'No dress rehearsal, this is our life': 10 Gord Downie lyrics to take with us long into the night

Canada lost a true icon last night when Gord Downie passed away at the age of 53 after a battle with cancer. But he will live on through his extraordinary body of work — including 30 years of brilliant lyrics to inspire generations to come.

Often cryptic, sometimes humourous and always poetic, Downie's way with words was incomparable. No matter how you're feeling right now in the wake of this news, here are ten lyrics to carry you through.

"Oh, if and, if and when you get into the end zone / Act like you've been there a thousand times before / Don't blame, don't say people lose people all the time anymore / Don't say people lose people all the time anymore"

- "Heaven is a Better Place Today" (In Between Evolution, 2004)

"First thing we'd climb a tree and maybe then we'd talk / Or sit silently and listen to our thoughts / With illusions of someday casting a golden light / No dress rehearsal, this is our life"

- "Ahead By a Century" (Trouble at the Henhouse, 1996)

"Whenever I get lost / Whenever I feel weak / Whenever or just because / You whisper it to me / Honey, maybe everything you need / Is on the other side of this feeling"

- "Honey, Please" (We Are The Same, 2009)

"In your face the endless patience / The fleeting nature of life on display"

- "Now For Plan A" (Now For Plan A, 2012)

"It was our third time in New York / It was your fourth time in New York / We were fifth and sixth on the bill / We talk a little about our bands / Talk a little of our future plans / It's not like we were best friends / That number scheme comes back to me / In times beyond our heartbeat"

- "Escape is at the Hand for the Travellin' Man" (Phantom Power, 1998)

"For a good life we just might have to weaken / And find somewhere to go / Go somewhere we're needed / Find somewhere to grow"

- "It's a Good Life, If You Don't Weaken" (In Violet Light, 2002)

"Violins and tambourines / This is what we think they mean / It's hard to say, it's sad but true / I'm kinda dumb and so are you"

- "The Last of the Unplucked Gems" (Road Apples, 1991)

"We live to survive our paradoxes"

- "Springtime in Vienna" (Trouble at the Henhouse, 1996)

"Drain the ocean of words / Like God's representatives on earth / Learn to hurt and how not to hurt / And the thing you taught me and what I learned / Love is a first"

- "Love is a First" (We Are The Same, 2009)

"I have your love, I take it into my heart / With my life in my mind, and yours in your arms / And the dream that you told me is so safe and warm / Here, in the dark"

- "Here, In The Dark" (Man Machine Poem, 2016)

Read CBC News' obituary here.