A while back I watched a documentary called “No Dress Rehearsal” about The Tragically Hip, one of my favourite bands and a huge influence on my music. The documentary helped me to reflect on my own history with this band, how the truly Canadian stories they told were interwoven with critical points my own life in many ways. Hanging on my office wall is a hand sketched portrait of Gord Downey, truly a hero in my eyes.
While this song has many personal references I hope fellow Hip fans will pick up on the many not so subtles references to some of The Hip’s best songs. Enjoy
(Photo: Scott Alexander / WikiCommons)
Kingstown Boys
copyright 2024 Steve Smith (SOCAN)
Poets come, and poets go
Where they come from, I don’t know
A magic place in a northern land
Theres so many things we don’t understand
They snuck in to my life one day
Rising bread and an old speedway
I was building towers for your mobile phones
To a guy thats singing bout chicken bones
But the song that brought to my knees
The one about the boy that went alee…
Chorus
I didn’t need to see that picture
I didn’t need to hear that voice
It left me on the floor in silence
Knocked out cold by the Kingstown Boys
Seven thirty one nineteen ninety three
Southeast side of Calgary
Sunny swaying with my future wife
I met five guys that would change my life
Will the banished man see the light of day?
Or will the lady turn the other way?
Here’s a little honey for your hornet sting
Here’s a little twang to make the voices ring
Here’s a little story that he turned to light
Bout a hockey hero on a fated flight
Repeat Chorus
Heroes come, and heroes go
Where they come from, I don’t know
From a town that’s forged in stone and steel
Somehow escaping the devil’s deal
Will the coppers help to keep the place locked down?
On a clear cut path to the Clayquot Sound
Speaking a language that we understand
Can the poets help to heal the wounded land?
Fiddles playing down the frozen track
Gotta keep on moving
Gotta keep on moving
Gotta keep on moving
Ain’t no turning back
Ain’t no turning back
Ain’t no turning back!
With tales of heartbreak and injustice
Syncopations through the noise
I can see him rise ‘bove the campfire
That leading man from the Kingstown Boys
That leading man from the Kingstown Boys
That leading man from the Kingstown Boys, Yeah, Yeah!