The Tragically Hip On Shuffle - Live Stream: Take Forever

November 30th, 2012, Minneapolis, cold enough to hurt. Brian from Buffalo was there for 'Take Forever.' The stream tried to play it three times.

It's track nine of eleven on "Now for Plan A," the Gavin Brown record that came out October 2nd, 2012. By the count on the stream, The Tragically Hip played it live eight times, starting months before the record was out, and it didn't crack the 169 songs ranked for the TTHTop40 Countdown. The poll in the Facebook group was kinder: 76% love it or like it, and one brave soul has never heard it. Jeff from Belleville has a theory about why, and it starts with where the song sits on the record.

Then the tale of the tape turns up a chart fact about "Now for Plan A" in the United States that nobody on the panel believes. It checks out.

So Brian from Buffalo, Jeff from Belleville, and Greg from Tacoma (late, and sentenced to sing it) take apart three minutes about a man trying to be a machine, a plane hurtling through the dark, and a promise to be there for as long as it takes. And Calgary. A lot of Calgary.

WHAT ELSE IS IN HERE

• The icebreaker: a song by The Hip that sounds like fall. Brian bends the rules before he gives in, and Jeff lands on the same song jD played in the car on the way home.
• Brian's personal ranking of every song by The Hip, and why loving 'The Lookahead' costs this one a few spots.
• Calgary as the place to do it. Brian found the story behind the line, and Jeff found the newspaper by way of HipMuseum.
• What Gord told the crowd before 'Take Forever' at Kensington Market and in Minneapolis, pulled from The Tragically Hip Archive, and the Ralph Nader primer that follows.
• Jeff's reach of the night: Stampede Wrestling, the Saddledome, and the year 2001. He admits it's a reach. jD isn't so sure.
• Greg from Tacoma, the land of Boeing, and a guess about where this song was written.
• The news: a fan survey from the band, GEDfest crossing the border, and a musical opening in Kingston.
• Next week the wheel lands on 'Sharks,' from "Music @ Work."

"I feel like it ends stronger than it begins." - Brian from Buffalo

THE PANEL

• Brian from Buffalo. A teacher, which is why fall is not his favourite season. Saw the "World Container" tour at the Phoenix in Toronto in October 2006, then in Boston and Rochester in 2007, and keeps his own ranking of every song.
• Jeff from Belleville. Back after a while away, and on a panel with Brian for the first time. Lives among rows of red pine, which explains his icebreaker, and does the homework every time. Nothing to plug, he says.
• Greg from Tacoma. Showed up late, refused to sing, and still found the line nobody else had touched. Scored every record by The Hip for jD and docked the last two a point.

Big thanks to Brian, Jeff, and Greg, and to a chat that kept the room going while the audio didn't. 'Take Forever' is one of the quieter corners of "Now for Plan A," and an hour with three fans who did the reading is a good way to hear The Tragically Hip and Gord Downie fresh. You won't hear it here. Go put it on.

IT'S A GOOD LIFE - MONDAY, OCTOBER 19 TO FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23

Five episodes, one a day. An oral history of the making of "It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken," the musical built on the music of The Hip, told by the people who made it. Subscribe: home.tthpods.com

GEDFEST TORONTO - SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17

Saturday night at the Horseshoe Tavern, nine years since Gord passed away, Grace, 2 plays for Campfire Circle and the Murphy Fa