Gordon Lightfoot sings Maggie Mae

[GJA]

I was just messing around of Rhapsody and thought I might like to listen to some Burton Cummings. Well, he does a version of how Maggie Mae might sound if Gordon Lightfoot sang it. Check it out! LOL

[charlene]

http://www.corfid.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=14114&highlight=burton+cummings
it was on napster 8 years ago..is napster still around?
lol

[spocksbrain]

Napster is around, but definitely not in its original form. The Burton CD is called Up Close and Alone. Around the time it came out, I had the pleasure of interviewing Gary Peterson, drummer and founding member of the Guess Who, for the radio station I worked for. The group had not reunited with Burton at the time and Gary commented that he felt it was a shame that Burton chose to record an album of Guess Who songs solo. The next year, of course, was the Running Back Through Canada tour, with Burton, Bachman, Peterson, Bill Wallace and Donnie McDougall. Since then, Cummings and Bachman have been touring together as Bachman/Cummings, choosing not to use the Guess Who moniker because original bassist Jim Kale owns the name and collects royalties for nothing (since he does not do large scale road work). Therefore, any band calling themselves the Guess Who nowadays, is a band that does not feature Burton.

[charlene]

I suppose Burton felt that since he wrote a lot of those Guess Who songs and was the frontman of he band he was entitled. I saw him in Ajax, Ontario when he released the Up Close album..Burton, a keyboard, that voice and great songs ...and of course Burton's sense of humour and ego..
lol
ya gotta love him tho..he's quite a personality..
I'm going to pick up the latest CD soon..

[spocksbrain]

Hi Char,

I own the Up Close and Alone CD. Those versions of the Guess Who material are low key. It is a great CD in my opinion. I am a long time Guess Who fan. The "Clone" Guess Who, featuring Gary Peterson as the only original member, came to my hometown in 1999. I got to have dinner with them. Peterson was a delightful person and provided a lot of insight as to the workings of the group. At that time, just a year before, no one had any idea that a Bachman/Cummings Guess Who would be touring the following year. Their frontman at the time, Carl Dixon, was a very good singer and was pretty much dead on as far as sounding like Burton. They released two live CDs to sell at concerts. The second one was better than the first, as the first featured Terry Hatty, who would later sing in the Lightfoot musical in PEI.

Gary Peterson now lives in South Carolina.

BTW, I have the Running Back Through Canada DVD and I don't think Burton has lost much from his incredible voice. The only difference is that he does not have some of the gravel that he used to, kind of like John Fogerty.

I have always thought of the Guess Who as a bit strange lyrically. Some of their stuff is straight foward like "These Eyes" and "American Woman", but some of the stuff is a little weird. I remember when I first heard "Lightfoot", though. What a great tribute! A splendid example of mutual Canadiana.

Here's another aside- Burton states in the liner notes of Up Close, that he played the Maggie Mae track for Gordon, who enjoyed and appreciated it. I don't know if that CD is still in print, but it is definitely worth checking out.

[charlene]

Maggie Mae and others

YouTube - Burton Cummings- Impersonates Gordon Lightfoot.wmv

more videos of Burton impersonating other artists are posted on the right by Mr.Waynold -
YouTube - Burton Cummings Sings Fats Domino Blueberry HIll

Burton's channel - http://www.youtube.com/user/burtoncummings#p/f/0/quBEebkQPOg

[Jesse Joe]

YouTube - Burton Cummings - Gene Pitny - Johnny Mathis



YouTube - Burton Cummings- My Dinner With Rodney.wmv

[GJA]

I had forgotten all about this. :)