Why Gordon Lightfoot continues to captivate us so...

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His rugged, Northern Camel ad looks? His ramblin' folkie past? "The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald", or is it that his drummer (Jim Gordon) bashed his mother's skull in with a hammer?

What is it that draws us back, again and again?

― Andy, Monday, 8 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

can you e-mail me a good site (bio) about Lightfoot? I've always been incredibly intrigued, but I don't know much about him.

His sound is unreal, certainly, I saw him on Saturday Night Live (on E!, rerun, and it was spectacular)

steve k

― Steve K, Monday, 8 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

Good songwriting - the man could string some lovely chords together - and a rich vocal quality. Boring (not Gordon, my opinion) but true. I love 'Wreck...', also 'Sundown', 'If You Could Read My Mind', and 'Carefree Highway'. I heard them in the '70s but he wasn't cool enough for me then - too m.o.r. As an aside, I've a hunch Noel Gallagher has the same box set I borrowed from the library. There's a definite 'relationality' there as well as a little bit of lyrical theft.

― David, Monday, 8 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

gordonlightfoot.com

― David, Monday, 8 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

I think "Sundown" is an amazing song. I like "If You Could Read My Mind," too. Other than those two hits, I haven't heard anything by him that really grabbed me. I suspect his other good work is probably much different and will disappoint my desire for the immediate accessible thrill of these. (I have "Gord's Gold" [sic] but nothing else on there really moves me.)

― DeRayMi, Monday, 8 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

A lot of his early (1960s) stuff is like Bob Dylan - acoustic folk. 'Carefree Highway' was a somewhat lesser hit than the two you mention but you should get hold of it. Slightly ploddy verse (I'm almost certain Noel Gallagher used it as a musical template for 'Look Back In Anger' - that's just an observation not a recommendation), but a heavenly chorus with killer descending chord twist at the end. 'Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald' is like a modern up-date of the folk ballad thing of documenting current events in song. It has about twelve verses (but you still want twelve more) about an actual shipwreck on the Great Lakes.

― David, Monday, 8 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

The "Wreck" I have heard, but it's been a while.

― DeRayMi, Monday, 8 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

Here is a thread on The Wreck.... Amazing song, and I'm down w/ Gord.

― Mark, Monday, 8 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

What happened to Jim Gordon? I read he died, but the same source said he was in prison in England. Also have any other murderers been awarded a Grammy?

― plexi, Tuesday, 9 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

Here's another vote for "Sundown". Poke holes in the stereo speaker cone and you'll hear the missing link between VU and the Stones. Speaking of VU, "Edmund Fitzgerald" is a far more crushingly monolithic droney dirge than they (or Spacemen 3) ever managed, plus it's about Mother Ocean reclaiming us all (the gravitational response to Can that was later adopted by Parliament and Drexciya), proving that Canada has evolved a sophisticated strain of nature mysticism that matches that which appeared in Russia centuries earlier (though entirely dissimilar - N. American variety characterised by a) existential will-to-power v. elements ['manifest destiny' on macro level] b) problems/opportunities of testing Enlightenment emancipation on crucible of 'nature' in purest form [the realpolitik that passeth all understanding] whereas Russian variety = syncretic combination of Orthodox Christianity and Siberian folk traditions/survival strategies [i.e. 'culture'?])

― dave q, Tuesday, 9 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

I like Dylan's version of 'Early Mornin' Rain' on 'SelfPortrait'.

― Andrew L, Tuesday, 9 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

Richard Thompson said he particularly always liked Gordon Lightfoot's voice. That scores him extra points.

Was Jim Gordon his drummer? Jim Gordon played with Derek & The Dominos & Traffic... Gordo too?

― Dave225, Tuesday, 9 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

To tell you the truth, "The Wreck. . ." has kind of been ruined for me by hearing the Butthole Surfers do a partial cover of it, but maybe if I go back to the original I can forget all about that atrocity. :)

― DeRayMi, Tuesday, 9 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

Well "If you could read my mind" is one of the most beautiful songs ever. And entirely uncool, good.

― Andrew, Tuesday, 9 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

i am not captivated

― Ron, Tuesday, 9 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

A fave MST3K moment -- screen shows a sunrise, Mike sings with an intentional misquote and in a deep yet nasally moan, "Sunriiiiise...you'd better take care," producing violent reactions in the bots.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 9 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

his songs are spotty--sometimes great--but his voice is FANTASTIC.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Monday, 24 May 2004 18:50 (9 years ago) Permalink

Damnit, this guy's name just keeps coming up. Is he Canadian?
Adds this to the list of artists to check out...

― Bimble (bimble), Monday, 24 May 2004 18:55 (9 years ago) Permalink

Hey, didn't Nico do a song or two of his? That first single of hers?

― Bimble (bimble), Monday, 24 May 2004 18:56 (9 years ago) Permalink

i love him.

"(I'm almost certain Noel Gallagher used it as a musical template for 'Look Back In Anger' - that's just an observation not a recommendation)"

i think ol' noel said it was bowie he ripped off for that one, can't remember which...

― duke heavyhand, Monday, 24 May 2004 18:58 (9 years ago) Permalink

nico's first single on immediate was a cover of lightfoots "i'm not saying"

he is VERY canadian

― amateur!st (amateurist), Monday, 24 May 2004 19:10 (9 years ago) Permalink

Lightfoot covers

He rules, obv.

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Monday, 24 May 2004 19:13 (9 years ago) Permalink

is there a single
rhyme at ALL on "Edmund F"?
it's just all free verse!

― Begs2Differ (Begs2Differ), Monday, 24 May 2004 19:19 (9 years ago) Permalink

The rumor that Jim Gordon is dead is just that - a rumor. He's still alive, incarcerated in California, and is extremely wealthy from "Layla" royaltiers (he co-wrote it):

'Jim Gordon is prisoner C89262 in the California Men's Colony at San Luis Obispo. He killed his mother on June 3, 1983, by pounding her head with a hammer, then finishing the job with three plunges of a butcher knife into the ribs. He says "You know, I heard the new version of 'Layla' on the radio and I was real surprised. And then I was informed that it was nominated for a Grammy and I was real surprised." Gordon did not petition the prison officials for permission to attend the ceremony, and regarding that said "I watched the show, and when my name was announced, well, I didn't hear it. I'd stepped out of the room. But the other guys said, 'Well, you won.'" Concerning the isolation from the rest of the music industry, Gordon said "When the crime happened, they all just turned their backs on me. I don't blame 'em, to tell you the truth. Whatever was taking me down that road, I was on a path of self-destruction and it was nothing that any reputable studio musician or artist would want to be connected with. Because it was kind of a hopeless situation." Apparently Gordon believes that he didn't commit the crime, but rather that the crime "happened" and says "When I remember the crime, it's kind of like a dream. I can remember going through what happened in that space and time, and it seems kind of detached, like I was going through it on some other plane. It didn't seem real." According to police reports, when they found him he feared that the person who killed his mother might come for him too, and in the police car he sobbed "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but she's tortured me for years." He was pretty consistently known as an All-American type, with Frank Zappa even nicknaming him "Skippy." Gordon did admit that Speedballs were commonplace on the 1971 Joe Cocker "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" tour, when he claims he was dating Rita Coolidge. A journalist who wrote a never released book on Gordon says he once showed her a letter from Gordon's father written in 1969 urging him to get psychiatric help. However, the letter apparently made no references to the voices that Gordon heard. The most powerful voice was that of his mother. The voice would deny him food, with Gordon starving himself for days and then hiding in a motel to eat fried chicken. The voice also caused him pain, denied him sleep and relaxation, caused him to be sullen and incommunicative with the occasional violent outburst, and, finally, refused to let him play drums. He says "My mother, she persecuted me a great deal, I felt. And it finally got so bad that I just gave up and got a condominium and just stayed indoors. I didn't ever go anyplace. That's when I started hearing voices, and having delusional thoughts and hallucations, and all of a sudden the crime occurred." Predictably, his work dwindled to nothing. In 1977, he began a series of aborted hospital stays. His last work was in 1979 when he got a gig with Paul Anka in Las Vegas. A few bars into the opening song, he walked off stage, unable to play. Today, he says he no longer hears the voices. He says he is on two medications, Navane for acute paranoid schizophrenia, and another one for depression, which Gordon says stems from prison life. Talking about the crime, he says "I was in a real strange place then. What I was imagining and what was real -- I still don't know the answer to that...but something always confronted me and didn't allow me to go along the lines I wanted to go along. And well, it just ruined my life." His lawyer says "[Gordon] truly believed he was acting in self-defense," and calls him "the most tragic case of my career." Gordon had a well-documented history of mental problems and a firm diagnosis of acute schizophrenia, yet was found guilty of second degree murder due to a then-recent change in California law severely restricting the insanity defense. He had made statements right after the crime admitting it ws wrong to kill. So, in May 1984, the court sentenced him to 16 years to life. Most of his time has been at Atascadero State Hospital. Parole has been denied him twice. His finances are in good shape, in spite of all this, due to royalties from Layla and other Dominos work, work with Traffic, and work with George Harrison, among other things. Finally, he says "As far as getting back toanything I was doing before 1981, it's pretty grim. Unless -- what I'd like to do is get in some kind of touring situation, maybe contribute a little bit with my writing." As a meek afterthought, he adds "I'd still like to play with Eric."'

― AJMopa, Monday, 24 May 2004 22:25 (9 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

Today is the 30th anniversary of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Thursday, 10 November 2005 18:16 (7 years ago) Permalink

i still love him

― noizem duke (noize duke), Thursday, 10 November 2005 19:25 (7 years ago) Permalink

S: the Sintones 1.5 minute long "Gitchigoomi" (a surfabilly WOTEF cover)

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 10 November 2005 19:30 (7 years ago) Permalink

5 months pass...

Barbershop society to honour Gordon Lightfoot during Toronto ceremony
TORONTO (CP) — Before he became a legendary folk singer, Gordon Lightfoot would belt it out in a barbershop quartet.
He formed his first group, The Collegiate Four, in 1952 as he was entering high school.
Lightfoot, of Orillia, Ont., will return to his roots this weekend when he’s honoured by Barbershop Harmony Society, the world’s largest all-male singing organization.
The group is set to present Lightfoot with an honorary membership during a ceremony on Saturday night in Toronto.
Other singers honoured by the society include Dick Van Dyke, Irving Berlin, Meredith Willson, Victor Borge, the Osmond Brothers, Sherrill Milnes and Gene Puerling.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Friday, 21 April 2006 17:33 (7 years ago) Permalink

Redwood City show in August, I think I'm goin'

http://www.ticketmaster.ca/event/1C003C81C00B742D?artistid=733309&majorcatid=10001&minorcatid=1

― milton parker (Jon L), Friday, 21 April 2006 17:58 (7 years ago) Permalink

Why Gordon Lightfoot continues to captivate us so... he poos clouds.

― Rufus 3000 (Mr Noodles), Friday, 21 April 2006 18:06 (7 years ago) Permalink

If you all DO like Lightfoot, Search Tony Rice. He does some really really neat versions of Lightfoot songs.

― Big Loud Mountain Ape (Big Loud Mountain Ape), Friday, 21 April 2006 18:09 (7 years ago) Permalink

i was just going to say that! even tony's straight bluegrass albums have been deeply influenced by lightfoot. he's my favourite interpretor, for sure.

― derrick (derrick), Saturday, 22 April 2006 05:29 (7 years ago) Permalink

5 months pass...

gordon lightfoot anime

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Saturday, 30 September 2006 17:05 (6 years ago) Permalink

i recently got three early gordo rekkerds and they are very nice. very folky.

― scott seward (scott seward), Saturday, 30 September 2006 17:50 (6 years ago) Permalink

which ones?

the first 4 on UA are absolutely classic and generally considered so, but his subsequent albums are often overlooked, aside from the hits. don quioxte and summer side of life are two that i really enjoy.

― derrick (derrick), Saturday, 30 September 2006 18:51 (6 years ago) Permalink

the first three, i think. Lightfoot!, The Way I Feel, & Did She Mention My Name? very enjoyable. beautiful copies too. 2 bucks a piece. i couldn't resist.

― scott seward (scott seward), Saturday, 30 September 2006 19:40 (6 years ago) Permalink

Two votes here for The Last Time I Saw Her and I'm Not Supposed To Care. Oooooohhh!

Could be just me, but Gord and Stan Rogers seem to have similar voices, although Stan's vibrato is more obvious.

― jim wentworth (wench), Sunday, 1 October 2006 04:30 (6 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

what are gordon's late 60s lps like? are they folk-rock, or even plain ol' rock, or was it more a "straight" singer-songwriter w/ acoustic guitar thing? i need to listen more to the dude, Sundown is such a great song, and i heard If You Could Read My Mind today, but I don't know his 60s stuff except thru covers (the Nico one and Fotheringay's "The Way I Feel" which kicks ass)

― gershy, Sunday, 7 October 2007 04:08 (5 years ago) Permalink

...Sundown and If You Could Read My Mind (over)duly ordered, as of ten minutes ago.
*gnaws fingernails*

― t**t, Sunday, 7 October 2007 20:42 (5 years ago) Permalink

canuckian humour
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSThKFtOC48

― gershy, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 04:47 (5 years ago) Permalink

2 years pass...

been jamming the track "watchman's gone" a lot lately. way killer. big ups to my girl who turned me onto that.

― ian, Friday, 1 January 2010 08:58 (3 years ago) Permalink

"Sundown" is such a great song

― Elvis Telecom, Friday, 1 January 2010 09:32 (3 years ago) Permalink

screw lightfoot, i didn't know the first thing about jim gordon, until now!

Discography:
The Beach Boys: Good Vibrations; Spirit of America; Pet Sounds
John Lennon: It's So Hard; Imagine; The Plastic Ono Band- Sometime in New York City
The Monkees: Monkees; More of the Monkees; Instant Replay
Harry Nilsson: Nilsson Schmilsson; Aerial Ballet
Minnie Riperton: Adventures in Paradise
Tom Waits: The Heart of Saturday Night
"His drum break on the LP's version of "Apache" has been repeatedly sampled by rap music artists"

+... Jim Henson The Muppet Movie - ie. jim gordon = animal!!!!!

AND he killed his own mother?!?!? how did i not know about this guy?

― messiahwannabe, Friday, 1 January 2010 13:50 (3 years ago) Permalink

He delivered a truly outstanding performance on Glen Campbell's Wichita Lineman too.

― Vast Halo, Friday, 1 January 2010 14:16 (3 years ago) Permalink

Great thread!!!! There is nothing wrong with Gordon Lightfoot!!!

― US EEL (u s steel), Friday, 1 January 2010 16:20 (3 years ago) Permalink

I love Early Morning Rain. The Warlocks (nee the Grateful Dead) do a nice version.

― Trip Maker, Friday, 1 January 2010 16:24 (3 years ago) Permalink

This was a good tribute show from mid-2009, with Lightfoot himself playing a song at the end.

― The Hood Won't Jump (Eazy), Friday, 1 January 2010 16:50 (3 years ago) Permalink

Ian and Sylvia do a wonderful version of "Early Morning Rain."

― QuantumNoise, Friday, 1 January 2010 17:04 (3 years ago) Permalink

will search!

― Trip Maker, Friday, 1 January 2010 17:10 (3 years ago) Permalink

Does Kenny Buttrey play on any of these rekkeds aside from The Way I Feel?

― ian, Sunday, 3 January 2010 16:26 (3 years ago) Permalink

I really like "Black Day In July".

― Sundar, Sunday, 3 January 2010 17:56 (3 years ago) Permalink

it's sorta hokey, but "don quixote" is a pretty tune.

― hellzapoppa (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 3 January 2010 20:42 (3 years ago) Permalink

Watchman's out, kickin' yer dreams about.

― Joint Custody (ian), Saturday, 16 January 2010 17:48 (3 years ago) Permalink

― velko, Saturday, 16 January 2010 17:52 (3 years ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

Not dead.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 18 February 2010 20:36 (3 years ago) Permalink

well that's a load off of my mind

ps: ????

― slapped by a bear (HI DERE), Thursday, 18 February 2010 20:37 (3 years ago) Permalink

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/gordon-lightfoot-very-much-alive/article1473102/

― i know who the sockpuppet master of ilx is (velko), Thursday, 18 February 2010 20:39 (3 years ago) Permalink

Ronnie Hawkins was obviously the architect of this cruel, cruel hoax.

― Binjominia, Thursday, 18 February 2010 20:43 (3 years ago) Permalink

actually I can't believe Ronnie Hawkins is alive. I thought he was already like middle aged when he toured w/ the Hawks

― lukevalentine, Sunday, 21 February 2010 02:06 (3 years ago) Permalink

dead or canadian

― hellzapoppa (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 21 February 2010 03:13 (3 years ago) Permalink

Carefree Highway is my #1 goto song at karaoke.

― Nate Carson, Sunday, 21 February 2010 04:44 (3 years ago) Permalink

Lake Simcoe, it's said, never gives up her dead

― Ceci n'est pas une display name (Myonga Vön Bontee), Monday, 22 February 2010 07:42 (3 years ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

my favorite version of this song, maybe

― by another name (amateurist), Monday, 10 May 2010 10:51 (3 years ago) Permalink

Does Kenny Buttrey play on any of these rekkeds aside from The Way I Feel?

― ian, Sunday, January 3, 2010 4:26 PM (4 months ago) Bookmark

― ian, Monday, 10 May 2010 18:03 (3 years ago) Permalink

5 months pass...

i really liked some stuff i heard of his recently and his record are always under 5 bucks & are pretty ubiquitous around here, so i figured to start just buying them indiscriminately, but some of it is pretty awful. what's the good stretch? or what are the bad decades? not sure what it is technically but that particular style of production on acoustic music that strips it of all semblance to live music. and like, cheesy and totally unnecessary string arrangements. blegh

so far i know that this is bad

and that this is pretty great. but still not as good as some of the other stuff

― the importance of being furnace (samosa gibreel), Wednesday, 27 October 2010 19:11 (2 years ago) Permalink

man, i don't know. as far as i can tell from listening to "best of" stuff he only has like half a dozen or so really great songs.

"Beautiful" is my favorite, and used to great effect in The Brown Bunny. Even if you hate Vincent Gallo a thousand times over, it's such a good sequence.

Also, seconding both the Warlocks and Bob Dylan's versions of Early Morning Rain.

― dude (del), Wednesday, 27 October 2010 19:23 (2 years ago) Permalink

all i can add to the discussion is that sundown is all time for me

― dynamicinterface, Wednesday, 27 October 2010 19:57 (2 years ago) Permalink

that Jim Gordon stuff up-thread is WILD

I think Noel used Imagine as the template for Don't Look Back in Anger...

― scaruffi kaleidoscope (Drugs A. Money), Wednesday, 27 October 2010 20:27 (2 years ago) Permalink

my fave track is probably "watchman's gone"
which i'm going to listen to right now, thanks ilm!

― not everything is a campfire (ian), Thursday, 28 October 2010 01:24 (2 years ago) Permalink

there are real low points on all his lps at least that ive heard but the stretch from sundown to endless wire is p classic. has most of his best songs + decent production + serious lowdown vibes. some of the early stuff he recorded w/the cbc is supposed to be really good but i dont think ive heard much of it & what i have heard is p conventional/uninteresting 60s folk

really though just jam this on repeat and peace:

― soda lake swame (Lamp), Thursday, 28 October 2010 01:56 (2 years ago) Permalink

man, i don't know. as far as i can tell from listening to "best of" stuff he only has like half a dozen or so really great songs.

Whoa, crazy talk!

Pretty much all his 70's albums up through "Summertime Dream" are great.

― NoTimeBeforeTime, Thursday, 28 October 2010 02:12 (2 years ago) Permalink

he can creep 'round my back stairs anytime

― fakey (buzza), Thursday, 28 October 2010 02:13 (2 years ago) Permalink

wait is that guy above dismissing the early UA stuff? i mean it's not perfect but sheesh there are some great songs on there. i'm not sayin!

― by another name (amateurist), Friday, 29 October 2010 16:46 (2 years ago) Permalink

i have vol 2 of classic lightfoot

― the importance of being furnace (samosa gibreel), Friday, 29 October 2010 16:47 (2 years ago) Permalink

3 months pass...

Had to bump this; been on a major Lightfoot kick lately. Glad to see "The Watchman's Gone" is getting some love in this thread. It's a seriously great song, easily one of my favorites. "I've done it before; I know I could do it in my sleep" - love that line!! Another favorite of mine is "Canadian Railroad Trilogy"...how many other folk songs from the 60's were over 6 minutes long?

― frogbs, Tuesday, 15 February 2011 19:51 (2 years ago) Permalink

11 months pass...

hey!! can we talk about Gordon Lightfoot for a second here?

― frogs you are the dumbest asshole (frogbs), Thursday, 26 January 2012 19:40 (1 year ago) Permalink

in particular the way he captures the pastoral side of small town living/the wonder of nature/being a poor, miserable drunk without being a bore

― frogs you are the dumbest asshole (frogbs), Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:05 (1 year ago) Permalink

Go on.

― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:09 (1 year ago) Permalink

I just read a kid's picture book for a thing here called Silver Birch, where students read a bunch of books and vote on their favorites:

The text is Lightfoot's lyrics.

― clemenza, Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:40 (1 year ago) Permalink

here you go:

― frogs you are the dumbest asshole (frogbs), Friday, 27 January 2012 02:09 (1 year ago) Permalink

That's a nice song.

― Naive Teen Idol, Friday, 27 January 2012 03:43 (1 year ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

i'm a man and i'd never cry at a folk song, but if i did, it would be this one

― Estimate the percent chance that a whale has ever been to the moon? (frogbs), Friday, 6 April 2012 16:03 (1 year ago) Permalink

you got just what i needed, thanks

― Jamón Sibérico (Ówen P.), Friday, 6 April 2012 17:26 (1 year ago) Permalink

aptly titled...

― henry s, Friday, 6 April 2012 20:32 (1 year ago) Permalink

Richard Thompson said he particularly always liked Gordon Lightfoot's voice. That scores him extra points.
― Dave225, Monday, July 8, 2002 8:00 PM (9 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I've long noticed the resemblance between their voices, I think from the first time I ever heard a Richard Thompson record

Nobody has mentioned "Winter Night", one of my favorites, which for some reason radio stations treat as a Christmas song even though it has nothing to do with the holiday other than taking place in wintertime.

― everything else is secondary (Lee626), Tuesday, 10 April 2012 07:47 (1 year ago) Permalink

Here's another vote for "Sundown". Poke holes in the stereo speaker cone and you'll hear the missing link between VU and the Stones. Speaking of VU, "Edmund Fitzgerald" is a far more crushingly monolithic droney dirge than they (or Spacemen 3) ever managed, plus it's about Mother Ocean reclaiming us all (the gravitational response to Can that was later adopted by Parliament and Drexciya), proving that Canada has evolved a sophisticated strain of nature mysticism that matches that which appeared in Russia centuries earlier (though entirely dissimilar - N. American variety characterised by a) existential will-to-power v. elements ['manifest destiny' on macro level] b) problems/opportunities of testing Enlightenment emancipation on crucible of 'nature' in purest form [the realpolitik that passeth all understanding] whereas Russian variety = syncretic combination of Orthodox Christianity and Siberian folk traditions/survival strategies [i.e. 'culture'?])
― dave q, Monday, July 8, 2002 5:00 PM (9 years ago)

First of all, I forgot this bit of prime Dave Q.

Second. Since no other drone band bothered to do it, the Dandy Warhols did take up Dave Q's challenge and covered "Edmund Fitzgerald." It's a good cover, but has coating of schtick to it that just makes it sound like drone karaoke. I believe that if someone like Bardo Pond covered it, you would feel like you're on the goddamn ship itself.

Third. As for DQ's theory of existential will-to-power, don't forget that "Sundown" is told from the point of view of the other man who's ready to get drunk and pound the shit out of the other dude.

― Reality Check Cashing Services (Elvis Telecom), Tuesday, 10 April 2012 08:15 (1 year ago) Permalink

He's also got several tunes about screwing groupies and leaving them behind after they fall in love with him - "For Lovin' Me" is surprisingly cruel. His other big hit - "If You Could Read My Mind" - not exactly a love song either

― Estimate the percent chance that a whale has ever been to the moon? (frogbs), Tuesday, 10 April 2012 13:32 (1 year ago) Permalink

Jeez, "For Lovin' Me" reads like it's sung by Keith Carradine in Nashville...

― Naive Teen Idol, Tuesday, 10 April 2012 14:33 (1 year ago) Permalink

that SCTV clip up there has me rolling!

― andrew m., Tuesday, 10 April 2012 14:36 (1 year ago) Permalink

Pretty hard to post anything that scans, after re-reading Dave Q bit of brilliance. The elements vs. existence dichotomy he brings up is elegant in "Canadian Railroad Trilogy". First section is omniscient narrator ("long before the white man and long before the wheel"), second section is specifically the voice of manifest destiny ("gotta get on our way 'cause we're moving too slow"), third section is a 1st-person account of the railroad builders themselves. Neither voice seems concerned with the other though they're all singing about the same thing. Best melodies the man has yet written, too.

― Jamón Sibérico (Ówen P.), Tuesday, 10 April 2012 15:05 (1 year ago) Permalink

There's so much more you can write about that song, too. IMO it's his greatest tune - even though it's nearly seven minutes long, it does so damn much in that time, and actually feels very concise.

― Estimate the percent chance that a whale has ever been to the moon? (frogbs), Tuesday, 10 April 2012 15:49 (1 year ago) Permalink

4 months pass...

Anyone read "Writing Gordon Lightfoot" by Dave Bidini? I feel kinda dumb as a relatively new poster to be haunting all these 60s/70s Canadiana threads (guess the nationality!). But anyways, I find Bidini's book to be a very interesting piece of writing, although somewhat difficult to specifically classify, and it's hard to recommend generally. But I found it genuinely poignant and a valid cultural document. Dave Bidina, As a former Rheostatic, is a bona fide Canadiana culture-maker, and journalist who writes about Canrock and hockey. This book is about the week of Toronto's 1972 Mariposa Folk Festival, but also about Canadian and international events that also took place on that week, and it's all woven with 'open letters' to Gordon Lightfoot, who informally appeared at the festival, and obviously lurks large in the zeitgeist of the era. The hook is that GL won't speak to Bidini for any sort of straight bio, so Bidini sort of reflects on that, and on the Canadian scene during the time, and on the life of GL in general. I found it fairly thrilling and very touching, but others may see it as sort of corny, and many many more may not care at all. But anyways, if anyone's read it....what'd you think?

― softspool, Friday, 31 August 2012 04:35 (8 months ago) Permalink

― buzza, Friday, 31 August 2012 04:37 (8 months ago) Permalink

Dave Bidina = Dave Bidini fwiw. Not an auspicious start...

― softspool, Friday, 31 August 2012 04:49 (8 months ago) Permalink

I'm amazed that "Sundown" hasn't been covered a whole lot by other famous singers/artists. It's a damn near perfect song.

― van smack, Friday, 31 August 2012 05:44 (8 months ago) Permalink

I haven't heard of that book, but you've sold me on it!

― NoTimeBeforeTime, Friday, 31 August 2012 06:29 (8 months ago) Permalink

I remember working at Burger King as a teenager and hearing "Sundown" on the PA all the time. I thought it was a new song and was trying to reconsile it with my teenage rage against country music. Some time later, I bought GL's greatest hits based on a song I heard on TV that I couldn't get out of my head. It was a "If You Could Read My Mind" soundalike because the show couldn't get the rights to the original. Put it on at closing time at BK, my manager hated it but the other dude I was working with seemed to dig it so it stayed on. "Sundown" came on and that's when I knew, this was my new obsession.

― frogbs, Friday, 31 August 2012 15:01 (8 months ago) Permalink

My friend covered "Sundown" in his band a while back, and everyone got super excited. It was great. He is not famous of course. No one knows who his band is, but it was a great version. A really strange and great song.

― grandavis, Friday, 31 August 2012 15:09 (8 months ago) Permalink

Also, I was under the impression that Lightfoot got covered a lot! Though Sundown may just be unfuckable. I did hear a good cover of "The Watchman's Gone" on Youtube though.

Definitely want to read that book. I always wondered if he was like, the Michael Jackson of Canada. So to speak.

― frogbs, Friday, 31 August 2012 15:45 (8 months ago) Permalink

Justin Bieber is the MJ of Canada fwiw.

― nedless summer (Ówen P.), Friday, 31 August 2012 23:16 (8 months ago) Permalink

Haven't read any of Bidini's books, much to my shame, but I'll def. pick this one up.

"Rheostatic" for those who don't know refers to The Rheostatics, the third most unique-to-Canada non-mainstream 90s band (The Tragically Hip #1, Sloan #2)

― nedless summer (Ówen P.), Friday, 31 August 2012 23:18 (8 months ago) Permalink

Ha, yes. "Rheostatic" probably does require some translation for most. Thanks Owen P. "On a Cold Road", a book Bidini wrote a number of years back, tells more of The Rheostatics' story than almost anyone needs to hear. It's also about the non-mainstream Canadian band touring circuit generally, at least as it was between the 70s and the 90s, and has some interesting band member interviews scattered throughout, if I remember properly. I enjoyed that one a whole bunch, too, although I would be curious about how much interest it would hold for anyone not steeped in the Canadian musical context, or say, for anyone not familiar with Canadian bands like, i dunno, Goddo or Max Webster.

― softspool, Saturday, 1 September 2012 00:22 (8 months ago) Permalink

― lil queequeg (peter grasswich), Saturday, 1 September 2012 00:50 (8 months ago) Permalink

GL's "It Ain't Me, Babe". Bit more of a hopeful spin, though, I guess. One little detail I like in that song is when he sort of smirks out the last couple "but I'll try"s

― softspool, Saturday, 1 September 2012 01:02 (8 months ago) Permalink

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