It's Been a Long Time coming... ~Gord Downie (February 6, 1964 – October 17, 2017)

Hello dear readers;

Over the years, I have come to realize that people are in your life for the right reasons, or they aren't. 

GORD, may the Lord be entertained by this musical GENIUS, was able to express all these things in his music.  I am currently listening to Grace, Too, and if you are Hip, you know that there are lines that Gord has changed depending on the show he was doing, my favorite ad-lib of this song has to be "You say I'm Tragically Hip".  

I am happy to say that I was able to see this genius perform.  Only ONE single time.  I was with my hubby (who was just my BF at the time) his buddy Andrew and my sister Erin.  It was one of the single most amazing concerts I had ever been to.  I had WHEAT KINGS recorded on my answering machine for so long, that eventually Bell deleted it. Those Monopoly bastards!  lol

I am listening to The HIP on shuffle, thank you YouTube Music!  With a wonderful set of head phones, I am hearing each strum of the guitar, rap of the drum and all the artistic, melodic and mesmerizing details that are thrown together to make some of the best music, in Canadian albeit world history. Those of you who know a little bit about me... I Alison Proulx, am not afraid to admit that I am notorious for NEVER singing the right words.  There are songs, most songs where the lyrics are clear as day, and I can still get them wrong.  Because my words, although they don't make sense, sound much much better that how the original artist intended them to be.

The Tragically Hip, is one of those bands.  For the longest time, I didn't know the words to any of their songs.  Then I met Derek!  He's my musical genius.  If it weren't for him I would most likely still be singing the words wrong.  Some of the guys I have dated, can attest to my lack of lyric knowledge. I can tell you the name of a song, or the first line of a sang, after the first 5 or 6 notes.

GORD DOWNIE FACTS:

1- C A N A D I A N 

2- Indigenous affairs Advocate - the Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund to support reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. Chanie Wenjack was a young indigenous boy who died trying to escape a residential school.  To learn more information on Chanie and residential schools please visit this website: https://downiewenjack.ca

3- Environmentalist - especially issues concerning water rights

4- Author - The Secret Path: Proceeds from Secret Path will be donated to The Gord Downie Secret Path Fund for Truth and Reconciliation via The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) at The University of Manitoba.

5- December 6, 2016, National Chief Perry Bellegarde honoured Downie with an eagle feather, a symbol of the creator above, for his support of the Indigenous peoples of Canada. Bellegarde also bestowed on Downie an honorary aboriginal name, Wicapi Omani, which is Lakota for "man who walks among the stars".

6- December 22, 2016, Downie was selected as The Canadian Press' Canadian Newsmaker of the Year and was the first entertainer selected for the title. Two years running, the second came after his death in 2017.

7- June 19, 2017, Downie, along with his Tragically Hip bandmates, was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada for "their contribution to Canadian music and for their support of various social and environmental causes".

8- December 2017, Percy Hatfield, the Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) representing Windsor—Tecumseh introduced the bill Poet Laureate of Ontario Act In Memory of Gord Downie to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. It was passed in December 2019, establishing the Poet Laureate of Ontario.

Why am I posting so much about Gord today?  Well, sometimes the music, or one song just hits you right in the feels.  Thank you wikipedia for providing me with some facts about the Honourable Gord "Wicapi Omani" Downie.  He is what all Canadians should aspire to.  Not just a music God, but a genuine human being, who  looks after the little guy, fights for injustice to our Indigenous communities, the ones who were wronged, the ones who don't ask for anything in return, but to just seek the truth about their past.

Let's all take a minute to listen to one of your favourite Gord Downie song, because, let's face it, they are all Gord's songs.

Gord Downie, in our lives for all the right reasons!

Much Love 

~A