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[miko2]

Today's Song: Vapour Trails by The Tragically Hip

The Tragically HIp are a band that's wildly popular in Canada and relatively unrecognized in the United States. They play to sold-out shows, stadiums, and packed houses in Canada. In the U.S. they play small venues and are often not the headline act. So it goes.

My interest in the band began with their album Up To Here, which contained the hit New Orleans Is Sinking and was pretty much a collection of great songs from start to finish in my book. I still love that whole album. When Road Apples came out, I picked up a cheap cassette tape of it, and I really didn't like most of it. The song Little Bones grabbed my ear but much of the rest of the album just didn't interest me. I kind of wrote the band off at that point. (Years later I picked up the cd of this release and frankly, it's much better than I remembered, and contains a number of excellent songs. My favorite track is now Three Pistols.)

Then came Fully Completely, which had more of an alternative vibe to it and got a lot of airplay on alternative radio stations. Like Up To Here, it was chock full of great songs. Courage was the big hit, but there were many songs on there just as good. I picked it up and my faith in the band was renewed.

They next released Day For Night which I picked up immediately. I was greatly disappointed. I still consider this their worst release ever, in part because, no matter how often I listen to it, nothing grabs me or is in any way memorable. But it's supposedly their most successful album commercially and critically, with the largest number of released hits, so what do I know?

Anyway I nearly wrote the band off again after that, but I eventually started picking of their other stuff. Some good, some bad, some great tunes hidden here and there. Vapour Trails from Phantom Power is one of my all-time favorite tunes of theirs.

Gordon Downie's lyrics often tell stories or contain unusual poetic phrases and images. Here's the lyrics for Vapour Trails:

Titillations been replaced by Interstate brickface and Coffee-Mate
and by a list of phone calls you'll like to make
where you could sit on the edge of your bed
and you could stare into your own shoes
and in the pools of light there
go wherever you choose

just rig up a complication and if it derails
you can throw away the rudder and float away like vapour trails

There's nothing funnier than pride in an utterly confident stride
so I pulled the car on over to give you a ride
Damn this sleepy weather he said
as he marched in sopping wet shoes
through rainpools evaporating
says in this sign I'll conquer you

I pulled the car on over to give you a ride
but there's nothing uglier than a man hitting his stride
(now the morning's over light wind blows)
past Mexicans all dressed in beige shirts
leaning over their hoes
now the morning's over
it's time to let them sprinklers hose

past hills of chambermaids' dark bare arms
and fields of muscles quilted to the bone
right now I'm flying over
yea right now I'm flying home
where I can sit on the end of my bed
and I can stare into my own shoes
and in the pools of light years
go wherever I choose

and throw away the rudder float away on vapour trails

It's a sign of how much this band is held in high regard that the video I could find on Youtube is actually from a cover band playing this song. So I give you The Tenaciously Hip: Vapour Trails

They have a very cool web site that when you search on an album and click on a song, it brings up the lyrics and is supposed to play the song (or part of the song) for you to listen to. Then there's links to buy it automatically from iTunes. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the "play the song" part of this nifty set of features to work for this particular song/album.

The Tragically Hip Myspace page

It turns out they're playing at Marrymoor Park in Seattle on July 11th. Tickets are $37.50. That's pretty steep, so I may pass, but I've never seen them and it would be a lot of fun to do so.