Sundown

May 2, 2023 11:39 AM

Folk singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot dies at 84. Gordon Lightfoot, the folk singer-songwriter known for “If You Could Read My Mind” and “Sundown” and for songs that told tales of Canadian identity, died Monday, Lightfoot recorded 20 studio albums and penned hundreds of songs, including “Carefree Highway,” “Early Morning Rain” and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” In the 1970s, Lightfoot garnered five Grammy nominations, three platinum records and nine gold records for albums and singles. He performed in well over 1,500 concerts and recorded 500 songs.
posted by dancestoblue (120 comments total)

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posted by The otter lady at 11:40 AM on May 2, 2023 [11 favorites]

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posted by rhamphorhynchus at 11:43 AM on May 2, 2023

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posted by The Vice Admiral of the Narrow Seas at 11:44 AM on May 2, 2023

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posted by y2karl at 11:44 AM on May 2, 2023

Massive loss. Not unexpected, since he was in poor health and nearly died in 2002. But just a massive loss nonetheless.

"Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" has some absolute clunkers in its lyrics ("as big freighters go it was bigger than most"), but it's an epic song and I'll always love:

Does anyone know where the love of God goes /
When the waves turn the minutes to hours?

Holy shit, what a line. The man certainly knew how to turn a phrase.
posted by fortitude25 at 11:48 AM on May 2, 2023 [52 favorites]

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posted by Fizz at 11:49 AM on May 2, 2023

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posted by dannyboybell at 11:51 AM on May 2, 2023

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posted by dlugoczaj at 11:51 AM on May 2, 2023

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posted by Quasirandom at 11:56 AM on May 2, 2023

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Definitely part of my childhood and seemingly a part of a great many mefi's as well.

The Gordon Lightfoot threads
posted by drewbage1847 at 11:59 AM on May 2, 2023 [4 favorites]

The Mariner's Church in Detroit is planning to ring its bells 30 times today at 3:00 pm ET. So right about now.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 12:01 PM on May 2, 2023 [43 favorites]

♪
posted by Gelatin at 12:02 PM on May 2, 2023

For anyone seeking a reminder of - or introduction to - Lightfoot's genius, here's Gord's Gold: an opportunity to savor several of his musical treasures.
posted by New Frontier at 12:06 PM on May 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

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posted by Halloween Jack at 12:07 PM on May 2, 2023

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posted by fimbulvetr at 12:08 PM on May 2, 2023

Sad day.
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posted by whatevernot at 12:10 PM on May 2, 2023

it's an epic song and I'll always love

Same. I grew up listening to him and my dad used to play guitar and sing with a voice in about the same register, so his songs were in frequent rotation. This article has some neat photos of the Edmund Fitzgerald and related stuff.

Has anyone seen If You Could Read My Mind? I'm curious about it (and I guess it's free to watch on plex.tv?) but I'm wondering if it's more about the music or more about some of his complex life issues. I'm looking more for the former.
posted by jessamyn at 12:11 PM on May 2, 2023 [4 favorites]

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posted by dr_dank at 12:14 PM on May 2, 2023

He built this country Canada as much as anyone.
posted by Capt. Renault at 12:18 PM on May 2, 2023 [9 favorites]

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posted by Silvery Fish at 12:21 PM on May 2, 2023

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posted by Spike Glee at 12:22 PM on May 2, 2023

Linking to the numerous CBC tributes seems more appropriate…

Canadian folk music icon Gordon Lightfoot dead at 84

In Gordon Lightfoot's songbook, art is for everyone

Gordon Lightfoot's life in 10 songs

'Golden forever': musicians and fans react to Gordon Lightfoot's death

Our favourite archival moments with Gordon Lightfoot



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posted by Ahmad Khani at 12:24 PM on May 2, 2023 [14 favorites]

My partner works at Massey Hall in Toronto and was so happy that Gordon was able to play a show there after they had a huge reno. He was a regular (played there 170+ times) and there was a real fear he wouldn't survive the 3-year reno. Instead, he played their reopening night show.
posted by thecjm at 12:26 PM on May 2, 2023 [9 favorites]

Sundown was, I think, the first album I bought with my own money. That’s weird to think about.
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:26 PM on May 2, 2023 [4 favorites]

Another part of my childhood gone, Gordon was Canada.

SCTV - Gordon Lightfoot Sings Every Song Ever Written
posted by Meatbomb at 12:27 PM on May 2, 2023 [34 favorites]

When Drake built a mansion on Toronto's most exclusive street, most of the neighbours were unimpressed. Except for the neighbour directly across the street: Gordon Lightfoot.
posted by thecjm at 12:30 PM on May 2, 2023 [3 favorites]

Watched this last night just to understand why his songs hit so well.

What Makes This Song Great? Ep 94 - If You Could Read My Mind"
posted by drewbage1847 at 12:31 PM on May 2, 2023 [4 favorites]

Meatbomb, that SCTV link is hilarious. Thank you.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 12:36 PM on May 2, 2023 [4 favorites]

I mentioned in an old thread that it seems like several generations of Canadian kids had that one teacher in grade 5 or 6 who made you learn The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. It's a thing that you might begrudgingly, resentfully do at the time, but really appreciate later; kind of like mandatory French until grade 9.

Something sort of clicks, or did for me anyway, when you’re a bit older and you go back to his songs because you want to, not because they’re “important” or whatever but because they’re some fucking great songs. He definitely straddled that tired old line of Canadiana and the whole “what does it mean to be Canadian?” conversation that was so the rage throughout the referendum 90s and which pretty much no one from here ever wants to have again, and his were THE go-to CanCon quota albums if you ever worked at a university radio station in the 80s (raises hand)…but he also stood apart from that because he was so universally respected and was so much his own distinctive thing.

Rest in peace Gord, we’ll miss you at Massey Hall.
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posted by chococat at 12:46 PM on May 2, 2023 [18 favorites]

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posted by doctornemo at 12:59 PM on May 2, 2023

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posted by chapps at 1:04 PM on May 2, 2023

Like a lot of Canadian kids, I grew up listening to Gordon Lightfoot. Lazy evenings, lobster suppers, camping, road trips - all had a Lightfoot soundtrack. His songs were part of our repertoire at family sing-a-longs. When my father left, Gord's voice became a kind of weird stand in for my dad. I'd listen to him when I was hurting and lonely and I still do.

I knew this was coming, but it's still painful. Gord was one of the golden voices of Canada, along with other folk legends like Joni, Leonard, Buffy, and Stan.

This sweet video is making the rounds today. John Prine dedicating a song to Gord, who is in the audience, at George Stroumboulopoulos' place: https://youtu.be/w5Rkm_dqm7A?t=389
posted by Stoof at 1:04 PM on May 2, 2023 [13 favorites]

Does any one know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours?

One of the greatest lines ever written into a song.
RIP
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 1:06 PM on May 2, 2023 [8 favorites]

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posted by Sphinx at 1:09 PM on May 2, 2023

MDonaldson via Mastodon:

"Toni Tennille (yes, my aunt-in-law) has this story, which is in her memoir, of going to a small party at Gordon Lightfoot's house. She’s hanging out in the kitchen talking to Gordon when there's the sound of scratching on the back door. Gordon opens the door, and a pair of raccoons come in. They jump up onto the kitchen counter, and Gordon starts feeding them."

Geddy Lee also has some really kind words on Gord, calling him "The Greatest Canadian".

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posted by JoeZydeco at 1:14 PM on May 2, 2023 [16 favorites]

Another marker of being a Canadian born between say 1955 and 1975 is that you probably learned to sing "Pussywillows, Cattails" in elementary school (or in my case, played on the recorder). Here's how it sounds when done by the master.

And this comes closer to what my parents would have had to endure at a spring pageant many years ago.

To make up for that, let me recommend this pre-VU version by Niko (with bonus 1965 guitar by Jimmy Page).
posted by morspin at 1:16 PM on May 2, 2023 [5 favorites]

I was lucky enough to see the final show at Masesy Hall before the renovations and the show when they opened up again. He will be missed for certain.
posted by cirhosis at 1:18 PM on May 2, 2023

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posted by gentlyepigrams at 1:20 PM on May 2, 2023

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posted by jquinby at 1:20 PM on May 2, 2023

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posted by /\/\/\/ at 1:20 PM on May 2, 2023

I really liked Niko Stratis's post about Gordon Lightfoot, especially when it comes to the passing of time and the music we heard our parents play when we were young.
posted by Kitteh at 1:23 PM on May 2, 2023 [5 favorites]

Looked up to the Gord above and said, “Hey, man, thanks.”
posted by ricochet biscuit at 1:27 PM on May 2, 2023 [8 favorites]

Another marker of being a Canadian born between say 1955 and 1975 is that you probably learned to sing "Pussywillows, Cattails" in elementary school (or in my case, played on the recorder).

Oh we did, but with a sadistic twist - I had a grade 5 teacher who entered our class into a choir competition. He made us stand and relentlessly practice this song over, and over, and over. And over. Ever faint or nearly faint from standing too long? It happened to me once, and some other kids a few times, during those practice sessions.

And the kicker was we didn't even place.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 1:40 PM on May 2, 2023 [2 favorites]

when I was a kid my friend's dad would cut us up with his Gord Lightfoot and Murray McLauchlan impressions

the longer you remain on the planet, the more those random silly things can take on poignancy
posted by elkevelvet at 1:42 PM on May 2, 2023 [5 favorites]

The Gordon Lightfoot threads...

Yeah, I'm still a bit grumpy about that Robbie Fulks essay that tended to dwell on the filler and overlook the genius.

At his best Lightfoot was closer to creating songs that function as pure melody than any other composer that I can think of.
posted by ovvl at 1:43 PM on May 2, 2023 [3 favorites]

I’ll never forget the radio call-in request show where the caller wanted to dedicate If You Could Read My Mind, one of the sweetest songs ever written about divorce, to her parents for their wedding anniversary.
posted by hwyengr at 1:43 PM on May 2, 2023 [3 favorites]

"Ten-hut! Draft dodger, eh? Well, see if those trees you're always hugging save you when Gordon Lightfoot's creeping 'round your back stair."

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posted by Faint of Butt at 1:45 PM on May 2, 2023 [3 favorites]

Guess it's time to mention that the "hard loving woman" in Sundown is Cathy Smith, the woman who did those fatal speedballs with John Belushi a few years later.
posted by morspin at 1:49 PM on May 2, 2023 [6 favorites]

Got to see him near the height of his career in 1979 or 80 in Portland, Maine. He had a cold, so he just sort of played through the set and said goodnight without all the encores and such, but it was a fine performance anyway.

I'm not Canadian, but "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" makes me wish I was.
posted by briank at 1:54 PM on May 2, 2023 [3 favorites]

Guess it's time to mention that the "hard loving woman" in Sundown is Cathy Smith, the woman who did those fatal speedballs with John Belushi a few years later.

Indeed. She died in a nursing home at 73 in 2020.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 2:06 PM on May 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

Ribbon of Darkness was the first song I heard him sing.
posted by y2karl at 2:07 PM on May 2, 2023

Lightfoot and Belafonte at the Riverboat in 1967.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 2:09 PM on May 2, 2023 [10 favorites]

Gord’s Gold was regularly on the record player growing up. One of my favorite singers, one of my favorite records. This one hits hard. Feel like I’m winning, but I’m losing again.
posted by caution live frogs at 2:21 PM on May 2, 2023 [3 favorites]

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posted by Splunge at 2:26 PM on May 2, 2023

I may have broke deep and took water.
posted by kiblinger at 2:49 PM on May 2, 2023 [3 favorites]

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posted by talking leaf at 2:50 PM on May 2, 2023

A true loss. I will also point out that “Gord” is a name that exists only in Canada. I am certain this is true as I’ve met dozens of Canadian Gord’s yet never a non-Mapled Gord.
posted by misterpatrick at 2:51 PM on May 2, 2023 [8 favorites]

Gord Lightfoot, Gord Pinsent. Gord Downie. We're losing all the good Gords.

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posted by Clever User Name at 2:53 PM on May 2, 2023 [3 favorites]

[Someone referred to the Tragically Hip as “a band so Canadian they had two guys named Gord.”]
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 3:15 PM on May 2, 2023 [16 favorites]

That time Nico covered Gordon Lightfoot, and so did the Replacements.
posted by larrybob at 3:21 PM on May 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

@LakeSuperior's tribute
posted by Quasirandom at 3:21 PM on May 2, 2023 [2 favorites]

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posted by Kangaroo at 3:36 PM on May 2, 2023

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posted by kneecapped at 3:36 PM on May 2, 2023

My friend Kelly once passed along to me a joke that, at the time, was the reason she knew the guy she was about to date was The One^[1]:

Q: How many Timbits come in a box?
A: One for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald

[1] He turned out not to be The One, but that joke still lives in my head
posted by hanov3r at 3:41 PM on May 2, 2023 [5 favorites]

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posted by Mutant Lobsters from Riverhead at 3:45 PM on May 2, 2023

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posted by JoeXIII007 at 3:53 PM on May 2, 2023

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posted by Joey Michaels at 3:54 PM on May 2, 2023

A true loss. I will also point out that “Gord” is a name that exists only in Canada. I am certain this is true as I’ve met dozens of Canadian Gord’s yet never a non-Mapled Gord.

There were a couple of Gords and at least one Gordy in my hometown, but I grew up just south of the border.

Just today I realized that I thought of Lightfoot as an institution rather than as a petson with so mundane a thing as an age.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 4:16 PM on May 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

Oh, this one hurts. I was a huge fan as a young person, and my girlfriend that I hung around with most from junior high on was also a huge fan because her mother was obsessed with him. She was a hip cool single mom, and every year she took me and my friend to see Lightfoot perform. I think it lasted about 10 years. It was usually at the Opera House, but I remember him at the Paramount as well once that was remodeled.

The man could play a guitar. I think because he was such a stellar songwriter, a lot of people didn’t pay attention to his guitar work as much, but I would watch his hands during the concerts and just be mesmerized. Gosh, I’m just inexplicably sad. I mean 84 is a good number of years, and yet my heart’s kind of broken.
posted by kitten kaboodle at 4:23 PM on May 2, 2023 [7 favorites]

the caller wanted to dedicate If You Could Read My Mind, one of the sweetest songs ever written about divorce, to her parents for their wedding anniversary

If You Could Read My Mind was a mainstay of my lullaby repertoire back when my daughter had afternoon naps, though I was usually more successful in making myself nod off rather than her. Propriety aside, it did result in a few Kids Say The Darndest, such as when I sang "Just like a paperback novel/The kind the drugstores sell" and she piped up with "We sure do love books!" or "I don't know know where we went wrong/But the feeling's gone" and she, with her three-year-old face so serious and concerned asked "Where did it go?!?" One of my favourite things about the magic of music is how a song can have personal meanings diametrically opposed to what it is actually about; If You Could Read My Mind is a doozy.

I'm not a superfan - though Summer Side of Life is definitely a All Time Top 20 song for me - but Gordon Lightfoot has always been a constant. I'm sure I'm not the only '70s/'80s Canadian kid whose dad was a dead ringer for Gord's Gold-era Lightfoot.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 4:32 PM on May 2, 2023 [6 favorites]

How many of us would have ever heard about the Edmund Fitzgerald if not for him?

An iconic song.

29 +1 dots…

Enjoy that Highway Gordon…

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posted by Windopaene at 4:33 PM on May 2, 2023 [4 favorites]

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posted by jabo at 4:39 PM on May 2, 2023

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the watchman's gone
posted by philip-random at 5:02 PM on May 2, 2023 [3 favorites]

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posted by Quietgal at 5:10 PM on May 2, 2023

Edwardian, southernly striped
His hair blondish and poetic
He is less than vinyl perfect
His foot is a precise anchor for the husk and vibrance of his voice

He is the image of Alberta
A side street near Chicago
The grim beauty of Toronto

He is an artist, he is an artist
He is an artist painting Sistine masterpieces
Of pine and fir and blackwoods
Still echoes long ago


The Guess Who - Lightfoot
posted by philip-random at 5:14 PM on May 2, 2023 [5 favorites]

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posted by lapolla at 5:17 PM on May 2, 2023

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posted by armeowda at 5:31 PM on May 2, 2023

> That time Nico covered Gordon Lightfoot...

I learned about that cover in the Nico, 1988 biopic, definitely recommended.
posted by morspin at 5:33 PM on May 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

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posted by theory at 5:51 PM on May 2, 2023

If you could read my mind, Gord
You’d not have bought so much damned ore.
posted by MarchHare at 5:55 PM on May 2, 2023 [2 favorites]

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posted by Mitheral at 6:00 PM on May 2, 2023

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posted by token-ring at 6:07 PM on May 2, 2023

Growing up in Michigan, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" was a staple on the radio every November.

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posted by dhens at 6:28 PM on May 2, 2023 [3 favorites]

Gord's Gold was one of my first 12 albums from the Columbia Record Club. I don't know how or why those songs spoke to me so much when I wasn't even yet 10 years old, but they've stuck with me all my life. I was already a kid from a small town who read a lot, so I knew about those paperback novels, the kind that drugstores sell. I'd read Anne of Green Gables and its sequels, so I was familiar with the concept of Canadian men going out West to work to build the railroad. And I associated "Early Morning Rain" with the bleakness of early spring in New Hampshire, with the lakes and rivers melting but still decaying piles of snow everywhere. So many good songs. Thanks, Gordon.
posted by Daily Alice at 6:33 PM on May 2, 2023 [9 favorites]

I had the privilege of attending many concerts in the 1960s and 70s, rarely seeing anyone more than once... but the greater privilege of enjoying Gordon Lightfoot live at least 5 times. I treasure those memories, and his music still captivates me.




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posted by Scout405 at 6:42 PM on May 2, 2023 [2 favorites]

I'm old. So old I remember when all of his hit songs where on the radio. All the goddamned time. I was so excited when Jesus invented the walkman and I could listen to whatever the fuck I wanted unsullied by some hot hits radio programmers idea of what was worth listening to.

also:
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posted by evilDoug at 6:48 PM on May 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

Forgive me, I have to laugh every time I see that SCTV sketch. Gordon Lightfoot has been a part of the tapestry for my whole music-listening life. He always seemed to be on the soft rock station my mom liked when I was a kid, so I got to know all of his songs, including the mesmerizingly lugubrious “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”

Got a DVD of Gord’s Gold in my 20s and played it to death. I still love it.

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posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 7:13 PM on May 2, 2023 [4 favorites]

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posted by detachd at 7:34 PM on May 2, 2023

• 🎸
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 7:53 PM on May 2, 2023

A cover of Sundown by a collaboration named “Elwood” was my introduction to Gordon Lightfoot - of course that always brought the Blues Brothers to mind. Tonight I’m just learning of the other connections to John Belushi.
posted by borborygmi at 9:42 PM on May 2, 2023 [2 favorites]

Someday, down by the brandy tree,
I'll hear the Shepherd call for me;
Call me to leave my happy ways
And the shining world I know.

Sun on the hill, come go with me,
My days have all been free.
The pipes come laughing down the wind
And that's the way I go, That's the way for me.


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posted by away for regrooving at 11:23 PM on May 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

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My dad looked a lot like Gordon Lightfoot and I've always felt a little weird about that.

"Sundown" always amuses me because whereas the usual song wants to feed you two verses before you get to the delicious refrain, Sundown is like nah the verse is a fuckin couplet. We're going in immediately, and over and over. Even the refrain couplets have an interesting progression, care/care shame/shame care/sin shame/care/care +sin. Nice progression and variation, and the mood it creates (surprising, but comforting, but odd, not right) fits the kind of jaded rueful overstimulation. Each verse is like a little gasp of air or a lucid moment.
posted by fleacircus at 11:53 PM on May 2, 2023 [12 favorites]

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posted by Pouteria at 2:16 AM on May 3, 2023

I saw this thread in the morning, but life kept me busy til just now, on a crowded train home in Japan. Growing up in Michigan, born in the 70s, Gordon Lightfoot was more often than not the soundtrack to the few good times I can vaguely recall of life when my parents were still together, and after that, one of the rare constants between time spent on visitation weekends, or with my mom, a single mother, an artist, trying to keep a roof over our heads in the very early 80s, and something about Lightfoot on the record player, or cassette, made things still somehow okay, or okay enough to put the day behind us and just feel a moment of content. We had that. We had a roof, we had each other, and we had those songs to let us know that.

Fuck. I’m just sort of realizing all this, that there’s a world in which my parents managed to stay together, to somehow find a way not to be people utterly at odds and terrible for each other, and Lightfoot, in that world, wasn’t the last little signifier of a happy home, and a fond, bittersweet memory. Maybe in that world, my loving and happy parents played those songs so much I got tired of it, and rejected it, and only came back, just now after all this time, only after hearing he’d passed.

I’m not in that world. I’m in this one, where every mention of Lightfoot in all the years from Kalamazoo to now brought with it some amber hued version of a life I was too young to really remember. I’m here, where Lightfoot was preceded by half a year by my mother who always kept those records playing, and more than a decade by my father who did the same. Fuck. I’m tired of loss.
posted by Ghidorah at 3:52 AM on May 3, 2023 [20 favorites]

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posted by ceejaytee at 4:14 AM on May 3, 2023

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posted by fourpotatoes at 4:49 AM on May 3, 2023

Pretty sure Lightfoot wrote at least 10 of the first 20 songs I ever learned on the guitar. Early Morning Rain, Alberta Bound, If You Could Read My Mind, I'm Not Saying...

Only got to see him live once - as part of Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue in Maple Leaf Gardens.

Travelling round Newfoundland last summer his tunes were in heavy rotation.

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posted by TomFrog at 5:05 AM on May 3, 2023

random silly things can take on poignancy

Like the fact that we would sing the Star Spangled Banner to the tune of The Edmund Fitzgerald. Sacrilege, I know, but a guaranteed laugh.

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Fella, it's been good to know ya.
posted by whuppy at 6:00 AM on May 3, 2023 [1 favorite]

Srsly tho Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald was one of the first 45s I actually bought.
posted by whuppy at 6:02 AM on May 3, 2023

I misheard one of his songs in a mall, probably Bonnie Doon or Capilano, and since then for literally my entire life to date I have at least a couple times a year mutter/sing the line

"Just like a Diefenbacked-dollar...."
posted by aramaic at 7:09 AM on May 3, 2023 [1 favorite]

I can;t hear or read a reference to TWOT Edmund Fitzgerald without remembering a bit from the MST3K episode GORGO. There's a scene where a ship comes through a storm without getting wrecked, and Crow sings, "We got into port, and everyone was OK, and we all had some lunch and felt better," to the Edmund Fitzgerald tune. Always cracks me up.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:17 AM on May 3, 2023 [13 favorites]

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posted by eclectist at 8:19 AM on May 3, 2023

I love Edmund Fitzgerald's voice
posted by philip-random at 8:36 AM on May 3, 2023 [2 favorites]

All the music I listened to in my teens was from the collection Abie Nathan housed on his pirate radio station, broadcasting "from somewhere in the Mediterranean." Thankfully, The Voice of Peace was well-equipped with Lightfoot's best output.

Rest in peace, Lightfoot. The world is better for his having lived in it.
posted by Shunra at 9:10 AM on May 3, 2023 [1 favorite]

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posted by the sobsister at 9:49 AM on May 3, 2023

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posted by eruonna at 9:55 AM on May 3, 2023

Ah, sorry to hear it. GL was one of those musicians I only knew by name, but had never connected the artist to the music until I was an adult. Then, all of a sudden, I was like, "Wait, that's Gordon Lightfoot? That one too?" His songs had been anonymously imprinted on my brain at an early age (probably because my parents had a boat and dock-neighbors with AM radios back then), and once I made the connection in my 30s, it was gleeful. And yeah, his composition style was not as straightforward as most other folk-pop/yacht-rock, it really caught my ear in a different way, even as a tyke.
posted by not_on_display at 10:01 AM on May 3, 2023 [3 favorites]

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posted by adekllny at 10:33 AM on May 3, 2023

His songs held up well.

Here's another of our recently-lost great ones, Tony Rice, with Lightfoot's 'Old Man Came Home From the Forest'
posted by TomFrog at 11:09 AM on May 3, 2023 [1 favorite]

John McDermott really has a way with that song
posted by philip-random at 11:52 AM on May 3, 2023

A while ago I was listening to a Lightfoot show from the 60s, possibly (dimeadozen login required, Ottawa, 1966), and at one point he engages in a bit of between-song banter suggesting that maybe the protesters against the Vietnam War weren't 100% correct.

My disk of torrents is long gone, and I don't even have a handy torrent client, but can anyone else verify this?

It's not like Lightfoot was ever grouped in with Dylan, Baez, and Country Joe. But a pro-military (or anti-anti-military) stance was still a real outlier for a folkie in the mid-60s to sport.
posted by morspin at 1:07 PM on May 3, 2023 [1 favorite]

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Mr. Lightfoot wasn't always at the top of my playlist, but he was always in there somewhere, and he was part of my growing up. This is the time of my life that I'll miss both the musician and my younger self listening to his music in the back yard on those long summer evenings.
posted by BlueHorse at 1:26 PM on May 3, 2023

"Decades ago, in the final verse of his most beloved hit, Gordon Lightfoot depicted a solemn scene at Mariners’ Church of Detroit: "The church bell chimed 'til it rang 29 times / For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.”

At 3 p.m. Tuesday, the bell at Mariners’ Church rang out again — now chiming 30 times to honor those perished sailors along with the artist who famously memorialized them in song."

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posted by vac2003 at 2:14 PM on May 3, 2023 [6 favorites]

A long time ago, I was working at a phone bank, fundraising, interrupting peoples' dinners. I dialed my way through my stack of names and numbers, and then I hit the name Gordon Lightfoot. So I called the number, said my pitch like any other call, and then asked: was he The Gordon Lightfoot, the singer? Alas, no, he wasn't; he was asked that all the time.

Imagine being The Other Gordon Lightfoot.
posted by not_on_display at 2:55 PM on May 3, 2023 [4 favorites]

Our favourite archival moments with Gordon Lightfoot

they missed this one:

Gordon Lightfoot on how he writes a song, 1967: CBC Archives
posted by philip-random at 3:40 PM on May 3, 2023

and the finished song:

Pussywillows, Cat-Tails
posted by philip-random at 3:41 PM on May 3, 2023 [1 favorite]

older Gordon Lightfoot reflects on (and listens to) his choir boy beginnings ...

The whole interview is solid.
posted by philip-random at 9:07 PM on May 3, 2023

Lightfoot was spectacular.. An amazing artist. So many great songs, with that warmth that he put into them.

Summertime Dream, I smile to think of that song. Alberta Bound -- I've never been there but that song makes me want to go, I sing along.

How many hours have I spent listening to him put life into order?

Second Cup Of Coffee -- "And if I don't stop this trembling hand from reaching for the phone / I'll be reaching for the bottle lord before this day is done." So I not only know that I'm not the first to feel that, I also know where it will take me if I don't take care, I'll know to put some steel into myself.

(For too many years the bottle got picked up regardless if the phone did or not, but I'll look through his catalog to find out how to deal with that, too.)

I guess I had six of his records, or eight. "Old Dan's Records" veers toward bluegrass but, God be thanked, it stopped this side of it; it's a record that feels like sitting on a porch with friends.

Love isn't easy for anyone, regardless fame or money, if you open your heart you're in danger. If you're an artist, and you've got guts, you'll write about it, if you're Lightfoot you'll sing what you've written, you'll give it to us, a gift.

Gordon Lightfoot gave us all those gifts. We're lucky.

.
posted by dancestoblue at 4:32 PM on May 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

This won't be popular: “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” makes me want to hammer pencils into my ears. It's a great song, a needed song, and the first 176 million times I heard it I was alright with it. But it's one of those songs that life throws at us that are on the radio and nothing but commercials on any other stations, or maybe “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” playing on every station which my radio can pick up, and yes, yes, I realize that the song is only 18 hours long, just need a bit of patience is all, but as it drones on I just want those poor bastards to go on and drown already, I get to where I just don't give a rats ass where the love of god goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours, and, in fact, I get to thinking that if there *was* a god of love this goddamned song would end, but no, on and on and on....
posted by dancestoblue at 5:03 PM on May 4, 2023 [4 favorites]

I'll just politely say that Edmund F is not on any of my personal playlists. Though I did find this a fascinating documentary.
posted by philip-random at 8:32 PM on May 4, 2023 [1 favorite]