[Book Review] The Never Ending Present | The Story of Gord Downie and The Tragically Hip

When I was in high-school, my final assignment for Grade 12 literature was to choose three novels about one subject and write an essay. I blew the assignment by taking too broad of an approach and not incorporating enough from the three books. I barely passed that class.

The Never Ending Present at times blows it in a similar way. The book’s subject is The Tragically Hip and Gord Downie, and I learned a bit when it was on task. Not so much when it went into chapter long tangents about the Canadian music scene.

The preface was promising. Author Michael Barclay did not shy away from stating how private the members of The Tragically Hip are and how they did not want a “tell all” book written. They were a band about the next album, the next project, the next tour and not being defined by the past. Hence, the title The Never Ending Present.

Gord Downie, The Hip’s leader by default, passed away on October 17th, 2017 from terminal brain cancer. On that day, the Hip’s guitarist Rob Baker gave an answer to the question about documenting the band’s past to the Toronto Star:

Anyone can write whatever they want to write, that’s fine with me. It’s just not our story as we would tell it. I have no interest in a chronological history of the band or talking about who influenced us and what our influence on others might be. It’s irrelevant… Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

Barclay is also clear how The Hip declined to “review a fact-checking document for this book.”

I almost stopped reading it right here. I’m not sure if The Hip even want me to know what is contain within its pages. Not in a sleazy, tell all way, but in a “let the art speak for itself” way. Gord preferred to have the meaning behind his words to be open to your interpretation and not be a mystery that need to be solved.

But I carried on. I was taking a deep dive into The Hip’s catalogue for the very first time in my life, and curiosity got the better of me. It turns out I had nothing to worry about. This book revealed nothing you could find for yourself on Google.