Cancon Thursday - Home For A Rest

A few years ago, when I heard the news that John Mann, from Spirit of the West had been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease, my heart just sank. Alzheimer’s disease has touched my family and the early onset version of it scares the shit out of me. I felt so bad for him, and his family,
because I understood all too well what the road ahead of them looked like.  At the time, I remember seeing an interview with John and he was so graceful in the face of an awful situation. I was never a giant fan of Spirit of the West but I always appreciated what they did and the devotion of their fans.

I’m not sure (pretty confident it wasn’t) if this was just a Queen’s / Ontario thing but in the 1990’s, you could not be in a campus pub for an evening and get out without hearing “Home For A Rest” and witnessing a crazy stampede to the dancefloor.  Folks just lost their shit over that song. Again, not something that particularly floated my boat but I did love to watch the joy on the faces of the dancers, stumbling around, beers in hand, singing as loudly as they could, stomping their feet in unison.

Last night, the news broke that John Mann had passed away.  The news was not unexpected, but it was heartbreaking all the same. He was only 57, way too young to go “home for a rest.”

Today, for Cancon Thursday, I’m going to share that foot stomping favourite by Spirit of the West.  Hugs your loved ones folks, as often as you can. Tell folks how you feel about them, all the fucking time. Life is short, too short to keep that shit to yourself xo

You'll have to excuse me, I'm not at my best

I've been gone for a week, I've been drunk since I left

These so called vacations will soon be my death

I'm so sick from the drink, I need home for a rest...