The Tragically Hip - Grace, Too (Live)
somesongsconsidered:
(Words/music: The Tragically Hip, available on Live Between Us, Sire 1998)
Between the first and second verse of “Grace, Too,” lead singer Gordon Downie lays out one of the best improvised non-sequitors I’ve heard placed in a song. “Jesus Christ, a big fucking bear!” He yells, charging his words with the kind of surprise and excitement that one experience when viewing a wild animal from a safe distance. It’s appropriate for a couple reasons. First, this particular version of “Grace, Too” contains three distinct sections of improvisation and/or embellishment on the original song. There’s the opening, courteous nod to the Hip’s opening band (and how many would start their live album by mentioning another band in such complimentary terms?), one is this bear monologue, and the third is the “I was raised on TV / like so many of you I see around me” spontaneous verse over the song’s closing sequence. This sort of improvisation, even if it feels disconnected from the rest of the song, isn’t unprecedented.
More importantly, Downie’s sincerity and intensity during this “bear” line is how he operates. Once he gets going, Downie’s voice creates the bends in an otherwise linear song. His subtle vocal variations, whether sliding slightly closer toward a scream or simply shifting his cadence, also help to highlight the building intensity in the rest of the song. Downie sounds immersed in the song – and perhaps lost in his narrator, while singing – so perhaps these improvisations come from “living” these characters for a few minutes. Perhaps he imagines this song’s protagonist in a situation where he might see a giant bear. Maybe he just thought it was funny. Regardless, it somehow works, and every time I hear it I smile a little bit and make a mental note to delve deeper into the Hip’s catalogue, if only to see what other gems Downie might improvise.More on The Tragically Hip: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm
NIGHTNIGHT by DEDDY
