Anthony, dug this out from a fave monthly commentary, enjoy:
"...it's been a rewarding experience following Gordon Lightfoot's musical journey all these years. I started listening to him as a 12 year old in 1967. Until I heard him, it was all Beatles, all the time.
Since then, I've awaited each new release from Lightfoot with undiminished anticipation. Looking back, each album is like a signpost, stirring vivid memories of the circumstances surrounding the point I was at in my life when the album was released.
Some cases in point - taking up guitar (Back Here On Earth); my first summer job (Sit Down Young Stranger); leaving home for the first time to attend university (Sundown); that idyllic, yet bittersweet summer of 1976 (Summertime Dream); a year spent travelling (Endless Wire); birth of my first child (Waiting For You).
I can remember as a high school student, saving my money to buy Don Quixote and when the day finally came to make the purchase, I awoke to a freak April snowstorm and can clearly remember walking up the middle of the street to the record store because the sidewalks weren't yet shovelled. Or while changing trains in Montreal in 1975, I wandered into a store to pass the time, only to find the brand new Cold On The Shoulder staring back from the shelves!
These are just examples, but every album is etched firmly in my conscience, from the day I first layed my eyes and hands on it in the store, through those first critical listening sessions - always privately, to soak up every new nuance of word and music without distraction, the time and place in my life forever colouring how I hear those particular songs. His music opened the door for me to explore artists like Dylan - and many more too numerous to mention. But to my mind Lightfoot is the epitome of what a singer/songwriter should aspire to be.
Watching how he has conducted his career all these years has been an inspiration for me in many aspects of life, even extending far beyond music..."
Wayne Francis (
www.lightfoot.ca )