By MICHAEL BAGINSKI/ Hard to believe that it’s now been over 10 years since The Tragically Hip’s last performance. The farewell took place on Aug. 20, 2016, in the band’s hometown, Kingston, Ont., but was broadcast across the country, creating a “I remember when” moment for close to 12 million Canadians.
The reason, of course, was the tragic (no pun) brain cancer diagnosis of lead singer Gord Downie, who succumbed just over a year later at only age 53.
This goose-bump inducing performance of “It’s a Good Life If You Don’t Weaken” from the Juno Awards stage in 2021 featured the acclaimed Leslie Feist (who coincidentally was inducted with the Hip last weekend in the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame) in filling the rather large flying shoes of the late Downie, prompting one approving fan to exclaim, “Gord would be smiling from above.”
Full disclosure, watching this on a quiet Sunday morning brought a tear – but still, remembering Gord, we are smiling down here.
Lyrics
When the colour of the night
And all the smoke for one life
Gives way to shaky movements
Improvisational skills
A forest of whispering speakers
Let’s swear that we will
Get with the times
In a current health to stay
Let’s get friendship right
Get life day-to-day
In the forget-yer-skates dream
Full of countervailing woes
Its diverse-as-ever seen
Proceeding on a need-to-know
In a face so full of meaning
As to almost make it glow
For a good life we just might have to weaken
And find somewhere to go
Go somewhere we’re needed
Find somewhere to grow
Grow somewhere we’re needed
Find somewhere to grow
We grow where we are needed
‘Cause in the forget-yer-skates dream
You can hang your head in woe
And this diverse-as-ever scene
Know which way to go
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