I hope Canadians know Gord is loved worldwide. Truly. We might be a relatively small group of people but we know, even if we can’t quite understand, what Gord and the Hip mean to the Canadian consciousness.
I grew up two hours from Kingston, where the Hip originated. Other side of the border and honestly, I didn’t know them for the first 10 years or so. But during high school I walked into a random record store on a weekend trip to Toronto and picked up an album called Day for Night. The store had a sample station. I listened to the first track, a song called Grace, Too and I was hooked.
More than 20 years, 10 new albums, four old ones I had to catch up on, and four concerts later... I sat in my living room last night watching the Hip’s last show thanks to the magic of YouTube streaming. And I cried. Multiple times. This band’s music got me through some of the darkest moments of my life, and helped define some of the most profound relationships of my life. I am forever grateful.
