Song du Jour: "Long Time Running" by The Tragically Hip

After the Olympics this past winter, I vanished down YouTube's click hole watching figure skating videos.  I re-watched Tonya Harding land her first triple axle at Albertville, learned about the mechanics of axles and why they're so difficult, fell in love with Johnny Weir (again....seriously, I know he's probably not straight but he's still a hot goth), and reminisced about seeing Nancy Kerrigan when I was 10. However, this trip with the Ghost of Figure Skating Past all started with Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir - who are totally NOT dating - and the ice dance that won them the gold. Well, I actually couldn't find their performance at the actual Olympics, but I did watch the racier version that they performed at the semi-finals. True to form, I was reminded how much I love the music (and everything else) in "Moulin Rouge." I followed the rabbit to their other performances and thus re-discovered today's song du jour....a bittersweet tune by the Canadian rock band, The Tragically Hip (which fits because I myself am tragically hip).

Gord Downie, the lead singer of The Hip, died last year of brain cancer. Tessa and Scott paid tribute to Downie during their gala program for the Olympics with an ice dance set to "Long Time Running." Now, I've read the lyrics about a hundred times and I couldn't tell you what they're supposed to mean. I'm bad at that...but I can tell you what I think it's about. The music sounds sad and wistful and faintly resentful at times. I'm pretty sure he's singing to a girl who has been kind of dragging him along for some years. Whatever. It's beautiful. And just to prove how Canadian they are, they referenced dropping a caribou, which I can only imagine means he shot one. That could be a metaphor, though. Maybe the girl is the caribou - a great majestic creature that is difficult to...? Hunt? Capture? Sure. Let's go with that.

I just asked Dr. Google...."dropping a caribou" is a reference to feeding Canadian quarters in a pay phone. I told you I was bad at this. With that understanding.......I got nothin'. It's a good song when you're feeling pensive, though, and it has become one of my new favorites. Just for fun (and I feel that everyone needs to understand the awesomeness that is Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir), I'm going to share their figure skating routine since "Long Time Running" doesn't have an official video.