The Tragically Hip - Fiddler’s Green REACTION & REVIEW! FIRST TIME HEARING!

[@johnm.2633]

His sister’s son died very young. “His tiny knotted heart, well I guess it never worked too good. The timber tore apart, and the water gorged the wood.” Great reaction.

[@jamesleblanc7437]

Jesus, gorgeous and devastating poetry.

[@caperboy1169]

Her son will leave and that’s where he will stay

[@markking6153]

“For a boy in Fiddler's Green”. This line tells us that the child is now in “fiddler’s green” (a sailor’s afterlife). Where there is perpetual mirth (laughter and happiness) and a fiddle that never stops playing. The mother prays as her son leaves. The wind takes him away. Her son is now in heaven where children don’t want to go to sleep.

[@josephkrengel]

When you're ready for it, look into videos from their final show. The summer after the lead singer's terminal brain cancer diagnosis (and subsequent Craniotomy), the band decided to embark on a national tour. It's the quintessential raging against the dying of the light. When it aired live something like 35% of all Canadians were watching or listening to it. It's not their strongest show in terms of technicality or performance for obvious reasons, but the emotion of it is devastating.

[@hekskey]

Truth. The Hip were my first concert. I started singing in high school by playing in a Hip cover band and the guys I played with are still my best friends 20+ years later. Every major memory seems to be linked to a Hip song. I must have seen them live at least a dozen times. I was at one of the shows on the final tour. And when I watched the final show on TV and they played this song I cried for the first time in as long as I could remember. My friends joke that I'm a robot, cause I usually am, but this song at that show took me by surprise. The Hip were in some way representative of and connected to so many formative aspects of my life that their end as a band marked a kind of transition in life: No future moments for the rest of my life would be connected to their songs as so many moments had been in the first half of my life. There was an unexpected shock in that realization that hit me as much as the tragedy of Gord's situation itself.

[@gord7025]

I remember turning on the radio on October 17, 2017 and hearing this song. My first thought was "this never gets played on the radio" and I immediately knew why they were playing it.

[@maureenwagg5305]

I always always cry when they played this song. My friend lost her son when he was eight days old and this really hits home especially when you go to a funeral where the casket is no bigger than a very small cooler.

[@lilisakhnevich8077]

Great reaction. The song was written for the singer's young nephew who died before the album was released. "Fiddler's Green" is the afterlife ♡

[@Flapjackers]

Fiddlers green was also the colour of scrubs

[@weekendnachoz]

I was at this concert! I remember my dad saying they never play this song because its too painful for Gord(the singer) which was slightly disappointing to me cause I love it. Was a really special moment when they started playing it. Thanks for bringing back great memories. Good reaction 👍

[@ryanleblanc2925]

Hey man, I think you should check out "Highway Girl - Double Suicide Rant". It features one of Gords more famous improvisational rants, which was something that made their live performances so unique and memorable. Dig your videos! I'm a lead singer in a Hip Tribute (Nautical Disaster), so as a big fan. I'm enjoying your well mannered musical-disection of their tunes and style, because I've long lost touch with what it's like to hear any of their songs for the first time.

[@brucenadeau5920]

One of the GREATEST Hip songs EVER!!! Makes me tear up every time knowing it's for Gord's nephew who passed on :(

[@brucenadeau5920]

GREAT Reaction David! As always!

[@FoxUnitNell]

Didn't know that thanks for posting. Like the song much more now.

[@brucenadeau5920]

8.0 :P :P 8.0 :P :P *ducks*

[@brucenadeau5920]

@@FoxUnitNell You are most welcome. His nephew passed from a heart condition, I CANNOT recall the age BUT very young. They never played this song live until just shortly into the 2000's. Gord once said on Much Music he could not do that song without breaking down in it, recording it was hard enough. The Hip are my favorite Canadian band and GREAT lyrics outside great musicians :)

[@FoxUnitNell]

@@brucenadeau5920 hey maybe the record version gets an 8.

[@mikejburns]

Nobody understands The Hip, unless you grew up listening to them . RIP Gord..

[@edcampbell1704]

Great reaction. Thanks for doing it. I would say that it has more of a folk/maritime feel than country. That's probably because I am from the Maritimes and Fiddler's Green is a nautical heaven.

[@ozziemcc]

This was recorde on their final tour that I was blessed to get tickets that were gifted by the band to my brother... Thank fully he could not attend... In my 130+ times seeing them and I think it was less than a handful of times I had seen them.

[@jillmcginn6128]

I recommend the song Wheat Kings by The Hip.

[@mickya3011]

Solid review 🤙. Yup definitely sad song and sounded just like the album. Good stuff man, love the Hip

[@gill2105]

Great reaction, my first time hearing this.. def can see this played on a country channel.

[@Rawd123]

I love your review format, I subscribed. You are very detailed with your reviews and you obviously know your stuff. I look forward to watching more of your reviews, and hopefully you can do some more Hip. Their style changes dramatically throughout the years.

[@Knvb-]

Gives me chills every time I hear it. RIP Gordie.

[@SFDoucette]

Americans love the Hip too. Thanks for this reaction and review!

[@dougiwasa8101]

Fiddlers Green is a sailors tale where they go after they die. Gordon Downeys sister had a son the died at a young age and he wrote this song on her behalf.

[@Veggamattic]

This is poetry put to music. You really need to listen to this one...I'm not a big lyric guy but this is special.

[@heatherwalker9776]

As a Canadian........THANK YOU

[@THEDavidHeretic]

FEELIN' YOU Heather!!!

[@greggary7217]

A track from “The Hip” is almost always a solid musical backdrop for Gord Downie’s masterful lyrical storytelling. Always musically solid, the lyrics make the band more than the sum of their parts. But then, I’m Canadian and therefore biased :-)

[@Onlytheclouds]

As a father of two young boys I appreciate you reacting to this song. There’s no other reactions on this track which is a damn shame.

[@ThisTrainIsLost]

I love the emotiveness of your reaction; it nears my own. But it is one thing to become one with the chord structure, another to absorb the lyrics. Although there’s much to talk about, I’ll only say that Fiddler’s Green is the afterlife of those who die at sea. The boy? That’s for you.

[@Camothor10]

one of my countrys proudest acvhievements

[@liddletoes]

A song about his nephew, also his Godchild.

[@Newphinland]

Great performance

[@shawnb8167]

Happy Canada Day !!🇨🇦✌️

[@TheCrazyeyelol]

listen to the lyrics it is about his nephew who passed away

[@shlomorothstein9691]

Its open E tuning. And the chords are E, A, and B

[@EnerGeezerSquirrel]

The reason more drummers don't do "that sort of thing" is that most drummers AREN'T Canadian. [ R.I.P. N. Peart ]

[@Mikekeough008]

The song is played in open e tuning..that's how he was doing the barr harmonic

[@hardcorechristopher9174]

Sad but great song

[@sweetswing1]

They never overplay (great observation) and yes this song is very country.

[@hobonickel840]

Thanks awesome reaction vid ..it was open E and song is a true story about a mother who lost her newborn boy

[@liddletoes]

Do you listen to lyrics or just the music?

[@THEDavidHeretic]

I'm not really a lyrics guy. I have no experience with lyrics. So I play to my strengths and I stick with just the music.

[@gord7025]

@@THEDavidHeretic the lyrics are everything with this band.

[@HMan2828]

@@gord7025 Gord was a Poet first, musician second...

[@suffersystemstudios]

Yeah, I was getting really annoyed by it. This one and many others are a whole package and when you ignore the lyrics and just go with the music itself you lose much of the impact, feeling and core of what the song is. I mean he goes with his strengths so allt he power to him, just loses too much in the review when you ignore a major part of the song.

[@maureenwagg5305]

The Hip are Canadian rock/country/blues. Canadian country songs don't sound the same as American country. It's more folky.

[@j.kearney8058]

I like your reviews, however sometime the song is more than the music, it's the lyric and the meaning of the song. Keep up the good reviews.

[@peppymohawk8646]

Looks like you are becoming a fan, Dave.

[@THEDavidHeretic]

Little by little, yeah I think so

[@tukkerintensity5575]

It's open E (EBEG#BE).

[@bhenderson2725]

Practice means perfection, The Hip probably did this song thousands of times.

[@michaelclarke4009]

its not a southern drawl lol. its canadian lol. you keep accusing him of that.

[@rca6576]

Who cares. I'm from the south. My spouse is from Kingston. We knew these guys in the 80s when they started out here in Kingston. They loved the blues and southern music. I'm good with that.

[@dereksanderson3305]

Open D tuneing.!

[@Zappa943]

Tragically he hasn't a clue about "The Hip". 😉

[@bufflovechest]

open E tuning

[@guitargeek4208]

It’s tuned too open E, EBEG#BE

[@bkpump]

Open E

[@lianefehrle9921]

It isn’t southern. It sounds more Irish country

[@McRick2000]

I guess genius poetry is just not your thing. Shakespeare and metaphors, heaven aka Fiddler's Green.

[@donapaterson832]

Fiddler's Green Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Fiddler's_Green Fiddler's Green is the title of a 1950 novel by Ernest K. Gann, about a fugitive criminal who works as a seaman after stowing away. ‎In literature · ‎In music · ‎In the United States military