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

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