I know that this is primarily a sport blog, but today was an unfortunate day for many Tragically Hip fans, and quite frankly, the whole country, as Gord Downie passed away at age 53 after battling terminal brain cancer for more than a year. The whole country knew this was coming. When his doctor announced that the cancer wasn't curable, everyone knew he was going to die at some point. But in true Gord fashion, Gord decided he wanted to put on a cross-Canada tour with 18 shows in the span of 2 months last summer. Was it easy? By no means. Downie revealed in the documentary "Long Time Running"(which will be shown on CTV) that when he rehearsed, he couldn't remember the lyrics to the songs. Then there was all of the confusion and concern about whether he'd even make it through the tour. But despite all that, he pulled through, and gave the country the ride of a lifetime. I attended the August 16th show in Hamilton, and to give you an idea on the impact of the tour, nobody sat down, stopped cheering or stopped singing through a two and a half hour concert. To me, that's quite unbelievable. Aside from the whole farewell tour, Downie was a supporter of reconciliation for indigenous peoples, he was involved in environmental work, and he, along with The Hip, was a major influence on the Canadian music industry. But the one thing that Downie should be remembered by is that he wasn't a rockstar with a huge ego like many others in his industry,, nor did he get into any controversies. He was just a humble, normal guy- a true Canadian- that just happened to produce the soundtracks of hockey dressing rooms, summer, and all of Canada with The Hip. He, along with the Hip, were not big names in the U.S(aside from Buffalo), but you know what, that's kind of a good thing, because we can truly claim him as one of ours.
Rest in peace, Gord. The music you play, and your contributions to Canada will live on for generations to come.
"Music brings people together. So my function in anything I do is to help bring people closer in".
-Gord Downie.
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