For Alan Arkin and Madeline Kahn

Last Tuesday The Tragically Hip released their new album Now For Plan A, last weekend, being Thanksgiving, my family, being major Hip fans, discussed the album and quoted lyrics to each other all weekend. OK, I know that at this moment you are probably thinking that you can’t believe that I going to talk about the Hip again, but just trust me.

During one of our first family Hip discussions of the weekend my Dad mentioned that he thought that something had happened to the lead singer, and lyricist, Gord Downie like divorce and the rest of thought that he was wrong. Later, I can’t remember if it was that same day, we watched an interview where Gord Downie talked about how, during writing this album, his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer…Dad was close, something bad had happened. Another day later we were listening to Now For Plan A and Dad stated that he thought that the song We Want to Be It could be about going through chemo, and at first I thought that it couldn’t be that obvious, but the more I listen to it the more I think that he is right.

The lyric that make me, and my Dad, think about chemo is simply the word drip being repeated in between lines. In my mind I imagine that these lyrics are the thoughts that are/were going through his head as he sat with his wife watching the chemo drip into her arm. Even the sound/tone of the music feels like this countering of mellow and urgency that I think fits the lyrics perfectly. I find it interesting to hear the thoughts of the person who is supporting the patient; it is one that is very rarely told.

My favourite part is the chorus which repeats “We don’t want to do it, we want to be it”. This line comes from a story that Alan Arkin told about the first time he worked with Madeline Kahn. Arkin asked Kahn what made her want to be an actor and she told him that she wanted to be the music, Arkin thought about it and realized that she was right; we don’t want to do it, we want to be it. I really think that that phrase is so powerful, not just in terms of this song, but for the way that you should live your life.

The more I listen to and think about We Want to Be It the more amazing I think it is. There are so many emotions expressed in this song and the each listen holds something a bit different from the last. Listen, take in the lyrics, feel the emotion behind the vocals, and enjoy.

 

P.S. I couldn't find the album version on youTube, but this live version is pretty good. If you can get your hands of the studio version you won't be sorry.