NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT
"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams
Showing posts with label Gordon Lightfoot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gordon Lightfoot. Show all posts
Like Carefree Highway the miles and years just slip by.
It was 50 years ago that the late Gordon Lightfoot released his greatest album - Sundown.
Every tract was a classic. The title song Sundown went #1 on the charts earning a gold record. The album went #1 earning a platinum record. The tract Carefree Highway became a top ten single.
Gordon passed away this year. He was a great poet. It was my honor to meet him backstage after a concert in SoCal and talk with him about my favorite songs.
Release in 1972, Old Dan's Records has always been one of my favorite albums. Though it produced no hit singles in the U.S., the album featured Lightfoot at the peak of his powers melding country and folk music into one.
Gordon Lightfoot (November 17, 1938 – May 1, 2023) was a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music. He is credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s.
He has been referred to as Canada's greatest songwriter and his songs have been recorded by some of the world's most renowned musical artists. Lightfoot's biographer Nicholas Jennings said, "His name is synonymous with timeless songs about trains and shipwrecks, rivers and highways, lovers and loneliness."
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
Gordon Lightfoot
Canadian Railroad Trilogy
By Gary;
This was a sad week for me and other fans of the great Canadian Gordon Lightfoot when he passed on May 1st.
I owned all his records. Attended about 20 concerts. Why was I a huge Lightfoot fan?
No fan can answer that. Lightfoot spoke to my soul. In the case of my oldest son it is the band Metallica. For my youngest son it is Phil Collins.
Gordon was a master wordsmith who put poetry into musical form.
In US record sales Lightfoot earned seven gold records and three platinum and multi-platinum records.
In a proper send off, at the Mariners Church in Detroit the day after the songwriter died, on May 2nd 2023, at 3:00pm, the bell rang 30 times, 29 times for the crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald plus one more for Gordon Lightfoot.
Thank you for the memories.
If you Could Read my Mind
(live in concert)
Whispers of the North
Alaska images...all the intoxicating sights and sounds that borough deep into your soul and cause you to venture farther into the Northland. It is still one of my favorites.
Sundown was a #1 hit Gold record single and Gold album in the U.S. and Canada and reached #13 on the country music chart.
1982 - Baby Step Back
From the Shadows album here is an early MTV video. "Baby Step Back" peaked at number 17 on the US Adult Contemporary chart and #50 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also reached number six on the Canadian Adult Contemporary chart.
Morning Glory
“I can't think of any Gordon Lightfoot song I don't like. Everytime I hear a song of his, it's like I wish it would last forever. "
I have decided to try and start each new week off on a positive high note. But being a glass half empty kind of guy I suspect things will turn into crap soon enough.
Gordon Lightfoot (born November 17, 1938) is a Canadian singer-songwriter guitarist who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music. He is credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s. He is often referred to as Canada's greatest songwriter. Lightfoot's discography comprises 19 studio albums, three live albums, 16 greatest hits albums and 46 singles. 10 albums and singles were awarded gold records and 3 albums were awarded platinum or multi-platinum records.
Song For A Winter's Night
"Song for a Winter's Night" is a song written by Gordon Lightfoot, and first recorded for his 1967 album, The Way I Feel.
Gordon Lightfoot (left) and Bob Dylan about 1974. . “I can't think of any Gordon Lightfoot song I don't like. Everytime I hear a song of his, it's like I wish it would last forever. " - Bob Dylan
I have decided to try and start each new week off on a positive high note. But being a glass half empty kind of guy I suspect things will turn into crap soon enough.
Gordon Lightfoot (born November 17, 1938) is a Canadian singer-songwriter guitarist who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music. He is credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s. He is often referred to as Canada's greatest songwriter. Lightfoot's discography comprises 19 studio albums, three live albums, 16 greatest hits albums and 46 singles. 10 albums and singles were awarded gold records and 3 albums were awarded platinum or multi-platinum records. He topped the US Hot 100 and/or AC chart with the hits "If You Could Read My Mind" (1970), "Sundown" (1974); "Carefree Highway" (1974), "Rainy Day People (1975), and "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" (1976), and had many other hits that appeared within the top 40.
The 1982 album Shadows is my favorite.
Shadows was considered a commercial failure. Lightfoot referred to it as "the music industry's best-kept secret". When I spoke with Gordon backstage after a concert he complained that the record company had not even bothered to ship copies of the album to Texas!!! "and I have thousands of fans down there" he said.
1982 - Baby Step Back
From the Shadows album here is an early MTV video. "Baby Step Back" peaked at number 17 on the US Adult Contemporary chart and #50 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also reached number six on the Canadian Adult Contemporary chart.
I have decided to try and start each new week off on a positive high note. But being a glass half empty kind of guy I suspect things will turn into crap soon enough.
Gordon Lightfoot(born November 17, 1938) is a Canadian singer-songwriter guitarist who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music. He is credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s. He is often referred to as Canada's greatest songwriter. Lightfoot's discography comprises 19 studio albums, three live albums, 16 greatest hits albums and 46 singles. He topped the US Hot 100 and/or AC chart with the hits "If You Could Read My Mind" (1970), "Sundown" (1974); "Carefree Highway" (1974), "Rainy Day People (1975), and "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" (1976), and had many other hits that appeared within the top 40. Several of his albums achieved gold and multi-platinum status internationally.
Being a rabid fan is a strange thing. With one of my sons it is all things Metallica. With others it might be The Beatles or Beyoncé. For me it has always been Gordon Lightfoot. Why? I do not have a clue. Music speaks to us all in ways we cannot understand. While trying not to feel too old, here is my 40th Anniversary tribute to Gordon's Summertime Dream album. The album is a perfect 70s blend of folk, country and rock music. A best seller the album went platinum. I have not attended his concerts for years. It is too painful. Gord's voice went long ago. A reminder that we are all getting old.
Summertime Dream
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
A tribute to the 29 men who died November 10, 1975, aboard
the Edmund Fitzgerald in Lake Superior.
.
In the US, the song peaked at #2 on the Billboard chart and #50 on the country chart.
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Never Too Close
Race Among the Ruins
Gordon Lightfoot (left) and Bob Dylan about 1974. . “I can't think of any Gordon Lightfoot song I don't like. Everytime I hear a song of his, it's like I wish it would last forever. " - Bob Dylan
To relax after all the hustle and bustle of the holiday season I turned to Gordon Lightfoot, my favorite strolling troubadour and master poet.
Over the years Gord has successfully taken on in song the wonders of the great outdoors as well as ships on the high seas. Music like this takes you a special place where you recharge your mental batteries.
As Gord said in another song: "Listen to the pictures flow. Across the room into your mind they go."
Enjoy.
Whispers of the North
Whispers of the wind I will feel it sting I will see it rise and fall I will hear it sing The sound is like a song to me It takes away the pain The river is the melody And sky is the refrain
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed In the Maritime Sailors' Cathedral The church bell chimed 'til it rang twenty-nine times For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald
Pussywillows Cat-tails
Harsh nights and candlelights wood fires a-blazin' Soft lips and fingertips resting in my soul Treasuring remembering the promise of spring Pussywillows cat-tails soft winds and roses
Ballad of the Yarmouth Castle
Deep within the Yarmouth Castle The fire begins to glow It leaps into the hallways And climbs and twists and grows
And the paint she wore to keep her young Oh Lord, how well it burns And soon that old fire is a-ragin'
Restless
There's a kind of a restless feeling and it pulls me from within It sets my senses reeling and my wheels begin to spin In the quietude of winter you can hear the wild geese cry And I will always love that sound until the day I die
The Ghosts of Cape Horn
Come all of you rustic old sea dogs Who follow the bright Southern Cross You were rounding the Horn In the eye of a storm When you lost her one day And you read all your letters From oceans away Then you took them to the bottom of the sea
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
Gordon Lightfoot (left) and Bob Dylan about 1974. . “I can't think of any Gordon Lightfoot song I don't like. Everytime I hear a song of his, it's like I wish it would last forever. " - Bob Dylan
