Song of the Day 3/20: The Tragically Hip, “Bobcaygeon”

Guest post by Nathan Arizona

Americans might have been puzzled by a recent Philadelphia Inquirer story about what Flyers’ hockey players want to hear on the song playlists that blast out on road trips or before and after games. Why did the name Tragically Hip come up so often? Who are they? Why is one player such a fan that his ringtone is the Tragically Hip’s “Bobcaygeon,” a song you’ve never heard of?

Why does center Morgan Frost play their music in his car on the way to games, and then again in the off-season when his “best, best friends back home . . . all know all the songs” by “the Hip.”

It begins to make sense when you realize that “back home” is Canada for him and most other hockey players. The Tragically Hip’s hard-to-define mix of indie rock, folk-rock and blues-rock never got much attention in the U.S, except for a little flurry in the early ‘90s. They did best in border cities like Detroit and Buffalo.The band managed to get a spot on “Saturday Night Live” once, but only thanks to lobbying by Canadian Dan Aykroyd.

But the Hip has been venerated in Canada for 40 years. They performed in the biggest arenas and small places other superstars ignored, before disbanding with the death of leader Gord Downie in 2017. Their songs reference Canadian history and culture. They appeal to a wide variety of Canadians, as the nickname “thinking man’s drinking band” might suggest. Nine of their 13 albums hit No. 1 on the Canadian charts.

Here’s the band’s “Bobcaygeon.” A stressed-out policeman chills in that small Ontario town where he watches constellations in the night sky. Back in the city, he joins the fight against fascism by helping to quell an “Aryan” riot. He seems like a good guy, just worn out.

This is another fan favorite. You’ll probably notice an R.E.M. vibe. It’s about a real-life hockey player who died in a plane crash a few months after his goal won the Stanley Cup for Toronto. I’m sure the Flyers know this one.

Not every Canadian band or artist is ignored in the U.S. A list of successes would include the Guess Who, Rush, Arcade Fire, the New Pornographers, Bachman-Turneer Overdrive, Bryan Adams, Gordon Lightfoot, Leonard Cohen, Barenaked Ladies, Alanis Morrisette and Nickelback. (Insert Nickelback joke here.) On the other hand, Joni Mitchell and Neil Young struggled in their native Canada before becoming stars in the U.S..

But who cares about them when the Tragically Hip is playing as you circle the ice.