In this song, was Gordie talking about a woman who never settles down with just one man, a "playgirl" so to speak? Can someone brief me on what this song is about?

In this song, was Gordie talking about a woman who never settles down with just one man, a "playgirl" so to speak? Can someone brief me on what this song is about?

Hurst,let me put it simply.....we love Gordon's music but that doesn't mean we have all the answers and definitions to his lyrics and or thoughts. Love to help but the best I can say to you is,sit back,relax and just enjoy the music! Stop trying to make sense of it,it kind of takes the fun out of it. http://www.corfid.com/ubb/wink.gif Later!! http://www.corfid.com/ubb/cool.gif

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"A knight of the road,going back to a place where he might get warm." ;) - Borderstone

quote:Originally posted by Hurst:
In this song, was Gordie talking about a woman who never settles down with just one man, a "playgirl" so to speak? Can someone brief me on what this song is about?
It's usually worth searching the Newsgroup archivres at:- http://www.newsgroup.shorturl.vcom and sure enough and for what it is worth I found this
A 1996 Wayne Francis posting at:-
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=e...d.peinet.pe.ca

"HIGH AND DRY
This song, at least for me, uses nautical settings as a metaphor for a
tempestuous relationship. The fact that Cathy Smith, Lightfoot's girlfriend
at the time, sang background vocals on the track against Lightfoot's wishes,
adds even more poignancy to the song"



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My Gordon Lightfoot webring
starts at
http://www.johnfowles.org.uk/lightfoot

quote:Originally posted by Hurst:
In this song, was Gordie talking about a woman who never settles down with just one man, a "playgirl" so to speak? Can someone brief me on what this song is about?
It's usually worth searching the Newsgroup archivres at:- http://www.newsgroup.shorturl.vcom and sure enough and for what it is worth I found this
A 1996 Wayne Francis posting at:-
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=e...d.peinet.pe.ca

"HIGH AND DRY
This song, at least for me, uses nautical settings as a metaphor for a
tempestuous relationship. The fact that Cathy Smith, Lightfoot's girlfriend
at the time, sang background vocals on the track against Lightfoot's wishes,
adds even more poignancy to the song"



------------------
My Gordon Lightfoot webring
starts at
http://www.johnfowles.org.uk/lightfoot

Thanks for the info on Cathy Smith's background vocals on High and Dry. If GL didn't want her on sing how is that she did?

quote:Originally posted by ELizabeth:
Thanks for the info on Cathy Smith's background vocals on High and Dry. If GL didn't want her on sing how is that she did?

From one of Wayne's posts on alt.music.lightfoot:

"The producer gets the final say. And Lightfoot did not produce
Sundown, it was Lenny Waronker.

Lightfoot and Cathy Smith were together at that time (it was long before
Belushi's death) and as an experiment in the studio, the producer (Lenny
Waronker) suggested using Smith singing background on High And Dry.
Lightfoot was not in favour of the idea, but in this case the producer won
the argument.

Why was Lightfoot not in favour? I would surmise that since he and Smith
were in a relationship, Lightfoot preferred to keep his personal and
professional activities separate. Allowing Smith to get involved on an album
crossed that line and I can easily understand his thinking, if that was the
case.

One advantage of utilizing a producer is that it gives Lightfoot a sounding
board to bounce ideas off of. Lightfoot has said he was actually producing
his own albums even before he started receiving the actual credit, so it was
natural for him to assume full control at some point."

quote:Originally posted by ELizabeth:
Thanks for the info on Cathy Smith's background vocals on High and Dry. If GL didn't want her on sing how is that she did?

From one of Wayne's posts on alt.music.lightfoot:

"The producer gets the final say. And Lightfoot did not produce
Sundown, it was Lenny Waronker.

Lightfoot and Cathy Smith were together at that time (it was long before
Belushi's death) and as an experiment in the studio, the producer (Lenny
Waronker) suggested using Smith singing background on High And Dry.
Lightfoot was not in favour of the idea, but in this case the producer won
the argument.

Why was Lightfoot not in favour? I would surmise that since he and Smith
were in a relationship, Lightfoot preferred to keep his personal and
professional activities separate. Allowing Smith to get involved on an album
crossed that line and I can easily understand his thinking, if that was the
case.

One advantage of utilizing a producer is that it gives Lightfoot a sounding
board to bounce ideas off of. Lightfoot has said he was actually producing
his own albums even before he started receiving the actual credit, so it was
natural for him to assume full control at some point."

I thought Cathy also sang on the song Sundown, or was it just this song on the Sundown album. Confused? Me too.
She did co-write a song with Hoyt Axton (I think during their relationship) and still gets a small royalty from it.

I thought Cathy also sang on the song Sundown, or was it just this song on the Sundown album. Confused? Me too.
She did co-write a song with Hoyt Axton (I think during their relationship) and still gets a small royalty from it.

Auburn Annie thanks for answering my question. I am not surprised that GL didn't want Cathy Smith to sing on his recordings for a couple of reasons. One reason is what you said - he may well not have wanted the personal/professional line crossed. Also, as I understand it, they had a rather volatile relationship which may have made recording together problematic. Somewhere I heard that at a point near the end of thier relationship she ended up with a broken cheekbone or jaw or some other part of her face. Has anyone else heard/read that?

you know, reading thru this thread makes me realise how little I really know about GL.
There are so many experts on this list. I remain awestruck by your 'knowledge'. LOL

The injury you mentioned is the one and only she received, and was not intentional according to Cathy Smith's book "Chasing the Dragon"...

I thought that the press went a little far on this one. I 'm glad to know it was an accident and not what the press implied.

Sorry to resurrect by-gone topics but I came across this post during a search and... this song is about a woman?!?!

To me I have always interpreted this song as being about a boat in his posession, that he had to give up because he "could not hold her" for whatever reason. Now he misses her and is hoping she will find her way back home and not find herself lying high and dry due to the abuse of the other owners like the skipper who ran her up a boulder ;)

How many women have sails that blow like bubbles? :) Of course it could be another metaphor.

I've always heard the lyrics as "her sails BILLOW like bubbles". My "Sundown" vinyl LP has mysteriously disappeared, so I can't double check the lyrics. Wayne Francis' site does say "blow", but the lyrics on this site says "billow". I'll stick with the latter.

Either way, I only know of 2 women who fit the imagery. Maybe it's a male thing.

[ July 07, 2007, 10:03: Message edited by: RM ]

I also hear "billow" - sails billow when they fill with wind.

I also hear "billow" - sails billow when they fill with wind.

It's truly amazing how the intrigue factor kicks in on a topic such as this one. The corresponding songbook which contains the lyrics that Gord wrote reveals the magic word as "billow." Stay loose. Ron J.

I've always felt that the young skipper, "who ran her up on a boulder" got the real subject of the story "in the family way."

That she was a woman you could spend time with, but would eventually leave you if you didn't find your way home.

I've enjoyed playing and singing it.

QUOTE]Originally posted by Auburn Annie:
I also hear "billow" - sails billow when they fill with wind.

I agree with Annie. I don't think Gordon started to provide lyrics with his albums until about the Summertime Dream release in 1976, two years after Sundown. However, I do have an original "Sundown" album guitar music book. In there, the lyrics on that song also indicate "Billow."

QUOTE]Originally posted by Auburn Annie:
I also hear "billow" - sails billow when they fill with wind.

I agree with Annie. I don't think Gordon started to provide lyrics with his albums until about the Summertime Dream release in 1976, two years after Sundown. However, I do have an original "Sundown" album guitar music book. In there, the lyrics on that song also indicate "Billow."

Thanks for the memory refresher. I used to buy his songbooks also, so that's probably when the "billow" was implanted in my mind.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by RM:

"I used to buy his songbooks also, so that's probably when the "billow" was implanted in my mind."

I miss the opportunity to buy his songbooks. Does anyone remember when the last GL guitar songbook that was ever released? I think it was Shadows, but I'm not certain. Those songbooks would usually leave no debate as to the lyrics and chords for his songs. However, I guess the best way to capture chords for newly released songs was always to watch the master himself in concert. When songs with unconventional chord progressions like "Ghosts of Cape Horn" and "Restless" came out, I found GL to be the best teacher.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by RM:

"I used to buy his songbooks also, so that's probably when the "billow" was implanted in my mind."

I miss the opportunity to buy his songbooks. Does anyone remember when the last GL guitar songbook that was ever released? I think it was Shadows, but I'm not certain. Those songbooks would usually leave no debate as to the lyrics and chords for his songs. However, I guess the best way to capture chords for newly released songs was always to watch the master himself in concert. When songs with unconventional chord progressions like "Ghosts of Cape Horn" and "Restless" came out, I found GL to be the best teacher.

I think you and I went to the same school, Tim. The last corresponding songbook to the album that I have in my collection is "East Of Midnight" and the date is 1986. The "Shadows" album dates 1982. What a joyous sensation it was though, you know, being able to actually see the perfect chord progressions that you could not always pick up at the concerts. I remember going to Massey Hall in my staked out out left centre seat right up close to the front armed with binoculars first when "If You Could Read My Mind" came out and watching every intricate move Gord was doing on the fingerboard and then going home right after the concert and sitting with my guitar from 11PM till 11 the next morning while the memory was still fresh in my mind. Watching the sun dawning and filling the teapot on a regular basis would have to have been a significant part of the inspirational process also. What an amazing feeling it was when the fingers actually began to find their way into that cool "Medium Latin feeling" as Gord specifies in his songbook, and once the "crest of the hill" arrived, the rest just seemed to fall so gracefully into place. I could have died happily after that believe me. I can never seem to stop discovering his stuff. Imagine hearing the hear the songs he's written that only folks close to him have heard, or even ones that no one's heard. He sure was making a statement when wrote "Ordinary Man." Just that one line: "There's a Ghost in Every Room" would unravel a bolt of songs and stories that the folks at "Warner" and the rest of them would just love to get their harnesses around for sure. Thanks for the moment. Ron J.

It really is a mesmerizing experience. My first use of binoculars was sometime in the '80s. I remember getting a tap on the shoulder from another patron asking to borrow the binoculars, and then watching the eyegear (which I had borrowed from a relative) get passed around to about 15 others before arriving safely back home.

I always thought that "Sundown" referred to Kathy
Smith.....probably I'm wrong.

I remember on a PBS interview, way, way back, he said that she had tried to "deck" him.

Billows like bubbles? I will listen more closely next time and report back as to what I think. Stay tuned... :) ;)

Let me preface my question by saying that from the first listen I always heard this song as a metaphor.
The question : what in the heck do these lyrics mean ?

"Now the pleasures of the harbor
Don't include a lady barber
If it wasn't for Long John Silver
All of us pirates would've been martyrs"

I'm missing something.

[ July 08, 2007, 23:54: Message edited by: RM ]

I've always heard the lyrics as "her sails BILLOW like bubbles". My "Sundown" vinyl LP has mysteriously disappeared, so I can't double check the lyrics. Wayne Francis' site does say "blow", but the lyrics on this site says "billow". I'll stick with the latter.

Either way, I only know of 2 women who fit the imagery. Maybe it's a male thing. [/QUOTE]I used to wonder about that, but it might be "blow". It could be the way Gord pronounces it. In Red Velvet, he pronounces it as "And the dusty autumn winds beging to B-low."

Going a little off on tangent, is Gord's pronuncation of Bahama as "buh-HAM-uh" in Triangle and other songs, the Canadian pronuncation as opposed to "buh-hom-uh"?

I've always wondered about that.

bah - hom - ah

bah - hom - ah

I heard it as "buh-HAM-uh" also. It may be that he was singing/reading the lyrics as the track was laid down. It was good enough, and not worth redoing. Or........Canadians talk funny.

he sings buh HAM uh.

i say bah hom ah..

i imagine he says it like that too..for effect he sings it differently..
lol
Us Canucks talk AND sing funny...but amazingly enuf people listen..hmmmmmmmmmm..
lol
;)

he sings buh HAM uh.

i say bah hom ah..

i imagine he says it like that too..for effect he sings it differently..
lol
Us Canucks talk AND sing funny...but amazingly enuf people listen..hmmmmmmmmmm..
lol
;)

Gord also taught me how to pronounce "triangle". Used to I'd say it as "train-gull", but it's really "try-angle". As tri (3) and angle, meaning 3 angles. Classical music really does make you smarter.

Meanin' no disrespect to any Canucks, but seenin' as we 'Mericans from da South are da only ones what don't talk funny, Ah was just a'wonderin' 'bout it.

Ah'd always figgered Gord sang it "ba-HAM-uh" for effect and all, but jus' sorta wondered 'bout such things.

Ah'll catch up to ya'll directly, but Ahm off now to have me a Dr. Pepper and some cone bread.