Statement from Gord Downie’s webpage Oct 17, 2017

Last night Gord quietly passed away with his beloved children and family close by.

Gord knew this day was coming – his response was to spend this precious time as he always had – making music, making memories and expressing deep gratitude to his family and friends for a life well lived, often sealing it with a kiss… on the lips.

Gord said he had lived many lives. 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.

We would like to thank all the kind folks at KGH and Sunnybrook, Gord’s bandmates, management team, friends and fans. Thank you for all the help and support over the past two years.

Thank you everyone for all the respect, admiration and love you have given Gord throughout the years – those tender offerings touched his heart and he takes them with him now as he walks among the stars.

Love you forever Gord.

The Downie Family

That was the first message I read Wednesday morning. It was a sad day but the nation mourned together and it was comforting. I was happy that he had that time to accomplish so many things this past year and found some peace in that. His words and music have touched so many and he will be missed. Thankfully he left us his music to listen to and next week his solo project, Introduce Yerself, will be released. He lives on through the music.

There is a great article in Maclean’s by Michael Barclay about Gord and says it all much better than I can. The Spotify playlist below was from the Man Machine Poem Tour last year, which I am so glad I made the trek to Edmonton for, with some added tracks from his solo albums. There is also a YouTube playlist with some Tragically Hip covers from other Canadian artists honouring Gord and his contributions to the Canadian music scene.

 

 

 

Feist pays tribute to Gord Downie with “The Stranger” cover.

 

 

It’s cool man. You can go. Everything’s cool. Don’t worry. Love you Gord!