Gord Downie, Tragically Hip singer, has terminal cancer

This big news in Canada, I doubt it will make the back pages of most American papers. The Hip are one of the best, most iconic bands to ever come from the Great White North, so many of us are devastated. I have seen them about 10 times in concert and have never left disappointed. Besides from being a prolific singer/songwriter, Gord Downie reminds me of what I think Jim Morrison would have been like in concert (apart from exposing himself :lol. He would often freestyle and go off on tangents in the middle of songs, sometimes looking like someone possessed by some roll n' roll demon. Tragically Hip music should no be heard... it should be felt.

Gord Downie, Tragically Hip singer, has terminal cancer - Toronto - CBC News


Here are a few of their most iconic songs:



One of my personal fav. song of all-time:

Songs starts with "Me debunk an American myth, take my life in my hands..."

Middleground said:

This big news in Canada, I doubt it will make the back pages of most American papers. The Hip are one of the best, most iconic bands to ever come from the Great White North, so many of us are devastated. I have seen them about 10 times in concert and have never left disappointed. Besides from being a prolific singer/songwriter, Gord Downie reminds me of what I think Jim Morrison would have been like in concert (apart from exposing himself :lol. He would often freestyle and go off on tangents in the middle of songs, sometimes looking like someone possessed by some roll n' roll demon. Tragically Hip music should no be heard... it should be felt.

Gord Downie, Tragically Hip singer, has terminal cancer - Toronto - CBC News


Here are a few of their most iconic songs:



One of my personal fav. song of all-time:

Click to expand...

Damned bad news.
I never saw the Hip but they were for sure under-appreciated elsewhere. I kept hoping for the chance to see them in a smaller venue, like the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver.
Hope it goes well for him, whatever 'well' is now.

Very sad.

What is worse is he will leave four children behind.


But his music and distinctive voice will live on forever with millions and millions of fans. He quiote likterally will NEVER be forgotten so long as humanity exists.

Very few can say that.

DA60 said:

Very sad.

What is worse is he will leave four children behind.


But his music and distinctive voice will live on forever with millions and millions of fans. He quiote likterally will NEVER be forgotten so long as humanity exists.

Very few can say that.

Click to expand...

I know the Hip have pockets of fans everywhere in this world, but in Canada, they are iconic. It's too bad they never really took off. I wonder if it's because they have too much Canadiana in their songs?

Middleground said:

I know the Hip have pockets of fans everywhere in this world, but in Canada, they are iconic. It's too bad they never really took off. I wonder if it's because they have too much Canadiana in their songs?

Click to expand...

Probably. Also, their lyrics are not always easily accesible to the masses. And their sound is not exactly American mainstream.

America's loss.

Groups like Pearl Jam (probably my all time fav and another angst-filled rock band like the Hip) have/had a more cotemporary sound and their lyrics were easily understandable/relatable to almost anyone...even if they were often very heavy and angry. At least that is how I see them.

But I too wonder how the Hip would have done had they been American based.

DA60 said:

Probably. Also, their lyrics are not always easily accesible to the masses. And their sound is not exactly American mainstream.

America's loss.

Groups like Pearl Jam (probably my all time fav and another angst-filled rock band like the Hip) have/had a more cotemporary sound and their lyrics were easily understandable/relatable to almost anyone...even if they were often very heavy and angry. At least that is how I see them.

But I too wonder how the Hip would have done had they been American based.

Click to expand...

I'm not convinced much better. American radio is fickle... and usually the last place an artist or band makes it big. If I'm not mistaken, the Beatles were big in Canada a few years before their sound infiltrated American mainstream.

I do agree that the Hip do not fit that mould. Lyrics too out there, with many references to past events/people. I think the thing that made them so great was the thing that held the back. To quote another Canadian... "Isn't it ironic, don't you think?"

'We are less as a country': Politicians pay tribute to Gord Downie - Politics - CBC News

Good Downie has lost his battle today. I grew up with the Hip and have seen them in concert over 15 times. Gord was somewhat like Jim Morrison in concert -- very theatrical. If you wanted to listen to the radio version of their songs, you were disappointed. If you wanted their music to touch your inner core and invade your soul, then they were the band for you. Gord wrote some of the best, most poignant lyrics I have ever seen from anyone. Some of my favourites:

From Nautical Disaster (a song about a dream of a soldier who was in the middle of an attack -- some say it was about Vimy Ridge):

One afternoon,
Four thousand men died in the water here and five hundred more were thrashing madly as parasites might in your blood.
Now I was in a lifeboat designed for ten and ten only,
Anything that systematic would get you hated.
It's not a deal not a test nor a love of something fated.
(Death)
The selection was quick,
The crew was picked and those left in the water were kicked off our pant leg and we headed for home.



Ahead by a Century:

First we'd climb a tree and maybe then we'd talk
Or sit silently and listen to our thoughts
With illusions of someday casting a golden light
No dress rehearsal, this is our life




At the Hundredth Meridian:

Me debunk an american myth?
And take my life in my hands?
Where the great plains begin
At the hundredth meridian
At the hundredth meridian
Where the great plains begin

If I die of vanity, promise me, promise me
If they bury me some place I don't want to be
You'll dig me up and transport me, unceremoniously
Away from the swollen city breeze, garbage bag trees
Whispers of disease and the acts of enormity
And lower me slowly and sadly and properly
Get Ry Cooder to sing my eulogy