Gordon Lightfoot Forums - View Single Post - One drawback of listening to Lightfoot...

Jesse Joe · 07-24-2006, 06:04 AM

Touhy Ave, I never moved to the states, because I never had to. I was born Canadian, and I am proud to be Canadian.

There was a time when Canadian Artist(signers), had to move to the states, in order to make it big.

More population I guess was the prime reason. There was just not enough people in Canada. Neil Young, once said. There's only so much places you can play in Canada. There's just not enough population. Goverment, with the CRTC,rules and regulation at that time, also had a role to play in it. Radio Stations in Canada were only allowed to play so much of Canadian content. Dont ask me to explain that one I dont know enough about it.

But artist like, Paul Anka, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, David Foster, and many more, too numerous to mentioned, all headed South in order for there careers to really flourished.

Gordon Lightfoot never did, he proved that you could make it big in the world, and remain at home.

Anne Murray was pressured so much, to move to the states, when her career got in motion, to become a Mega Star. But she also decide not too, after seeing that Gord had proven, you could stay at home, and still make it.

At some point in Canadian history, maybe around the 1900's, ordinary people that would leave Canada for a less strugling life, elsewhere in other country's like USA, were called deserters.

Today things have change somewhat. But for you people that never heard of this, you should do some searching, readings, on the country of Canada.

There are probably some people on this site that could explain this better than I did. Because I dont know everything there is to know about this subject. Not an expert, far from it.

Bottom line is, Gordon Lightfoot never had the desire to become a mega star like ,let's say Celine Dion, Paul Anka who did it his way.{LOL} eh! Charlene. Gordon would have made a lot more money had he chose that path, but maybe wouldn't be as happy. "That's a proud Canadian".

I can only speak for myself here, but that's one big reason why I like Gordon Lightfoot so much.

{Heart Of Gold,30 Years of Canadian Pop music by, Martin Melhuish}, would be a good book to read, it says a lot about this very subject.Why bands who had to move to the states. And lots more. Ronnie Hawkins did the exact opposite. And he for an American, pushes Canadian talent a lot.

I hope I shed a little light on this topic, but please feel free to ask some other Canadian Corfidians, who may be able to explain this better. Im sure they can...Jesse.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Janice, I didn't want to leave you in the dark, but I can't recall Gordon Lightfoot ever living in the states. Not saying maybe for some months like a lots of canucks do in the winter time. Florida, to enjoy the better whether. But Im pretty sure he's not an American citizen. Not that theres anything wrong with that...Jesse

[ July 24, 2006, 06:09: Message edited by: Jesse -Joe ]

07-24-2006, 06:04 AM	#21
Jesse Joe Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Canada Posts: 6,862	Touhy Ave, I never moved to the states, because I never had to. I was born Canadian, and I am proud to be Canadian. There was a time when Canadian Artist(signers), had to move to the states, in order to make it big. More population I guess was the prime reason. There was just not enough people in Canada. Neil Young, once said. There's only so much places you can play in Canada. There's just not enough population. Goverment, with the CRTC,rules and regulation at that time, also had a role to play in it. Radio Stations in Canada were only allowed to play so much of Canadian content. Dont ask me to explain that one I dont know enough about it. But artist like, Paul Anka, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, David Foster, and many more, too numerous to mentioned, all headed South in order for there careers to really flourished. Gordon Lightfoot never did, he proved that you could make it big in the world, and remain at home. Anne Murray was pressured so much, to move to the states, when her career got in motion, to become a Mega Star. But she also decide not too, after seeing that Gord had proven, you could stay at home, and still make it. At some point in Canadian history, maybe around the 1900's, ordinary people that would leave Canada for a less strugling life, elsewhere in other country's like USA, were called deserters. Today things have change somewhat. But for you people that never heard of this, you should do some searching, readings, on the country of Canada. There are probably some people on this site that could explain this better than I did. Because I dont know everything there is to know about this subject. Not an expert, far from it. Bottom line is, Gordon Lightfoot never had the desire to become a mega star like ,let's say Celine Dion, Paul Anka who did it his way.{LOL} eh! Charlene. Gordon would have made a lot more money had he chose that path, but maybe wouldn't be as happy. "That's a proud Canadian". I can only speak for myself here, but that's one big reason why I like Gordon Lightfoot so much. {Heart Of Gold,30 Years of Canadian Pop music by, Martin Melhuish}, would be a good book to read, it says a lot about this very subject.Why bands who had to move to the states. And lots more. Ronnie Hawkins did the exact opposite. And he for an American, pushes Canadian talent a lot. I hope I shed a little light on this topic, but please feel free to ask some other Canadian Corfidians, who may be able to explain this better. Im sure they can...Jesse. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Janice, I didn't want to leave you in the dark, but I can't recall Gordon Lightfoot ever living in the states. Not saying maybe for some months like a lots of canucks do in the winter time. Florida, to enjoy the better whether. But Im pretty sure he's not an American citizen. Not that theres anything wrong with that...Jesse [ July 24, 2006, 06:09: Message edited by: Jesse -Joe ]