Quote:
Originally Posted by johnfowles
That is a wondeful memory Ron
However I think you just might have got your dates a tad mixed up??
I am pretty sure he wrote Bitter Green on a later trip to the UK in fact I think he introduced the song during the great 1969 CBC recording of that year's Charlottetown Festival as being about the "heroine of Pigs Eye Minnesota" (the present day St Pauls)
and then described writing it during the ride into London from the airport
|
Hi John.
Thanks for your input here and I really enjoy keeping these kind of posts alive, especially when folks like us still are.
After all, we're from that early generation and some mornings when I get up these days I think I might just be degenerating. Ya know, the creaks & groans that attack aging dudes like us.
I'm still searching for more stuff from my archive collection about "Bitter Green" mainly because I distinctly recall being at a concert in the high school of a small town called Alliston, Ontario, just a bit south of Gord's hometown of Orillia and it was in the "more mid" as opposed to "the late" sixties.
We drove from Toronto to the town of Alliston early enough to sort out where the drinking establishments were so we could have a bevvy or two before the concert.
Good luck. Welcome to the dry town of Alliston (at least in those days)
But no worries, one of our crew had a pass to get us into the local "Canadian Legion Club."
He was a former member of the Canadian Forces but still had his "Legion pass" and with some convincing and (you know what) we had beers on our table.
After a few wet ones we were off to the concert.
It was at that concert when I heard "Bitter Green" the very first time.
Gord was there with John and Red and I remember so well after they did that number the applause was long and loud.
I could see the proud look Gord gave the audience and he even said questionly "isn't that a good song, yes, it's a good song!"
It's my favourite Gordon Lightfoot song today.
More on this one when the bitter gets a tad sweeter.