Gordon Lightfoot is DEAD to me.

April 2024 · 11 minute read

The revenge of the Edmund Fitzgerald!

by Anonymousreply 1May 2, 2023 2:31 AM

This is one of my faves from him.

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by Anonymousreply 2May 2, 2023 2:32 AM

That song has some of my favourite lyrics. "The lake it is said never gives up her dead!" Oh, chills down my spine!

by Anonymousreply 4May 2, 2023 2:36 AM

OP, I was about to post this news too. It’s as If You Could Read My Mind….

by Anonymousreply 5May 2, 2023 2:38 AM

“If You Could Read My Mind” is a beautiful masterpiece

by Anonymousreply 7May 2, 2023 2:38 AM

Predictions for the next two celebrity deaths- Johnny Depp and Jack Nicholson .

by Anonymousreply 8May 2, 2023 2:39 AM

"Fellas, it's been good to know ya."

by Anonymousreply 9May 2, 2023 2:40 AM

This one was banned by some US radio stations.

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by Anonymousreply 10May 2, 2023 2:43 AM

Gordon interviewed by Alex Trebek sixty years ago.

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by Anonymousreply 12May 2, 2023 2:53 AM

I love what Barbra did with it.

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by Anonymousreply 14May 2, 2023 2:58 AM

He was kinda hot as a younger man.

by Anonymousreply 15May 2, 2023 2:59 AM

Carefree highway let me slip away on you.

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by Anonymousreply 16May 2, 2023 3:10 AM

If you could read my mind is brilliant. Beautifully written. I put it on repeat every so often.

If I could read your mind, love What a tale your thoughts could tell Just like a paperback novel The kind the drugstore sells When you reach the part where the heartaches come The hero would be me But heroes often fail And you won't read that book again Because the ending's just too hard to take

by Anonymousreply 17May 2, 2023 3:29 AM

Stupid lack of formatting. Don't know how to fix it so lyrics will stay a run-on sentence.

by Anonymousreply 18May 2, 2023 3:31 AM

He did a great cover of Me And Bobbie McGee.

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by Anonymousreply 19May 2, 2023 3:39 AM

Loved his distinctive voice. I’m glad I grew up during a period where music/the radio had a place for it.

by Anonymousreply 20May 2, 2023 3:51 AM

And he sang in my key!! No one sings bass/baritone anymore.

by Anonymousreply 21May 2, 2023 3:58 AM

So what is it about that generation of singers that so many of them are soooooo distinctive?

I'm talking Gordon Lightfoot, Willie Nelson, Dolly, Neil Young, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan etc....

by Anonymousreply 23May 2, 2023 4:02 AM

Wasn't Lightfoot "light in the loafers"?

Seriously, I seem to recall hearing that he was gay.

by Anonymousreply 24May 2, 2023 4:04 AM

R16, I grew up with Lightfoot on the radio and until this very moment, I thought it was "Every highway lets me slip away on you." Oops

by Anonymousreply 25May 2, 2023 4:06 AM

He was involved for a period of time with Cathy Smith the woman who injected John Belushi with the deadly speedball.

Sundown was inspired by the Lightfoot/Smith relationship.

by Anonymousreply 26May 2, 2023 4:06 AM

Grew up listening to his music. Dang.

by Anonymousreply 27May 2, 2023 4:11 AM

Robin Williams came to Belushi's bungalow the night he died. Williams left early because he thought Cathy Smith was sleazy. How sleazy does a dealer have to be for a coke addict to say no thanks?

by Anonymousreply 28May 2, 2023 4:16 AM

Ew so old so he must be like creepy af

by Anonymousreply 31May 2, 2023 4:22 AM

My favorite. Don Quixote.

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by Anonymousreply 32May 2, 2023 4:25 AM

Willie Nelson just turned 90 and seems to be going strong.

by Anonymousreply 33May 2, 2023 5:07 AM

[quote] according to his longtime publicist Victoria Lord.

I don't like this atall.

by Anonymousreply 34May 2, 2023 5:21 AM

Quote] Predictions for the next two celebrity deaths- Johnny Depp and Jack Nicholson .

R8 Don't cunt Jack or Jack Sparrow out so fast

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by Anonymousreply 35May 2, 2023 6:03 AM

It's too late for praying.

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by Anonymousreply 36May 2, 2023 7:16 AM

Too Late for Prayin' was on the B side of the 45 for Sundown.

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by Anonymousreply 37May 2, 2023 7:21 AM

R17, you have to double space between line.

I did that here.

I did not do it Here.

by Anonymousreply 39May 2, 2023 9:23 AM

Lightfoot disavowed some lyrics that some would say are misogynistic/ getting him attention from the MeToo crowd......

the lyric below from For Lovin Me seems so perfect.....what does DL think about having to cater to current taste in content?

So don't you shed a tear for me

'Cause I ain't the love you thought I'd be

I've got a hundred more like you

So don't be blue

I'll have a thousand 'fore I'm through

by Anonymousreply 40May 2, 2023 12:27 PM

Lightfoot's songwriting prime was in an era, the 60s and 70s, when hit pop and country songs could still be about adult themes.

"If You Could Read My Mind" isn't sophomoric, far from it.

For all the deserved acclaim and fandom that Taylor Swift and, say, Lightfoot's fellow Canadian, The Weeknd have earned, they both still sound, and write lyrics, like slightly more mature variations of bubble gum pop, and I write that as a fan of bubble gum pop.

"The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald" belongs in a class by itself.

by Anonymousreply 42May 2, 2023 12:53 PM

That Edmond Fitzgerald song to this day gives me the creeps.

by Anonymousreply 43May 2, 2023 1:40 PM

Didn’t he sing that classic 70s ballad "Danny boooo"?

by Anonymousreply 44May 2, 2023 1:43 PM

Ah, I loved him. His (largely) gloomy songs were the soundtrack to the 70s!

by Anonymousreply 45May 2, 2023 1:43 PM

One of my favorites of his.

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by Anonymousreply 46May 2, 2023 1:50 PM

If You Could Read My Mind is one of the best songs ever written. Even though I prefer Neil Young's cover version.

by Anonymousreply 50May 2, 2023 3:03 PM

Never heard of John Grant, R49...

by Anonymousreply 51May 2, 2023 3:36 PM

[quote]r46 One of my favorites of his.

This version is pretty

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by Anonymousreply 53May 2, 2023 4:11 PM

Re: popular music, is the key change dead to us?

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by Anonymousreply 54May 2, 2023 5:32 PM

He looks like Chris Pratt and Bryan Cranston had a baby.

by Anonymousreply 55May 2, 2023 5:37 PM

[quote]R52 My favorite; I think.

APPROACHING LAVENDER must be appropriated as our gay anthem!

by Anonymousreply 56May 2, 2023 6:08 PM

I don't know exactly how you'd characterize his music - kind of folk/pop mashup? Whatever the case, there's nothing like listening to one of his songs when you're feeling sad, maudlin and half-drunk, crying over the lines "I don't know where we went wrong, but the feeling's gone and I just can't it back."

It's hard to imagine an artist like GL being popular today

by Anonymousreply 57May 2, 2023 8:31 PM

One of his lesser known songs.

It's just so.....emotional.

MARY!

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by Anonymousreply 58May 2, 2023 8:47 PM

For those of you who enjoy music analysis, here's a cool video.

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by Anonymousreply 59May 2, 2023 8:54 PM

He looks dead in op’s pic

by Anonymousreply 60May 2, 2023 9:14 PM

I was a kid growing up on Lake Superior when the Edmund Fitzgerald went down. That song was like a dirge/anthem for us back then. Still makes me sad.

by Anonymousreply 61May 2, 2023 9:31 PM

That song is very long, and it doesn’t have a chorus or any other variation.

by Anonymousreply 62May 2, 2023 9:58 PM

I thought it happened at the turn of the century or something and I told my mom (who grew up as a lighthouse keeper's daughter about this neat song I'd heard about a boat called the Edmund Fitzgerald and she told me about how we were all on a car ferry across Lake Michigan (I was a tiny baby) and the weather was awful that night on Lake Michigan too. I was shocked. Such a good fucking song

by Anonymousreply 63May 2, 2023 10:14 PM

The Edmond Fitzgerald song is chilling in parts. Certain parts of it give me goosebumps.

by Anonymousreply 66May 2, 2023 10:17 PM

If you ever look up the facts and details of the actual sinking of the Fitzgerald, then couple it with the song, it's amazing. It's like he got every detail down to the minutest one and somehow put it to music. An absolutely amazing song.

by Anonymousreply 67May 2, 2023 10:17 PM

[quote]"The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald" belongs in a class by itself.

[quote]That Edmond Fitzgerald song to this day gives me the creeps.

Oh, DEAR!

by Anonymousreply 68May 2, 2023 10:18 PM

Awww, that's a shame. He was a really good chef, 3 Michelin tires, I believe.

by Anonymousreply 69May 2, 2023 10:19 PM

[quote]The Weeknd

You spelled weekend wrong, luv.

by Anonymousreply 70May 2, 2023 10:20 PM

If you just read r17's post, instead of singing it to yourself, you're not doing it right.

by Anonymousreply 71May 2, 2023 10:20 PM

He apparently changed some lyrics as new information on the disaster became available.

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by Anonymousreply 72May 2, 2023 10:35 PM

Where does it say that in your link, r72?

by Anonymousreply 73May 2, 2023 10:43 PM

Oops, wrong link, R73. Here it is.

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by Anonymousreply 74May 2, 2023 10:48 PM

"And I will never be set free As long as I am a ghost, you can't see"

Some of the best lyrics ever written in pop history

by Anonymousreply 75May 2, 2023 11:17 PM

Holy shit, R12, Alex Trebek was gorgeous in 1963. He looks a bit like Robert Goulet in the same era , and I’m not saying that because they’re both Canadian. I wish men were still as clean-cut and neatly groomed as those two were in their heyday.

by Anonymousreply 77May 3, 2023 12:05 AM

Sundown was written about Cathy Evelyn Smith who gave Belushi that final speedball. When you know that it changes the meaning of the song.

by Anonymousreply 78May 3, 2023 12:07 AM

R67, I visited the Whitefish Point Lighthouse (“the searchers all say they’d have made Whitefish Bay if they’d put 15 more miles behind ‘em”) a while back. There’s a museum with exhibits and a lot of detail about the Edmund Fitzgerald and the many other ships that have sunk in the vicinity. Various versions of "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” was playing more or less continuously while I was in the museum, which was a little weird, but otherwise it was a fun visit. The Lake Superior beach is made of pebbles and small rocks of many beautiful colors. I still have a small bowl of them in my living room.

The UP of Michigan is absolutely gorgeous, and this particular spot is especially appealing because of the museum and lighthouse, the views of Lake Superior and the remoteness. You really feel like you’re in the middle of nowhere. It’s worth a visit if you’re ever up that way.

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by Anonymousreply 79May 3, 2023 12:07 AM

^^^ "... WERE playing ..."

by Anonymousreply 80May 3, 2023 12:08 AM

So Lake Superior is called Gichigami in Ojibwe. Interesting tidbit that proves how much detail Lightfoot put into his song.

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by Anonymousreply 81May 3, 2023 12:41 AM

[quote]R78 Sundown was written about Cathy Evelyn Smith

Would it be trashy to name one’s daughter Sundown?

I wonder if anyone ever was.

by Anonymousreply 82May 3, 2023 12:46 AM

He said that this one was one of his favourites.

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by Anonymousreply 83May 3, 2023 1:11 AM

My parents saw him play at a Native casino in the UP sometime in the 90s. What they didn't know was that first two rows held family members of the crew. Well, you can imagine.

It apparently aligned with some sort of opening or exhibit at the Whitefish Point museum mentioned above.

by Anonymousreply 84May 3, 2023 1:20 AM

He stayed in touch with the families of the victims for years, R84. He also donated some concert proceeds to them and established scholarships in some of the crew members names.

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by Anonymousreply 85May 3, 2023 1:29 AM

....authentic, rugged sexy mother fucker

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by Anonymousreply 88May 6, 2023 12:59 AM

I’m probably the youngest one here who’s a big fan of Gord (26). He has always been a favorite of mine and of which the songs I tend to cover in my act. He had such a sensibility in the folk music idiom that is pretty much unsurpassed. He was a real legend and a hell of a thinking man. I hope he rests in peace.

by Anonymousreply 91May 10, 2023 9:36 PM

[quote]r91 I’m probably the youngest one here who’s a big fan of Gord (26).

I [italic]look[/italic] 26!

by Anonymousreply 92May 10, 2023 9:59 PM

Gordon made a comment during one of his concerts he was proud "Approaching Lavender" had been appropriated as a gay anthem by several groups in Canada.

by Anonymousreply 93May 10, 2023 10:27 PM

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