I'm not a big fan of the Tragically Hip, which is something akin to blasphemy in Canada, and this song, while not bad, gets way too much air-play. The song refers to Bill Barilko, a hockey player whose final goal won the Toronto Maple Leafs the Stanley Cup in 1951. That summer, flying home from a fishing trip, his plane crashed and wasn't found for 11 years. Rumors circulated that Barilko, of Russian decent, had defected to the Soviet Union to teach hockey. In 1962, the year his plane and body was found, the Leafs won their first cup since his disappearance.
Bill Barilko disappeared, that summer
He was on a fishing trip
The last goal he ever scored
Won the Leaf's the cup
Then didn't win another, til 1962
The year he was discovered
I stole this from a hockey card
I keep tucked up under
My fifty mission cap
I worked it in,
I worked it in ta look like that
It's my fifty mission cap
It's his fiffty mission cap
And I worked it in,
I worked it in ta look like that
And I worked it in, ta look like that
Bill Barilko disappeared, that summer
He was on a fishing trip
The last goal he ever scored
Won the Leaf's the cup
Then didn't win another, til 1962
The year he was discovered
