JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Songwriter Message Forum Gordon Lightfoot interview.

I watched Gordon being interviewed on CBC TV. It was interesting but I was surprised that he never wrote more songs. He was asked how many songs he had written but never cut, he said about thirty which he destroyed. He said he has recorded 200+ songs and that will be his legacy. I would have thought that he would have written a lot more songs than that, I guess he went for quality over quanity. So much for writing day in and day out just for the sake of writing.

He's one of the best. His music influenced me as a songwriter, singer, and bass player, more than anyone else.

I've read that he wrote for the albums. Maybe the deadlines tickled his muse.

Always been a fan myself. Saw the interview as well and also got to see him live once. (He was drunk and kept forgetting his lines) Still enjoyed him though.

I was surprised as well as to the number he wrote.

Doug

He also came through in an era where you had the luxury of writing very few songs. That luxury doesn't exist any more.

MAB

Back in the 60's he and my folk music buddie polished off some Jack Daniels and took a tumble in lake Ontario LOL
quite the character and probably one of the greatest ballad writers ever.

Gord has his demons , many do but my gosh his music huh ... but times have changed. I swear when I listen anymore it all sounds like it came out of the same cookie cutter ... but hey if it sells it sells ...

I quit watching CMT, everyone looks exactly the same the halter top young girls and the young guys in jeans and the music to my ear is exactly the same with different lyrics. But if everyone wants to drive an SUV the car companies will give them SUV's. If everyone wants this music than I have no problems at all. It is the way of the Market. I just glad I had a chance to hear a Gord or Dylan, or a Mamma Cass and the like ... But music changes and that doesn't mean it won't cycle again who knows. Maybe someday another Dave Van Ronk. But the internet and the independents are writing some great things that I enjoy, maybe they will never be on TV but boy there are some great writers here also. I just show my age, I want Hank Williams again LOL I do! and Gord, and Van Ronk and and and ... :-)

Hi Dan,

I agree with just about everything you're saying here.

Calvin


http://www.soundclick.com/bands/0/calvinstewart

Amazing songwriter. Back in the day, he was on a local radio show a week before our own duet was. I asked the host what he was like, and apparently he came in stg like 4 hours early to set up, check mics, work the room, rehearse. Same story at the old Village Corner where he used to work sets. A real pro. I think he still does his annual Massey Hall performance, least he did up to a couple of years ago though not 100% sure on that.

All these kinds of writers are still writing. Turn off the TV and the same old radio station and find 'em!

I love Gordon Lightfoot. People often tell me they get sick of hearing "Sundown", but I never do...one of my all time favorite songs. When I took my wife up to the North Shore of Lake Superior and looked out from Split Rock lighthouse on a steely gray day, it was impossible not to hear that epic guitar lick from "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". Has anyone here come close to writing a love song as good as "If You Could Read My Mind"?

Hey, if he's in and out with only a couple hundred songs, hats off to him. That's just amazing.

I really enjoy his songs. One of a kind. I guess it really was a different world for songwriters back then. Marc, I did not realize you are really that old... LOL!

Thanks for sharing this, Everett.

One of the first songs that I learned on guitar. I can play "If you Could Read My Mind", just can't sing it like Gordon.

You don't need to listen to Gordon Lightfoot to learn his music. Just listen to Tony Rice.

Yep, he was and is one of my major influences.

Dan,

They are all out there. You have Hank Williams the Third out there. Looks and sounds just like Hank. There are thousands of artists around, just have to find the ones you like.
Sorry about this but we are always going to have to dissagree on the "everyone looks and sounds the same." thing. I can't for the life of me figure out what you are watching or listening to. How you can say Jamie Johnson or Zac Brown sounds like Kenny Chesney, or Taylor Swift sounds or looks like Reba, or Martina, I can't figure out what you are looking for but I guess we just look at it differently.

Yep, I am 51 and have been doing this for 36 years. I have seen a WHOLE bunch of them come and go and also know a lot about what limits writers and artists. Aside from music style changes, most artist and writers wounds are self inflicted.Gord had a few.

My funniest personal experience happened in Duluth, Mn. where the Fitzgerald set out. I was doing a workshop up there and it was Oct. The host of the workshop carved my face into a pumpkin. It was funny as Hell. But after a couple of days we had to do something with it. So we went to the locks on Lake Superior and left it.

About a month later I got a call from the local paper asking if
I was the "great pumpkin?" It turned out they had a contest to find out who the face on the pumpkin was. Someone took a picture and put it on the front page of the paper. Someone figured out it was me. I was the great pumpkin.

But they love Lightfoot up there. And I liked him to. Would love to see him as a pumpkin.

MAB

Gordon's 71 years old now...still Packing the Fans In..too..

Those 3-Songs-Mentioned are Personal "Faves"..as are "Rainy Day People" & "Carefree Highway".

Just HADDA Google Lyrics to Edmund Fitzgerald...Some MASTERFUL Rhyming..(&..some spots where he just IGNORED that Rhyme Scheme to get the Plotline Perked-Up!) &..what listener wouldn't pay better-attention when he hears "Gitche Gumee" early-on in the Narrative?
Not TOO many "Disaster Songs" ever made it to The Top Ten...& this one deserved it Well.

JMO. Best Wishes,
Stan

Great writer, but as a singer, I thought he mumbled too much, something like Dylan. They showed a clip of Lightfoot when he was much younger, singing a song about the railroad, there his voice was clear and distinct, but in later years he sounded muffled. Maybe the hard life of being a musician took a toll on his voice.LOL

I still have the sheet music of "Edmund Fitzgerald". I bought it in the early 80's. It's 4-5 pages long. I'll have to dig it out.

.
The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald....I never did like that song. There came a night though when a friend mentioned it and I pulled the lyrics up. I was amazed at how well written that song was. The craft on that song was incredible IMO. It was a long song and the fact he kept up for the whole song made it even more amazing to me.

I tend to like Lightfoot a lot but didn't care for Edmund Fitzgerald or If You Could Read My Mind.
.

Everett, this may be due the fact that Lightfoot suffers from Bell's Palsy, a condition that causes paralysis in the facial muscles and often affects speech. He also had an abdominal hemorrhage that nearly killed him and, I imagine, causes him to sing very carefully.

As careful and exacting a writer as Gordon Lightfoot is, here's a funny story:

After the release of "You Could Read My Mind," I interviewed Lightfoot for my college newspaper. I mentioned that it was interesting that he used the lyric, "...never thought I could feel this way..." but at the concert sang, "...never thought I could act this way..." after the passage about being a movie star. He said, "No, I sing 'feel' each time!" but I told him "Honestly, no you don't!" He got quite a laugh out of it. His lyrics read "feel" both times, but he still sings "act" after that passage LOL.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUVkUXgmG_c&feature=related

I did not know he had Bell's Palsy. Could account for it I guess.