Top 10 Best Tragically Hip Songs
Formed in Kingston, Ontario back in 1984, The Tragically Hip didn't just ride the wave of Canadian music. They built the boat, hoisted the sails, and named it something poetic like Nautical Disaster. Fronted by the endlessly compelling Gord Downie, The Hip never chased trends. They crafted stories, unspooled cryptic lyrics about hockey games, small towns, poets, and the ghosts of Canadian history, all wrapped in rock riffs and unapologetic earnestness.
You don't casually stumble into a Tragically Hip obsession. You dive in because one song made you pause. Then another made you think. And suddenly, you're memorizing lyrics about David Milgaard or trying to figure out how Courage connects to a Canadian novelist. Their music didn't scream for attention. It invited you to look closer. Even during their stadium-filling days, they felt like a secret shared among friends. Maybe that's why they remained strangely under the radar outside of Canada. But within the country, they were more than just a band. They were practically a national institution.
This list is your chance to help decide which of their songs deserve top billing. Is it the haunting narrative of Bobcaygeon? The bittersweet nostalgia in Ahead by a Century? The raw howl of Nautical Disaster? Whatever your choice, you're not just picking favorites. You're adding your voice to a shared love letter that spans decades and provinces.
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Bobcaygeon
So hard to decide which is actually my favorite! It sometimes seems to be whichever one I'm listening to at the time. However, when I'm not listening to any of them, and I really think about which one impacts me the most emotionally, I would say it is Bobcaygeon.
The Hip has had so many great hits, but Bobcaygeon showcases Gord's best voice, the song that sets him apart. To be driving late at night and for this to come on the radio, you crank up the volume and enjoy some of the best vocals ever sung, vocals that go deep and touch one's soul.
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Ahead by a Century
This is awesome! This is my favorite Hip song, but I did not think that it was going to be in the top spot. I am very surprised and thrilled.
I can and will never get enough of this song.
By far my favorite Hip tune. As a fan of acoustic rock songs, this is crazy good. To all the fools who said Gord Downie didn't have a voice, listen to the high notes on this masterpiece.
It's so hard to pick one favorite song! I think this one shows the best of all the band with clear, crisp words.
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Courage (For Hugh Maclennan)
I think this is by far their best song. It describes so many of us so well.
I have this tattooed on my left forearm!
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New Orleans is Sinking
Cool song. Very cool riff and lyrics. Oh, and did I mention the song rocks?
So many great memories attached to this one.
I listen to this over and over. Love it.
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Poets
This is what I think rock should be.
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Nautical Disaster
What an amazing track. Just stunning. The lyrics here are incredibly evocative. Apparently, Gord is singing about a ship that had overturned during WWII, I believe. "Fingernails scratching on my hull." Deep, deep magic here.
Best lyrical genius of all time. Historical, creative, poetic, romantic, familiar. It's the complete lyric.
Easily the best Hip song of all time. Utterly Canadian, great lyrics, provoking rock glory.
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Locked In the Trunk of a Car
I adore the menacing riff. It's lyrically brilliant and illustrates the poem-like writing of the Hip.
So many great songs. This one and Courage are my two favorites. Love the Hip.
There are a ton of amazing Hip songs, but this is their best.
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Blow at High Dough
Blow at High Dough is one of their best songs ever made. Actually, I am kind of sad because I think their best song that they ever did was 38 Years Old. Then Boots or Hearts, then Blow at High Dough, then New Orleans is Sinking, then Little Bones, then Three Pistols. These songs are the best they did. They have that classic rock feel, and the newer songs they sang are sappy and not like the albums Up to Here or Road Apples or Fully Completely. Those were their best years.
The song that gets the concert crowd totally rocking out. In the early days, they started with this one. Now it's the encore song. Love it!
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Fiddler's Green
The story behind it, and listening to Gordie sing it in his last show - wow, I don't think I've ever been more affected by a song.
Knowing the story behind the song, this might be the most heartfelt and poignant Hip song ever done. You can feel the emotion in Gord. Pure Hip.
Beautiful piece of music with beautiful lyrics. It moves me to tears every time!
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Little Bones
There are so many great Hip songs. This one just grabs me a little more.
This one has to be in the top 3 to 5. Classic Hip song. Great guitar riffs.
Good party song! I think it should be a bit higher!
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Silver Jet
How is this song not ranked higher?
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Flamenco
Lush song about a bullfighter. Don't be chicken.
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38 Years Old
One of their best songs, if not their best. Why it doesn't even crack the top ten is beyond me. "Heard a tap on the window, in the middle of the night. Held back the curtain for my older brother Mike..." Classic Hip.
Deep lyrics, great slide guitar, nice track all around. This was the album that made Canada realize that they had a real find in the Hip.
Just wonderful, the best "weeping guitar" I have heard. Sad to the core but so artfully done!
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Wheat Kings
Powerful metaphor on societal complacency, even indifference, while years drain away in the lives of the wrongfully convicted. David Milgaard, the inspiration for the song, was but one contemporary example stretching back through Steven Truscott and a host of others. Not standard rock fodder, but a perfect example of the Hip's depth.
My favorite song to listen to when sitting by the lake.
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Fifty-Mission Cap
NOTHING rocks harder than this. Hip in their finest form, complete with Canadian content and all!
Enigmatic, poetic, entrancing rock!
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At the Hundredth Meridian
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Looking for a Place to Happen
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It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken
An outstanding beginning. Mesmerizing, melodic, it takes you deep within the song for a tranquil, settling ride. Definitely one of the Hip's best!
Beautiful song. Great singing by Gordie. Beautiful guitar by Robbie. Needs to be played more live. Hopefully in the 2015 tour!
R.I.P. Gord, thanks for the music and the memories that went with them.
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Grace, Too
Something about the intro to this song gets my juices flowing. Love the steady build of the rhythm.
Just a very powerful opening and then it continues to build throughout. Fantastic piece.
Best opening song of any concert ever! And that's where they play it!
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Three Pistols
Kickin' beat! You can't go wrong cranking this one up on the box.
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The Darkest One
Love, love this song! Downie's signature up-and-down vocals are wonderful.
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Last American Exit
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Fireworks
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Scared
Amazing song. Probably not their best but deserves to be in the top ten. Likely overshadowed by more "popular" songs.
How is this not in the top ten? Such a great song!
This is by far my absolute favorite Hip song.
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Pigeon Camera
A riff that flows over me like no other and transports me like a time machine to an earlier, happy age.
As good a song as the Hip ever did!
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In View
This will become the quintessential Tragically Hip song in the years to come.
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When the Weight Comes Down
This is a classic and wasn't even listed. For shame!
Don't know why they don't play this live. Awesome song!