HIP Lyrics, in support of The Tragically Hip

AHEAD BY A CENTURY

First thing we climb a tree, and maybe then we talk

Or sit silently, and listen to our thoughts

Illusions of some day, casting a golden light

No dress rehearsal, this is our life

And that's where the hornet stung me

And I had a feverish dream, with revenge and doubt

Tonight we smoke them out

You are ahead by a century

You are ahead by a cent-ury

< small break >

Stare in the mornin' shroud, and then the day began

I tilted your cloud, you tilted my hand

Rain falls in real time, the rain fell through the night

No dress rehearsal, this is our life

But that's when the hornet stung me

Then I had a serious dream, with revenge and doubt

Tonight we smoke them out

You are ahead by a century But this is our life

You are ahead by a cent-ury

< Brief break >

You are ahead by a century But this is our life

You are ahead by a cent-ury

And disappointing you's gettin' me down

AN INCH AN HOUR

I want a book that'll make me drunk

Full of freaks and disenfranchised punks

No amount of hate no load of junk

No bag of words no costume trunk

Could make me feel the same way

An inch an hour two feet a day

To move through the night

In this most fashionable way

There's this fuckin band you gotta see

Used to scare the living shit out of me

No frothing dog no cool insanity

No "rock n' roll" no Christianity

Make me feel the same way

An inch an hour two feet a day

To move through the night

With very little else to say

But I'm helpless less with the people than the space

No struggletown no bemused Trudeau

No solitary walks through vacant lots in moonglow

Tonight the winter may have missed it's mark

You can see your breath in Springside Park

Coffee-coloured ice and peeling birch bark

Sound of rushing water in the dark

Makes me feel the same way

An inch an hour two feet a day

To move through life with very little else to say

But I'm helpless more with the people than the space

I mean I'm helpless less with the people than the space

You see, I don't know Neil, I don't know Neil

Oh, ya

AT THE HUNDREDTH MERIDIAN

Me debunk an American myth?

And take my life in my hands?

Where the great plains begin

At the hundredth meridian, At the hundredth meridian

Where the great plains begin

Drivin' down a corduroy road

Weeds standing shoulder high

Ferris wheel is rusting--off in the distance

At the hundredth meridian (3 x) where the great plains begin

Left alone to get gigantic

Hard, huge and haunted

A generation so much dumber than it's parents

Came crashin' through the window

A raven strains along the line of a road

Carryin' a muddy old skull

The wires whistle their approval, off down the distance

At the hundredth meridian (3 x) where the great plains begin

At the hundredth meridian (3 x) where the great pla..a..ins begin

I remember, I remember, Buffalo, and I remember Hengelo..ho

It would seem to me that I remember every single fuckin' thing I know

If I die of vanity, promise me, promise me

they bury me someplace I don't wanna be

You'll dig me up and transport me, unceremoniously

Away from the swollen city-breeze, garbage-bag trees

Whispers of disease and acts of enormity

And lower me slowly, and sadly and properly

Get Ry Cooder to sing my eulogy

At the hundredth meridian (3 x) where the great plains begin

At the hundredth meridian (3 x) where the great pl..a..a..ins be...g...i...n

BLOW AT HIGH DOUGH

They shot a movie once, in my hometown

Everybody was in it, from miles around

Out at the speedway, some kinda Elvis thing

Well I ain't no movie star

But I can get behind Anything

Yeah I can get behind anything

Get it out, get it all out, Yeah stretch that thing

Make it last, make it last, at least 'til the supper bell rings

Well the taxi driver likes his rythm, never likes the stops

Throes of passion, throes of passion, when

Somethin' just threw him off

Sometimes, the faster it gets,

the less you need to know

But ya gotta remember, the smarter it gets

The further it's gonna go

When ya blow at high dough -- when ya blow at high dough

Whoa, baby I feel fine, I'm pretty sure It's genuine

It makes no sense, no it makes no sense, but

I'll take it free anytime

hoever fits her, usually gets her

It was the strangest thing

How she moved so fast, moved so fast,

Inta that weddin' ring

Well Sometimes the faster ........

Out at the speedway, same Elvis thing

Well I can't catch her, but I can get behind anything

Yeah I can get behind anything

Well I can get behind anything

Well Sometimes the faster ...

Out at the Speedway, same Elvis thing

BOBCAYGEON

I left your house this morning about a quarter after nine

Coulda been the Willie Nelson, coulda been the wine

When I left your house this morning, it was a little after nine

It was in Bobcaygeon I saw the constellations

Reveal themselves one star at a time

Drove back to town this morning with workin' on my mind
I thought of maybe quitting, thought of leaving it behind
Went back to bed this morning, and as I'm pulling down the blind
Ya the sky was dull and hypothetical, and fallin' one cloud at a time
That night in Toronto with it's checkerboard floors
Riding on horseback and keeping order restored
Til the men they couldn't hang, stepped to the mic and sang
And they're voices rang with that Aryan twang

I got to your house this morning just a little after nine
In the middle of that riot, couldn't get you off my mind
So I'm at your house this morning, just a little after nine
Cause it was in Bobcaygeon that I saw the constellations
Reveal themselves one star at a time

BOOTS OR HEARTS

Well I think that there's a problem here

Her voice just don't sound right

But I left myself on her answering machine

Said I'm back in town tonight

I feel I've stepped out of the wilderness

All squint-eyed and confused

But even babies raised by wolves

They know exactly when they've been used

See when it starts to fall apart, man it really falls apart

Like boots or hearts, Oh when they start

They really fall apart, Ooo,

Fingers and toes, fingers and toes, forty things we share

Forty-one if you include the fact that we don't care

Now you've blocked off most of main street

For your faith parade

Well, everyone in town now, they probably all agree

I'm lyin' in the bed I've made

See when it starts to fall apart, man it really falls apart

Like boots or hearts, Oh when they start

They really fall apart

Well, fall apart { Slide instra }

Well you won't even let me talk to you

We've got some air to clear

Well, we'd probably only agree on one thing anyway,

That's what the hell is happening he..re, Oh,

Fingers and toes, fingers and toes, forty things we share

O..oh, forty-one if you include the fact that we don't care

See when it starts to fall apart, man it really falls apart

Like boots or hearts, Oh when they start

They really fall apart

Well, fall apart { Slide instra }

BUTTS WIGGLIN'

The sweet sound of patent approval, comin' down in a not quite fog

Sweet sound of patent approval, comin' down in powdery sparks

The sweet sound of patent approval, comin' down with holiday concern

The sweet sound of patent approval, comin' down in a world of hurt

In my opinion, the drug is ready

The warm hand of abject approval, comin' down with it's ropey veins

The warm hand of abject approval, comin' down to the fingerbowl

In my opinion, the drug is ready

In my opinion. The drug is ready

< Break - vibraslap at end > (2 x)

The cold eye of constant approval, comin' down to freeze the blood

The cold eye of constant approval, comin' down ta look real close

In my opinion, the drug is ready

CORDELIA

Angst on the planks, spittin’ from a bridge

Just to see how far down it really i..i..s

Robbin’ a bank, jumpin’ on a train

Old antiques a man alone can enterta..a.a..in

Takes all your power, Prove that you don't care

I'm not Cordelia. I will not be there (3 x)

Tin can ma..a..an, draggin’ from a car
Just to see how alive you really a..a..a..re
Marryin’ wo..hu.rds, falling in your wake
Just to tell what you can't e..e..eliminate
Takes all your power, Prove that you don't care
I'm not Cordelia. I will not be there

Treading the boards, screaming out Macbeth
Just to see how much, bad luck you really ge..e.e.t
Jump in the ri…hing with your hidden cape
The bull can't decide what it is that he really ha..a.tes
Takes all your power, Prove that you don't ca..a.a.re
I'm not Cordelia. I will not be there, not be there (2 x)…

Angst on the planks, spittin’ from a bridge
Just to see how far down it really i..i..s
Robbin’ a bank, jumpin’ on a train
Old antiques a man alone can enterta..a.a..in
Takes all your power, Prove that you don't ca..a..re
I'm not Cordelia. I will not be the..e..re (3 x)

Thief lingers on, on his hands and knees
Must be one more thing here I really ne..e.ed
Die in your dreams, falling on your knife
A Thief blinded on the job, has to steal for li..i..ife
Takes all your power, Prove that you don't care
I'm not Cordelia.
I will not be there, not be there
I will not be there, ah, not be there

COURAGE

Watch the band, through a bunch of dancers

Quickly, follow the unknown

So there's no (zno) simple explanation

For anything important, any of us do

And yea the human, tragedy, consists in, the necess-ity

Of living with, the consequenc..hez

Under pressure, under pressur-hure

Courage, my word, it didn't come it doesn't matter

Courage, your word, it didn't come it doesn't matter

Courage, my word, it didn't come it doesn't matter

Courage, it couldn't come at a worse.time

{ Instra }

It couldn't come at a worse time, na..ha..na

It couldn't come at a worse time

Courage

DON'T WAKE DADDY

Sled dogs after dinner

Close their eyes on the howlin' wastes

Kurt Cobain, reincarnated, sighs and licks his face

Then they drift past strips of Serengeti

And the gates of Sleepy-Hollow too

You can pause in wonder, they paused in wonder

And yea, I paused in wonder too

Just don't, wa...a..ake daddy

They can lay their heads on their futon-beds

So many miles from home

You teach your children some fashion sense

And they fashion some of their own

For when the policy-weary commune, on the untamed land

Through white sheers, whispers in their e...a..aars, your damned

And don't, wa...a..a...ake da..a.ddy

Don't

You can stuff your void with the asteroid

That's hurtlin' toward the earth

You can drop the bomb, that restores some calm

Then promises rebirth

Just don't, wa...a..ake da..a..ddy

Just don't----wa...a..ake, da..a..ddy

It's the perfect time now

For an eclectic choice

They're all asleep but us now

It's time to hear your voice

<Sing to end all songs, to end all songs>

Sing to end all songs, to end all songs (3x)

FIDDLER'S GREEN

September Seventeen

For a girl I know it's Mother's day

Her son has gone alee

And that's where he will stay

Wind on a weathervane

Tearing blue eyes sailor-mean

As Falstaff sings a sorrowful refrain

For a boy in Fiddler's Green

His tiny knotted heart

Well I guess it never worked too good

The timber tore apart

And the water gorged the wood

You can hear her whisper prayer

For men at masts that always lean

The same wind that moves her hair

Moves her boy through Fiddler's Green

He doesn't know a soul

And there's nowhere that he's really been

But he won't travel long, alo..o..one

No not in Fiddler's Green

Balloons all filled with rain

As children's eyes turn sleepy-mean

And Falstaff sings a sorrowful refrain

For a boy in Fiddler's Green

FIFTY MISSION CAP

Bill Barilko disappeared, that summer

He was on a fishing trip

The last goal he ever scored

Won the Leaf's the cup

The didn't win another, til 1962

The year he was discovered

I stole this from a hockey card

I keep tucked up under

My fifty mission cap

I worked it in,

I worked it in ta look like that

It's my fifty mission cap

It's his fiffty mission cap

And I worked it in,

I worked it in ta look like that

And I worked it in, ta look like that

Bill Barilko disappeared, that summer

He was on a fishing trip

The last goal he ever scored

Won the Leaf's the cup

The didn't win another, til 1962

The year he was discovered