Cool!

Did Gordon Downie Predict the Justin Trudeau as PM?

This arrived from Christopher yesterday.

Now that all the Tragically Hip hoopla (Hipla?) is starting to fade away, I thought you might find this interesting. I know a lot of fuss was made in the media re: Justin Trudeau’s attendance at their last show of the tour (in Kingston), and the fact that Downie addressed him & basically endorsed him near the end of the concert. 

Since Downie’s announcement re: his health, I’ve been on a listening & watching spree, getting around to everything I hadn’t seen or heard from the band in the last 10-15 years (a pleasant journey, I might add). I was re-watching their Woodstock ’99 show, and during the performance of “Nautical Disaster” something weird happens.

At 3:15, just after the song lyrics, Downie does an ad lib about Aretha Franklin. While going through that, at just after 3:33, Gord Downie says: 

“One by one, things to come. Ohh, just like young Trudeau.”

Before going off into another area with the lyrics about struggles, water and raspberry freezies. Seriously.

Anyway, I thought him mentioning young Trudeau as “things to come” 16 years before he was elected Prime Minister was a rather interesting coincidence, given the events of that “final” show in Kingston. Can Gord Downie tell the future? I bet some Canadians probably believe that.

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

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4 thoughts on “Did Gordon Downie Predict the Justin Trudeau as PM?

  • Intriguing, but I kind of doubt it. Justin’s big “coming out” wasn’t until a year later, when he gave the eulogy at his father’s funeral. Gord is probably saying something else (god knows what…..)

    Reply
  • Trudeau has been prime minister since LONG before the Kingston show.. he complimented him. Not predicted

    Reply
    • You missed the point. It’s said that Gord predicted JT as PM back in 1999 when the Hip played Woodstock. Watch the video again.

      Reply
  • I’m pretty sure this is in reference to Michel (Mike) l, Justin’s youngest brother who drowned in Kokanee Lake after being swept in by an avalanche. (http://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/1998-michel-trudeau-lost-in-bc-avalanche)

    The timing makes sense (only 8 months later), and Gord makes references to succumbing, the water being too cold, too deep (which is what prevented the recovery of Mike’s body) and to being cryogenically suspended, which fits in with Mike’s final resting place in a freezing cold lake.

    Reply

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