Gordon Lightfoot passed away at 84

[PastaJoe]

 

 

[Another Fan]

Rest well Gordon.

 

It was actually in Vincent Gallo's movie The Brown Bunny where I discovered his music.  

 

Lovely song

 

 

 

 

[Joe Ferguson forever]

Love a lot of his music.  Rest in peace Gordon.

[Bad Things]

That is really sad to hear.

 

I've enjoyed his music since I was a little kid.

Rest in Peace.

 

 

 

Edited May 2, 2023 by Bad Things

[ExiledInIllinois]

RIP...

 

I always think of Old Fort Niagara when I hear this line posted below. We'd always take a field trip to the old fort while in gammar school.  I wonder if he was inspired by the story of the headless body/lover story that was tossed in the fort's castle well and supposedly haunted the fort at night searching adjacent Lake Ontario and surrounding grounds searching for its head. I forget how the story goes off the top of my head😏, you can look it up and search for it...

 

"...If you could read my mind, love
What a tale my thoughts could tell
Just like an old time movie
'Bout a ghost from a wishing well
In a castle dark or a fortress strong
With chains upon my feet
But stories always end
And if you read between the lines
You'll know that I'm just trying to understand
The feelings that you lack..."

 

Anyway... Its about his breakup. I was listening to his artist take on Sirius... His older daughter got him to change the lyrics later in life whenever he sang "If You Could Read My Mind"  live to:

 

"And if you read between the lines
You'll know that I'm just trying to understand
The feelings that WE lack..."

 

Also as a child I always thought:

 

"...Sundown you better take care
If I find you been creepin' 'round my back stairs
Sundown ya better take care
If I find you been creepin' 'round my back stairs...

 

Was:

 

"...Sundown you better take care
If I find you been drinkin' my Labatt's beer
Sundown ya better take care
If I find you been drinkin' my Labatt's beer..."

 

😏

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 2, 2023 by ExiledInIllinois

[DaBillsFanSince1973]

r.i.p.

 

 

[Steve O]

One of my all-time favorites. Saw him a few years ago in Geneva, he was 79 at the time, He said that people learning to play guitar love his music because if they can learn 5 notes they can play every song he's ever written! Later that summer I was in Cape Cod and he was playing in a high school gymnasium. Guy just loved to entertain. Sad day, RIP.

 

Edited May 2, 2023 by Steve O

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

'Bride the First' and I only ever attended two concerts in our lives, both before we were married.  Lightfoot at Kleinhans, both times.  Fond memories.

[muppy]

I owned vinyl of his from back in the day. this was my fav song of his RIP Gordon. You were a truly gifted soul

 

 

 

 

 

[ExiledInIllinois]

He also had an artist's take on Sirius about:

 

Carefree Highway was written in a rental car in Arizona... On the "Carefree Highway" (Arizona Route 74) with signs showing the way to Carefree, Arizona. He penned the song and almost left it in the glove box of the rental on way back to airport.

 

 

 

[Greybeard]

RIP.  He certainly was a great story teller.

 

  I really like "If you could read my mind" and "Sundown."

 

  The line that really struck me from "If you could read my mind" is,

 

"I never thought I could feel this way
And I've got to say that I just don't get it
I don't know where we went wrong
But the feeling's gone
And I just can't get it back"

 

Love can be very fickle.  It is scary in a way.

[Tiberius]

7 hours ago, DaBillsFanSince1973 said:

r.i.p.

 

 

The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy

[Irv]

Guy was great.  Turned a tragedy of a ship sinking into a great tribute and song.  

[TheCockSportif]

His music was dour.  I could not enjoy it more!

[SoTier]

Back in the days of OTA television when just about every house sprouted an antenna on the roof, our farmhouse in northern Cattaraugus County was high enough in the hills that we picked up a couple of Canadian TV channels.  In 1967, Canada celebrated its centennial, and Gordon Lightfoot wrote a song to celebrate that event which he performed on a TV song.   It was the "Canadian Railway Trilogy" ...

There was a time in this fair land when the railroad did not run
When the wild majestic mountains stood alone against the sun
Long before the white man and long before the wheel
When the green dark forest was too silent to be real

 

But time has no beginning and the history has no bound
As to this verdant country they came from all around
They sailed upon her waterways and they walked the forest tall
Built the mines, mills and the factories for the good of us all

 

And when the young man's fancy was turned into the spring
The railroad men grew restless for to hear the hammers ring
Their minds were overflowing with the visions of their day
And many a fortune lost and won and many a debt to pay

 

For they looked in the future and what did they see?
They saw an iron road runnin' from the sea to the sea
Bringin' the goods to a young growin' land
All up from the seaboards and into their hands

 

I have been a fan ever since.   Like so many others, "If You Could Read My Mind" has been my favorite.   I think it strikes a chord in almost anybody who's ever loved and lost.

 

RIP, Gordon.

[\GoBillsInDallas/]

 

Anne, Gordon, Stompin' Tom 1973

[CowgirlsFan]

RIP

 

Thank you for your contribution to the music industry 🎼

[sherpa]

I really liked his music.

Besides "Beautiful" and "The Wreck...."  which are among my all time favorite songs, but he had many tunes that were not that well known that get the volume treatment if they come on a local oldies radio station.

 

"Christian Island" is one:

      "She's a good old boat and she'll stay afloat

       Through the toughest gales and keep smiling

       But for one more day she would like to stay

       In the lee of Christian Island."

 

 I always like "Cotton Jenny" also.

[Draconator]

I have a friend who is a studio musician in Toronto. He played keyboards and Hammond Organ on one of Gordon's records. Apparently, Gordon was very meticulous about instruments being in tune. He was known to tune a piano if he felt it was out. He would do multiple takes of each song, and keep the tape of all the takes. Even if he felt a take of a song was perfect, he would say, "Great job boys. That was perfect. Let's do it again". 

[SoTier]

Prime Video offers a documentary from 2020 that I watched during the pandemic:  "Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind".  It was excellent. You can rent it now for $2.18.