Looking for a Place to Happen with the Tragically Hip

The Place was Dodge City, Kansas; and the Happening was in June of 1972. 

Karen and I, driving in our orange Volkswagon bug, at the 100th meridian.

Driving for hours. Incredible thunder and lightening in Kansas.  Nervous.  Country kitchen breakfasts. Delightful lovemaking in small town motel rooms.  Smiling Americans.  Being young.  Wheat and Big Spaces!!! 

Karen and I have never been to Winnipeg in Canada like the Hip band, but we've been across parts of the Great Plains and the Great Basin and Mojave deserts many times.

“At the hundredth meridian,” by the Tragically Hip band, 1992.

“Me debunk an American myth?
And take my life in my hands?
Where the great plains begin,
At the hundredth meridian
At the hundredth meridian,
Where the great plains begin.

Driving down a corduroy road,
Weeds standing shoulder high
Ferris wheel is rusting off in the distance
At the hundredth meridian
At the hundredth meridian
At the hundredth meridian
Where the great plains begin.

Left alone to get gigantic
Hard, huge and haunted
A generation so much dumber than it's parents came
Crashing through the window
A raven strains along the line of the road,
Carrying a muddy, old skull
The wires whistle their approval,
Off down the distance
At the hundredth meridian
At the hundredth meridian
At the hundredth meridian
Where the great plains begin
At the hundredth meridian.
At the hundredth meridian
Where the great plains begin

I remember, I remember Buffalo
And I remember Angelo
It would seem to me I remember every
Single fucking thing I know.

If I die of vanity, promise me, promise me,
They bury me some place I don't want to be,
You'll dig me up and transport me, unceremoniously,
Away from the swollen city-breeze, garbage bag trees,
Whispers of disease and the acts of enormity
And lower me slowly, sadly and properly
Get Ry Cooder to sing my eulogy,
At the hundredth meridian
At the hundredth meridian
At the hundredth meridian
Where the great plains begin.”

At the Hundredth Meridaian, the Tragically Hip band. Writers: Gord Downie, Robert Baker, Paul Langlois, Johnny Fay, Gordon Sinclair. 1992. 

"I've got a job, I explore, I follow every little whiff

And I want my life to smell like this
To find a place, ancient race, the kind you'd like to gamble with
Where they'd stamp on burning bags of shit

Lookin' for a place to happen, makin' stops along the way

Wayward, away we go, it's a shame to leave this masterpiece
With it's gallery gods and it's garbage-bag trees
So I'll paint a scene from memory, so I'd know who murdered me
It's a vain pursuit but it helps me sleep

Lookin' for a place to happen, makin' stops along the way
Lookin' for a place to happen, makin' stops along the way
Lookin' for a place to happen, makin' stops along the way

Jacques Cartier, right this way, I'll put your coat up on the bed
Hey man, you've got a real bum's eye for clothes
And come on in, sit right down, no you're not the first to show
We've all been here since, God, who knows

Lookin' for a place to happen, makin' stops along the way
Lookin' for a place to happen, makin' stops along the way

Jacques Cartier, right this way, I'll put your coat up on the bed
You've got a real bum's eye for clothes
Come on in, sit right down
We've all been here since, God, who knows."

Looking for a Place to Happen, by the Tragically Hip band. Writers: Gord Downie, Robert Baker, Paul Langlois, Johnny Fay, Gordon Sinclair, 1993

"Long Time Running is a Canadian documentary film, which premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. Directed by Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier, the film profiles the Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip during their final tour in 2016, the Man Machine Poem Tour." The lead singer, Gord Downie, passed away from brain cancer at age 53 in October of 2017.


The two songs shared above by the Tragically Hip band where from the compilation album Fully Completely released in 2014.