(no subject)
i don't know what made me decide to listen to this song -- i've been feeling nostalgic lately and surely it could only make me sadder. it's not though, only reminding me of how good the tragically hip are at describing white i percieve to be the canadian experience.
+++
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 working 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
the sky was dull and hypothetical
and falling one cloud at a time
That night in Toronto
with its checkerboard floors
riding on horseback
and keeping order restored
til the men they couldn't hang
stepped to the mic and sang
and their 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
where I saw the constellations
reveal themselves
one star at a time
Fireworks
If there's a goal that
everyone remembers,
it was back in ol' 72
we all squeezed the stick
and we all pulled the trigger
and all I remember
is sitting beside you
you said
you didn't give a fuck about hockey
and I never saw someone
say that before
you held my hand
and we walked home the long way
you were loosening my grip
on Bobby Orr
Isn't it amazing
anything's accomplished
when the little sensation
gets in your way
not one ambition whisperin'
over your shoulder
Isn't it amazing you can do anything
We hung out together
every single moment
cause that's what we though
married people do
Complete with the grip
of artificial chaos
and believing in the country
of me and you
crisis of faith
and crisis in the Kremlin
and yea we'd heard all that before
it's wintertime,
the house is solitude with options
and loosening the grip
on a fake cold war
Isn't it amazing
what you can accomplish
when you don't let the nation
get in your way
no ambition whisperin'
over your shoulder
Isn't it amazing
you can do anything
next to your comrades
in the national fitness program
caught in some
eternal flexed-arm hang
droppin' to the mat
in a fit of laughter
showed no patience,
tolerance or restraint
Fireworks exploding in the distance
temporary towers soar
fireworks emulatin' heaven
til there are no stars anymore
Fireworks aiming straight at heaven
temporary towers soar
til there are no stars
shining up in heaven
til there are no stars anymore
Isn't it amazing
what you can accomplish
when the little sensation
gets in your way
no ambition whisperin'
over your shoulder
isn't it amazing
what you can accomplish, eh
this one thing
probably never goes away
i think this one thing
is always supposed to stay
this one thing
doesn't have to go away
+++
the candian experience is sublime and vague and hard to pin down and define. one of those things that you can't really explain - you just know it when you see or hear it.
there are some key elements... humility, humour, isolation, freedom, nature...
moving out to the west coast, i've discovered that vancouerites can't relate to the stories i tell about my youth in northern ontario. experiences that i was naive enough to think were experienced nation wide. it's partially a urban vs rural thing, because i don't think children growing up in cities experience the same profound sense of freedom and isolation as those of us who grow up in small towns and communities do. but there's also something very un-canadian about vancouver. i haven't spent enough time in the other parts of bc to determine whether or not this is a province wide thing, so i can only speak for vancouver itself. it's almost like this city is a different country entirely. i seem to recall douglas coupland writing about this phenomenon as well, reading it before i moved out here... but i can speak from experience now; it's true.
as trivial as it sounds, i think a large portion of what makes vancouver uncanadian is the lack of harsh winter weather. while cold winters and lots of snow are not specific to canada, it's something that is largely felt nation wide here.
most of us grow up building snow forts, playing hockey or ice skating on frozen bodies of water, sliding down hills on krazy karpets, making snow angels, and yes, if we posess the proper plumbing, writing our names in the snow. as we get older snow becomes less of an enjoyment and more of a hassle as it forces us to don unsightly outerwear, or provides us with obstacles in the way of getting where we want to go (most of us learn how to maneuver a car on icy roads and carry a shovel in the trunk incase we get stuck - the pedestrians amoung us learn to walk quickly along unplowed sidewalks and to take firm baby steps on the icy parts).
where i grew up, the harsh winter weather could be so harsh that it could keep you isolated in your home for periods of a time, if the snow depth rose to the height of a car, or the mercury plumetted to temperatures as low as -52 celcius (which i felt during the christmas of 1999). snowdays were plentiful. this brings obvious psychological effects. all the teachers in ontario went on strike for the month november of 1997. my mom being one of them, i was left without a chaufer, so i spent pretty much the entire month inside by myself because it was too cold to walk anywhere.
vancouverites just don't experience these things.
where am i going with this?
+++
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 working 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
the sky was dull and hypothetical
and falling one cloud at a time
That night in Toronto
with its checkerboard floors
riding on horseback
and keeping order restored
til the men they couldn't hang
stepped to the mic and sang
and their 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
where I saw the constellations
reveal themselves
one star at a time
Fireworks
If there's a goal that
everyone remembers,
it was back in ol' 72
we all squeezed the stick
and we all pulled the trigger
and all I remember
is sitting beside you
you said
you didn't give a fuck about hockey
and I never saw someone
say that before
you held my hand
and we walked home the long way
you were loosening my grip
on Bobby Orr
Isn't it amazing
anything's accomplished
when the little sensation
gets in your way
not one ambition whisperin'
over your shoulder
Isn't it amazing you can do anything
We hung out together
every single moment
cause that's what we though
married people do
Complete with the grip
of artificial chaos
and believing in the country
of me and you
crisis of faith
and crisis in the Kremlin
and yea we'd heard all that before
it's wintertime,
the house is solitude with options
and loosening the grip
on a fake cold war
Isn't it amazing
what you can accomplish
when you don't let the nation
get in your way
no ambition whisperin'
over your shoulder
Isn't it amazing
you can do anything
next to your comrades
in the national fitness program
caught in some
eternal flexed-arm hang
droppin' to the mat
in a fit of laughter
showed no patience,
tolerance or restraint
Fireworks exploding in the distance
temporary towers soar
fireworks emulatin' heaven
til there are no stars anymore
Fireworks aiming straight at heaven
temporary towers soar
til there are no stars
shining up in heaven
til there are no stars anymore
Isn't it amazing
what you can accomplish
when the little sensation
gets in your way
no ambition whisperin'
over your shoulder
isn't it amazing
what you can accomplish, eh
this one thing
probably never goes away
i think this one thing
is always supposed to stay
this one thing
doesn't have to go away
+++
the candian experience is sublime and vague and hard to pin down and define. one of those things that you can't really explain - you just know it when you see or hear it.
there are some key elements... humility, humour, isolation, freedom, nature...
moving out to the west coast, i've discovered that vancouerites can't relate to the stories i tell about my youth in northern ontario. experiences that i was naive enough to think were experienced nation wide. it's partially a urban vs rural thing, because i don't think children growing up in cities experience the same profound sense of freedom and isolation as those of us who grow up in small towns and communities do. but there's also something very un-canadian about vancouver. i haven't spent enough time in the other parts of bc to determine whether or not this is a province wide thing, so i can only speak for vancouver itself. it's almost like this city is a different country entirely. i seem to recall douglas coupland writing about this phenomenon as well, reading it before i moved out here... but i can speak from experience now; it's true.
as trivial as it sounds, i think a large portion of what makes vancouver uncanadian is the lack of harsh winter weather. while cold winters and lots of snow are not specific to canada, it's something that is largely felt nation wide here.
most of us grow up building snow forts, playing hockey or ice skating on frozen bodies of water, sliding down hills on krazy karpets, making snow angels, and yes, if we posess the proper plumbing, writing our names in the snow. as we get older snow becomes less of an enjoyment and more of a hassle as it forces us to don unsightly outerwear, or provides us with obstacles in the way of getting where we want to go (most of us learn how to maneuver a car on icy roads and carry a shovel in the trunk incase we get stuck - the pedestrians amoung us learn to walk quickly along unplowed sidewalks and to take firm baby steps on the icy parts).
where i grew up, the harsh winter weather could be so harsh that it could keep you isolated in your home for periods of a time, if the snow depth rose to the height of a car, or the mercury plumetted to temperatures as low as -52 celcius (which i felt during the christmas of 1999). snowdays were plentiful. this brings obvious psychological effects. all the teachers in ontario went on strike for the month november of 1997. my mom being one of them, i was left without a chaufer, so i spent pretty much the entire month inside by myself because it was too cold to walk anywhere.
vancouverites just don't experience these things.
where am i going with this?