"Nautical Disaster" is a song by Canadian rock band

The Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip, often referred to simply as the Hip, were a Canadian rock band formed in Kingston, Ontario in 1984, consisting of vocalist Gord Downie, guitarist Paul Langlois, guitarist Rob Baker (known as Bobby Baker until 1994), bassi ...

. It was released in February 1995 as the third single from the band's 1994 album, ''

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''. The song peaked at number 26 on the Canadian ''

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Singles chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include rec ...

. The song was performed by the band on their 1995 appearance on ''

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'', along with their previous single " Grace, Too".

Background

The song is one of several Tragically Hip singles which were first performed as improvised bridge jams during live performances of the band's signature song " New Orleans Is Sinking".Michael Barclay, Ian A.D. Jack and Jason Schneider, '' Have Not Been the Same: The Can-Rock Renaissance 1985-1995''.

ECW Press ECW Press is a Canadian book publisher located in Toronto, Ontario. It was founded by Jack David and Robert Lecker in 1974 as a Canadian literary magazine named ''Essays on Canadian Writing''. They started publishing trade and scholarly books ...

. . However, many of the lyrics had already been written by 1993: as part of the coverage of the 1993 Another Roadside Attraction festival tour,

Gord Downie Gordon Edgar Downie (February 6, 1964 – October 17, 2017) was a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, musician, writer and activist. He was the singer and lyricist for the Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip, which he fronted from its for ...

had agreed to send ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...

'' music writer Peter Howell a postcard from

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...

to detail his thoughts on the first performance — and the postcard that Downie ultimately sent consisted of most of the lyrics to "Nautical Disaster"."Gord Downie’s moving images were made with words"
''

'', October 19, 2017.

Live performance

In the version which appears on the band's 1997 live album ''

Live Between Us ''Live Between Us'' is the first full-length live album by Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip. The album was recorded on November 23, 1996, at Cobo Arena in Detroit, Michigan, during the band's North American tour in support of ''Trouble at ...

'', Downie incorporates a verse from "Bad Time to Be Poor", a song by that concert's opening act Rheostatics, and a verse from Jane Siberry's single "The Temple".

Covers

The song was covered by singer-songwriter Justin Rutledge, both on his 2014 EP ''Spring Is a Girl'' and his 2021 album ''

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''.

Charts

References

1995 singles The Tragically Hip songs Songs about World War II Vehicle wreck ballads Songs about boats Songs about oceans and seas Maritime music Songs inspired by deaths German battleship Bismarck {{1990s-rock-single-stub