The Last Of The Unplucked Gems - Lyrics

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Last played: 2012/12/15 Las Vegas, NV
Debut: 1991/07/30 Winnipeg, MB
Album: Road Apples (1991)

Notes: A fan favourite that usually has a nice long intro jam. I always thought it would make a great set opener. The version from 1995/02/02 Halifax, NS is one of my favs. This show was released by The Hip as 'Live From the Vault, Vol. 1' and this particular version includes 'Blonde Solid'.

Violins and tambourines
This is what I think they mean
It's hard to say, it's sad but true
I'm kinda dumb and so are you

When the mystique varies thus
You can send a man to bury us
It's hard to say, it's sad but true
I'm kinda dumb and so are you

The last of the unplucked gems
The last of the unplucked gems
The last of the unplucked gems


Previous song: Fiddler's Green




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Fiddler's Green - Lyrics

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Last played: 2013/02/11 Sudbury, ON
Debut: 2006/10/28 Calgary, AB
Album: Road Apples (1991)

Notes: Album released in 1991. Live debut in 2006 - 15 years later? I have no physical proof, but I am disputing that debut date. Richardson Stadium - Kingston, ON 1993/09/03. I swear they played it. I remember the "September Seventeen" lyric. It stands out because I was a relative 'noob' back then and I asked my much more informed buddy the name of the song. There is a real lack of info regarding this concert. It was with Andrew Cash & The Headstones. I'm like 90% on this. Seriously.

September Seventeen
For a girl I know, it's Mother's Day
Her son has gone alee
And that's where he will stay
Wind on the weather vane
Tearing blue eyes sailor-mean
As Falstaff sings a sorrowful refrain
For a boy in Fiddler's Green

His tiny knotted heart
Well I guess it never worked to good
The timber tore apart
And the water gorged the wood
You can hear her whispered prayer
For men at masts that always lean
That the same wind that moves her hair
Moves her boy through Fiddler's Green

Oh, nothing's changed anyway
Oh, nothing's changed anyway
Oh, anytime today

He doesn't know a soul
And there's nowhere that he's really been
But he won't travel long alone
No, not in Fiddler's Green
Balloons all filled with rain
As children's eyes turn sleepy-mean
And Falstaff sings a sorrowful refrain
For a boy in Fiddler's Green


Next song: The Last Of The Unplucked Gems
Previous song: On The Verge




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On the Verge - Lyrics

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Last played: 2012/11/17 Salamalaca, NY
Debut: 1990/04/06 Halifax, NS
Album: Road Apples (1991)

Notes: Underplayed these days being that it's a total rocker. This song can be played in place of any 'hit' song The Hip play in any part of any setlist in any era. Of course, that's just my opinion... Played just 4 times since 2007.

Here we are, now where are we?
It's like nothing I've ever seen
We got horse-throated huckster's whispered gimmicks
Rubbernecking the curious cynics
And headlong-walkers, one born every minute
Do I plug it in? Or do I stick it in it?

I don't know what came over me
I'm too dumb for words
I didn't think I'd like it here at all
But, I swear, I swear I'm on the verge

Here we are, now who are you?
The long lost Queen's of some Hoodoo?
Well we're the last of the big-time penetrators
Playin' dead to fuck the undertaker
The movie'll come out a little bit later
The Men, The Legend, The Goat, The Saytr

I don't know what came over me
I'm too dumb for words
I didn't say I'd like it here at all
But, I swear, I swear I'm on the verge

Here we are, now don't ask how
The time to leave was kinda now
Well don't cry, baby, there's no cause for grief

Deadheading's never gonna kill the Chief
It's an empty road without relief
And I'm a highway romance milking thief

I don't know what came over me
I'm too dumb for words
I didn't think I'd like it here at all
But, I swear, I swear I'm on the verge


Next song: Fiddler's Green
Previous song: Fight




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Fight - Lyrics

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Last played: 1999/08/27 Kingston, ON
Debut: 1990/04/06 Halifax, NS
Album: Road Apples (1991)

Notes: Played just once since 1995. It was at the Limestone Blues Festival and The Hip played 3 songs. NOIS > Fight > Poets. 

We wake up different, rifle through our dreams
Another placid day, ripples at the seams

Do you think I bow out cause I think you're right?
Or cause I don't wanna fight?
So tangle-minded then so becalmed
It's all so subway-grim and then it's gone

Do you think I bow out cause I think you're right?
Or cause I don't wanna fight?
We get so weary, taking fish off hooks
It's not as effortless as it may look

Do you think I bow out cause I think you're right?
Or cause I don't wanna fight?
We lay down seething, smell our pillows burn
And drift off to the place where you'd think we'd learn

Do you think I bow out cause I think you're right?
Or cause I don't wanna fight?
I said, "I give."


Next song: On The Verge
Previous song: Three Pistols




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Three Pistols - Lyrics

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Last played: 2012/11/06 Rochester, NY
Debut: 1988/09/30 Ottawa, ON
Album: Road Apples (1991)
Notes: Probably my favourite song to hear live. Fully Completely & Escape Is At Hand are up there too. They've kinda stopped playing it though... Only played once on the 'Now For Plan A Tour'.


Tom Thomson came paddling past
I'm pretty sure it was him
And he spoke so softly in accordance
To the growing of the dim
He said, "Bring on a brand new renaissance
Cause I think I'm ready
I've been shaking all night long
But my hands are steady."

Three pistols came and three people went, on their way
Three pistols strong and three people spent

Well he found his little, lonely love
His bride of the northern woods
But, she took me to the Opera House
Like he said she would
Then she sighed and she fell from the balcony
Shakespeare's bent to touch
She never had any time for me
Cause I didn't protest enough

Three pistols came and three people went, on their way
Two pistols strong and three people spent

Little girls come on Remembrance Day
Placing flowers on his grave
She waits in the shadows 'til after dark
To sweep them all away

I say, bring on the brand new renaissance
Cause I think I'm ready
I've been shaking all night long
But my hands are steady

Three pistols came and three people went, on their way
Three pistols strong and three people spent
Three pistols came and three people went on their way
One pistol strong and three people spent


Next song: Fight
Previous song: Bring It All Back




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Bring It All Back - Lyrics

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Last played: 1993/05/01 Amhurst, MA
Debut: 1991/03/08 Tucson, AZ
Album: Road Apples (1991)

Notes: According to thehip.com this song has only been played 20 times live. Now I think it's more because The Hip's archives from their earlier days have some noticeable gaps. Regardless, it was dropped from the live rotation before the first Another Roadside Attraction even happened. Bring It All Back begins a 4 song stretch on Road Apples that I think is better than any other 4 song stretch on any Tragically Hip studio album. BIAB > Three Pistols > Fight > On The Verge. Don't believe me? Queue it up and go for a 15 minute drive or so where you can turn it up and enjoy it. Trust me.  

I'd been carving you
To see what form you'd take
You were hiding in ivory
I just wanted to free your shape

Bringing me down, it's too quiet to breath
Who wants to hear their heart beat?

It's gotta be here
In your spider-web alphabets
Did I read it all wrong?
Have I just not gotten it yet?

You got what you want. You wanted release.
Can you be appeased? Can you bring it all back to me?
Bring it all back to me.

Bringing me down, the obvious turns out to be true
All that I couldn't see, how it was turning me on
I don't want to pare you down
No, I don't want to wear you down
I don't want any more than what's there
No, I don't want to pare you down

Well you got what you want. You wanted release.
Can you be appeased? Can you bring it all back to me?
Just bring Just bring it all back to me

It's all that I want
It's all that I need
It's all that I want

Bring it all back to me
Bring it, give it, bring it


Next song: Three Pistols
Previous song: Long Time Running




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Long Time Running - Lyrics

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Last played: 2013/02/14 Toronto, ON
Debut: 1990/06/22 Toronto, ON
Album: Road Apples (1991)

Notes: "I'll drop a caribou" might be my favourite Hip lyric... I think it might be lost on the cell phone generation... In the same way that The Luxury disappeared from the setlists once we hit the new millennium, Long Time Running made its triumphant return after see a live concert gap that stretched from 1991/12/31 until 2000/07/20. I wonder how many people at that Columbus, OH show realized the significance of the moment? Did any of them realize that it truly was 'a long time coming'? 

Does your mother tell you things?
Long, long when I'm gone?
Who you talking to?
Is she telling you I'm the one?
It's a grave mistake and I'm wide awake

Drive-In's rained out
Weatherman wet-fingers the sky
He pokes it out, he pulls it in
He don't know why
It's the same mistake

It's been a long time running
It's been a long time coming
It's well worth the wait

We don't go anywhere,
Just on trips
We haven't seen a thing
We still don't know where it is
It's a safe mistake

It's been a long time running
It's been a long time coming

Well, well it's all the same mistake
Dead to rights and wide awake
I'll drop a caribou, I'll tell on you,
I'll tell on you, I'll tell on you.

You've got a boat-load o'nerve
But I would say you've been told
You work me against my friends
And you'll get left out in the cold
It's the same mistake

It's been a long time running
It's been a long time coming
It's been a long, long, long time running
It's well worth the wait


Next song: Bring It All Back
Previous song: Born In The Water




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Born In The Water - Lyrics

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Last played: 1990/04/11 Montreal, QC
Debut: 1990/04/11 Montreal, QC
Album: Road Apples (1991)
Notes: Once? Really? Well, too bad in a way. This is an instance to The Hip educating its fans. Check out The Hip Museum to read about the song's meaning... Once? WTF?...


Rolling hills all covered in suede
I'm heat-nervous and out of road
Downtown, there's a parade
But I don't think I wanna go
Smart as trees in Sault Ste. Marie
I can speak my mother tongue
Passing laws, just because
And singing songs of the English unsung

How could you do it?
How could you even try?
When you were born in the water
And you were raised up in the sky?

Front seat stamped by the window
No erasees in this game
Arbitrary as the wind blows
It's another way to lay claim
Ain't no cause for blood-thirsting
In a little town so dry
Where the angels dance on a pinhead
Just to make room for you and I

How could you do it?
How could you even try?
When you were born in the water
And you were raised up in the sky

Thoroughbred with their great big heads
Think a mile might be too far
Highway horse laugh, but of course
When they don't know where the hell they are
Smart as trees in Sault Ste. Maire
Victorious mother tongue
Passing laws just because
Singing songs of the English unsung

Well how could you do it?
How could you even try
When you were born in the water
And you were raised up in the sky


Next song: Long Time Running
Previous song: The Luxury




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The Luxury - Lyrics

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Last played: 2000/12/20 Buffalo, NY
Debut: 1991/05/03 Hollywood, CA
Album: Road Apples (1991)

Notes: Sometimes I feel like the younger generation who only know the current version of The Hip that plays In View every night are getting slighted by not getting a chance to hear this one in person. 

Zoo Lion sobers up and starts to scream and shout
A little dose of home-fire got him all smoothed out
Melancholy wine-soaked tenderness
She hated it here and she couldn't care less

Prisonyard stares and fleur-de-lis tattoos
Cannibals are saving all their bones for soup
Eating with my fingers and sucking hulls of ships
My parasite don't deserve no better than this

The Golden Rim Motor Inn
Soft water and colour TV
So consumed with the shape I'm in
Can't enjoy the luxury

She says,"Why are you partial to that Playboy con?
When you can see me naked anytime you want?"
If I had loads o' mondy to make me tame and sour
I could pay you to remind of my baby by the hour

Zoo Lion sobers up and starts to scream and shout
A little dose of home-fire got him all smoothed out
If this is where it all starts getting good
Then I'll be here waiting for you, like I said I would

The Golden Rim Motor Inn
Soft water and a colour TV
So consumed with the shape I'm in
Can't enjoy the luxury
The Luxury


Next song: Born In The Water
Previous song: Cordelia




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Cordelia - Lyrics

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Last played: 2007/07/05 Bala, ON
Debut: 1990/06/22 Toronto, ON
Album: Road Apples (1991)

Notes: A HUGE fan favourite that the band has seen fit to only play once live at a proper concert since 1999 despite trotting out NOIS night after night after night... I would rank Highway Girl & Thirty-Eight Years Old above Cordelia in the category of Most Ignored Song Request.

Angst on the planks, spittin' from a bridge
Just to see how far down it really is
Robbing a bank, jumping from a train
Old antiques a man alone can entertain

It takes all your power
To prove that you don't care
I'm not Cordelia, I will not be there

Tin can man, dragging from a car
Just to see how alive you really are
Marrying words, falling in your wake
Just to tell what you can't eliminate

Treading the boards, screaming out Macbeth
Just to see how much bad luck you really get
Jump in the ring with your hidden cape
The bull can't decide what it is that he really hate

Angst on the planks, spittin' from a bridge
Just to see how far down it really is
Robbing a bank, jumping from a train
Old antiques a man alone can entertain

Thief lingers on, on his hands and knees
Must be one more thing here, I really need
Die in your dreams, falling on your knife
A thief blinded on the job, has to steal for life

HipTour Design's 'Cordelia' T-Shirt HERE>

Next song: The Luxury
Previous song: Twist My Arm




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Twist My Arm - Lyrics

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Last played: 2013/02/12 Sault Ste. Marie, ON
Debut: 1990/11/13 Rotterdam, NL
Album: Road Apples (1991)
Notes: Played frequently on every tour since its debut up until the 'Now For Plan A Tour' where it was only played 4 times and only in Canada.


Thar she blows, Jacques Cousteau
Hear her sing so sweet and low
Lull me overboard, out-cold
Gathered in and and swallowed whole

Do I want to? With all that charm?
Do I want to? Twist my arm

You just hit me where I live
I guess it looked quite primitive
What was that supposed to prove?
Throw the calf or he'll throw you

Do I want to? With all that charm?
Do I want to? Twist my arm

Sucked in by the victim world
Thirsty as a cultured pearl
Culled and wooed, bitten, chewed
It won't hurt if you don't move

Do I want to? With all that charm?
Do I want to? Twist my arm

Musical chairs, double dares, memorized stairs,
Shootin' off flares, springtime hares and
broken-down mares

Cowered phones, big soup stones, pride-less loans,
Grill-sick crows, motel moans and a big fat Jones

Martyrs don't do much for me
Though I enjoy them vicariously
After you. No! After me
No, I insist! Please, after me.

Do I want to? With all that charm?
Do I want to? Twist my arm


Next song: Cordelia
Previous song: Little Bones




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Little Bones - Lyrics

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Last played: 2013/02/14 Toronto, ON
Debut: 1990/11/13 Rotterdam, NL
Album: Road Apples (1991)

Notes: I like to refer to this song as The Hip's anthem. If someone had never heard the band this is the song I would use to define them. Their essence. Played live to the point of saturation though.

It gets so sticky down here
Better butter your cue-finger up
It's the start of another new year
Better call the newspaper up
2.50 for a hi-ball,
And buck and a half for a beer
Happy hour, happy hour
Happy hour is here

The long days of Shockley are gone
So is football Kennedy style
Famous last words taken all wrong
Wind up on the very same pile
2.50 for a decade
And a buck and a half for a year
Happy hour, happy hour
Happy hour is here

I can cry, beg and whine
T'every Rebel I find
Just to give me a line
I could use to describe

They'd say, "Baby eat this chicken slow
It's full of all them little bones."
"Baby eat this chicken slow
It's full of all them little bones."

So regal and decadent here
Coffin cheaters dance on their graves
Music, all it's delicate fear
Is the only thing that don't change
2.50 for an eyeball
And a buck and a half for an ear
Happy hour, happy hour
Happy hour is here

Well nothing's dead down here, just a little tired
Nothing is dead down here, it's just a little tired
Oh nothing's dead down here, it's just a little tired
Nothing is dead down here, it's just a little tired
Oooh, "Baby eat this chicken slow
It's full of all them little bones."
"Baby eat this chicken slow
It's full of all them little bones."


Next song: Twist My Arm

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The original content and digital art is provided by Tragically Hip Tour.  All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only. All lyrics and album art are reproduced here for reference and educational purposes only and they belong to the originally credited artist and label.

Road Apples - Lyrics

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Welcome to to lyrics post page for The Tragically Hip's Road Apples album.  The links below contain the individual song lyrics as well as the Digital Lyric Art I've created. 

Released: February 19, 1991
Recorded: September 1990 @ Barris Studios - New Orleans, LA
Label: MCA, Sire (USA)
Producer: Don Smith
Length: 49:08
Certification: 8x Platinum in Canada

Track Listing:
Little Bones
Twist My Arm
Cordelia
The Luxury
Born In The Water
Long Time Running
Bring It All Back
Three Pistols
Fight
On The Verge
Fiddler's Green
The Last Of The Unplucked Gems

© The Tragically Hip

Next album: Fully Completely
Previous album: Up To Here