for Gord Downie - 'We are less of a country without Gord Downie', by Justin Trudeau - 2017

18 October 2017,  Ottawa, Canada

We lost one of the very best of us this morning.

Gord was my friend. But he was everyone’s friend … our buddy Gord, who loved this country with everything he had. And not just with a nebulous ‘Oh, I love Canada’ way, he loved every hidden corner, every story, every story every aspect of this country that he celebrated his whole life.

He wanted to make it better, he knew as great as wer were, we needed to be better than what we are, and that is why his last years were dedicated to Chanie Wenjack and to reconciliation. This is something I've certainly drawn inspiration and strength from, and we are ... we are less as a country without Gord Downie in it. 

And we all knew it was coming ... but we hoped it wasn't. And ...

I thought  I was going to make it through this, but I'm not, it hurts.

For Michael Hutchence: 'A part of me died the other day and strangely a part of me was born', by Rhett Hutchence - 1997

27 November 1997, Sydney, Australia

There is no available vision or audio for this speech

A part of me died the other day and strangely a part of me was born, and then there is the part that will carry the memory of my brother Michael forever in my heart.

Michael and I were only two years apart when we grew up arm-in-arm. From the very beginning all the signs were there that Michael was destined to lead an extraordinary life. When he first opened his soulful eyes, he had two loving wonderful parents Patricia and Kelland from whom he inherited gentlemanly charm, accommodating nature and charisma.

With the help of our sister Tina, who played an integral part, feeding, helping, bathing, caring and being, when finally Mike came along our family was complete.

I have an early lyric book of Michael’s in which when he first started writing (and) there is a list of 10 things he wanted to achieve in his life. The first one was to conquer the world. I can’t remember what the other nine were but I’m sure he achieved them too.

Michael was a poet, a singer and a gifted performer. He touched the lives of everybody he met, even people he never met.

It hasn’t been easy being Michael’s brother, it’s strange, it’s been fantastic at times and other times the hardest, but having Michael for my brother I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

My heart goes out to Paula and beautiful, darling girl Tiger, and the other girls, to the band, to his friends and people who have known Michael and lost a tremendous friend.

Thanks to the support from friends, the love I’m receiving at the moment is helping me through this.

I cannot stress enough the importance of friendship and love in today’s times.

The other night I went and spent some time in the room, his room at the Ritz, to see if it had any answers. It seemed a sad room, it definitely wasn’t Michael.

And if Michael, who loved Oscar Wilde, would have identified with the famous poet’s last words “either this wallpaper goes or I do” then I understand.

On behalf of Michael I would like to thank my family for the love they gave him and together these words may have meaning for us all.

To mourn too long for those who we love is self-indulgent, but to honour their memory with a promise to live a little better for having known them gives purpose to their life and some reason for their death.

Rest in peace Bro. I love you. I will miss you.

***

Rhett also wrote and delivered a eulogy on the first anniversary of his brother's death

One year ago exactly, I was out buying some new sunglasses, and I came home to find out I’d lost my brother, I do however still have my sunnies. God works in mysterious ways.

For the first few weeks after Michael’s untimely death, one line of his many Lyrics kept playing in my head. it was from “Bitter Tears” and the line was “And I thought I was doing no wrong”.

And to be honest I don’t believe he thought he was. Or he realized the full ramifications of his actions. Not that it would have made a difference at the time.

One year, long in grief and short in time. And one where it seems some peoples grief has been manifesting in anger, the pain of loss.

In the eternal cycle of life, death, and rebirth, life is constantly presenting us with opportunities to totally let go of what encumbers us, in order for us to fully embrace life with fresh openness, and forgiveness plays a major part.

Unless we have full gratitude for those we have loved how can we expect the fragile bud of rebirth to emerge within us.

It is time to let go, time to forgive.

The past cannot be changed, remember Michael with love and joy, not misery.

We are here on the anniversary of his death. We are here to celebrate his life.

If Michael’s death was a tragedy, his life was not. And how does one sum up such a full life.

The beauty is that some of his many talents will surface forever, due to the huge legacy he left us all, in a dozen albums, hundreds of songs, and the performance of thousands of truly memorable shows, all around the globe. Sometimes I feel Michael is everywhere, literally.

Michael, the poet, the lyricist, the natural performer certainly kicked his goal of world domination.

The hardest thing for me to reconcile is the death of Michael Hutchence, the normal human being. The ordinary man with an extraordinary life.

It’s Michael, the searcher, the explorer, the healer, the big brother, the kind gentle sensitive loving man that I miss. Thank god for memories.

It hurts that I won’t hear his spoken word, even if it was rousing on me, or feel in my heart the roar of the crowd when he stepped on stage.

I truly feel proud and honoured to have known him and lucky to have spent some of the best years of my life with him, and I cherish those memories.

I would never have wanted it to turn out this way, however Michael’s death has been my rebirth. It is the least I can do for him.

How we live and how we die are less than a breath apart.

Rock on mate, I love you.

I’d like to let go with a poem

Please take a few soft breaths
As we move
From one level to the next

As in growth, or dying
We need to let go
At the edge
To continue further

Trust the process
Let go lightly
Pass on Gently

For Kurt Cobain : 'He's such an asshole', by Courtney Love - 1994

10 April 1994, Seattle Center, Seattle, Washington, USA

I don't know what to say. I feel the same way you guys do. If you guys don't think... that I used to sit in this room, when he played the guitar and sang, and feel so honored to be near him, you're crazy... Anyway, he left a note, it's more like a letter to the fucking editor. I don't know what happened. I mean it was gonna happen, but it could've happened when he was 40. He always said he was gonna outlive everybody and be a hundred and twenty. I'm not gonna read you all the note 'cause it's none of the rest of your fucking business. But some of it is to you. I don't really think it takes away his dignity to read this considering that it's addressed to most of you. He's such an asshole. I want you all to say "asshole" really loud.

[crowd: "asshole"]

This note should be pretty easy to understand. All the warnings from the punk rock 101 courses over the years since my first introduction to the, shall we say, ethics involved with independence and embracement of your community, has proven to be very true. I haven't felt the excitement of listening to, as well as creating music, along with really writing something, for too many years now. I feel guilty beyond words about these things - for example, when we're backstage and the lights go out and the roar of the crowd begins, it doesn't affect me the way in which it did for Freddie Mercury, who seemed to love and relish the love and adoration of the crowd.

Well, Kurt, so fucking what - then don't be a rock star you asshole.

Which is something I totally admire and envy. The fact, I can't fool you, any one of you, it simply isn't fair to you or to me. The worst crime I could think of would be to put people off by faking it, pretending as if I'm having 100% fun.

No Kurt, the worst crime I can think of is for you to just continue being a rock star when you fucking hate it, just fucking stop.

Sometimes I feel as I should have a punch-in time clock before I walk out on stage. I've tried everything within my power to appreciate it, and I do, God believe me, I do. But it's not enough. I appreciate the fact that I and we have affected and entertained a lot of people. I must be one of those narcissists who only appreciate things when they're alone. I'm too sensitive. Oh, I need to be slightly numb in order to regain the enthusiasm I once had as a child. On our last three tours I've had a much better appreciation of all the people I've known personally, and of fans of our music. But I still can't get out the frustration, the guilt and the empathy I have for everybody. There's good in all of us and I simply love people too much.

So why didn't you just fucking stay?

So much that it makes me feel too fucking sad. Sad little sensitive unappreciative Pisces, Jesus, Man...

Oh shut up, bastard. Why didn't you just enjoy it? I don't know. Then he goes on to say personal things to me that are none of your damn business; personal things to Frances that are none of your damn business.

I had a good marriage, and for that I'm grateful. But since the age of seven, I've become hateful toward all humans in general. Only because it seems so easy for people to get along and have empathy.

Empathy?

Only because I love and feel for people too much I guess Thank you all from the pit of my burning nauseous stomach for your letters and concern during the last years. I'm too much of an erratic, moody person and I don't have the passion anymore. So remember...

And don't remember this, cause this is a fucking lie!

It's better to burn out than to fade away.

God! You asshole.

Peace, Love, Empathy. Kurt Cobain.

And then there are some more personal things that is none of your damn business. And just remember: this is all bullshit... But I want you to know one thing: that '80s tough luck bullshit, it doesn't work. It's not real. It doesn't work. I should have let him – we all should have let him – have his numbness. We should have let him have the thing that made him feel better, that made his stomach feel better. We should have let him have it, instead of trying to strip away his skin.

You go home and you tell your parents, "Don't you ever try that tough love bullshit on me, 'cuz it doesn't fucking work." That's what I think.

And I'm laying in our bed, and I'm really sorry. And I feel the same way you do. I'm really sorry you guys. I don't know what I could have done. I wish I'd been here. I wish I hadn't listened to other people, but I did.

Every night I've been sleeping with his mother, and I wake up in the morning and think it's him because their bodies are sort of the same.

And I have to go now. Just tell him he's a fucker, OK? Just say "fucker." "You're a fucker." And that you love him.

For Lemmy Kilmister: 'Precious lord, take my hand', by Dave Grohl - 2016

10 January 2016, Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery, Los Angeles, USA

The funeral streaming had technical difficulties during the amazing Dave Grohl eulogy. It's worth persevering, and the beautiful, tears-inducing Little Richard finale is in full sound from 7.00.

Hi guys

There’s not enough time for me to tell you how much Lemmy meant to me, and all the amazing experiences I had with him.

The first time I met Lemmy was at fucken Crazy Girls about twenty years ago, and I was walking back from the mens’ room,  and on the way back, I looked to my left and I saw Lemmy by himself in the corner on a video game. And it blew my mind. I knew that I couldn’t just go say something because he was on his own in the corner. On the way out I thought, ‘I have to say something. He’s my hero. He’s the one true rock ’n ’roller that bridged my love of ACDC and Sabbath and Zeppelin with my love of GBH and the Ramones and Black Flag. So I walked up and said, ‘Excuse me Lemmy, I don’t want to bother you, but you’ve influenced me so much, you’re my musical hero. I’m a musician. I play in the Foo Fighters, and I was in Nirvana. And he looked up from the video game, and the first thing he ever said to me, he said, “sorry about your friend Kurt [Cobain]”.

And in that moment he revealed this gun-slinging, whiskey-drinking badass, motherfucking rock star to be this gun slinging whiskey drinking badass mother fucking rockstar with a heart, and I walked away thinking if I never see him again, that’s enough, for the rest of my life.

But then we becamse friends. And its one thing when you have a hero, but it’s another when your hero becomes your friend.

And over the years I have a lot of great stories of going to his apartment, and walking through the aisles of pornos ... or going to the Rainbow and ordering two Jack and cokes and the waitress brings two Jack and cokes and he’s fucking male

Or the one time I text him and say, ‘hey man, my band’s playing at the Pantaras Theatre tonight you should come down check it out’,  

I said, it’s an acoustic show, it's not like a big rock gig

[mimes texting] Ok

An hour later, I’m downstairs backstage, and I hear fucking Motorhead blaring out of the dressing room, and I get so excited, “finally someone else in the band’s listening to fucking Motorhead!’ and I open up the door and there’s [mimes catatonic fagging] Lemmy, by himself listening to Motorhead.

My mom was there, so I say to Lemmy, I want you to come and meet my mom, so we walk across the hall way, and in that room was my mother, and my wife, and my daughter who was a baby I think she was six months old at the time. So Lemmy walks in with his drink, and his cigarette, [mimes pointing] ‘that Lemmy, from Motorhead’.

[Throat growling 'Lemmy']

And then he looks and he sees that there’s a baby in a crib, and he puts out his cigarette in his drink, and he puts the drink down. Now to most people that  would seem like nothing. But to me, that was my hero putting out his cigarette in his drink and putting it aside because my daughter was there in the room.

So I think what everybody has always known, at least where I am today, is that Lemmy was not only that gun slinging whiskey drinking badass mother fucking rock n roll  star, but he had the biggest heart and he set such a great example because he was so kind to everyone, people he  didn’t know, people he known for years, he was so kind.

He and I shared a love of Little Richard.

I always said that if there was one person I could meet it would be Little Richard. Because whose more badass than Little Richard? One day I was in the airport, at LAX and I was standing on a curb and a guy came up and said, ‘Hey I heard from Lemmy Kilmister that you wanted to meet Little Richard?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Well that’s my dad.’

‘What?’

And it’s true.  We walk over to this limousine, and he taps on the window, and the window comes down a little bit, and it’s fucken Little Richard sitting there!

Oh my god.

And this guy [whispers]

Windows comes all the way down.

Little Richard says , “I got blessings for you ... ‘ And he signs this bible pamphlet for me and hands it to me, and [Dave pulls out pamphlet to much applause] I kept it.

[Long pause fighting back tears]

And I wanted to give it to him on his birthday.

So last night [audio video glitch]

So this is a song Little Richard sang, and I thought I’d read it. It’s called ‘Precious Lord Take My Hand’

Precious Lord, take my hand
Lead me on, and help me stand
Lord I'm tired, I’m so weak,

Lord you know I’m worn,

Through the storm, through the night
Lead me on to the light
Take my hand precious Lord, lead me home

When my way it gets kinda dreary precious Lord’s somewhere near
When my life is almost gone
Hear my cry, lord
Hear my call
Hold my hand lest I fall
Take my hand precious Lord, lead me home

Cheers Lemmy