Gord Downie's "Introduce Yerself"

i’ve been listening to nothing but this album for two months straight

gord downie was a family man

and this album takes you into that side of him

he had a nice big family

i’m jealous of that

i have a tiny family

for our american cousins

gord fronted a band called the tragically hip

he was one of the greatest frontman ever

right up there alongside mick, freddie, scott

i've seen the hip so many times

i lived in kingston for a while back in the extreme early 80s

i think i saw them at the lakeview manor

those were different times

but i am so happy to have seen the hip with my son lucas

he kept looking over at me and smiling during the show

as if to say 'he's weird but cool'

the songs on introduce yerself are each about a person

you can only guess 

lyrically ol’ gord’s colouring life with a small observations

and deft philosophy

‘love over money’ i think is about the band

“love over money - that’s how we got good”

great line

there’s songs about putting his kids to sleep

buying T shirts at concerts

and my favourite - the title cut - introduce yourself

about writing a message on your hand 

with the exception of AC/DC 

my music always needs to have an element of poetry to it

my son jackson goes to the same school as gord’s kids

kids with tragedy printed on them

ours has been private and theirs has been fireworks

i wonder how they’ll deal with it all in the years to come

of course they’ll be fine

stronger

kevin drew co-wrote the album with gord

just excellence and nothing more from their pairing

if anyone knows kevin

please send word that his work has touched me in a profound way

and i’m a better person for having this album in my life

music finds us 

we don’t find it

we’re bombarded with music - shell shocked

but there’s that beautiful moment when you find an album

and that album starts to bind to you

and heal you

and help you remember

and then you share that album with people you care about

craig

feb 19, 2018

poached eggs and coffee