Analysis of the Last Recluse by the Tragically Hip
The Last Recluse
Title * sounds almost like a moniker akin to ‘the last starfighter’ or ‘the last dragon’, but in this case, it’s the recluse * reduce, reuse, recluse — live smaller * reckless in his relationships
Interesting Words * “We rode hard for the boat” — this first line could easily call to mind “rowed hard” — like ‘row,row,row your boat’. Is it intended to be childish? Is it going to be a song about young love?
* Awright — Has this recluse been living on an island, out in the woods, or close to the land long enough that he no longer worries about proper pronunciation? Or is he simply a teen
* Immune — to what? love? a broken heart? or to American culture and American consumerism?
* Canoe and Canada Goose — symbols of national identity
* shut up — among the harshest language on the entire album! Usually the Hip will give David Mamet a run for his money when it comes to coarse language; perhaps the Hip are mellowing after 12 albums.
Images * guy and a girl biking to a ferry, guy gets on the ferry and the girl, without waiting to wave goodbye, bikes away with his bike by her side — though I may have the genders reversed
* the girl biking away from the ferry is either cruel, cold and emotionally removed from this breakup, or she is too upset to watch the ferry go — perhaps he said something to upset her?
Literary Devices * lots and lots of wonderful rhyme: cried/ride; who/you/canoe/view/knew; awright/night… * repetition: “Who are you?” * personification: “the ferry whistle cried” * alliteration: “made me”; “when the wind” * assonance: “sign in the night”
Connections * the backup vocals near the end give the song elements of an anthem, though not quite as much as the last track on the album * one gets the feeling that this ferry is not the Chi-Cheemaun, it’s something much smaller where young people would bike to, where a tearful goodbye could be enough to temporarily
Title * sounds almost like a moniker akin to ‘the last starfighter’ or ‘the last dragon’, but in this case, it’s the recluse * reduce, reuse, recluse — live smaller * reckless in his relationships
Interesting Words * “We rode hard for the boat” — this first line could easily call to mind “rowed hard” — like ‘row,row,row your boat’. Is it intended to be childish? Is it going to be a song about young love?
* Awright — Has this recluse been living on an island, out in the woods, or close to the land long enough that he no longer worries about proper pronunciation? Or is he simply a teen
* Immune — to what? love? a broken heart? or to American culture and American consumerism?
* Canoe and Canada Goose — symbols of national identity
* shut up — among the harshest language on the entire album! Usually the Hip will give David Mamet a run for his money when it comes to coarse language; perhaps the Hip are mellowing after 12 albums.
Images * guy and a girl biking to a ferry, guy gets on the ferry and the girl, without waiting to wave goodbye, bikes away with his bike by her side — though I may have the genders reversed
* the girl biking away from the ferry is either cruel, cold and emotionally removed from this breakup, or she is too upset to watch the ferry go — perhaps he said something to upset her?
Literary Devices * lots and lots of wonderful rhyme: cried/ride; who/you/canoe/view/knew; awright/night… * repetition: “Who are you?” * personification: “the ferry whistle cried” * alliteration: “made me”; “when the wind” * assonance: “sign in the night”
Connections * the backup vocals near the end give the song elements of an anthem, though not quite as much as the last track on the album * one gets the feeling that this ferry is not the Chi-Cheemaun, it’s something much smaller where young people would bike to, where a tearful goodbye could be enough to temporarily