The Tragically Hip Podcast Series

Live Between Us – Essential Tracks, Layered Lyrics & Hip Obsession

Fully & Completely – The Tragically Hip Podcast Series

This week on Fully & Completely, jD and Greg dive into Live Between Us, The Tragically Hip’s electrifying 1997 live album — and they’re joined by music publicist, historian, and walking encyclopedia Eric Alper.

Together, they unpack what makes these tracks “stone cold classics,” how Gord Downie’s lyrics evolve over time, and why some songs reveal entirely new meaning decades after first listen.

If you’ve ever sung a Hip lyric confidently… only to realize years later you completely misunderstood it — this episode is for you.

🎯 Brief Summary

Is Live Between Us simply a live album — or a defining snapshot of peak-era Tragically Hip?

Eric Alper joins the show to explore:

What makes a song “essential”
Why some Hip tracks feel tailor-made for new listeners
The layered brilliance of Gord Downie’s lyric writing
How deeper research transforms appreciation
Why revisiting songs years later changes everything

The conversation moves from “make me a tape” essentials to peeling back lyrical layers — and celebrating how the band’s live energy elevated already iconic songs.

🔥 Pull Quote

“You think you know what the song means… until one day you realize you’ve been singing it right — but understanding it completely wrong.”

🧠 Broad Topics Covered

Live Between Us (1997) live album analysis
Essential Tragically Hip songs
Gord Downie’s layered lyricism
The evolution of meaning over time
Canadian rock history
The difference between studio and live performance
How fandom deepens through research
Songs misunderstood as love songs (and why context matters)

👤 Our Guest: Eric Alper

Eric Alper is one of Canada’s most respected music publicists and a celebrated social media presence known for sharing deep-cut music facts, pop culture history, and industry insights.

Follow Eric:

Twitter/X: @ThatEricAlper 
Website: www.thatericalper.com 

If you love music trivia, archival rabbit holes, and “wait… WHAT?” moments about your favorite artists, Eric’s feed is pure gold.

🎸 About the Album

Album: Live Between Us
Release Year: 1997
Recorded: Cobo Arena, Detroit

Live Between Us captured The Tragically Hip at a commercial and creative high point. More than a concert recording, it serves as an entry point for new fans and a definitive live document for longtime listeners.

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📲 Follow The Tragically Hip Podcast Series

This episode is part of The Tragically Hip Podcast Series.

Instagram: @tthpodseries 
Facebook Group: The Tragically Hip Podcast Series 
Email: [email protected] 

Join the conversation with fellow fans and obsessive lyric analysts.

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The Tragically Hip On Shuffle

This week on The Tragically Hip On Shuffle, we pull “At Transformation” from Now For Plan A and let it breathe.

Is it about Gord Downie’s wife’s cancer battle? A marriage unraveling? The band’s own evolution? Or something more universal — the moment when life tilts and you realize you’re different now?

jD is joined by Tim (Columbus), Shawn (Edmonton), and Jeff (Vaughan) for a layered, passionate, and occasionally chaotic deep dive into one of the most emotionally charged songs from the later Hip catalogue.

🎯 Episode Summary

“At Transformation” doesn’t explode — it presses forward. With grit, propulsion, and urgency, it opens Now For Plan A in a way that feels both classic Hip and unmistakably late-era Gord.

The panel explores:

The emotional context surrounding the album
Whether knowing Gord’s personal backstory enhances or complicates interpretation
The song’s lyrical ambiguity
Johnny Fay’s relentless drumming
Gord Sinclair’s muscular bass work
Rob Baker’s textured, hammer-on lead work
Why this track became a live show opener
How it echoes Day for Night while signaling something new

And yes — we debate what “transformation” actually means.

🔥 Pull Quote

“It’s not just about someone else transforming. It’s about realizing you’re different now — and there’s no going back.”

🧠 Broad Topics Covered

The Tragically Hip songwriting evolution
Now For Plan A album context (2012)
Gord Downie’s lyrical ambiguity
Live performance history (Mod Club pop-up show)
The band’s internal tensions in the late 2000s
Classic Hip dynamics: loud/quiet propulsion
Sports metaphors vs. emotional metaphors
The concept of transformation (personal, medical, relational)

🎸 About the Song

Song: At Transformation
Album: Now For Plan A (2012)
Notable Traits:

Aggressive opener energy
Fuzzed-out Gord Sinclair bass
Johnny Fay playing heavier than usual
Rob Baker’s distinctive hammer-ons and outro solo
Became a live set opener on the 2012 tour

👥 Our Guests

Tim – Columbus, Ohio
Co-host of the Dig Me Out Podcast (16 years, 850+ episodes). Longtime Hip champion south of the border.

Shawn – Edmonton, Alberta
Director with the Edmonton Blues Society. Deep early-days Hip memories and strong connection to the Day For Night era.

Jeff – Vaughan, Ontario
Veteran live-show attendee who caught “At Transformation” during its early Mod Club performance and multiple shows on the 2012 tour.

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The Tragically Hip deep cuts
Canadian rock band analysis
Day For Night comparison
Late-era Tragically Hip songs

📲 Follow & Connect

Instagram: @tthpodseries
Email: [email protected]
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YouTube: Search The Tragically Hip On Shuffle

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Next week: Nautical Disaster.
Set aside three hours. 😉

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Fully & Completely: Redux

Episode 6 — 
Trouble at the Henhouse (1996)

In this episode of Fully & Completely: Redux, we land in 1996 and crack open Trouble at the Henhouse — one of the most misunderstood, emotionally loaded, and quietly radical albums in the catalogue of The Tragically Hip.

What should have been a victory-lap record turns into something stranger and braver: stripped-back, red-toned, reflective, and full of songs that don’t explain themselves — they linger. This is the sound of a band surviving the 90s, refusing to coast, and accidentally making one of the era’s most enduring records.

Hosts jD and Greg LeGros dig into the album track by track, placing it inside the cultural hangover of the mid-90s: the end of high school, the death of grunge’s innocence, shifting radio formats, CanCon realities, and the moment when everything felt like it was changing — whether you were ready or not.

What We Talk About

Why Trouble at the Henhouse feels like the hangover to Day for Night
The opening five-song run (Gift Shop → Flamenco) as one of the strongest stretches in the Hip’s career
Robbie Baker’s guitar finally stepping out of the shadows
The sequencing controversy (yes, we’re talking 700 Foot Ceiling and Butts Wiggling)
“Ahead by a Century” as a once-in-a-generation song — and why it had to be the one
Gord Downie’s writing shift: misdirection, restraint, and devastating clarity
Don’t Wake Daddy as the emotional centre of the record (and the 90s)
Sonic Youth, PJ Harvey, Eric’s Trip, and the ghosts living between the grooves
Why this album was divisive then — and why it’s essential now

Standout Moments

The bleed from Gift Shop into Springtime in Vienna as a mission statement
The Kurt Cobain reference that somehow lands with grace
Flamenco as both comfort and confrontation
Sherpa as pure atmosphere — the quiet psychedelic cousin of Day for Night
Put It Off as an ending that feels like everything slowly going dark

Why This Album Still Hits

Trouble at the Henhouse isn’t flashy. It doesn’t chase hits. It doesn’t hold your hand.

It sits with you.

This episode makes the case that the record’s power lies in its restraint, its refusal to repeat past triumphs, and its willingness to capture a moment when music — and life — felt heavier, stranger, and more complicated.

Red instead of blue.
Morning instead of night.
The hangover instead of the party.

Listen & Follow

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🔀 The Tragically Hip On Shuffle

Fire in the Hole
 (Day for Night, 1994)

Every Wednesday, The Tragically Hip On Shuffle spins the wheel and lands on a random song from the Hip catalogue—then assembles a panel to tear it apart, stitch it back together, and see what still smoulders.

This week’s draw: Fire in the Hole—a blistering, confrontational cut from the band’s 1994 masterpiece Day for Night.

What follows is a loud, thoughtful, occasionally unhinged conversation about rawness, rage, punk energy, fascism, notebook lyrics, and why this song—despite being under-streamed—was a live-wire monster onstage.

🎙️ This Week’s Panel

Sara J.
Tom Horton
Mark Hebscher

Together with host jD, the panel explores Fire in the Hole from every angle: sonic, political, emotional, and physical (yes, including neck injuries and sweat-soaked encores).

🔥 Episode Highlights

Why Fire in the Hole may be The Tragically Hip’s most punk-rock song
Gord Downie’s anti-fascist live rants and how they reframed the studio version
The song’s roots in old mining folklore and earlier folk recordings
Gord Sinclair’s underrated, punishing bassline
Johnny Fay as a human jackhammer
The lyric “that kid’s a fucking goof” — notebook throwaway or brutal narrative precision?
Why this song destroyed Gord’s voice and often closed shows
First-hand memories of Woodstock ’99 and early Day for Night tour chaos
Why the studio cut feels like a teaser—and the live version felt like a threat

🧠 Why This Song Still Matters

Short. Violent. Uncompromising.
Fire in the Hole doesn’t explain itself—it hits, gets out, and leaves you rattled.

This episode makes the case that while the song may never top streaming charts, it remains one of the Hip’s most honest expressions of rage, resistance, and release—a reminder that rock & roll doesn’t always need poetry to be profound.

Sometimes it just needs three chords, a warning shout, and absolutely no mercy.

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Fully & Completely: Redux — 
Day for Night
 (1994)

A presentation of The Tragically Hip Podcast Series

Hosted by: jD & Greg LeGros
Release: Monday
Format: Album deep dive (Redux edition)
Runtime: ~1h 45m

In this episode of Fully & Completely: Redux, we turn our full attention to Day for Night — the record many fans point to as the moment The Tragically Hip stopped chasing expectations and fully committed to the dark, patient, cinematic version of themselves.

Released in September 1994, Day for Night arrived at a cultural moment when the ’90s were no longer new, no longer shiny, and no longer pretending everything was okay. What followed was an album that broke rules quietly: hit singles with no choruses, stories without resolutions, grooves that crept instead of charged.

In this Redux episode, jD and Greg revisit the album with fresh perspective — tracing its creation, its reception, and why it remains one of the most singular statements in the Hip’s catalogue.

What We Cover

Why Day for Night felt like a deliberate pivot after Fully Completely
How “Grace, Too” announced a darker, stranger Hip — visually and sonically
The improbability of “Nautical Disaster” becoming a massive hit with no chorus
Gord Downie’s leap into fully cinematic, image-driven lyricism
Johnny Fay and Gord Sinclair quietly redefining the band’s rhythmic identity
The patience, restraint, and atmosphere that hold the album together
Why this record feels less like a collection of songs and more like a journey

Track-by-Track Highlights

Grace, Too – A career-defining opener and tonal manifesto
Daredevil – A tumbling, vertigo-inducing rock song hiding in plain sight
Greasy Jungle – Off-kilter, playful darkness with a smirk
Yawning or Snarling – Menace, crowd imagery, and creeping tension
Fire in the Hole – Nuance over catharsis, patience over payoff
So Hard Done By – A mid-tempo, grimy, cinematic standout
Nautical Disaster – One of the boldest hit singles of the decade
Thugs – Swampy groove, film references, and one of Downie’s greatest opening lines
Scared – Beauty, menace, and the illusion of safety
An Inch an Hour / Emergency / Titanic Terrarium – The album’s final descent into reflection and unease

Why 
Day for Night
 Endures

More than any other Hip album, Day for Night rewards patience. It doesn’t rush you. It doesn’t explain itself. It invites you into the fog and trusts you to stay there. For many fans — including jD and Greg — this wasn’t just another release. It was the album that turned admiration into devotion.

About the Podcast

Fully & Completely is a chronological, album-by-album exploration of The Tragically Hip’s studio catalogue. Hosted by jD and Greg LeGros, the series blends music history, personal memory, cultural context, and deep fandom — without myth-making or nostalgia goggles. Redux episodes revisit classic installments with improved audio, tighter edits, and the benefit of distance.

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