#GORD DOWNIE AGE SERIES#
Paul Henderson and Bobby Clarke of Team Canada celebrate Henderson’s series-winning goal in Game 8 of the 1972 Summit Series between Canada and the Soviet Union at the Luzhniki Ice Palace (Photo by Denis Brodeur/NHLI via Getty Images) It was the defining moment for a generation. The ’72 summit series was a great moment for Canada and Paul Henderson’s series-winning goal is the most famous goal in Canadian hockey history. The song references the 1972 Summit Series, hockey legend Bobby Orr. The 1972 Summitt Seriesįireworks is the third single from the Hip’s sixth studio album, Phantom Power. Hockey, as a central part of Canadian identity, found its way into many of their songs. Downie famously wore his Boston jersey in the music video for Courage (for Hugh MacLennan). This was no doubt influenced by his godfather Harry Sinden, former coach of the Boston Bruins. To me, the power of his lyrics and of the meaning of the songs justify retracing some of these steps.
I came to those pieces only after I started writing this one. This week, Bob McKenzie released an excerpt of his 2014 book, Hockey Confidential, in which he traced the history of the Tragically Hip and hockey. Justin Cuthbert did something similar last year. I am not the first to try and connect Gord, hockey, and music. I’m not sure if you need to be Canadian to understand Downie and the Hip.
I cried like a baby as I watched Downie kiss his bandmates and crew in appreciation and slowly mouth the words “I love you” directly into a camera during one of the Hip’s signature jams. Through his songs and poems, Downie offered us a reflection of ourselves and of our country - showing us where we have been, where we are now, and most importantly, where we need to go in the future, together.I let my kids stay up late to watch the first set. He sang of Churchill, Manitoba ( Thompson Girl), and Saskatoon ( Wheat Kings) and the 100 th meridian ( At the Hundredth Meridian).ĭownie reminded us that our history and our country was worth singing about - both the good moments, and the bad. His songs were rooted in the geography and history of the country. His lyrics evoked images of goalies standing alone at the “lonely end of the rink,” of “Jacques Cartier,” and of “thin and wicked prairie winds.” He wrote of men wrongfully convicted, and of a nation that “whispers, ‘we always knew that he’d go free’” of a night in Bobcaygeon, where he “saw the constellations / Reveal themselves, one star at a time ” and of a “goal everyone remembers. Downie’s gift was his ability to find inspiration and beauty in the smallest and most Canadian of moments.
The Tragically Hip is among the pantheon of great Canadian musical acts, but it never broke big in the United States. He used his final months to create the Secret Path project, a ten song album and accompanying graphic novel created with graphic artist Jeff Lemire, that shone new light on the tragic legacy of the residential school system.Īs he sung of Chanie Wenjack, a twelve-year-old boy who died in 1966 trying to escape from Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School, we wept for all those who were lost.Īt that farewell concert in Kingston, Downie used his national platform to demand justice for Indigenous peoples, and to challenge Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to effect real, positive change in Canada’s Indigenous communities.įor his tireless efforts to educate Canadians about the historic injustices committed against Indigenous peoples, Downie was honoured by the Assembly of First Nations, which gave him the Lakota spirit name Wicapi Omani, which translates as “Man who walks among the stars.”Ĭan there be a more fitting tribute to a man whose musical legacy lifted us all so high? That he would so publically rage against the dying of the light, and do so in such a searing, public way, inspired a nation.Īs his time grew short, Downie hastened to bring as much attention as possible to the plight of Canada’s Indigenous peoples. We all knew - his family, his friends and bandmates and fans - that his death would come soon. It was almost as if Downie knew that we all needed that moment to prepare for the inevitable. I remember mouthing the words “Oh my God.” It was all that I could say or do. Throughout the song, my wife and I sat, breathless as we watched at home. It was a guttural, intimate, private and public all at the same time. Standing starkly in his silver lamé outfit, tears streaming down his face, Downie literally howled with emotion for several minutes.
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