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38 Years Old
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Wikipedia article
"'38 Years Old'" is a song by Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip. It was released in April 1990 as the fourth single from the band's first full-length studio album, 'Up to Here'. The song peaked at No. 41 on the Canadian 'RPM' singles chart.
Content
The song is a fictional account of the real-life escape of 14 inmates from Millhaven Institution near the band's hometown of Kingston, Ontario, on July 10, 1972. The date of the event and the number of escapees mentioned in the song are historically incorrect ("12 men broke loose in '73...").
Lyrically, the song is written from the perspective of the younger brother of one of the escapees, a man who murdered the man who raped their sister.
Background
The song was written in Memphis during their recording of the album.
Though it is one of The Tragically Hip's most popular songs, the band seldom played the song live. In Michael Barclay's 2018 book 'The Never-Ending Present: The Story of Gord Downie and the Tragically Hip', the band's reticence to play the song live is attributed to a misperception among some of the band's fans that the song was autobiographical: because its emotional climax hinges on the moment when the narrator opens the window for "my older brother Mike", some fans have erroneously assumed that Gord Downie's real brother, documentary filmmaker Mike Downie, was himself a prisoner and one of the escapees from Millhaven.Michael Barclay, 'The Never-Ending Present: The Story of Gord Downie and the Tragically Hip'. ECW Press, 2018. . p. 66.
Charts
References
Category:1989 songs
Category:1990 singles
Category:The Tragically Hip songs
Category:MCA Records singles
Category:Songs based on Canadian history
Category:Songs about prison
Category:Fiction about prison escapes
Category:Ontario in fiction
Category:Fiction set in 1973
Category:Songs written by Rob Baker (guitarist)
Category:Songs written by Gord Downie
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