The Tragically Hip: Song #6- At The Hundredth Meridian

This is one post in a series. Each post will focus on one song by the Canadian rock n’ roll band The Tragically Hip. I am a fan, not an expert. The thoughts expressed in these posts are my own, with the following two exceptions: I have drawn inspiration and knowledge from a book entitled The Never Ending Present by Michael Barclay. I have, also, learned much from a website dedicated to Hip fans entitled The Hip Museum. I will give credit to either source when applicable.

The Tragically Hip are the quintessential Canadian band. They shared our stories with the world in ways that didn’t pass judgment or praise false idols. Their songs are sung from coast to coast to coast. They are as iconicly Canadian as Terry Fox or hockey or lakes soundtracked by the cries of the loon. They are ours.

But throughout their career, there has always been talk about why the Tragically Hip weren’t bigger in the U.S. and, for that matter, did that even matter when it came to defining how successful the band really was. “At The Hundredth Meridian” is a song that touches upon what it means to be a Canadian band. It has several references to the struggle of becoming an established band in this country. For example, the line, “Driving down a corduroy road” is a term often used to describe travelling on a surface that is rutted and not easy to get across without great effort and occasional discomfort. Every band who acted as their own roadies, piling instruments into a cramped van, driving from Legion halls to county fairs to small bars in the middle of nowhere, can attest to the truth behind this words. The line right off of the top, “Me, debunk an American myth and take my life in my hands” refers to the group questioning the conventional wisdom that speaks of the proper measuring stick for success for Canadian bands being commercial sales in the States. Record sales and concert gross were not, by themselves, what motivated The Hip to move forward as they did. The complexity and originality of their song lyrics across the breadth of their catalogue speaks to that. 

Overall, this song is about the nature of what success meant to the band and how they defined themselves as musicians and songwriters. I always had the sense that all five guys were comfortable in their own skin and never needed external accolades as motivation for crafting the music they made. They never wanted to be pop stars.

“If I die of vanity, promise me, promise me
They bury me some place I don’t want to 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.“

*Ry Cooder was a legendary bluesman who was never what one would call “a big star”. He stayed true to his musical roots and in doing so, helped serve as a role-model for the type of performer the band members wanted to be. Respect. Craftsmanship. Longevity. This is what The Tragically Hip looked for in themselves and hoped that we saw, too.

(#HM) I also like that they gave a brief list of concert sites where they felt like they put on a memorable or infamous show. “I remember Buffalo! I remember Hengelo! I remember every single f*cking thing I know.” According to The Hip Museum, the reference to Buffalo was once thought to be about a time when an audience member hurled a shoe at Gord Downie, striking him and causing him to leave the stage for one of the only times in his career. However, that incident has now been confirmed to have happened on the subsequent Fully Completely tour that followed in 1993. The Hengelo reference relates to a European concert that the band performed while intoxicated. The story is that their driver got lost and while he was desperately trying to find the proper route to that night’s venue, the boys in the band drank and drank to pass the time.

Regardless of good shows, bad shows or the dozens of shows that were somewhere in the middle, The Tragically Hip always viewed themselves as a band that measured their worth according to their own criteria. As good a band as they were for most of their career, they never saw that translate into much success south of the border (unless you count some of the border cities such as Detroit, Buffalo (shoe toss incident aside), Minnesota, etc. The thing was, the band was ok with that. They had their heroes like Ry Cooder and felt best about their own performances when they measured themselves against musicians of his calibre. “At The Hundredth Meridian” is an actual point in the geography reality of Canada that separates the centre and east of Canada from the west “At the hundredth meridian where the great plains begin“. For the band, the hundredth meridian also is a demarcation point between bands with artistic integrity and those who sell out and co-opt themselves in the hopes of achieving commercial success. The Tragically Hip were artists and musicians first and foremost. “At The Hundredth Meridian” is their declarative statement of that intent.

The link to the video for the song “At the Hundredth Meridian” by The Tragically Hip can be found here. ***The lyrics version is here.

The link to the official website for The Tragically Hip can be found here.

The link to the official website for Ry Cooder can be found here.

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