"At the Hundredth Meridian" is a song by Canadian rock band

The Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip, often referred to simply as the Hip, were a Canadian rock band formed in Kingston, Ontario in 1984, consisting of vocalist Gord Downie, guitarist Paul Langlois, guitarist Rob Baker (known as Bobby Baker until 1994), bassi ...

. It was released in April 1993 as the fourth single from the band's 1992 album, ''

Fully Completely ''Fully Completely'' is the third studio album by Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip. The album was released in October 1992 and produced by Chris Tsangarides. The album produced six singles: "Locked in the Trunk of a Car", "Fifty Mission Cap" ...

''. The song peaked at No. 18 on the Canadian ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' Singles chart. The song was also featured in the ''

Due South ''Due South'' is a Canadian crime comedy-drama television series created by Paul Haggis, and produced by Alliance Communications from its premiere on April 26, 1994, to its conclusion after four seasons on March 14, 1999. The series starred Pau ...

'' episode "Heaven and Earth" in 1995. When performing the song live, the band would often play it at a significantly faster tempo than on the album, and would use the instrumental break for a jam session lasting several minutes.

Content

The song is a reference to the

100th meridian west The meridian 100° west of the Prime Meridian of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, North America, the Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole. The 100th merid ...

, which is a line of longitude that separates much of Western Canada from the Central and Atlantic regions of Canada and is where the

Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...

begin, as lead-singer

Gordon Downie Gordon Edgar Downie (February 6, 1964 – October 17, 2017) was a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, musician, writer and activist. He was the singer and lyricist for the Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip, which he fronted from its forma ...

states in the song.

Music video

The music video for "At the Hundredth Meridian" was directed by Peter Henderson. It was filmed in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

during the band's tour of Australia and New Zealand in March 1993. In the video, Downie is wearing a ball-cap advertising

Gros Morne National Park Gros Morne National Park is a National Parks of Canada, Canadian national park and World Heritage Site located on the west coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, Newfoundland. At , it is the second largest national park in Atlantic Canada after To ...

, located in the Canadian province of

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

. The video reached No. 1 on ''

MuchMusic Countdown The ''Much Countdown'' (also known as the ''Much Top 30 Countdown'', and formerly known as ''The MuchMusic Top 20 Countdown'') is an hour-long musical television program, usually hosted by a VJ, that aired on Canadian music television station Mu ...

'' for the week of June 18, 1993.

Charts

References

External links

* 1993 singles The Tragically Hip songs 1992 songs MCA Records singles Songs written by Rob Baker (guitarist) Songs written by Gord Downie {{1990s-rock-single-stub