missed so much. I was

the same way. And that's why we did that podcast, really, because I wanted to, I wanted to go

through that latter category, that latter part of the catalog with Greg, who had, who had experienced

it in a different way than I had.

[11:02] Absolutely. Yeah. So it was the Renaissance. I think that's the word that I had in my head. So

honestly, your podcast, I'm not trying to blow smoke. Your podcast brought me back to how much I

love them and how much it was okay for me to say I dubbed out, it dipped out, whatever the word

is. My kids, my students would know.

[11:22] I felt okay with saying them back now. And I can appreciate them a lot more, honestly, as a

grown person. It's not just about how the music sounds, it's what they're saying. I agree. And that's

something I developed as an older person. Well, and it's, you know, looking at through the veil of

nostalgia and those highly emotional teenage years, you can really get wrapped up in feeling that

again in this music. And it does take you there. It's so wonderful. When I head into Algonquin, that's

the playlist I thought. Sometimes my husband is like, but there's other music. I'm like, hmm, not

right now, there's not. There is something very outdoorsy about them, isn't there? Very much so,

yeah.

[12:11] Maybe it's just because Gordy's so rooted in nature and the love that he has for water and all

that. Whether or not the song is about that or not, it still feels, just feels like that. So what did you

think of the documentary other than probably just weeping profusely during the third and fourth

part. Like I. Oh yeah that was a treat. But you know what I think I said to you it's good pain. It's a

good hurt. You know the ending. You know what was going to happen. It wasn't a surprise. It was

the little moments I think the unseen footage that really undid me. And when Paul came to take

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care of him in those last few weeks. The thing itself though the first it was amazing to see them as

young kids. I think knowing just how far back and just how strongly bonded they were that when

they get to.

[13:00] He shall not be named so by the time we got to that part of the dock where the boys were

not able to sing and they were like and they were out like through you i'm done that killed me but it

also helped to uh for me to understand the dynamic of them and then how like beautiful it is they all

came back together again yeah because at the end of the day it's a love story between them, I

think. Oh, I really love that. That's how I love it. Yeah, it is. It's a, it is. And there's some family

drama in there. And, um, you're right. It would, they're all creative forces. This is the thing, you

know, we, we, we, the spotlight is on Gord because he's the front man and there's no doubt that we

love him immensely. And there, I think it was okay to go a little bit pissed off at you, Gord Downie.

Like it's okay. the only thing is is he doesn't get to rebut you know what i mean we don't get to hear

his side of the story that's very true you know that's that's my one hmm sort of like there's a couple

moments where you know i wish we could have heard his side of the story and i think his and

because i don't know him at all so this is all conjecture me neither yeah my like romantic ideas but

um.

[14:19] I think his mind was beyond anything that we'll ever comprehend. Like, genius is not even

the right word. And the amount of creativity that flowed through that man, it does not surprise me

that Coke Machine Glow and all those things had to come out of him, right? The same way that the

other guys have the incredible music that they put out. It's a really interesting way of looking at it.

Like, I've got to let this out. I have to. I have students like that. I have, like, the most incredible kid

who sometimes wears wizard hats to school. He's brilliant and has all of this going on inside him

and if he doesn't go talk today i'm wearing a wizard hat then he can't he can't function and when

you see how he sort of how gord went through like i don't want to crawl around on the stage and

make my child feel embarrassed so he bottled himself up right now he's drumming a guitar there

must have been all this kinetic energy and all this fantastic brainwaves happening that I don't think

the boys were not equipped to deal with, but I think it was okay for him to go. But I also have this.

So it just made me sad that it kind of rolled into the division that came. That's right. Yeah. But it was

so interesting. And it made me cry more at the end when they all were back together. Yeah. It's

lovely.

[15:35] Well, we can wallow or we can trudge on, which is the optimal strategy for a podcast. For

sure. So what do you say we go to the song of the week next? Absolutely. I cannot wait. All right.

Let's do that. We'll be right back after this. Hey, this is Paul Langlois from the Tragically Hip saying

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hello. Now on with the countdown. 37.

[16:00] Music.

[19:52] Wow. From Man Machine Poem comes an absolute monster. In a world possessed by the

human mind, Devin from Stouffville, what do you recall about the first time you heard the second

track from The Hips' last record? If I'm going to use the theme of the day, it would be a nostalgic. It

was a new song, but it was an old song. It felt like Phantom Power. It felt like something on. It felt

like that, boom, I'm here. It had a cadence that I had missed in some of their most recent albums it

had a.

[20:29] Ferocity that I had missed but also such a gentleness and I sound like such I'm not trying to

wax poetic I'm just it just caught me it caught me because I was still cherry picking and off of this

album there wasn't a lot until I understood, why it was really important later on, it was upbeat but it's

just that hip thing right where It's a super upbeat song, but they're telling a pretty dark story. Maybe

not dark, but for me, there was fear in this story. So the first time I heard it, I thought, I just love how

it sounds. Because what always strikes me first about their music is, it just sounds beautiful. And

you get that boom, boom, boom, like Johnny Faye on that drum line. It sounds like a heartbeat to

me when you think about the context of what could be the song's meaning. And the guitar, they

were just all there. I think it felt to me like all the boys were there. I love when his voice is at that

particular timbre. Like, I love that tone where he's here. I love all his voice.

[21:32] But that is where I love that sweet spot. In an album where I was like, eh, okay. Don't tell

anyone that live, of course, because then you'll get mail. But in general, this is the one song I love

right now. So did you ever go back to the record and absorb it more? Or where are you with the

record now, Man Machine, Paul? I can't disconnect it from my experiences. My last concert was

their second last concert, well, their second last concert outside of Kingston.

[22:06] So did you get to see the Man Machine Poem Tour? I did, yeah. Yeah, so I was outside of

Ottawa. I drove four and a half hours, very happily stayed in a hotel with a friend to see them

because he was dying. And I hate to say that that's the reason why. I don't know if I would have

driven that far for this album, if not. But it's just all tied up, right? So I came to love the album more.

I appreciate your honesty. No, because you have to be here. I'm telling you, my dear, it was your

podcast that brought me back to all of them.

[22:43] Going through Gord Passing, it was about him. Your podcast brought me back to the whole

band. But since that concert certainly I have, I love Insarnia I love going through it and I remember

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being presented with the thunderstorms and the interludes between everything, it really just set for

me the tone of the whole album so absolutely I've gone back and it's not one of my most favorites

but it's certainly one that I have come to super super appreciate Oh that's great well going back to

the specific second track uh in the world in a world possessed by the human mind i hate asking this

question but i gotta ask it what what do you think it's about well well when i first heard it it just felt

like a conversation it is a conversation right and i sometimes it feels like it's between two people.

[23:36] Sometimes it's i think a conversation with oneself um i didn't know about museum in the dark

for a long time so when i listen to their music it's just.

[23:45] What my brain sees but i think that's the beauty of the hip right they can be telling a super

specific story and your brain and mind and heart can go a hundred different ways and gordy would

be like that's okay that's also what it meant right so i think so i think once you put it out there once

you put it out there somebody else is to mold right it's uh you spend a lot of time sculpting these

things but once you get it out there people can add accoutrements to it and it just uh yeah in this

one it just felt heavy, and there was as i said before i think there was some it feels like fear and

then some relief like there's some something something that's going on something that's being

discussed something um but it's heavy and then by the time by the time that line comes um thought

it was like god rustling around in the bushes, right? Yeah. I just go, what's going to happen now?

Right? And then you're okay, right? There's that minute of I felt like I was holding my breath when I

really got into the lyrics. And then when you think about now for plan A and the journey that he

shares with us about his wife's cancer diagnosis and treatment, to me it kind of fit in there.

[25:04] And then I didn't make the mistake of, but I did look at museum after dark and was like, oh,

but it's about all sorts of other things. But for me, that's what I took. It's all just assumptions and

guesses and analysis that's really well done. It's so good. I go there. And sometimes I say, yes, oh

my God, you're right. I didn't even know that Drapa Caribou meant to put a quarter in a payphone

until my friend told me by a campfire one night. So I have lots to learn about the lyric. but this is the

great thing it's like the discography is like an education.

[25:39] A lot of people i think know a lot more things about our country because of what they've put

out, there so too yeah and i love the moment where you talked about in all your podcasts where

they kind of get to the the point of well we don't need to be huge in the state who they have in the

states are real fans and they it felt like they kind of went all right great we're gonna go and tell our

stories the way we want we don't need to try and squeeze into some box that makes us of this

continent so i love that about them i love they just went screw it we are canadian and here we go

and i love them all the more for yeah it's tough not to love them it's real tough not to love them yeah

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i wish i had met even one of them i have like six degrees that's my that was my next question yeah

i have never i play like six degrees of separation from them i knew a guy for like five minutes who

jammed with rob baker every uh every summer some amazing little get together he is a musician in

his own right so a really great one actually um so they had this big, jam thing they did up at a

cottage. A friend of mine sent me a picture of Paul and him going, yeah, look at me. I'm like, oh my

God, can you please tell him I... But no, it didn't happen.

[26:58] I think I would probably still be six years old and clam up. I would like to think I would have

the wherewithal, pun intended, to say, and here's what you mean to me, boy.

[27:11] But I still get kind of.

[27:14] Knee jiggly when I see Rob Baker just on TV. And so I would have to just look from afar and

say, man, I'm at least in the same spaces. I wish I had. Do you have anything that you would like to

plug? To plug? Yeah.

[27:30] No. I mean, that's cool. I mean, I'm a teacher, so I don't know. Maybe you have a blog. Who

knows? I do not have a blog. I am not that savvy. Teach your kids to like good music that's my plug

i play the hip all the time in my class oh that's great we go there yeah but you know what i get now

my dad loves this music my mom that's right they do and then i get the you're older than my mom i

used to be young all the time now i am older than all the parents they uh they are learning about

good music from me we'll put it that way there you go, Well, that's what I've got for you this week.

Make sure to tell your friends, tell the whole bunch, hey, I just had a hippopotamus for lunch. Talk to

you soon. Thanks for stopping by. Pick up your shit. Appreciate it. Thanks for listening to the

Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown. To email us, send an email to tthtop40 at gmail.com. We're

social. Find us on all the socials at TTH Top 40.

[28:48] Music.

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