| "Fifty Mission Cap" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by The Tragically Hip | ||||
| from the album Fully Completely | ||||
| Released | 1992 | |||
| Recorded | Battery Studios (London) | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 4:10 | |||
| Label | MCA | |||
| Writer(s) | The Tragically Hip | |||
| Producer | Chris Tsangarides, Piye | |||
| The Tragically Hip singles chronology | ||||
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"Fifty Mission Cap" is a song by Canadian rock group The Tragically Hip from the band's third full-length album, Fully Completely. The song was released as a single in 1992.
The song is a tribute to Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Bill Barilko, reintroducing Barilko's story to a younger generation,[1][2][3] and is among The Tragically Hip's most popular songs.[4][5]
The song's influence on public awareness of Barilko's story was such that the band is devoted an entire chapter in the 2004 book '67: The Maple Leafs, Their Sensational Victory, and the End of an Empire.[1]
The song's lyrics describe the mysterious disappearance of Toronto Maple Leafs hockey player Bill Barilko.[6] Barilko scored the Stanley Cup clinching goal for the Leafs over Montreal Canadiens in the 1951 cup finals.[6][7] Four months and five days later, Barilko departed on a fishing trip in a small, single-engine airplane with friend and dentist, Henry Hudson.[5] The plane disappeared between Rupert House and Timmins, Ontario, leaving no trace of Barilko or Hudson.[6]
Eleven years later, on June 7, 1962, helicopter pilot Ron Boyd discovered the plane wreckage roughly 100 kilometres (62 mi) north of Cochrane, Ontario (about 35 miles off-course). Barilko was finally buried in his home town of Timmins, the same year that the Maple Leafs won their next Stanley Cup.[6]
The song's lyrics also reference the World War II style U.S. Army officer's cap, mentioned in the song's title. The fifty mission cap was a cloth cap with visor issued to U.S. Army officers in World War II that developed a particular crush from the headphones after about fifty missions.
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