The Auctioneer is one of the songs that Lightfoot used to do back before he had written enough good songs to do only originals (or almost only originals).
The Auctioneer was a very popular song in those days; every folk/country musician knew it; and it was a great song to play with others, not just in performance. Those of you who have picked up the "Party Tape" from April, 1968, which sad to say has become a bootleg commodity, have heard Gord leading a group of musicians consisting of his then band (Red and John), plus Hoyt Axton and Doug Dillard, and I think a couple of others in a rousing rendition of that song.
I don't know when he included it in his live show, but it was always a big hit and he finally recorded it for an album on Dream Street Rose.
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