Gordon Lightfoot Forums - View Single Post - Luke Doucet-Sundown cover

charlene · 09-03-2010, 01:20 PM

Why he chose Gordon Lightfoot's "Sundown" to cover:
You know how when you hear a song in your mind's eye and then you hear the actual recording they aren't always the same? Think about Neil Young's "Down By The River." In my head, it's a huge, rock 'n' roll thing, but then when you listen to the actual recording it's a fair bit humbler. "Sundown" was another one of those songs where I imagined it in my head to be a big song; it is a big song, but it's not a big recording, it's also fairly humble. In my head, I had it like a Crazy Horse song. Initially I thought, "Let's play this song live. Wouldn't that be a fun way to end the set?"

There was a tribute to Gordon Lightfoot at Nathan Philips Square [in Toronto] a few years ago and I did "Early Morning Rain." That was my first real exposure to Lightfoot because I didn't grow up with him. My parents were listening to The Band, Dylan, Neil Young and Tom Waits, but they weren't listening to Lightfoot. After I was asked to do this tribute, I started to listen to a bunch of his records and immediately fell in love with his songwriting. The funny thing about that gig is that [folk veteran] Brent Titcomb was at that event and I turned around to look at him backstage while I was singing "Early Morning Rain"; Brent had this look on his face like he had seen a ghost. Afterwards I asked him, "Hey man, what's going on? You look a little thrown off?" And he said, "Do you have any idea how much you look like Gordon Lightfoot?"

It never occurred to me, but there was this connection. I love discovering or unearthing a love affair between myself and another artist that I wasn't aware of. I have huge black holes in my music listening and I'm just trying to fill them in once in a while.

09-03-2010, 01:20 PM	#3
charlene Moderator Join Date: May 2000 Posts: 16,001	Re: Luke Doucet-Sundown cover Why he chose Gordon Lightfoot's "Sundown" to cover: You know how when you hear a song in your mind's eye and then you hear the actual recording they aren't always the same? Think about Neil Young's "Down By The River." In my head, it's a huge, rock 'n' roll thing, but then when you listen to the actual recording it's a fair bit humbler. "Sundown" was another one of those songs where I imagined it in my head to be a big song; it is a big song, but it's not a big recording, it's also fairly humble. In my head, I had it like a Crazy Horse song. Initially I thought, "Let's play this song live. Wouldn't that be a fun way to end the set?" There was a tribute to Gordon Lightfoot at Nathan Philips Square [in Toronto] a few years ago and I did "Early Morning Rain." That was my first real exposure to Lightfoot because I didn't grow up with him. My parents were listening to The Band, Dylan, Neil Young and Tom Waits, but they weren't listening to Lightfoot. After I was asked to do this tribute, I started to listen to a bunch of his records and immediately fell in love with his songwriting. The funny thing about that gig is that [folk veteran] Brent Titcomb was at that event and I turned around to look at him backstage while I was singing "Early Morning Rain"; Brent had this look on his face like he had seen a ghost. Afterwards I asked him, "Hey man, what's going on? You look a little thrown off?" And he said, "Do you have any idea how much you look like Gordon Lightfoot?" It never occurred to me, but there was this connection. I love discovering or unearthing a love affair between myself and another artist that I wasn't aware of. I have huge black holes in my music listening and I'm just trying to fill them in once in a while.