The Tragically Hip - Ahead By A Century Lyrics Meaning

They are ahead by a Century . Gordon knew that . JFK knew that too .

This song was written about me and my best friend . Sept 01 1989 , C.N.E Toronto. We could only afford lawn seats , the view was not good . I said " Tony lets climb that tree " ... up we went . Hornets chased us down . We both lit a joint at the bottom of the tree . We didnt inhale , we blew all the smoke up in the tree . When we climbed back up , Gordon was standing on the rail of the revolving stage , going round and round .... singing ... like only he could . It was totally amazing . How he didnt fall ?? The rail is so skinny and he was riding it ,,, giving it as hard as he could for us . We could see clearly now , I saw him and he looked straight at me . He was watching us too .

I feel he has always written . Warning us . Aliens . Blood . The museum . There are hundreds ( maybe exaggerated?? ) of references to .... ??? Nautical Disaster ... that makes a direct reference to a very hard time in the past .

Ahead By A Century , because they paid to find what our for fathers left for us .