Gifted singer, songwriter and the connective thread that runs through the memories of our lives, Gordon Lightfoot, has died. He was 84.
A gifted Canadian artist from ordinary means, Mr. Lightfoot’s hits include, “If You Could Read My Mind,” “Early Morning Rain,” “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” and “Sundown,” which reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts in 1974.
“Sometimes I wonder why I’m being called an icon, because I really don’t think of myself that way,” Mr. Lightfoot told The Globe and Mail in 2008. “I’m a professional musician, and I work with very professional people. It’s how we get through life.” (NYT)
One of his great song lines, …”the hero would be me, but heroes often fail.” Gordon Lightfoot’s songs are sprinkled throughout multiple links in the chain of our lives. Each song reminding us of our memory attached to the moments of it. This passing hits a little harder.
.
When a musician tells a story and its a pleasure to listen to it, you know he is an artist.
RIP….Love storytellers like Gordon …Harry Chapin
Where you goin to my lady blue?
It’s a shame you ruined your gown in the rain.
I’m 66, and I’m weeping remembering all this glorious music.
A long time ago, back in the early 1970’s, i attended College in Jacksonville Florida.
I was involved in a ton of stuff on campus. ie: Student Government, Yearbook, College Newspaper, College Calendar, etc.
As part of my Student Government job, i was responsible for all Campus Entertainment Events, and was called the “Director of Student Information.”
As part of that job, i ran all of the advertising for Campus Events. ie: movie night, parties, concerts, etc.
I also “Managed” most of those events too.
As an example, every Saturday, i bought 10 kegs of beer, and ran a Student “Keg Party”, complete with “Greased Pig” contests for the Fraternities.
The Drinking Age was 18 back then.
Both the “UNDER-21 Drinking” and the “Greased Pig” contests are all “ILLEGAL” now, but back then, it was just normal College fun.
Every other Saturday, i ran a Music Concert in the Gymnasium for which i hired various Bands, Vocalists, and Comedians to entertan the Students.
I hired many folks over a 2 year period, including “Billy Joel” twice, and a bunch of others.
The most controversial act i hired was “Cheech & Chong”, who the students LOVED, but the “Dean of Women” freaked out about.
All of that was long ago.
The reason i mention all of this is that “one time i hired “HARRY CHAPIN” for one of my concerts.”
Harry Chapin was fantastic, and the concert was a success.
As part of my process in running all of those concerts, after the concert was over, i always “switched hats” and “Interviewed” the band, or vocalist, etc. as part of one of my “other jobs” as Assistant Editor of the Campus Newspaper.
After the concert, when i interviewed Harry Chapin, he was exhausted, and kept sweating profusely the whole time.
He kept wiping his face and neck with a bandana, and spent most of the time “slumped” in his chair as he talked.
My “interview technique” was simple and always the same.
ie: “I ASKED NO QUESTIONS, AND SIMPLY TOLD THE PERSON TO DO ALL THE TALKING, AND TO TELL ME WHAT HE WANTS MY READERS TO KNOW.”
Harry started talking.
Slow at first, and then more animated.
Harry talked about who inspired him when he was young, and about how he went about writing his songs.
Harry then talked about how hard it is being out “On The Road – Touring”, and how he missed his wife and family.
When he was through talking, i asked Harry Chapin “THE SAME QUESTION THAT I ASKED ALL OF THE OTHER ACTS THAT I HAD HIRED…..”
I asked Harry Chapin, “WHO SHOULD I HIRE FOR MY NEXT CONCERT ?”
Most of the other entertainers i interviewed (like Billy Joel) , WERE OFTEN STUMPED BY THAT QUESTION, and gave me no answer.
BUT NOT HARRY CHAPIN………
Harry Chapin was surprised by my question, and HE SMILED AT ME, and said “YOU KNOW KID, NOT ONCE HAS ANYONE EVER ASKED ME THAT ?”
He then laughed, and SAT UP IN HIS SEAT.
HARRY LEANED FORWARD AND PUT HIS ELBOWS ON THE TABLE, AND RESTED HIS CHIN IN THE PALM OF HIS HAND, AS HE PONDERED THE QUESTION…..
and in less than 30 seconds, Harry Chapin SAT BACK UP IN HIS CHAIR, RESTED HIS HANDS ON HIS THIGHS, AND TOLD ME THE FOLLOWING.
Harry Chapin said :
“LOOK KID, IF YOU LIKE MY WRITING, AND YOU LIKE MY STORY SONGS, THEN THE NEXT ACT YOU SHOULD HIRE IS A GUY NAMED “GORDON LIGHTFOOT.” HE’S THE BEST THERE IS.”
And that was the end of my interview with Harry Chapin.
I tried for 6 months to hire “Gordon Lightfoot” to sing for my Students, but there was always a “scheduling conflict” that prevented it.
The following year, i left that College, and a year or so later, Harry Chapin was killed in an auto accident.
………………..
I am old now, and won’t be around much longer.
All of us OLD PEOPLE have a ton of “REGRETS” in our life.
One of my “REGRETS” is that i was never able to “HIRE, MEET, AND INTERVIEW “GORDON LIGHTFOOT.”
Maybe soon, i can interview him in Heaven.
Have a nice day.
What a great story! Thank you for talking the time to tell it.
Illurion thanks for one of the best stories I’ve read this year.
.
I just love hearing of generations just ahead of me and what life was like.
TY, at 72, I don’t believe our best writers or Hollywood can ever fully capture the import of the history and magnificent times, both good and bad, that my generation has experienced to date.
This is from a Tulane English major with a full appreciation of historical literature – the history of previous humanity.
Perhaps our music captures most of it.
But, I am still amazed that my father and his Greatest Generation were able to accept and tolerate their progeny’s stark break from the reality and world they saved for us thru WWIi.
Hope we have the same patience with our own now,… for the best of humankind.
It truly seems the Falcon can no longer hear the Falconer in his widening gyre!
Thank you very much Illurion and God Bless You!
I turned off the smoke detectors in Gordon Lightfoot’s dressing room so he could smoke grass in comfort in my venue. I had him twice at my place in Columbus, Ohio. I didn’t interview him but once we talked about clogged sinks for a few minutes.
Great concert. Great guy.
Mary Chapin Carpenter is magnificent. Her way with words is second only to Neil Peart…… 😛
Thank you for posting this great music video!
An example of a man using his God given talents for the good of humanity. And in so doing would bring a piece of God’s love into our daily lives.
Another good’ern gone. Thank you, Mr. L, for all the enjoyment you brought to so many during your lifetime.
Hard to believe…
In just fifty years…
America’s gone from Gordon Lightfoot to Lori Lightfoot.
A sad day indeed…
she is the wreck of something, that is for sure
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. You could just feel the timelessness of it the first time you heard it.
clarion: I remember the song, playing on my flip-clock radio, all the way back to its debut, in ’76. The song still plays quite frequently, on certain SiriusXM channels.
Did she mention my name, just in passing?
When you reach the part, where the heartache comes, the hero would be me.
With a dollar in my shoe, and my pockets full of sand.
On and on..
Living in Port Huron in the fifties we would see the Edmund Fitzgerald moving on the St. Clair River. Loved the sound of the boat horns day and night.
I grew up in Sarnia, just across the river from Port Huron. The ocean going ships, and the sound of noat horns, as you say. I remember hearing “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” the first time on radio. Pulled over, was so struck by it. That and “Canadian Railroad Trilogy” were my favourites.
Back then, we built things.
This is my comment – didn’t mean to flag it – was just trying to figure out if I could correct my spelling of “boat” 😮
Sarnia …. Kim Mitchell 🙂
Had never seen Great Lake freighters until based at Selfridge AFB in 60’s. His song hit a nerve when it came out because those boats did have an awe inspiring sound and image to their passing, night and day. Will always remember the times and song.
Many impressive passenger liners also sailed the Great Lakes in their day. This weekend I was lucky enough to see the SS Keewatin under tow, passing through the Welland Canal near St. Catharines, Ontario, on its way to a shipyard for restoration as a museum. The SS Keewatin is one of the few remaining ships of the Edwardian era and a contemporary of the Titanic. Even under tow, it was quite impressive.
As former Navy, I will never forget Lightfoot and my love of sailing the Great Lakes and these steamships.
My Grandfather’s house overlooked the Detroit River and he used to love to sit in the yard and watch the boats go by, especially the Fitzgerald. It was the biggest boat on the Great Lakes at that time. When you leave Detroit by tunnel to Canada, you have to pass by the Mariners Church that is described in the song. There is a bronze plaque by the road discussing the sinking and the song. After the sinking, they dove on the wreck and replaced the ship’s bell wwith a replica, and the original hangs in the Great Lakes Museum in Detroit on Belle Isle, overlooking the river that the Fitzgerald plied so often. We won’t see the songwriting likes of Lightfoot and Leonard Cohen again.
She was an impressive vessel.
I grew up in the Panama Canal Zone…yes, ships horns, tugboat horns, eery at night….ships silently gliding by…
The Garden District of New Orleans here, 14 blocks from the Mississippi River on First Street, just close enough to not only hear but feel the passing ships’ horns blowing, especially in the fog at night in one on the busiest ports in the world.
In my bedroom, my young mind’s thoughts were always about where those ships and people on board would be going and the adventures they would have. The sounds were enchanting.
I also grew up on the MS Gulf Coast just a 200 yards across the lake from my grand fathers’ ship yard – Ingalls, so I was always fascinated with ships.
My young NOLA neighbor just one block away also heard the ships as well, but she ended up writing about other strange interests,… Ann Rice.
Raised to be one, but having ducked my family’s obligatory requirement only to become a “Mad Man” instead… 27 years ago I finally ended up marrying a Commercial Ship’s medical doctor who had sailed the seven seas worldwide for five years out of the Baltic.
She still loves the ocean,.. and me.. I am a very lucky man!
Great song…always liked the lyric “of the big lake they called Gitchee Gumee”…
Lightfoot, of course, got Gitchee Gumee from Longfellow, in Song of Hiawatha. I presume the name was in existence long before Longfellow.
Bought the album just for this tune, what a gift, the whole album is great! Will miss you, gitchy goomy
One of my favorites – I was sitting on my patio last night with a guitar and sang that tune all the way through (from memory) not realizing that Gord was soon to pass on. Beautiful melody.
“and sang that tune all the way through (from memory)”
I started playing guitar in the 7th grade to learn some Lightfoot, and a lot of bob Dylan songs.
In the good old days we had School dances with live bands instead of DJ’s.
Good memories.
My brother and I can still sit down and play for hours using our memory.
It saves time, no reading glasses or music sheets.
Sometimes we argue about the way songs go .
In the end it’s all a matter of taste and our memories…..
We both still have our vinyl albums and reel to reel recorders.
The reel to reel is an expensive Hobby.
I recently bought one so that I can digitize the music recordings made from my younger days…..
Will vinyl records make a comeback?
“Over the past decade, vinyl records have made a major comeback. People purchased US$1.2 billion of records in 2022, a 20% jump from the previous year. Not only did sales rise, but they also surpassed CD sales for the first time since 1988”
Those of us who grew up listening to LPs prefer analogue amps & recordings to digital,.. they are more true to life and what we actually heard in concerts,… even at above 100 decibels back then.
I saw this news last night and definitely felt a sadness – one more piece of the world that I used to know gone…a world that was not perfect but was at least contemplative and thoughtful, self reflective, a world where people practiced their craft with pride and seriousness, always striving to do their job well.
“All that remains are the faces and the names of the wives and the sons and the daughters…” Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
You expressed my feelings perfectly.
We never hear of people like this in the newer music! When Bob Dylan goes, the hole will be impossible to fill!
Indeed, thank you for expressing so well the gift Mr. Lightfoot had and the sorrow we feel at his passing.
My world is also shaken. We won’t see his likes again.
Very sad to hear of his passing – he was a wonderful artist.
RIP Gordon Lightfoot.
I am a Yooper. (From the upper peninsula of Michigan.) As a young lad I became more acutely aware of Gordon Lightfoot’s songs because of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
May you rest in peace Gordon.
My husband and I lived in Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan for 3 years. Hubby worked as an electrician at the Soo Locks. Got to see a freighter up close (like within 5 feet) as it passed through one of the locks. It was when my husband took me on a private tour of the Locks. Really cool experience.
My husband worked with men who were at the Locks the day the Fitzgerald went down. They said the waves were so high in the Soo that they were spilling over to the street (Portage Avenue) that runs parallel to the Locks. May God rest the souls of those 29 men who lost their lives.
RIP, Mr Lightfoot.
Edmund Fitzgerald is one of the great ballads of the English language.
Beautiful, Steven.
So many people call themselves conservatives, but a conservative has to be a person who appreciates the ongoing beauty and values of western civilization.
Thank you.
I am a fan as well, and have some of Lightfoot’s music. He was a great storyteller through his songs, like Dan Fogelberg too.
Clock radio woke us up in mid 70’s with wreck of the edmund fitzgerald. It was the start of our week long sailing trip on the Chesapeake Bay. We thought about the omen but went anyway.
Lots of Lightfoot memories.
Does anyone know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours?
RIP Mr. Lightfoot. Your music has been with me, and brought joy to sing all my life.
I love that line…I’m glad someone else does as well…it’s so poignant and conveys so much in just a few words…the mark of a great songwriter, which he was
The line that always gets me is the one describing the matter-of-fact character of the old cook:
“…when suppertime came the old cook came on deck sayin’ fellas it’s too rough to feed ya
At seven P.M. the main hatchway caved in, he said, fellas it’s been good to know ya…”
Rest in Peace and keep on truckin’, Mr. Gordon Lightfoot.
We were playing the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald on the last anniversary of its sinking. It is a powerful tribute to those lost. He will be missed…
He’ll be missed, but his music will live on.
(RIP) Gordon
Thanks, Frankie, one of many favorites for me
In memory of my dear departed friend, who loved Gordon Lightfoot. Requiescat in pace, to you both.
My favorite! Just exquisite
RIP Gordon Lightfoot.
Sometimes I want to take a…
“Carefree highway, let me slip away, slip away on you”
1994-95 during college I worked at a small Ohio radio station. Gordon Lightfoot was on the playlist.
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald was a chance to play a 7 minute song and escape to the men’s room.
He had great music but there were certain realities being a DJ when your radio station wasn’t automated.
Great avatar, Tony.
Gordon, for many years, played an annual concert at Toronto’s Massey Hall ( a small, beloved concert hall: think Carnegie Hall).
Do such national treasures still exist?
Tony Bennett? Willie Nelson?
For decades now, the highest-grossing acts, in concert, have been the oldies.
What ends first, rock music or Fox News?
“The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald was a chance to play a 7 minute song and escape to the men’s room.”
Rush got signed because Working Man was just that kind of song, too …. lol
The song Sundown–one of the first albums I ever purchased in my youth that my dear old Dad (who hated rock & roll) would love to listen to with me. Yes, memories for sure. Miss my Dad and now miss Gordon. RIP.
Feel that way about Moody Blues. My Mom loved their music and we listened to it together. Sure miss my Mom………..
MTeresa, that was another group that my Dad liked as well, along with Neil Diamond.
“Breath deep the gathering gloom, watch lights fade from every room,…”
✝️God bless Gordon Ligjtfoot.
Gone on to join
Jim Croce,
Steve Goodman,
Frank Zappa
John Prine…
(some of the talented story-telling musicians of our time)
RIP; while your songs live on here.
Ian Tyson
He was the guy who gave GL his first big break. Bigger name at the time, at least in Canada.
Jerry Rafferty,
John Denver…
Roger Whitaker…
Harry Chapin
I have listened to Gords Gold probably a million times. It’s my go-to album when the fall rolls around every year.
Had his albums on cassette, which I played until I lost them, and then bought again … Got him on CD. USB now. Gordon’s music lives on.
RIP
I loved his music.
May he rest in peace.
The Legend Lives On from the Chippewa on down……….
Fellas its been good to know ya…….
Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours……..
Great stuff Gordo and thanks!!
My comment disappeared! Weird. I posted when article first appeared. RIP Gordon Lightfoot. His songs had a different quality to them, than some of the music of the time. Sad to see these icons go. Guess this is what getting older is about.
Checked both bins….not there. 🙁
Whitney Houston turned Dolly Parton’s country song I Will Always Love You into an enormous power ballad.
I suspect there is huge potential in Lightfoot’s catalog.
Lightfoot and I have a mutual friend in Bruce Dern. I never did meet Lightfoot. But Bruce told me some absolutely lovely anecdotes about the man which I will forever treasure in my heart. Gordon was a truly lovely, warm human being. May he rest in peace.
I will miss him.
My favorite line: “does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours.”
Yes, that is probably the ‘punch line’, the one that hits the gut if nothing else does.
Oh my. I love his music, there was no one quite like Gordon Lightfoot. His music is timeless. He was a story teller, a balladeer, a troubadour, a gentleman. We saw him perform at Wolf Trap in Vienna, VA, several years ago. A wonderful memory! RIP, Gordon.
The Wreck of of the Edmund Fitzgerald
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Edmund_Fitzgerald
Excellent write up. Not a fan of Wiki except for this.
A monumental talent, RIP. I’m aware that Bob Dylan considered Gordon one of his favorite artists, praising his poetry which is high praise indeed considering the source, and similarly I heard Billy Joel once discussing his admiration for Gordon’s musical craftsmanship. I had the pleasure to see him several times in small venues and he lived up to his reputation for being a gentleman.
Called home to Jesus and the angels. Missed here on Earth but heaven has a glorious new ornament. His music is timeless and cherished by millions.
My favorite is “Ten Degrees and Getting Colder”, which seems to capture the experience of hitchhiking, the open road, and the lure of the next destination.
I was walking through Milwaukee’s Summerfest grounds one afternoon when Gordon was doing a soundcheck for his show later that day.
Canadian Railroad Trilogy…….beautiful.
Many a morning I search through the fragments of my dream-shattered sleep, some good and some to avoid.
“Sundown, you better take care,
If I find you been creeping ‘round my back stairs,
Sometimes I think it’s a sin, when I think I’ve been winning but losing again.”
Man spoke a mouthful.
Feel like this a lot lately.
RIP
I’m a Canadian, living on the shore of the big lake ‘Gitche Gumee’. My windows look straight across the lake to the horizon, where the Fitzgerald rests, and the open lake. Each November, I watch ships pass by my house to the bay in which they hide, to avoid the Fitzgerald’s fate. I was 10, living a few miles inland that night. My parents were on the roof, tarping, as shingles flew off the roof of our newly built house. I woke the next morning to the radio speaking of the search for the men of the Fitzgerald. Gordon’s song captures the heartbreak we all felt at that time. I cry every time I hear it, and it’s worse as I age and more deeply understand the devastation.
Gordon’s songs were always on local radio in my youth. Even then I found If You Could Read My Mind emotionally haunting. I only learned this morning that it is about the breakdown of a marriage.
A piece of Canada died last night. RIP Gordon.
and you wont read that book again because the ending is just too hard to take …
As a Great Lakes sailor for 50 years, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald brings tears to my eyes every time I hear it.
Hmmm…small world you may have sailed with our dad.
He skippered many ships in the Great Lakes….up until around the mid seventies.
Working mainly for the Irving family.
Cheers!
Had Cousins out of Alpena Shipping Limestone.
The Great Lakes Proved and PROVIDES a Worthwhile Living to Many. The 1,000 Footers now RULE the Lakes for Bulk, where when I WAS YOUNG, the SS Edward L. RYERSON was the NEW QUEEN of the Lakes.
I MISS the Yearly Trip to the LOCKS and Visiting the Straits.
A huge part of my young adult life. This is a great loss. Thankfully his voice and music live on.
Soundtrack of my childhood, Gordon Lightfoot was. Sundown is a hauntingly beautiful song, with an incredibly tragic story behind it. The song is about Cathy Smith, the woman who fatally injected Belushi with his speedball. Smith was a psycho groupie vampire, and Sundown is about her–which came out at the time of Belushi’s death. She was one of those 70s psycho groupies who was friends with one of the Manson girls in jail, who was a ‘troubled’ girlfriend of Lightfoot’s. Odd. Especially odd if you have read the right books, like Tom O’Neill’s book Chaos and if you ascribe to the Laurel Canyon theory as espoused by Dave McGowan. Both books bring troubling connections to light, though personally, I take some of McGowan’s with a grain of salt.
Are you sure about the subjects and timelines? Sundown came out in ’74, Belushi passed in ’82.
My favorite:
“This passing hits a little harder.”
It is weird, but it does for me too.
I don’t know where we went wrong, but the feeling’s gone and I just can’t get it back.
Glorious.
Madonna’s a mediocrity, everything she has, she ground out.
Lightfoot could have been, should have been, so much bigger.
Fully agree. His timeless songs take me back to some wonderful, simplier times.
My favorite subscription service is XM/Sirius radio for the car. Get to experience the greats like Gordon Lightfoot and many more. Big bonus is the kids get exposed to the music as we travel.
During a recent interview to get our youngest into a choice school, the director noted that on his application letter he’d listed Frank Sinatra as his favorite singer. She said, “you’ll get along great here!” Kind of sealed the deal.
Gordon Lightfoot – singing with the angels.
People who produce, who are talented leave a unique mark on the world. He has left his poetry to the ages.
Good-bye, Gordon Lightfoot. Thank you.
They put out a statement on his social media page on Aril 11 he would cancel the remaining dates of his tour because he was ill. He was performing up till a few weeks ago. The man gives up a great lesson in pushing on until you cannot go any further
I was hoping Sundance would post a thread on the passing of Gordon Lightfoot, as he has for other artists over the years. Delighted to see that he did and rightfully so, since GL was truly a troubadour for our times. We often talk about the soundtrack of our lives and the songs of GL were prominent in mine. Every time I make a second cup of coffee, the words “I’m on my second cup of coffee and I still can’t face the day” come to mind.
Through the woodland, through the valley, comes a horseman wild and free…tilting at the windmills passing, who can the brave young horseman be
RIP, Mr Lightfoot…your music will never be equaled and never be forgotten
I guess it’s time to put on Old Dan’s records.
“Looking at the rain
Feeling the pain
Of love lost running thru my brain”
“This old airport’s got me down
It’s no earthly good to me
“Cause I’m standing on the ground
Cold and drunk as I can be ……”
“Thinking of girls
With their fingers in my curls
Too young to understand how love begins”
“Reaching for his saddlebags, he takes a rusty sword into his hand
And striking up a knightly pose He shouts across the ocean to the shore
Till he can shout no more …….”
“The church bell rang till it rang 29 times for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald”
And a 2023 parody:
“Sundown you better take care
If I find you’ve been wearing her underwear.”
Sad news, yes – he was a great musician and so talented. His songs will live on, however, each in its own way – they were elegant, mellow, and, most of all, memorable.
I grew up with his music as part of the soundtrack of life. I saw him on many Canadian TV shows, and he always was humble and down to earth.
There was some really good, creative music in the Canadian ‘folk scene’ in the sixties. Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Ian and Sylvia, Leonard Cohen, and more. Lots of good pop/rock stuff too.
The Poppy Family, too. Susan Pesklevitz had such a gorgous angelic voice, probably because she was born here in Saskatoon 🙂