I'm Not Sayin' it's the Gordon Lightfoot listening thread (but it is)...new album every Thursday

yeah, when I saw his shows had been postponed I kinda had a feeling that would be it. gonna miss ya Gord, glad you loved Wisconsin enough to hit it multiple times on each tour

A terrible day. Rest in peace Gord.

RIP

Big part of my childhood years. He meant a lot to my mother, who I can remember being very excited when she told me that she finally got to see him live for the first time. "Go My Way" holds a special place for her and me.

Unrelated, but I spent a portion of my youth years in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Goes without saying we did the uper trip to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum and get a layout of where all the famous shipwrecks are in Lake Superior. Jump to not long after and a little league teammate's dad invites my younger brother and I to a ride back from our baseball game in Escanaba. Only we're taking his private plane.

So my teammate's dad is flying us back and as we get towards the airfield, he offers to take us over Lake Superior so we can see nearby shipwrecks visible at the bottom of the lake. To this day, it was amazing how clear the water was and how much detail you could see of the boat wreckage up in the sky. It was right then my brother asked "Does this plane go any faster?" The dad joyfully said, "It sure does!," and immediately took the plane into a nose-dive, towards the oncoming Superior ship wreckage.

Whew, glad it’s not a mortality revive.

― The land of dreams and endless remorse (hardcore dilettante), Sunday, 2 April 2023 22:22 (one month ago) bookmarkflaglink

:(

Very sad. He was the best.

my story is kind of odd, but bear with me

when I was a teenager there was this hidden camera show called Trigger Happy TV, which obviously originated in the UK, as the dude was clearly British. anyway I thought it was pretty funny but what I really liked was the soundtrack. in particular there was this really pretty song that played when he was doing these pranks as a suicidal artist in the park.

I looked up what it was and it was "If You Could Read My Mind". the next time I went to the record store I looked him up and there was a CD called Complete Greatest Hits for $11.99. I figured what the hell and bought it.

Skipped right to Track 7 and guess what...the song actually was NOT "If You Could Read My Mind"! It was one of those soundalikes they do for US TV in order to get around having to pay royalties. So that was disappointing, but it was made up for - I was working at Burger King at the time, and there was this one country/folk song they played over the PA I really liked, but I never heard enough of the lyrics to figure out what it was. I thought it was something from the 90's...turns out it was "Sundown"

as part of the BK closing crew I brought this CD in a lot. there were a couple guys who really dug it. everyone else thought it was lame as shit, but when you're 17 that's also funny in its own way. I grew to really love it and when I started getting into vinyl I bought a ton of his records because they were all so cheap. lo and behold most of them were really good! there's treasure on all those albums. at least to a certain point. actually I think Gord is what made me really get into vinyl, I kinda loved how you were rescuing these beat up things that were clearly once important to someone, at least judging by how the covers would be written on or certain bits of the lyric sheet clipped out. felt like time travelling a bit.

I got to see him 3 times. obviously it was in his later years, but he really loved touring the Midwest and actually hit Manitowoc twice. one time he was playing literally down the street from me, which was cool. yeah his voice wasn't there but the shows were fun. he had a pretty good attitude and told some funny stories. and the band sounded nice. I wanna say it's tragic he's gone, but in reality the dude lived a lot longer than anyone would've thought. I felt bad since in those later years it was clear he was just touring to pay the medical bills. oh well. you're free to haunt the old shipyards now, bud.

guess what...the song actually was NOT "If You Could Read My Mind"! It was one of those soundalikes they do for US TV in order to get around having to pay royalties.

I'll use that as a cue to post this; I'm sure, as your post indicates, he had a great sense of humour, so I bet he loved this (favourites: "Dueling Banjos," "Theme from Mannix," and "White Rabbit").

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZpk0A4hZes

I'm in a really good grade 1 class today, so I've been playing Lightfoot all morning as they work.

is that Rick Moranis singing?? he sounds almost exactly like him!

Could be--never really thought about who's doing the singing. Something tells me Moranis joined a season or two later than the others, and I think this is early, so not sure.

oh, I mean to say the singer sounds like Lightfoot, at one point I actually wondered if it WAS Gord

drove from north bay down to toronto today and listened to gord along the way in homage, passing orillia and hearing the watchman's gone choked me up tbh. he had a superb talent for taking a thing like RFK's funeral train and merging it with his own ruminations on death, throw in train & sea references and you have maybe his most perfect *gordon lightfoot* song.

also the orchestral build and transition from part 2 to part 3 of CRT is a thing of beauty. the second half of cabaret is a simple, lovely tune to listen to while coming down highway 11.

in those later years it was clear he was just touring to pay the medical bills

With the Canadian health system, this isn't really a factor.

it is moranis who was singing in the sctv lightfoot thing, i think i have posted a link to that at least 3-4 times over the years here, how he finds the mellow gordo groove in every song is remarkable

Coverage up here was as extensive as I'd hoped. Huge front page stories on the Star and the Sun (bought my Star out of town--the variety store here has stopped carrying newspapers!), lots on the radio and CBC. One station yesterday interviewed a Timmins MPP or MP who grew up with Lightfoot. And everyone you knew seemed to post on FB.

Globe and Mail, too. He got the Canadian Newspaper Trilogy treatment.

the variety store here has stopped carrying newspapers!

dang. There's a song in there

My version of that SCTV sketch consists of fingerpicking Gmaj7 and Cmaj7 chords and singing the Sex Pistols' "God Save the Queen" à la Gord .

Here's another parody/tribute:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rh5slFWPlY

Contacted a friend in Toronto about going up to Orillia on Sunday, but getting this friend to do just about anything is an ordeal, so that's not going to happen.

https://www.orilliamatters.com/local-news/huge-event-orillia-prepares-to-say-goodbye-to-gordon-lightfoot-6954286

Some consolation: the rep theatre in London is screening the documentary from a few years ago tomorrow. Haven't seen it, so I'll go see that instead.

Forgot all about this!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOaFHmMYikc

Gordon lightfoot is a blind spot for me but I picked up his first two lps for cheap the other day and they're real nice. In places his voice reminds me of Robbie basho, when he sang on some of his albums. Wouldn't be surprised if Robbie was influenced by him a bit.

If you find me feedin' daisies/Please turn my face up to the sky

If I wait for the right moment
You can bet I'll climb aboard unseen
I've done it before, I know I can do it in my sleep