They will remember that he kissed on the lips. They will remember a spastic, energetic and entrancing musician who wore flashy outfits during his final tour, complete only with socks wrapped around his neck to keep his iconic vocal cords warm. Take Action: Pledge to Take 3 For the SeaĬanadians will not remember that Downie spent his last years diagnosed with brain cancer. And he did it using the most Canadian lyrics possible. That was Downie’s great Canadian charm - he managed to bring together fans who normally listened to completely different kinds of music. Whether you were a fan or not, you knew The Hip, and you respected Gord Downie. You’d find yourself singing along to a Hip song without realizing it, likely after someone requested “Bobcaygeon” on the radio at the cottage during the summer. The country as a whole seemed to react as one when Canadians learned of Downie’s illness in May of last year. He had been diagnosed with glioblastoma, an incurable form of brain cancer, in December 2015.

Long known as Canada’s rock poet, Downie explained his process to me: “Lyrics, a lot of what you hear, is kind of first thought, best thought … That’s where 30 years of experience leads you to react like you’ve had 30 minutes of experience.Canada is in mourning after learning that The Tragically Hip’s Gord Downie, who defined what it means to be a Canadian in many aspects of his life, passed away last night at age 53. Sadly, our last chat would be in 2014 when Downie was promoting a side project with The Sadies at Blue Rodeo’s Woodshed studios in Toronto.

To quote (Raymond) Carver, ‘Use it up, don’t save a thing for later.’”ĭownie stayed true to his word: He followed up his 2016 solo album, Secret Path - which told the story of residential school victim Chanie Wenjack - with another solo record, Introduce Yerself, on Oct. “I think I was always on this trajectory to get to a point where I was writing and creating everyday. He was a private guy, but in a 2010 interview about his latest solo album, he told me how his four kids “affected my style, in a very positive way.” (My favourite Hip song is still Ahead By Century from that album and which ended their final Kingston show.) Ironically, our first chat was in my hometown of Vancouver where I was allowed backstage with Downie in 1996 as the band prepared to launch their Trouble At The Henhouse Tour across Canada. Turned out I would learn in the decades to come. It took me back to Vancouver’s Town Pump in Gastown which was the first place I ever saw The Hip in 1989 as me and my gang were attracted by the openers who all wore garbage bags because you were ALLOWED to throw beer on them.īut as soon as The Hip came on, all eyes were on the twitching, rambling Gord as he whipped his then-flowing long hair around and went into stream of consciousness mode. Toronto was where I had seen and interviewed Downie and The Hip dozens of times over the last two decades in my capacity as the Toronto Sun’s music critic and suspected I never would again. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

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