{title: Nautical Disaster}
{artist: The Tragically Hip}
{album: Day for Night (1994)}
{key: A}
{tempo: 120}
{difficulty: advanced}
{strand: signature}
{feel: roar}
{lead_voice: mid}
{lead_mode: solo}
{lead_demand: showpiece}
{harmony: M,H}
{a_cappella: opt}
{kit: gtr,bod}
{set_role: reveal}
{lang: en}
{country_tags: CA}
{copyright: copyrighted}
{flags: quiet_stunner,signature}
{tags: 90s,alt-rock,canadiana,chorus,copyrighted,gord-downie,maritime,quiet-stunner,signature,story-song,tragically-hip}
{video: youtube:e8Fi46BFAF0}
{credit: The Tragically Hip - 'Nautical Disaster' from Day for Night (1994, MCA). Written by Robert Baker, Gord Downie, Johnny Fay, Paul Langlois, Gord Sinclair. (c) The Tragically Hip / Universal Music Canada.}

{c: Hip standard. Reportedly inspired in part by the sinking of the German battleship Bismarck, but Downie always denied direct connection — said it was a dream. Either way the song is about drowning and survivor's guilt and the room knows every word.}
{c: Lyrics copyright the Tragically Hip / Universal. Chord skeleton below.}

{c: ===== STRUCTURE =====}
{c: Intro (A) → Verse → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Bridge (the "I had this dream" section, intensity peak) → Chorus → Outro}

{c: ===== VERSE PROGRESSION (in A) =====}
[A]________ [E]________ [F#m]________ [D]________
[A]________ [E]________ [F#m]________ [D]________
[A]________ [E]________ [F#m]________ [D]________
[A]________ [E]________ [D]________ [A]________

{c: ===== CHORUS PROGRESSION =====}
[A]________ [D]________ [F#m]________ [E]________
[A]________ [D]________ [F#m]________ [E]________

{c: ===== BRIDGE — THE "DREAM" SECTION =====}
{c: This is where Downie pushes the song. Hold the F#m longer; the band drops volume, then crashes back in.}
[F#m]________ [D]________ [A]________ [E]________
[F#m]________ [D]________ [A]________ [E]________

{c: ===== FIDDLE / MANDOLIN PART =====}
{c: Not a traditional fiddle song — the Hip arrangement is two guitars + bass + drums, no acoustic.}
{c: For a roots-arrangement: mandolin chop on the 2-and-4 through the chorus only. Don't try to replicate Rob Baker's lead — instead let the fiddle take a slow drone-line in A through the bridge, then drop out for the final chorus.}

{c: ===== STRUM / FEEL =====}
{c: Mid-tempo rock-folk. ~120 bpm steady 4/4.}
{c: Verse: light strum, palm-mute feel. Chorus: open up, full chords.}
{c: Capo 0 in A. Bring it down to G with capo if your singer can't hit Downie's bridge notes — and almost no one can.}

{c: ===== HOW IT'S DONE WITH A GROUP =====}
{c: 1. One voice (lead) carries the verses — this is a storytelling song, not a unison.}
{c: 2. The room joins on the chorus and especially the bridge ("I had this dream where I relished the fray...").}
{c: 3. Final chorus: the lead lets the room carry it. Drop the lead voice out for the last two bars and let the band finish on a long A.}

{c: ===== WHY IT'S IN THE BOOK =====}
{c: One of the Hip's most-covered songs in folk-roots arrangements. Sits in the canon of "Canadian story-songs about loss at sea" alongside Stan Rogers and Lightfoot's Edmund Fitzgerald. Any roots-music room with Canadians in it expects this in the set somewhere.}