On this date, October 17 , in 2017, Canadian musician and lead singer for the Tragically Hip – Gord Downie – passed away. As an avid fan, in the sadness that followed his death, I penned a tribute (below) that I have shared on this day several times since. His story was not specific to Caledon but, as a Canadian, it is part of us all.
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It was June 2011. My husband Len and I were on our way to our “summer home” in a park on Pigeon Lake at the south end of Bobcaygeon and had noticed that farm field after farm field after farm field had placed Parking signs at their entrances.
Hitting the Foodland in town for a few groceries I asked the clerk what was going on. We were thrilled when the answer came “The Tragically Hip have a concert here this weekend.” I asked where, realizing odds were not good at this late date for tickets but ever-hopeful. “A big farm field out beside Happy Days Houseboat Rentals” came the response.
That field, literally adjacent to our park, was where we snuggled up to the fence, on our side of the road, and stood for hours that Saturday night, as one favourite Hip tune after another wafted out into the sweet warm summer night.
In that field an estimated 24,000 strong swayed with us as the concert opened with Grace, Too and closed, after 2 encores, with Locked in the Trunk of a Car. Walking back to our place afterwards dozens of fireflies darted through the field as we stirred the long grass with our feet. That evening felt like magic.
I’ve heard it said that Americans don’t “get” The Hip because they can’t understand what Gord is saying. We Canadians do, but we also know that you don’t have to. Whether you could understand Gord’s words was really irrelevant, because you could FEEL them. Gord made us feel. Happy. Sad. Angry. Proud. Afraid. Hopeful.
While the lyrics held the message and essence of being Canadian, the voice was all passion. All connection. All real. So real that we could see ourselves in Gord. And for those of us who saw, today we felt that a little piece of us died with him.
Gord Downie shared his life with family, friends, and the world. He faced death with dignity, grace and courage. He looked cancer in the face and stared it down. He did what he had to do to gain control and spend those last precious months bringing us that music one more time. That and a remarkable effort to make us wake up, as a country, and look at our darker past. Shedding light on the residential schools issue and inspiring us to accept responsibility and and start down a real path of reconciliation.
Last summer our park aired the final night of the Man Machine Poem Tour outside on the big screen and once again we felt the magic of being in Bobcaygeon under the constellations, with Gord. As they played Locked in the Trunk of a Car the raw emotion of Gord screaming “Let me out. Let me out. Let me out” brought tears to my eyes and a lump to my throat. He made us feel.
We love you Gord. Fully. Completely. See you again somewhere out there in the universe.
