The Tragically Hip: Fiddlers Green Meaning

Fiddlers Green Lyrics

September Seventeen
For a girl I know, it's Mother's Day
Her son has gone alee
And that's where he will stay
Wind on the weathervane
Tearing blue eyes sailor-mean
As Falstaff sings a sorrowful refrain
For a boy in Fiddler's Green

His...

1. anonymous

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   Oct 12th 2008 !⃝

   I heard them play Fiddler's green live in PEI at the festival of lights this summer. Fiddler's green is a place in PEI, Canada.
2. AnyMusicWillSuffice

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   Jan 15th 2008 !⃝

   A friend of mine introduced me to this one and I loved it right away. Since then his young child died, and he can't even listen to this one anymore. I know how he interprets it and it makes me feel sad every time I hear it...Maybe he'll find the strength to give Fiddlers Green a listen someday, as I think it would be therapeutic for him(as I'm sure it is for Gord of The Hip).
   
   I wish him the best, always!!
3. anonymous

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   Nov 2nd 2006 !⃝

   They actually just played this live in calgary on oct. 28th 2006. It was the first time ever.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
4. anonymous

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   Oct 31st 2006 !⃝

   This song is about Gord's nephew who passed away at a young age from heart problems. The song will never be performed live because it hold too much emotion to the band.
5. anonymous

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   Jun 23rd 2006 !⃝

   This song is actually about a nephew of one of the band members who died at a very young age of heart problems.
   Absolutely beautiful, touching song.
6. anonymous

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   Mar 25th 2006 !⃝

   Apparently, Fiddler's Green is a celtic myth regarding where old sailors go when they don't die at sea after a long life, if instead they die in bed and on land of old age ... Their ghosts wander inland and settle in at the first pastoral village they encounter, the mythical "Fiddler's Green. Given an endless cup of booze, they drink and watch the locals dance to the fiddle (according to the legend anyway).
   
   It seems to me that the song makes a point of juxtaposing the supposed path followed by the death of an old sea salt who has travelled the world, with the death of an infant baby with a bad heart "who hasn't been anywhere" ... for dramatic effect.
   
   References to the "tiny knotted heart" and "timber tore the wood" reinforce the nautical tone of old sailing ships.
   
   It's a really heartbreaking song, and I'm sure there's more to it. The first couple of lines of the song "September 17th, for a girl I know it's Mother's day" set us up for the coming tragedy ...
7. sarge

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   Jan 12th 2006 !⃝

   Seriously, no hip fans? Maybe I can get the ball going. Fiddlers Green is actually a mythical place where sailers go when they die. Thats no coincedence. Not very insightful, however true.

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