{"id":1934,"date":"2020-08-16T19:37:17","date_gmt":"2020-08-16T19:37:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=1934"},"modified":"2020-08-20T00:22:39","modified_gmt":"2020-08-20T00:22:39","slug":"ftv-gordon-lightfoot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=1934","title":{"rendered":"FTV: Gordon Lightfoot"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0When my wife and I were still in dating mode, we used to commute on alternate weekends\u00a0 (she was working in Marquette and I was in Ontonagon).\u00a0 My habit of borrowing albums to transfer on to cassette tapes provided me with my road music.\u00a0 My vehicle\u2019s radio was strictly AM, so my stash of cassettes was a way to get away from Top 40 AM (and the ads that went with them).\u00a0 Our Junior High librarian at that time hailed from the deep south of Michigan and was a devoted Gordon Lightfoot fan.\u00a0 I owned none of Lightfoot\u2019s albums.\u00a0 When John discovered that I had seen him at NMU in my college days, he all but demanded that I borrow his Lightfoot albums to make my own collection.\u00a0 One of my favorite Lightfoot albums was <\/span>Don Quixote <\/span><\/i>which I recorded on the B-side of a 90 minute cassette.\u00a0 If I started the first side of this tape as I left\u00a0 Marquette, it timed out that Lightfoot\u2019s song <\/span>Alberta Bound<\/span><\/i> would be playing as I drove down the hill and past Henry Ford\u2019s old model town\/sawmill location twelve miles south of L\u2019Anse.\u00a0 The little burg is named Alberta after the young daughter of the site\u2019s superintendent.\u00a0 The first time it happened, I made a mental note to try it again on future trips and the same tune played at the same location each time.\u00a0 Of course, the Canadian Lightfoot was singing about the province of Alberta, but being a man of many travels, the door was left open a crack:\u00a0 \u201cWhat if Gordon Lightfoot had travelled US 41 and noticed this little Michigan town . . .?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0CBC produced an excellent Gordon Lightgoot documentary in 2019 called <\/span>If You Could Read My Mind<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 Author Nicholas Jennings was interviewed a lot in this docufilm and as of this writing, his book <\/span>Lightfoot <\/span><\/i>is on my \u2018books to find\u2019 list.\u00a0 At the time it was produced, Lightfoot was 81 and a much frailer version of the singer that appeared in the many career spanning clips used.\u00a0 Unlike some aging singers, he is still in fine voice, though his singing sounds a bit thinner these days.\u00a0 Gordon is still quite nimble on guitar, but admits that he does not play with the same dexterity he did back in the day.\u00a0 Lightfoot faced a serious health crisis in 2002 when he suffered an aneurysm and was in a coma for six weeks.\u00a0 In that he had a stroke on stage four years later, it is remarkable to see him still performing at such a high level.\u00a0 This no doubt is the root of the announcement he made at the beginning of one of his more recent concerts:\u00a0 \u201cReports of my death have been greatly exagerated.\u201d\u00a0 I remember an earlier interview when Lightfoot told the story of \u201cdriving through a cemetery on the way to my office in Toronto.\u00a0 I often took this route because it is a beautiful place and I heard the DJ on the radio read a report about the death of Gordon Lightfoot.\u00a0 As soon as I got to the office, I called the radio station to report that I was driving my car when they reported\u00a0 my demise.\u00a0 I told them I was very much alive and would have called sooner but traffic was heavy.\u00a0 It was funny, but strange to hear that you have passed on when you are still here, driving through a cemetery no less.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0After his real brush with death, it was somewhat surprising to see that Lightfoot still smokes.\u00a0 He was known as a robust guitar strummer who didn\u2019t perform with a drummer in his early years because he produced his own rhythm track on guitar.\u00a0 His forearms now appear very thin and the softness of his speaking voice reminds me how age affected my father as he moved from his 80s into his 90s.\u00a0 There are many clips of Gordon himself talking about his past in the documentary. His friends, record label executives, and other musicians weigh in.\u00a0 By drawing on so many people\u2019s memories, <\/span>If You Could Read My Mind <\/span><\/i>offers a pretty balanced look at Lightfoot\u2019s career.\u00a0 In other words, it isn\u2019t just a puff piece and as a long time fan, it was interesting how much I didn\u2019t know about one of Canada\u2019s best known exports.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The \u2018In Memorial\u2019 section in the credit scroll at the end listed people in Lightfoot\u2019s circle who are no longer around.\u00a0 Among these I noted his first wife Bev and his recording\/touring guitarists Terry Clements and Red Shea.\u00a0 The first time I saw Lightfoot live at Northern, he was performing with Shea on guitar and his longtime bassist Rick Haynes (who is still with his band).\u00a0 The second time was soon after the <\/span>Summertime Dream<\/span><\/i> album came out and he was touring with a full band including Clements, drummer Barry Keane and steel guitarist Pee Wee Charles.\u00a0 Lightfoot\u2019s web page showed concert listings throughout the spring and summer of 2020. \u00a0 As of this writing, it had not been corrected to account for the COVID-19 cancellations that affected all performing artists in March, April, and beyond.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Clips of a very young, clean cut Gordon Lightfoot playing guitar, singing in duos and small groups, and dancing (yes, dancing) offer a glimpse of how he broke into show business.\u00a0 He claims he got his musical genes from his mother and often sang with the church choir, including some solo spots.\u00a0 Gordon recounts being asked to join a barber shop quartet when he was fourteen and later being the drummer with a local dance band (perhaps the source of his rhythic guitar playing).\u00a0 It is hard to picture Lightfoot singing <\/span>Stardust<\/span><\/i> but he was out front singing standards in both college and big bands he performed with before pursuing folk music.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0LIghtfoot points out that he is glad that he learned to read and write music.\u00a0 He is part of a small club of songwriters who write out actual scores for their songs, not just a basic chord chart with lyrics.\u00a0 Other songwriters interviewed noted that they would have loved to write songs with him, but he tends to write by himself.\u00a0 Lightfoot is also legendary for spending a lot of time refining his songs.\u00a0 Songwriters and musical artists alike are impressed with the quality of his songs, illustrated by several collages featuring a number of groups who have covered some of his material.\u00a0 The documentary\u2019s title track alone has been recorded by dozens of artists (except Frank Sinatra who deemed it \u2018too long\u2019 and tossed the music aside).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I had not noticed that Lightfoot wrote a lot of songs that were particular to his various love affairs.\u00a0 He apologized at one point for all of the people in his life he had hurt, particularly wives, children, and girlfriends.\u00a0 One of the most bizarre broken relationship songs became one of his many hit songs, <\/span>Sundown.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 Lightfoot wrote <\/span>Sundown<\/span><\/i> with Catherine Smith in mind when their relationship had a less than happy ending.\u00a0 Smith later earned some notoriety as the woman who admitted to injecting comedian John Belushi with the \u2018speedball\u2019 that caused his untimely death.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lightfoot says he tends to put down a chord pattern, find a melody, and then the lyrics.\u00a0 Some times his mind takes over the writing process and even he is amazed at what comes out.\u00a0 To hear the likes of fellow Canadians Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings (of The Guess Who) tell it, Lightfoot was the catalyst who introduced a lot of Canada\u2019s musicians to America.\u00a0 When Bachman and Cummings first heard Lightfoot at a club in Winnipeg, they suddenly knew that they were meant to start writing their own songs.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Viewed as a national treasure, Lightfoot was asked to write a song to commemorate the Canadian Centennial in 1967.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t sure he was up to the task, but as Gordon himself states in the documentary, \u201cSome of my best work was produced under pressure.\u201d\u00a0 The musical history he created <\/span>The Canadian Railroad Trilogy<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 As the title implies, the central theme he built the tale around was the railroad\u2019s expansion across Canada.\u00a0 It was a musical national history that fit the Centennial\u2019s request to a \u2018T\u2019.\u00a0 It is also another example how Lightfoot influenced other singers and songwriters by raising the bar in terms of what types of songs could be commercially successful.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Steve Earle credits Gordon for breaking the \u2018three minute song\u2019 cycle.\u00a0 Earle said, \u201cWhen <\/span>The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald<\/span><\/i> came out, everybody said, \u2018That can\u2019t be a hit.\u00a0 It is seven minutes long\u2019 yet it became a big hit.\u00a0 I had been trying to write these long, narrative songs and nobody would put them out because they were too long.\u00a0 When Lightfoot turned <\/span>Fitzgerald<\/span><\/i> into a hit, he opened the door for a lot of us to do the same.\u00a0 I was drunk for a week after it came out.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ronnie Hawkins was originally from Arkansas and moderately successful playing the same joint circuit with the likes of Harold Jenkins.\u00a0 When Hawkins followed Jenkins\u2019 advice, he took his rockabilly act to Canada.\u00a0 Like Jenkins (now known as Conway Twitte), Ronnie became a star.\u00a0 One version of his band, The Hawks, included fellow Arkansas traveler, drummer Levon Helm, and a quartet of Canadian musicians.\u00a0 The Hawks would later spin off without Hawkins to become The Band.\u00a0 In <\/span>If You Could Read My Mind, <\/span><\/i>Ronnie supplied commentary about the rough and tumble Toronto club circuit he and Lightfoot worked back in the day.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Drummer Barry Keane explained how <\/span>The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald <\/span><\/i>was recorded.\u00a0 It\u00a0 proved to be a unique experience.\u00a0 Keane says, \u201cWe were near the end of recording an album.\u00a0 Gordon came in and said, \u2018I have been working on a song about something that just happened, but it isn\u2019t quite done.\u2019\u00a0 We sat around and tinkered with it and finally said, \u2018Let\u2019s get it on tape to see how it works.\u2019\u00a0 Gordon said he would let me know when to come in with the drums.\u00a0 Sure enough, at the start of the third verse, he gave me a nod, I did a little drum fill and came in.\u00a0 We went through the entire song start to finish the first time we played it.\u00a0 That is the version that was put on the record.\u201d\u00a0 Bassist Rick Haynes added, \u201cWe re-recorded it in the studio a couple of times to see if we could make it better, but we never could.\u00a0 We used the first version we recorded and that was the first time we played the entire song.\u201d\u00a0 The arrangement is perfect with Pee Wee Charles haunting steel guitar licks, Haynes innovative bass lines, and Keane\u2019s understated drumming adding just the right feel to the haunting tale.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The documentary showed many clips of Lightfoot performing at Toronto\u2019s Massey Hall.\u00a0 Indeed, one of his most recent albums is a collection of songs from across his career, all of which were taken from various shows at Massey (entitled <\/span>Live at Massey Hall<\/span><\/i> of course, it was released in 2012).\u00a0 If a traveling musician can have a home port, this would be Lightfoot\u2019s.\u00a0 I knew that he was an avid sailor and had spent a lot of time sailing Lake Huron\u2019s Georgian Bay.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t know that he also had a period where he took extended canoe trips through the wilds of Canada.\u00a0 These wilderness ventures apparently served as his own form of therapy when he quit drinking, another little problem that I was unaware of until now.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Drummer Keane described Lightfoot\u2019s problem with strong drink by simply saying, \u201cThere were some real low spots.\u00a0 The lowest was a show in Europe where he cursed the audience and left the stage after only six or seven songs.\u201d\u00a0 His manager mentioned that Gordon would use drink to loosen up before interviews and that in some social settings, \u201cHe would get well into his cups.\u201d\u00a0 That he held some epic parties at his Toronto home was also news to me.\u00a0 He had befriended Bob Dylan (or vice versa) on the folk circuit.\u00a0 When Dylan\u2019s Rolling Thunder Review (an extended train tour across Canada taken by Dylan and a host of artists – think \u2018Traveling three ring circus\u2019 only with musicians and you get the picture), Lightfoot was invited to join them.\u00a0 He did for their Toronto stop and invited the whole troup back to his house for one of those epic after parties.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Gordon\u2019s friendship with Dylan extended beyond the normal folk singer haunts.\u00a0 Lightfoot had declined accepting any JUNO awards (the Canadian version of a GRAMMY) in the past, insisting that he would only come if Bob Dylan presented it to him.\u00a0 He lived up to his word when the organizers convinced Dylan to attend the awards in 1986 when Lightfoot was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Seeing Dylan in his black leather gloves and sparkly jacket standing next to the tuxedoed Lightfoot was indeed a contrast of styles.\u00a0 Bob looked a little lost as he ambled across the stage.\u00a0 The audience gave him a standing ovation, but Bob seemed mesmerized by the multiple images of himself on the bank of TV monitors at stage side.\u00a0 Dylan said, \u201cIt pleases me to be here to give this award to Gordon.\u00a0 I\u2019ve known him for a long time and…I know he\u2019s been offered this award before but he has never accepted it because he wanted me to come and give it to him.\u00a0 So ah…Alright, here he is now.\u00a0 Gordon Lightfoot.\u201d\u00a0 Master lyricist Dylan didn\u2019t spend many words before handing over the JUNO.\u00a0 Lightfoot thanked Dylan for taking the time to be there and his comments were a bit longer than Bob\u2019s.\u00a0 He mentioned that he and Bob had been \u2018stable mates\u2019 working for Albert Grossman in New York where Lightfoot had been signed many years ago with some help from Ian and Sylvia Tyson:\u00a0 \u201c[Bob] was actually at the label two years before I got there.\u00a0 It was nice to get [the award] from an idol younger than myself, also.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I especially enjoyed trying to identify which phase of Gordon\u2019s career I had witnessed by matching his various wardrobe and hair style choices in the documentary.\u00a0 Seeing him perform with Glen Campbell , both playing Campbell\u2019s signature Ovation guitar, brought me back to playing with Gene Betts in The Twig in high school.\u00a0 Gene had purchased the same model when they first came out.\u00a0 The \u2018Gordon sporting a leather vest and beard\u2019 matched up with my first live encounter back in college.\u00a0 The full band recording <\/span>The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald<\/span><\/i> was a perfect match for the concert we took in at the Lakeview Arena in Marquette soon after the song\u00a0 became a big hit.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One doesn\u2019t need to be a Gordon Lightfoot fan to enjoy CBC\u2019s <\/span>If You Could Read My Mind.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 I learned a lot about the 1950s and early 1960s folk music scene.\u00a0 The music of this era set the table for my own musical education that began in earnest in the last half of the 60s.\u00a0 If Gordon Lightfoot resumes touring after the COVID-19 crisis eases, it would be great to see him live again.\u00a0 With his age and recent health troubles, it is actually just great to just see him alive and performing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Top Piece Video:\u00a0 This is the Gordon Lighitfoot ‘band’ as I saw him the first time at NMU in the early 1970s – this clip came from 1974 (The Midnight Special) so I know I saw\u00a0 him earlier than this –\u00a0Sundown<\/em> came after my first exposure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0When my wife and I were still in dating mode, we used to commute on alternate weekends\u00a0 (she was working in Marquette and I was in Ontonagon).\u00a0 My habit of borrowing albums to transfer on to cassette tapes provided me with my road music.\u00a0 My vehicle\u2019s radio was strictly AM, so my stash of cassettes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,11,8,7,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bands-musicians","category-education","category-from-the-vaults","category-local-music-news","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1934"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1937,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1934\/revisions\/1937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}