Posted on 09/04/2014 5:17:30 PM PDT by Squawk 8888
At age 75, the legendary songwriter and beloved recording artist Gordon Lightfoot is still working hard and enjoying it more than ever. The creator of such standards as If You Could Read My Mind, Early Morning Rain, Carefree Highway and Sundown still performs upwards of eighty concerts a year in North America.
"We love the work" is the joyful mantra his associates hear him say all the time. Even after waking up from a six-week coma following a burst abdominal artery in 2002, Gordon worked from his hospital bed and polished the final tracks for his twentieth album. It would take exactly two and a half years before he would take the stage again, overcoming temporary hearing loss, vocal strain and diminished motor skills from the illness. "I could hardly play when I started getting into recovery. I practiced and practiced and kept practicing the guitar," Gordon recalled. "I think actually my guitar playing improved during that time." His voice alone took six months to hone back into performance quality.
These days, a schedule of mostly one-nighters that would grind down artists half his age is energizing for Gordon thanks to a fine tuned approach to living that he has perfected during the fifty plus years he has performed. The end result is a well-oiled, streamlined and virtually problem-free machine where neither resources nor time are wasted. The intention behind it all is to ensure the highest quality experience for every concertgoer.
(Excerpt) Read more at huffingtonpost.com ...
Arizona
Bookmark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yF8lJjtQRM
You can search utube, but this is in the 80’s when he appeared with Ian & Sylvia. Did a few songs with them.
I alway liked “Sit Down Young Stranger”, thought is was his best, although some didn’t. Poetry.
My current favorite:
Love the worn patina on that old Gibson guitar.
Some of the Canadian were fabulous. Ian & Sylvia, Gordon Lightfoot & Ann Murray.
When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck
Sayin' "Fellas, it's too rough to feed ya"
At seven PM a main hatchway caved in
He said, "Fellas, it's been good to know ya"
The captain wired in he had water comin' in
And the good ship and crew was in peril
And later that night when his lights went out of sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Nice to see him out there still working. I seen him in a small opera house back in the 80s.
He uses a capo.
I don’t let my students use a capo.
I teach them to play barre chords.
OK. So I’m a guitar snob.
Sue me. LOL! :-)
(Seriously, though, I hope I am still writing and performing at 75. God Bless him.)
North Phoenix
Whenever we drive up the North Shore from Duluth to the Canadian border I always sing the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald to the wife. I love that song and for that area to at.
West of “Carefree”.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Arizona/@33.8018396,-112.1223094,13z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x872b08ebcb4c186b:0x423927b17fc1cd71
LOL,
There is a local shopping plaza that makes me want to do shower after going there. Pittsford Plaza. It has Trader Joe’s, and Barnes and Noble plus an “indie” movie theater. The coexist bumper stickers on all the Prious’ make me want to shower! Only go there in my Sequoia just to piss them off.
Great post. Thanks. Timeless music. Incredible singer/songwriter.
Thanks - yes, it was Cathy Smith
Always loved his music. Canadian Railroad Trilogy was my favorite. Thanks for posting this.
“I alway liked Sit Down Young Stranger, thought is was his best, although some didnt. Poetry.”
That was my late mother’s favorite Gordon Lightfoot song. She wore out my album playing it.
Thanks for the link.
I saw him in concert too in the early 70’s at Brown Spring Week End.
My favorite song as a kid.
Now I spend about thirty minutes a day riding on Carefree Hwy through Scottsdale, Cave Creek and Desert Hills every day.
I guess it was fate.
“A lot of Canadians did enlist with US military to serve in Vietnam, just as a lot of Americans joined our military 1939-1941. Shared values trumps government policy.”
The Canadians were OUTSTANDING during WW2. They were still part of Britain and Britain was going to get all they could from them...but they were still OUTSTANDING.
What a bummer.
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.