The Never-Ending Playlist 3: Gord Downie solo

On my book tour I met huge Hip fans who admitted that they’d never heard Coke Machine Glow until recently, which I found incredulous. (It’s been 18 years! What have you been waiting for?!) I’ve also met people who are not a fan of the Hip but who fell in love with Coke Machine Glow after reading this book. And I’ve met people who do love Coke Machine Glow but have never heard The Grand Bounce (which is amazing, and incredibly underrated). And of course, far too many people have avoided Introduce Yerself because they fear it will be too sad (it’s not). Seems like all those people would benefit from a deeper dive into Downie’s solo work.

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1. “Vancouver Divorce.” This song opened most shows by Downie’s Country of Miracles. It’s an unlikely favourite, but between Dave Clark’s somewhat martial beat, Dale Morningstar’s all-over-the-map guitar playing, and José Contreras’s John Cale-esque organ, it’s a delight. It’s not the end of the world, of course.

2. “Trick Rider.” A heartbreaking song about not being a helicopter parent, about letting your child navigate dangerous tasks in the world. Steven Drake’s gently pulsing bass, Morningstar’s weeping guitars, and the gorgeous and haunting backing vocals of Julie Doiron all provide the perfect colour behind one of Downie’s greatest lyrics.

3. “Chancellor.” Another parenting song. Did Downie not feel comfortable writing these kind of lyrics for the Hip? This is one of the few songs on Coke Machine Glow that came from the first session, featuring Don Kerr on drums and Kevin Hearn on piano. Hearn would later cover this song with one of his other bands, Barenaked Ladies, all of whom love this album dearly. 

4. “Lofty Pines.” Downie didn’t want anybody remotely associated with the Hip on his first solo album, other than his dear friend, the roadie Dave “Billy Ray” Koster. At the last minute, however, he realized he couldn’t do it without his old friend Paul Langlois, who adds his unmistakable harmonies here. Beautiful accordion by Cowboy Junkies’ Jaro Czerwinec; one can feel the influence of The Trinity Session throughout.

5. “Into the Night.” Yet another beautiful parenting song. Unless the narrator has a rather controlling relationship with a much younger lover. Then it’s creepy.

6. “We’re Hardcore.” What’s that? Another parenting song? Don’t think that having kids makes you a softie. It makes you hardcore, as any parent can tell you.

7. “Christmastime in Toronto.” The greatest song ever written about Dec. 22. It’s also a song about a man who loves Canada’s most-loathed city: “Everyone hates you but they don’t know what I know.” Featuring a crushing performance by Dinner is Ruined and huge group harmonies.

8. “The East Wind.” Perhaps the only Downie solo song that sounds like it should have been a huge pop hit. And yet it sank like a stone. Do the drums not come in soon enough? What is wrong with radio programmers? Also, the difference in Downie’s voice after working with Bob Rock on two Hip records is incredibly apparent here. Compare this with the tentativeness heard on Coke Machine Glow, and it’s night and day.

9. “As a Mover.” The patriarch struggles with relocating a reluctant family, over a country drone that sounds like Johnny Cash playing with Stereolab.

10. “Yellow Days.” Summertime is glorious. Summertime is weird. Infidelity looms. Keep it together. The first verse alone is exquisite. And listen to the magical sound of Dave Clark’s cymbals.

11. “Night is For Getting.” The Hip took a couple of stabs at this barn-burner before Downie redirected it to the Country of Miracles, who add John Press’s cascading piano line, Dave Clark’s gallop and Julie Doiron’s harmonies.

12. “It Didn’t Start to Break My Heart Until This Afternoon.” The first time Downie played with the Sadies, for a CBC Radio show, they covered Iggy and the Stooges. On their first full-length collaboration (there’s another one in the vault, waiting to come out), it’s easy to see why.

13. “Budget Shoes.” This sounds so much like the Sadies by themselves it’s hard to imagine what Downie added, other than complete commitment to the vocal, as always.

14. “The Stranger.” Chanie Wenjack’s story was a stranger to the Canadian public. Gord Downie was the stranger to Wenjack’s family who decided to tell this story. Everything about this song is a carte blanche, easing the listener into the story. Producer and co-writer Kevin Drew keeps everything very sparse, for a very good reason.

15. “Seven Matches.” In addition to being one of the best melodies on this album, Downie’s vocal performance is childlike and fragile.

16. “Introduce Yerself.” A love song for Dave “Billy Ray” Koster, this is one of Downie’s greatest songs: the chords, the melody, the vocal performance. Did you see Sarah Harmer sing it at the 2018 Juno tribute, with Kevin Hearn on piano? Crushing.

17. “Spoon.” A song for Downie’s youngest son that entails a trip to Maui to visit Bob Rock and taking the boy to see his first rock show, Spoon with Deerhunter at the Danforth Music Hall. Downie was rarely this literal. When he chose to be, the specifics were splendidly candid.

18. “Love Over Money.” “Love—that’s how we got good.” An parting ode to his brothers in song, the rest of the Tragically Hip, with whom he’d played for 30 years, a run almost unheard of in the realm of million-selling bands who aren’t related to each other. U2, Radiohead, ZZ Top—and the Tragically Hip. That’s it. That doesn’t explain why this song sounds like Joy Division, however.

19. “Safe is Dead.” From the moment he decided to put out solo records, Downie rarely played it safe in any aspect of his records. He always wanted to be moving forward. Introduce Yerself was recorded mostly in two or three takes; spontaneity was key. Listen to the final warble that closes the song. And almost no one has yet to hear the as-yet-unreleased album Downie did with Dinner is Ruined in the last year of his life; that’s likely to be the most wildly “unsafe” thing of his entire career.

20. “Here, Here and Here.” In October 2016, Downie performed songs from Secret Path at Massey Hall for Hayden’s Dream Serenade. Less than a month after Downie died in October 2017, his brother Patrick appeared on the same stage, for the same event, to sing this Secret Path song with Kevin Drew on piano. “I feel … I heard … I live … I die … here, here and here.”