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closetcanadian · 08-15-2007, 08:45 PM

Welcome to the forum Lunaray. In reply to your question, Lightfoot himself offers this insight from the Songbook liner notes:

"It's about the breakup of a marriage. In a way, you're predicting what's going to take place, and then it happens. In some sense you play the scene out in your mind, and after the fact, it hits you how close you were to the mark. It makes it a little tough to perform sometimes, but not enough to keep a great song down. In a way, it covers the same ground that "If You Could Read My Mind" did years later."

I believe he wrote this song prior to the breakup of his first marriage so it appears he was a bit prophetic. I think some fans interpret the line about the headstone to indicate an actual fatality but I always suspected that lyric was a metaphor for the end of a relationship. I thought "Last Time I Saw Her" was the opposing bookend to his earlier song, "Softly." The latter song extolls the heady exhiliration of the beginnings of a love affair while the former laments it's loss. Both great songs!

Enjoy your time here at corfid. There are many friendly, knowledgeable GL fans here.

08-15-2007, 08:45 PM	#7
closetcanadian Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Whittier, CA - USA Posts: 199	Re: "The Last Time I saw Her Face" Welcome to the forum Lunaray. In reply to your question, Lightfoot himself offers this insight from the Songbook liner notes: "It's about the breakup of a marriage. In a way, you're predicting what's going to take place, and then it happens. In some sense you play the scene out in your mind, and after the fact, it hits you how close you were to the mark. It makes it a little tough to perform sometimes, but not enough to keep a great song down. In a way, it covers the same ground that "If You Could Read My Mind" did years later." I believe he wrote this song prior to the breakup of his first marriage so it appears he was a bit prophetic. I think some fans interpret the line about the headstone to indicate an actual fatality but I always suspected that lyric was a metaphor for the end of a relationship. I thought "Last Time I Saw Her" was the opposing bookend to his earlier song, "Softly." The latter song extolls the heady exhiliration of the beginnings of a love affair while the former laments it's loss. Both great songs! Enjoy your time here at corfid. There are many friendly, knowledgeable GL fans here.