Re: Avid fans get to choose...
 

This is hard to do, as I love the man's music; however i admit to skipping past several songs because they are annoying. Here they are:
Cold Hands from New York
Cobwebs and dust
I'd do it again
Bells of the evening
Anything for love
You just gotta be
Ringneck Loon
On Younge St.
Ring them bells
No mistake about it
Shellfish

I have no problem with May I, can't he be forgiven for the madness that was the 1960's? It's clearly a song written for children, like Pony Man.

Re: Avid fans get to choose...
 

Man, my pony ain't going at all this early morning.......I have casually observed that while there are some songs that appear universally disliked, there is still quite a variation. I like some of the ones that others don't, and so forth.
I guess I should add the sea shanties to my "diss list", but it's a matter of taste, because the story told in "Ghosts of Cape Horn" is pretty compelling - the legend od ghost ships wandering the ocean have been around for a few hundred years. Gordon once referred to the Edmund Fitzgerald as a "modern day Flying Dutchman". So I don't know...another man's trash is another man's treasure when it comes to all these songs, but one thing's certain - I can't write any music at all.....

Re: Avid fans get to choose...
 

All I'm After - Shandows -1982

..GL made one mistake on this, IMHO, and someone already commented..

"..i guess i got it maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaade'

What got into him??

For me the song is very OK except for that part.

Romance - Salute -1983

Someone somewhere said Romance was one of their least favorite. When I first bought the album its the only one I replayed again and again. My wife really thought it was good too. I like the way it rolls along...up and down.

Some else put these down as least, here's my thoughts on them
Cold Hands from New York B
Cobwebs and dust - D
I'd do it again - C+
Bells of the evening B+
Anything for love B
You just gotta be C
Ringneck Loon C
On Younge St. F
Ring them bells A
No mistake about it C-
Shellfish B-

Somewhere..somehow ... there are a small # of GL songs that a good majority of GL lightheads think are 'F'.

Here's another thought...someone just brought it up as well... song order on the albums. Could a song be better placed.. Oh forget it.
I gotta get back to whatever I was doing..

Re: Avid fans get to choose...
 

Along that line........In the usenet newsgroup, a regular poster was/is Richard Harison, Lightfoot's tour manager (?), during his rise to fame.

I once posed the question if there was a method used to determine the placement of songs on an album. His response was "No".

Just a FYI.

Re: Avid fans get to choose...
 

Thats my point for starting this foolish analysis..

What are they???

Thank you bjm7777.

Re: Avid fans get to choose...
 

Hi!
Uncle Toad is genuine! Although, true enough...."when Uncle Toad spoke it was not a pretty sight" is not great stuff...I suppose if Uncle Toad moved it wouldn't be a very pretty sound either. And I likely wouldn't play it at a wedding, but it rocks away, so I'd say it's just fine.
Keeping to the animal theme....hands down, "My Pony Won't go"...has to be the all time
worst. Someone might have an interpretation of it somewhere, but they'd also have to explain how the melody is also such a dreary one.
(Gord will forgive me for posting this, I'm sure)
Hkusam

Re: Avid fans get to choose...
 

As I read through this topic, I find myself wondering if anyone posting has any idea how difficult it is for an artist to maintain a creative edge when they are under contract by a record company executive who is pressuring them to crank out work that the exec thinks will sell. Milt Okun (John Denver's producer) said that RCA exec's dropped him from their label without warning even though he had outsold every artist but Elvis.

I read somewhere that a critic once panned one of Comedian/Actor/Writer Steve Martin's books. Steve's reply?

"Considering I started out with a bunch of blank paper, I thought it turned out pretty well."

Re: Avid fans get to choose...
 

agree about the rest of the album being good. the harmony vocal on that line makes it even worse

Re: Avid fans get to choose...
 

I think this is true... but I wouldn't know.

If it is true...I think GL's best work was when he was under those constraints. I can't recall or maybe I never knew if APPT in 1998 (i think) was an album he recorded independently. His later ones were for sure.

..And thats the one with with UNCLE TOAD SAID.

Re: Avid fans get to choose...
 

teherie, I think you can see that out of the 200+ songs that Gordon has written, we only have a handful that we don't like around here.
The polls are for the interest factor and bacause we are all bored and have nothing better to do with our time right now...lol.

I can't think of any musician / songwriter that I admire more than Mr. Lightfoot :)
Even his bad songs are pretty good.

Re: Avid fans get to choose...
 

i'm sure gordon even has songs he regrets writing. wasnt there a story recently where someone in the audience called out for yarmouth castle and he looked at the person with a "what the?" expression?

Re: Avid fans get to choose...
 

that was probably because he hasn't performed it LIVE for so long and it was never a 'radio' hit..so he might have been surprised anyone even knew it. i'd love to hear him do it.