Lennie Gallant's inspired farewell to Ron Hynes
Musician wrote song just hours after Hynes's funeral in November
Lennie Gallant, one of Atlantic Canada's best known singer-songwriters, has written a song inspired by the outpouring of love following the death of friend and fellow musician Ron Hynes in November.
Called Saying Goodbye to Ron, it was written just hours after Hynes' funeral, which Gallant attended.
- LISTEN HERE: Saying Goodbye to Ron by Lennie Gallant
- Remembering Ron Hynes: Friends perform special ECMA tribute show
"The amazing thing to me was how much Newfoundland was in mourning over the loss of him," Gallant told CBC Cape Breton's Mainstreet.
"It seemed if you got into a taxicab or you went into a shop, a record store, any kind of shop, really, or a house or even walking down the street, people were pumping his music out on speakers onto the street.
"His music was everywhere, it seemed."
Gallant says the collective emotion moved him. He went back to his hotel on the night of the funeral and wrote a song about the whole experience.
High praise, indeed
Gallant knew Hynes for many years and said it meant a great deal to him if Hynes liked one of his songs.
"Ron [was] deeply committed to songwriting. Words were very important to him," he said. "He was a very honest songwriter and he didn't mind telling you if he thought something was good or something was bad."
Gallant reminisced about the Hynes song Back Home on the Island, which he heard Hynes perform on TV in the early 1980s.
Gallant said he was "totally mesmerized" by the song; he bought the record and learned it.
'It was moment for me'
"Years later," he said, "Ron and I became good friends and we used to hang a bit and trade a lot of songs and stories, and shared quite a few stages over the years.
"I remember we were walking up Queen Street [in Charlottetown] and just out of the blue, I don't know why, I started singing that song, which was one of his very first songs and not very well known. And the look on his face that I would know something from so far back.
"He started singing it too, so the both of us were walking up Queen Street singing this song together. It was a moment for me, that's for sure."
Gallant will perform tonight at the ECMA show in Sydney, one of a number of artists taking part in a tribute to Hynes.
With files from Mainstreet Cape Breton