Brief Comment by Kip Hansen — 3 May 2023
Gordon Lightfoot – how can we say enough good things about the living breathing force of humanity that was Gordon Lightfoot? Born in 1938 and performing to the end: His concert schedule announced on 11 April, 2023:
“Gordon Lightfoot announces the cancellation of his U.S. and Canadian concert schedule for 2023. The singer is currently experiencing some health related issues and is unable to confirm rescheduled dates at this time.”
He passed over on the 1st of May, dying of natural causes in Toronto at age 84. The NY Times carried his obituary on 2 May 2023.
If you were alive in the 1960s and 1970s, you heard his songs performed by Lightfoot himself and also by the popular “folk singers” of the day. And not just “folkies” but almost everybody recorded at least one Lightfoot song. A very partial list includes: Barbra Streisand, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Marty Robbins, Harry Belafonte, Anne Murray, Sarah McLachlan, Eddie Albert, Herb Alpert, Erik Clapton, Petula Clark, Chad and Jeremy, Judy Collins, Jim Croce, Percy Faith, The Grateful Dead, Richie Havens, Ian and Sylvia, Waylon Jennings, Dianne Krall, Trini Lopez, Jerry Lee Lewis, Tommy Makem and the Clancy Brothers, Johnny Mathis, Billy Joel, Don Mclean, Liza Minnelli, Peter Paul and Mary, Lou Rawls, Frank Sinatra Jr., Conway Twitty, Hank Williams Jr., Neil Young and many more.
Gordon Lightfoot songs are a part of the musical iconography of the 1960s through 1980s folk era and have lasted and passed the test of time having become true classics of several genres. YouTube offers a free listen to Gordon Lightfoot’s “greatest hits” album from Rhino Records.
There are many tributes being paid to this light of music from around the world – you can sample them here. There is a ten-minute tribute from Folk Alliance International that covers his career.
To quote the man himself: “But stories always end.”
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Author’s Comment:
Gordon Lightfoot‘s connections to climate and climate change start and end with a song title: In the Early Morning Rain.
My connection to him lies only in memory and song – as it should be.
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I was a fan of Gordon’s from the first time I heard “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” sometime in the late 1980s. I got the pleasure to see Gordon live on July 1, 1993 at the Fraze Pavilion in Kettering, OH. It is among my three favorite concerts to have attended. The other two are Johnny Cash and Ray Charles.
I believe you are thinking of Cat Stevens. If you’re going to be a bigot, at least do it with a modicum of underlying accuracy.
Charles ==> Thank you for that — missed this one coming in. (I thought people had to register to comment?)
NOTE TO READERS: The moderator has subsequently deleted the offending comment which was a model of religious bigotry.
funny that a Cat Stevens tangent comes up again, wrt to Gordon Lightfoot (and Elaine Benes)
As a Canadian of a certain age, I’m pleasantly surprised at the number of US blogs that have recognized Lightfoot’s talents and impact. And blogs where you wouldn’t expect to see such tributes such as this and American Thinker.
By the way we also recently lost another folk/country icon Ian Tyson. Both Lightfoot and Tyson brought to mind the grant Stan Rodgers who was killed 30 plus years ago in a fire aboard an airplane after landing because of a smoker. Lead to no smoking on planes. His song Northwest Passage or Barrett’s Privateers are on par with Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald or Canadian Railway Trilogy.
maureen1955 ==> Oh gosh — Stan Rodgers and Northwest Passage — absolute genius and far beyond. I heard a radio program about him and that song long long ago.
Readers not familiar with Northwest Passage can listen to it here.
Barret’s Privateers … and The Mary Ellen Carter
The last verse of the Mary Ellen Carter is an anthem for everyone who has been messed with by the authorities. Thank you.
Maureen ==> For those unfamiliar:
“And you, to whom adversity has dealt the final blow
With smiling bastards lying to you everywhere you go
Turn to, and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain
And like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again.”
(see here.)
“Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn minutes to hours…”
One of the most powerful and heartbreaking lines ever written…
He was an amazing singer. I do not mean ANY disrespect however this is the second time he died. And he had a really good laugh over the first “time”. Great music.