Fans, fellow musicians come to terms with Gord Downie’s death
Newfoundland and Labrador fans and musicians reacted hard Wednesday to the death of Gord Downie, beloved frontman of The Tragically Hip, sharing their emotions and memories.
“I’m sitting in my vehicle now, fighting back tears for someone who wasn’t family but felt like it. I grew up with the Hip. I covered their music. Gord and his band were definitely on the soundtrack of my life. Gonna miss you, Man,” said Greg Tobin, a local musician.
Downie, the poetic lead singer of The Tragically Hip whose determined fight with brain cancer inspired a nation, has died. He was 53.
“Thank you, Gord. I’ll always love you like a friend,” longtime Tragically Hip fan Renell Chalker wrote on her Facebook page.
Chalker is such a fan, she had an image of Downie tattooed on her arm.
“When I think back on every special moment in my life to date, I think of a Tragically Hip song,” Chalker told The Telegram. “I drive the highway to and from work, most days, with his lyrics in the background. His poems make me proud to be Canadian. My husband (Tim) and I were lucky enough to travel to Toronto to see him on his farewell tour. I’ll always treasure that.
“The energy at his last Toronto show was incredible. Indescribable. We were on our feet from start to finish.”
Bob Hallett of Great Big Sea posted on his Facebook page, “Gord Downie never wasted a second. I’m leaving this desk, going for a walk, write a poem, a song, see something, remember something.
“I knew Gord Downie as a colleague and fellow traveller on the great road across Canada and the U.S., but I was also a fan,” Hallett told The Telegram.
“He was the best frontman this country ever produced, but also somehow managed to be both a huge celebrity and a dignified and quiet family man. Gord Downie loved every second he was onstage and never wasted a second of his life. I was lucky to watch him work.”
Greensleeves’ entertainment manager Lex Griffiths of St. John’s posted a photo on his Facebook page of a matchbook autographed in 1996 by Downie and said, “The night I met and talked to Gord for a half hour
at The Fat Cat. The only thing I had for him to write on was a matchbook, ‘Long May Your Big Jib Draw … Gord Downie.’”
“We managed to sneak into the Fat Cat that night where they played an impromptu show. We were quite lucky,” Griffiths told The Telegram. “They shut the doors after we got in, capacity crowd, and that’s all I had for him to sign. … Very sad day for the nation.”
During the Hip’s many appearances in this province, local fans came out time and again to hear the band’s rock and roll Canadiana, including references to the local: Mistaken Point in “Fly,” Isle aux Morts in “The Dire Wolf” or Cape Spear in “Silver Jet.”
On his Facebook page, musician/entertainment lawyer/ manager Zack Werner of Idol School NL noted his time as a lawyer at a Toronto firm with platinum Hip records on the wall.
“But I really think so kindly of Gord from when we lived down the street from each other in Riverdale,” Werner wrote. “Seeing him with a stroller and his wife. Stopping on the corner just to chat. He had this stern look that could sometimes throw me off when I didn’t know him. But stopping to chat on occasion he was so obviously full of grace, intelligence, openness and humility. A real mensch.”
Downie died Tuesday night “with his beloved children and family close by,” the band said in a statement on its website Wednesday morning.
The country was shocked when Downie revealed his terminal cancer diagnosis of glioblastoma in May 2016. The band’s subsequent tour sold out almost immediately.
The musician became a symbol of perseverance in the face of his mortality.
“Gord knew this day was coming — his response was to spend this precious time as he always had — making music, making memories and express- ing deep gratitude to his family and friends for a life well lived, often sealing it with a kiss on the lips,” the statement said.
Downie spent the last chapter of his life raising funds for brain cancer research and advocating for the rights of Canada’s Indigenous peoples.
“Gord said he had lived many lives,” the band said. “As a musician, he lived ‘the life’ for over 30 years, lucky to do most of it with his high school buddies. At home, he worked just as tirelessly at being a good father, son, brother, husband and friend. No one worked harder on every part of their life than Gord. No one.”
One of the country’s most revered singer-songwriters, Downie penned a steady stream of 1990s rock radio staples including “New Orleans Is Sinking,” “Blow at High Dough,” “Courage,” “Ahead By a Century” and “Bobcaygeon.”