Stand there.' Clint Eastwood's acting coach told him. Notes: Aside from the apparent allusion to a chemotherapy drip ("raining venom") - a motif that recurs several times on the album - Downie said his wife "might say, 'I don't need help lifting enormous things. As the singer for the venerable rock band The Tragically Hip, he’s been a cult hero for more than a decade. I want to help you lift enormous things A pinch a sting I don't feel a thing" Gordon Downie is a 20-year veteran of the Canadian music business. "Gently breathing lit by the morning sun Through the night it'd been raining venom. Here is a look at some of the tracks of the album, the band's 12th full-length studio recording, and what the iconic Canadian musician and lyricist had to say about them. But Downie told Mesley the album is about "me trying to help, mutely, in that way that a man around breast cancer tries hard to help." The 52-year-old's lyrics are often cryptic, so deciding what they're about can be a Rorschach test for the listener. Downie gets love from fans after cancer news. Courage: Canuck musicians, politicians tweet support for Gord Downie.Courage,” he wrote on Twitter.Gord Downie, The Tragically Hip lead singer who found out in recent months that he has terminal brain cancer, penned an album about dealing with the disease long before his own diagnosis: 2012's Now For Plan A.ĭownie was told about his wife Laura's breast cancer diagnosis as the band was working on that album, he said to CBC's Wendy Mesley in an interview in 2012. “Gord Downie is a true original who has been writing Canada’s soundtrack for more than 30 years. Justin Trudeau also weighed in from Japan, where the Canadian prime minister was wrapping up a working visit ahead of this week’s G7 talks. The sentiment was echoed by Canadian indie pop band Stars who tweeted: “Gord Downie is the poet laureate of the Canadian soul.” “No band in our history has embraced/defined #canadianity more than The Hip. “Gord IS Canada,” said actor Jonathan Torrens, who played J-Roc on Trailer Park Boys. “This feels like the right thing to do now, for Gord, and for all of us … So we’re going to dig deep and try to make this our best tour yet.” The tour will coincide with the release of the band’s latest album, Man Machine Poem.Īs the news broke on Tuesday, tributes to Downie poured in from across Canada and around the world with many expressing their shock at the news. The Tragically Hip said plans were in the works for Downie and the band to tour Canada this summer, despite the diagnosis. “For many people, in fact most of my patients, it’s daunting to actually reveal your diagnosis … let alone somebody that is truly a national treasure.” He added it was too early to know Downie’s long-term prognosis and refused to speculate on a timeline. “It’s my difficult duty today to tell you Gord Downie’s tumour is incurable.” I love my idea of this country.”ĭownie’s doctor, James Perry, said on Tuesday that the musician had undergone surgery and six weeks of chemotherapy and radiation after being diagnosed with an invasive brain tumour known as glioblastoma.ĭownie has so far responded well to treatment, but the tumour is impossible to completely remove from the brain, said Perry. “You write about what you know,” the father of four explained in a 2012 CBC interview. The group was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2005.ĭownie, 52, has also released three solo albums.ĭownie’s lyrics are often woven with references to Canada’s history and geography, from explorer Jacques Cartier to the Toronto Maple Leafs. The group swiftly became a mainstay on the Canadian music scene, releasing 13 studio albums – nine of which reached No 1 in Canada – and winning 14 Juno awards, which recognise excellence in Canadian music. The band, which has been together for more than three decades, was formed at an Ontario high school in the early 1980s. In privacy along with his family, and through all of this, we’ve been standing by him.” He was the singer and lyricist for the Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip, which he fronted from its formation in 1984 until his death in 2017. “Since then, obviously, he’s endured a lot of difficult times, and he has been fighting hard. Gordon Edgar Downie CM (Febru October 17, 2017) was a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, musician, writer and activist. The diagnosis, they said, had come in December.
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