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The Tragically Hip Top Forty Countdown: Song 25 — Ron from Red DeerHey, it’s jD — and this week, I got to hang out with a legend. You probably know Ron MacLean from Hockey Night in Canada, Coach’s Corner, and Olympic coverage. But here’s what you might not know: the guy is a dyed-in-the-leather Hip fan, and holy hell, he’s got the receipts.From watching The Luxury spin at 3AM in a Buffalo bar with Sabres players, to busting out karaoke versions of Boots or Hearts using just stomps and handclaps, Ron brings the goods. This is an episode that hops the fence between pop culture and personal resonance — exactly where The Hip have always lived.We also talk about:Gord as a performer and poetic forceDay for Night as a Rosetta Stone for fansThe time Ron introduced the band from Rio during the final Kingston concert — and the weight of trying to honour a man who defined lyrical depth.And yes, we get into “The Wherewithal.” In detail. Because that line about the guy who’s not on TV anymore? Yeah. It hits differently when it’s Ron saying it.🎙️ Next week: We’re headed to Winnipeg for a conversation with Colin, a die-hard Hiphead who once blew his flyer-route money on Day for Night and never looked back.💬 Pull Quote“Only Gord could compare a lovesick heart to a worn-in pair of cowboy boots — and make it feel universal.”👤 About Our GuestRon MacLean is a broadcaster, host, and storyteller with deep Canadian roots and even deeper Hip cuts. He’s introduced royalty and rockstars, but this episode? This one’s just about the band that’s been soundtracking the lives of people coast-to-coast.🧾 Support the ShowDig the countdown? Wanna help keep the tapes spinning?buymeacoffee.com/tthtop40 — every dollar supports the pod and raises funds for ALS Canada.📬 Get Involved🎙️ Leave a voicemail: castfeedback.com/tthtop40📧 Send yer Hipstory: tthtop40@gmail.com📡 Follow + StreamSpotify | Apple | YouTube | dewvre.com/tthtop40Instagram: @tthtop40Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/tthtop40Transcript follows below.The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown2025-05-24, 9:00 AMThe Tragically Hip Top 40 CountdownJoin jD beginning Monday, January 6th, 2025 while he counts down the top 40 songs by TheTragically Hip as voted by you! Every week on The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown, jDwelcomes a new guest to discuss their TTH origin story (hipstory) and dissect,Artist: jDYear: 2025Transcript[0:00] On Friday, May 26th, Podlist 6 is coming to you from the Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown.Hey, it's JD here, and I am fucking pumped to be filling you in on the latest Podlist. What is aPodlist, you ask? It's a podcast playlist. In this case, it's a playlist full of Tragically Hip cover songsby our talented listeners. Here's the deal this year. You can only choose a song that ranked from169 to 41. To be included in Podlist 6, you'll need to submit your WAV files either by WeTransfer orby emailing JD at tthtop40 at gmail.com with Podlist in the subject line. Are you ready to shoot yourshot and become podcast famous? What are you waiting for then?[0:58] A member of the DATC Media family. Previously on the Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown.Alan from Federal Way, what are your initial thoughts about this particular song, My Music at Work?Man, it's a great song. It really is. It's got a good beat and you can dance to it, so I gave it a 93. Iagree. It's just a really good song. It's like a lot of Gord's stuff, it's hard to understand what he'stalking about. Sure. I found out later that it's referring to an ad that a Canadian station had forpromoting their station.[1:40] Hey, it's JD here, and welcome to the Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown. It is my pleasure tobe with you week over week counting down the 40 essential songs by the hip that you selected withyour very own top 20 ballads. I then tabulated the results using an abacus and an abacus fordummies book because if you give someone an abacus, you will get results for a day. But if youteach someone to use an abacus, you'll be tabulating results for a lifetime.[2:12] How will your favorite song fare in the rankings? You'll need to tune in every week to find out.So there's that. This week I'm joined by tragically hip super fan. It's Ron fricking McLean. How thefile:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20616.htmlPage 1 of 11The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown2025-05-24, 9:00 AMheck are you doing on this hip-tastic day, Ron? I am doing great, JD. It's fantastic to be a part of itfor sure. And what is hip? It's you. Oh, thank you very much.[2:38] You as well. This is a great honor to be with, um, an icon in Canadian pop culture and sportsculture. Uh, you know, history and Olympic culture too, now that I think about it. So, um, fantasticthat you're joining me today. Well, it's always lovely to talk about the band, uh, as you and Idiscussed, even before we started, uh, it's incredible, the connection, uh, what it does to, uh, uniteus, but also, uh, just so many friendships and stories, uh, that revolve around the, the telling of thetragically hip. I mean, obviously the documentary and the book, the coffee table book having comeout, uh, just extends our, our, our fascination with, uh, I I'm, I'm sure you are too blown away byhow well they chronicled, uh, their amazing story, the video, the, the notes, the hockey poolselection charts, everything is available. And, uh, thank heavens. It's so, yeah, it's so very cool. Ihave yet to really dig into the book. Like I've flipped through looking at pictures, but my intention isto read it like cover to cover. And, uh, I just cannot wait. I, the documentary was.[3:46] Just fantastic. The thing that really strikes me about them is obviously they touched on it inthe doc and again in the book that Gord Downey said, it's easier for me to sing my own lyrics. Andthat's, you know, so true. I think when we trust a singer, whether it's Neil Young or Frank Sinatra orBob Dylan, it's kind of because we, you know, we connect with their truth and he needed to havethat. And what really hit me about the doc and the book is that the other four who all were brilliantcontributors, uh, musically, uh, to the success of the band, but they're all great writers. Every one ofthem is a wordsmith. So that's a, it must've been incredible to sit around, uh, the five of them inhotel suites and in back rooms and just listen to the conversations because, uh, you've got, uh, fiveauthors formed. Oh, that's great. Yeah.[4:35] Well, let's get right into your hipstery, Ron, I'm very curious how you came about becoming afan. You know, the moment I think about that really made me truly a fan, I knew their music a littlebit, but by 1993, I think I was just a casual lover of the Tragically Hip. I loved up to here. I loved theinitial LP that they had put out, but I didn't really know them like I did after this one moment and itwas a kumbaya festival it was called it was held at then ontario place the budweiser stage andrewcash has a song called hey maria and he invited gord downey to come up and sing the song withhim and gord had to have uh the lyrics of course on a piece of paper which is interesting becausethe final time we saw them on tour he was using the teleprompter and having to read the song buthe was himself you know he was uh all over the stage uh he was sweating bullets within 10seconds, fully, fully committed to, uh, Andrew Cash's Hey Maria. And it was, uh, I just looked at theman and I thought, oh my God, you're a good heart. Uh, you, you're so, uh.file:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20616.htmlPage 2 of 11The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown2025-05-24, 9:00 AM[5:42] So dedicated to Andrew's, you know, art that I fell in love with Down here then. And thatbecame my moment to start a, you know, relationship that you have. And so many of us have tryingto see them as often as possible and recalling where you're here for the first time, every newrelease. Right. I heard Little Bones.[6:01] I was in St. John, New Brunswick. It was pouring out of a Mustang at a red light. I heardPhantom Power for the first time in a hotel in Halifax, Nova Scotia by The Citadel. I heard Troubleat the Hen House for the first time on the 403 between Ancaster and Brantford. That's the kind ofthing that happens to you when you love a band the way we do. Oh, absolutely. And the cool thingabout that drive from Hamilton to Brantford is you pass Fiddler's Green Boulevard or Fiddler'sGreen Road. I forget which it is exactly, but. You might know I don't, but I feel like they played buttswiggling first. I think that was a world premiere. By then the hip were a deal, right? As MordecaiRichler used to say, world famous in Canada. But they played, if I'm not mistaken, Butts Wigglingand then Fireworks, but I'd have to go back and see that release. What is your go-to album at thispoint? Do you have one? Well, I will say, I've always said my favorite song is The Wherewithal, soFully Completely is hard to top. It is. My wife is a fan of that song itself, Fully Completely. Me too.And I'm a big fan of The Wherewithal. I saw Johnny Fay do a drum solo. You know, one of the guysthat I didn't know a whole lot about, Dave Koster, you know, the drum technician who became atechnician for guitars and really a key roadie for the Tragically Hip. And he goes by the nicknameBilly Ray because there were two Daves that were directors of the tour.[7:20] So his insights into the band are amazing. But Johnny's drum solo to the wherewithal, I hadoriginally liked the song because of the lyric, I always loved that guy. He's not on TV anymore. Toget out before, he had the wherewithal.[7:35] Which is how I introduced them for the final show in Kingston. I was in Rio de Janeiro at theOlympics, and I actually screwed it up, JD. I said he had the wherewithal to get out before. I mightas well have said it was the night Christmas before. I got those words in the wrong order because Iwas under a count, and I'm excusing my mistake. It was just a mistake. Sure. But I was, you know,miles away and it was the weirdest thing I almost have ever done. I was overlooking CopacabanaBeach and all the Olympic athletes are looking at me wondering what am I talking about? And I'mactually introducing that show at Kingston at Market Square where there's viewing parties all acrossCanada. But I quoted the wherewithal because I love the line of the guy not being on TV anymore.In other words, not so stuck on himself or so attached or clinging to fame or the possibleremuneration. I just love that. But then I saw a Faye drum at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto and itwas unbelievable. So that's my favorite song and I would say by extension my favorite album.file:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20616.htmlPage 3 of 11The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown2025-05-24, 9:00 AMYeah, that's a good one. You can't go wrong with it for sure. Because I love, I honestly lovePhantom Power. You know, it was neat when Gord came out of his cancer and he was in a comaand came out of his coma. And then the first song he sang was Vapor Trails, which is a song I trulylove off Phantom Power.[8:57] Again, Road Apples. It's just amazing. I was in a little bar, places I remember, you know,hearing songs by the band. And so we're in Mothers in Buffalo. I have gone down to Buffalo to theSabres game to do a little work on the intermission big screen. I was hosting guests, TeterKennedy, Doug Favell, and so on. I did it four times a year. And then after the games, we wouldusually end up at Mothers Bar and Grill was the favorite haunt of the Buffalo Sabres. DarylShannon was a member of the Sabres, a defenseman. And finally, we get a hold of the jukebox atabout three in the morning.[9:30] Everybody's cleared out. The doors are locked and it's just a few of the Buffalo Sabres andmyself. And Daryl gets over to the jukebox and he plays the luxury by the tragic off-road apples.And that got me hooked on that song. So yeah, we could go two days, I'm sure. What's great isyour explanation of the wherewithal. I don't know of many rock and roll bands that you can spendthat kind of time pondering on. you know, lyrical depth. Well, that's the thing about the hip, right?Gord and his lyrics are, you know, a lot of specifics over generalities, over loopholes. He, you know,as an example, nautical disaster. Now, he rounds numbers all the time. He will say 4,000 men diedin the water here and 500 more. So he's not saying 398 or 4,004.[10:23] In fact, I don't know, you may know this is, again, sort of an urban legend, but in theMillhaven tribute, 38 years old, Uh, he says 12 men broke out. Supposedly it's 14 men break out.Oh, really? 14 is two syllables, 12 one. Maybe it was just a case of cadence. He had to sort of alterthe number in order, you know, for the sake of the song. But, but he's big on, he's big on thesestories. That, that whole story is still true and, uh, nothing, you know, is as true as the truth. Sowhen somebody starts telling you something that you can relate to because it's true, you know it'sfactual, that trust already is starting to build between you and whoever is speaking or in this casesinging.[11:08] Absolutely. So I got to go back to Rio with you. So did you watch the final show from Riothen? Yes. And it was, it was so, it was a late night for us. So I had worked the morning show andnow I introduce the band that must've been 11 at night or I don't know what it was. We were on thesame time zone. So a little early. Oh, okay. So it was nine, I think. Nine. Okay. So we finished at 11is what I guess I remember. And then, and then, you know, I had to drive two hours back to where Iwas staying in the Rio de Janeiro area. And I was back on the air three hours later. And I wasfile:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20616.htmlPage 4 of 11The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown2025-05-24, 9:00 AMhosting the men's marathon was taking place in Brazil. And I'm fatigued from having experiencedthat incredible thing the day before. So I have two names I have to, I'm almost like Gord when hewas saying before he went onto the stage for the final show at Market Square, he said, I just got toremember two words, First Nations. Well, I'm kind of in the same boat the next day doing theOlympic telecast, all I have to remember is John Walker and Mike Connolly. John Walker and MikeConnolly, how tough can that be? But I was so sleep deprived that I might as well have beenhammered because I could not remember those two names. Every time I went to throw back to themarathon, I had to kind of look at my notes or scramble around. It was awful, but nobody cared.And I mean, it was the marathon is like David Byrne of the Talking Heads used to say, I like a goodstory and I like to stare at the sea. Do I have to choose?[12:35] If you were watching me, you were basically staring at the sea because I didn't have a storyin me. But back to that day, I had prepared a little bit. I think I had a minute, maybe 45 seconds tointroduce the band. Insight Productions were a huge part of that undertaking. So they had arrangedfor me to throw to the band hitting the stage. What an honor. Yeah, crazy honor. And, uh, and I, Iwanted to acknowledge all five members of the band. I didn't want it to be just about Gord. Uh, andI certainly based it on, uh, Bonfires of the Vanity. The whole idea for me of that song, you know, notbeing stuck on yourself on television, uh, represents kind of their ethos of, uh, of a very humble,um, of a career of service. And I wanted to acknowledge that, you know, uh.[13:26] Samuel Johnson, who was a Shakespeare critic, a writer in his own right,…
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