Check Out The Tragically Hip’s Original Dirty Version Of “Ahead By A Century” Live Video and Lyrics Sheet

“Ahead by a Century” is the first single from The Tragically Hip’s fifth studio album, Trouble at the Henhouse. The song reached number one on Canada’s singles chart, and was nominated for “Best Single” at the 1997 Juno Awards. It is the band’s most successful single in their native Canada. The song was certified Platinum in Canada in 2016.

The song was the final one performed by the band at their final concert on August 20, 2016. CBC also used the song for their highlight montage to close their coverage of the 2016 Summer Olympics

The song is one of several Tragically Hip singles which were developed from improvised bridge jams during live performances of the band’s signature song “New Orleans Is Sinking”. It originally contained much more sexually explicit lyrics.

The Hip doing the Westwind/Cookie Factory version of NOIS featuring an early, VERY raw rendition of Ahead By A Century with the dirty lyrics. Filmed June 5, 1995 at the PinkPop Festival (Landgraaf, Holland)

The song’s music video was directed by Eric Yealland and filmed on a small farm in Brooklin, Ontario. The music video won the award for Best Video at the 1996 MuchMusic Video Awards. The video was also nominated for “Best Video” at the 1997 Juno Awards

First thing we’d climb a tree
And maybe then we’d talk
Or sit silently
And listen to our thoughts
With illusions of someday
Cast in a golden light
No dress rehearsal,
This is our life

And that’s where the hornet stung me
And I had a feverish dream
With revenge and doubt
Tonight, we smoke them out

You are ahead by a century
You are ahead by a century
You are ahead by a century

Stare in the morning shroud
And then the day began
I tilted your cloud
You tilted my hand
Rain falls in real time
And rain fell through the night
No dress rehearsal, this is our life

But that’s when the hornet stung me
And I had a serious dream
With revenge and doubt
Tonight, we smoked them out

You are ahead by a century
You are ahead by a century
You are ahead by a century

You are ahead by a century
You are ahead by a century
You are ahead by a century
And disappointing you is gettin’ me down