I saw Gordon Lightfoot in concert just recently after 25 years. (I saw him in 1974 and 1975.) I had lost sight of him until "Songbook" came out, then I rediscovered why I have carried this man's lyrics in my head most of my life. He is above all else, a chronicler of the lost, lonely, and dispossesed. There is solitude, longing, pain, regret, and humility in his songs. There are moments of great joy, but I love him best when he speaks through the chords of a broken heart. Some of my favorites: Too Late for Prayin'; Now and Then; The Circle is Small; Affair on 8th Avenue; Talking in Your Sleep; and basically anything on Summer Side of Life, Don Quixote, and Old Dan's Records. A great, soulful man. A poet. A painter passing through.
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