Tune Tag #67 with Sonny Rane of "The Gen X Jukebox": Rush, Tragically Hip, Arcade Fire, Cutting Crew, Jennifer Warnes, Leonard Cohen, Kiefer Sutherland

It's Gen X vs. Baby Boomer in this Tune Tag for the ages (old and a little younger)! Can both be tragically hip, or, will one show he's up for the task, and bring the arcade fire?

Meanwhile, at Tune Tag Headquarters, located in Upper Slobbovia, Head Comms Director, Sid, is using our new hi-res monitor to connect with today’s Tune Tag guest: “Sonny…Come in, Sonny……

We’ve made contact! Before we lose our tenuous connection, let’s welcome

Sonny Rane

of The Gen X Jukebox!

Sonny Rane was born in Greece, raised in Canada, and currently lives in the city of Prague. You can usually find him waiting for K. at the corner of Lightness and Unbearable.

He welcomes music lovers of all ages and tastes to join him at The Gen X Jukebox!

Put another dime in The Gen X Jukebox!

Last week, you’ll recall we invited Texan,

Dee Rambeau

’s Of a Sober Mind to Tag Tunes:

Tune Tag #66 with Dee Rambeau "Of a Sober Mind": Bonnie Raitt, Subdudes, Stephen Michael Schwartz, Jackson Browne, Melissa Manchester, Johnny Rivers, Chaka Khan

Next week, tune in to see the tunes we tag with

Andy’s Weird Ohio

!

Sonny’s song #1 sent to Brad: The Tragically Hip, “Blow at High Dough,” 1989

Sonny’s rationale: I am not a good Canadian. I don’t watch hockey, I can’t stand poutine, and Celine Dion can kiss my derrière. But, when Brad suggested I start things off with a track that means a lot to me, I knew right away there was only one song that would do the Tune Tag trick:

“Blow at High Dough” (recorded at Memphis, Tennessee’s storied Ardent Studios in April 1989) was written and recorded by The Tragically Hip – a five-piece outfit from Kingston, Ontario. They released 14 albums throughout their career, 9 of which hit #1 in Canada. They also won 17 Juno Awards (Canada’s version of the Grammys), and currently rank  as the fourth best-selling Canadian artist in the country.

It’s an impressive feat, really. Especially given the band is no longer. They disbanded following the death of lead singer and lyricist Gord Downie, who we lost to brain cancer at the age of 53 on October 17, 2017.

Here’s what Simon Vozick-Levinson of The New York Times wrote after Gordie passed:

The place of honor that Mr. Downie occupies in Canada’s national imagination has no parallel in the United States. Imagine Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Michael Stipe combined into one sensitive, oblique poet-philosopher, and you’re getting close.

That might sound a tad on the hyperbolic side, but Vozick-Levinson’s words ring true. Gord Downie was, is, and forever shall be, a God in Canada, eh.

It’s impossible to explain how Downie’s cryptic lyrics or the band’s driving rhythms managed to capture the elusive Canadian identity; how driving with The Hip blasting in your car, down dark city streets or across the endless prairies, feels as right, as honest and as true, as listening to Muddy Waters or John Lee Hooker while cruising down Highway 61.

“Blow at High Dough” was the first song I ever heard by The Hip. I was 17 at the time, and I remember being mesmerized by Downie’s voice, by the snaky and snarling slide guitar, by the way the song builds and releases with a bang. It’s a simple song, sure, but I was a simple Canuck. And while I had no idea what Gordie was talking about, I knew he was talking to me.

“Blow at High Dough” is a straight-up rocker, and a facile example of what The Hip went on to accomplish both musically and lyrically. But, it was my gateway drug into a band and a lyricist who went on to influence the way I thought about music and writing and life in general.

I certainly don’t expect the song or the band to hit you in the same illuminating way it did me all those moons ago. Though I do hope you’ll stop for four-and-a-half minutes and allow yourself to get just a little bit high on some of Canada’s finest supply.

Brad’s song #1 sent to Sonny: Kiefer Sutherland, “Not Enough Whiskey,” 2016

For the first decade-and-a-half of his life, actor/singer, Kiefer Sutherland, didn’t have a relationship with his father, the late, veteran actor, Donald Sutherland, who died June 20, 2024 at the age of 88. “Me and my dad really got to know each other after I left home at 15,” Kiefer, 57, told the press, recently.

Sonny’s response: My initial reaction was excitement. Kiefer Sutherland? Jack Bauer? Let’s freaking do this! Then I heard the song.

Let me just say that as much as I love Brad, and as honored as I am to be a part of this Tune Tag, there’s “not enough whiskey” in the world to get me to listen to that song again! Might as well have called it “Not Enough Ideas” or “Not Enough Talent” or “Not Enough Sense To Hire A Vocal Coach.” And come on, Kiefer! What are you talking about “not enough whiskey”?

There was clearly enough hooch going around when you introduced yourself to this Christmas tree:

So, why did Brad send me this song? My guess is he wanted to punish me for being Canadian. Which leads me to….Connection #1: Kiefer and the boys in The Tragically Hip are all Canadian.

Which begets…

Connection #2: Both Kiefer and The Hip are proud members of the Canadian Walk of Fame (which, if I’m not mistaken, is actually a cul-de-sac in Toronto…see below):

I’m probably missing something obvious here, but that’s the best this Canuck can do!

Brad’s rationale: The Hip’s “Blow at High Dough” was used as the closing theme song for Canadian CBC-TV comedy show, Made in Canada (1998-2003). In one of the show’s episodes, Kiefer Sutherland portrayed a fictionalized version of himself. In 2016, Sutherland recorded the Down in a Hole album, produced by veteran recording artist, Jude Cole, who co-wrote “Not Enough Whiskey” (and the album’s ten other songs, and played guitar and bass) with Sutherland.

Kiefer (l) and Jude, twiddlin’ knobs, circa 2016, at The Ranch in Box Canyon, near Coachella, California.

Sonny’s song #2: Rush, “New World Man,” 1982

Brad’s response: I believe there’s a Canada link, here: Rush and Kiefer are natives of The Great White North, eh?

Sonny’s rationale: I introduced myself as a bad Canadian. But, I kicked things off with a Canadian band, and Brad continued with a Canadian actor, and now there’s something lurking inside me that wants to keep the Canadiana coming!

Enter “New World Man” by Rush – the famous power trio from my hometown, Toronto.

I also wanted to tag the subject matter of the songs. In “Not Enough Whiskey,” the woman Kiefer sings about has left him for another man. Hence, the boatload of whiskey that follows. Well, I couldn’t leave Kiefer all destitute like that. We Canadians have to stick together!

So I decided to pep him up the morning after he drowns his sorrows with optimistic thoughts like: He’s got a problem with his poisons / But you know he’ll find a cure. And while Kiefer suffered a major blow in the love department, you simply can’t keep a good man (if awful singer) down for very long: He’s not concerned with yesterday / He knows constant change is here today.

Brad’s song #2: Cutting Crew, “(I Just) Died in Your Arms,” 1986