Posted on 11/17/2017 5:13:14 PM PST by nickcarraway
If you could read his mind, what a tale his thoughts could tell. So claimed Gordon Lightfoot in his 1970 breakout hit, the song that would launch his career as one of the most consistently satisfying singer-songwriters of the decade and would subsequently be recorded by some 300 other artists.
There was a lot of musical confession in those days, with James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell and so many others wearing their hearts on their lyric sleeves. Yet Lightfoot generally kept his mind to himself. A reserved Canadian, he played his emotional cards comparatively close to his vest, rarely granting interviews and rarely saying much when he did. Even in live performance, he came across as a tight-lipped stoic, the troubadour as rugged northwoodsman.
So, its a revelation here to find Lightfoot opening up at all. Not surprisingly, the biographer to whom he has confided is a fellow Canadian, veteran music journalist Nicholas Jennings, who enjoyed his subjects full cooperation. Not that this is a kiss-and-tell book. But, regrets, he has a few, and Lightfoot airs them. He has paid a price for keeping his feelings to himself, for letting his career consume his private life, for drinking himself numb. It took him three marriages and assorted relationships (at least one of them borderline toxic) to give him a sense of how to be a husband and a father.
We learn that the smooth surface of his signature sound belies the turbulence that has inspired some of his most memorable material, such as the enigmatic Sundown (an obsessive jealousy corrodes the soul) and even If You Could Read My Mind (a beguiling melody that finds a marriage on the rocks). In Lightfoots songcraft, still waters run deep, or at least deeper than youd expect for someone who became branded
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Main difference between Lightfoot and Dylan is the fact that I can understand Gordon. Dylan? Not so much.
Main difference between Lightfoot and Dylan is the fact that I can understand Gordon. Dylan? Not so much.
Bob Dylan, Tom Waits and Popeye
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJZ5-xRRdL4
He's about 80 years old and he likes to read.
"The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald" is about my favorite song of all time. Up there with "Riders On The Storm" by The Doors and "Tangled Up In Blues" by Bob Dylan. In fact just about anything by Bob Dylan is my favorite song of all time.
Ribbon of Darkness. Did She Mention My Name. Beautiful. Early Morning Rain. The man wrote some great songs. If You Could Read My Mind is one of the first songs I remember loving as a small children. I think it was the imagery of a ghost from a wishing well in a castle dark.
Gordos songs were used on two memorable occasions on The Blacklist (Sundown and If You Could Read My Mind).
But you don’t have to like one or the other. Having come of age in the 60’s and being in the military in the 70’s you could appreciate both forms of music. Doesn’t matter if it’s Dylan, JT, Lightfoot, or Led Zeppelin. Music was totally different back then.
Listened to pop rock on the Canadian AM rocker CKLW and hard rock on WIOT. Maybe a bit prejudiced, but music was better then than today and it still sounds great.
Except Gords life is not a fabrication. He is who he is. Bob Dylan is a complete myth.
*********************************
Woah. Thats quite a statement.
I never got Dylan.
My mom has picked this song from Lightfoot for my dad’s funeral in August. She heard it on a movie and wrote it down. I was pleasantly surprised because she has dementia, but I think she did pretty well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHQHlId-gT4
Don't Think Twice It's Alright and Shelter from the Storm are my two favorites.
One of his best is “Your Loves Return” the melody is a haunting tune and I remember playing long into the night when I was writing letters to my girlfriend. (Must have worked, we’ve been married over 40 years.)
Having spend a fair amount of time in radio, I listen to all genres of music and appreciate most of it. BUT...it seems that period of social upheaval in the 60’s that brought change to the country also brought some of the best music recorded.
Listen to an original recording from Woodstock and you’ll hear the likes of Jimi Hendrix killing it on guitar doing the National Anthem to Ravi Shankar playing the sitar. Throw in Joe Cocker and Sha Na Na for good measure. Grab your best girl, roll a doobie and get lost in the sound. Somehow I don’t see that happening today.
Happy Birthday Mr. Lightfoot. The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald and If You Could Read My Mind are 2 of my all-time favorite songs. I still have the 45rpm of If You Could Read My Mind.......both in their own ways are very powerful songs.
Canadian Railroad Trilogy
That and Seven Island Suite are my Lightfoot favorites. But then there is Carefree Highway, Ordinary Man, Early Morning Rain..
Canadian Railroad Trilogy
That and Seven Island Suite are my Lightfoot favorites. But then there is Carefree Highway, Ordinary Man, Early Morning Rain..
I absolutely agree with you.
I grew up on CKLW too. Great legacy.
Where I live now there are several retro stations. I listen often.
When you read the part where the heartaches come the hero would be me......heroes often fail.......
Rainbow Trout, Rainyday People. Last time is saw him on TV he looked like death warmed over.
That’ s What you get for Loving Me is another good one.
Drugs=bad
Books=good
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.