Avid fans get to choose... - Page 2

RWGuinn · 03-02-2009, 12:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by formerlylavender

I don't mind Uncle Toad Said. It doesn't have any special memories for me, but I don't skip it or anything.

Ringneck Loon and Canary Yellow Canoe are two of my least favorite. Allow me to add My Pony Won't Go from ODR - can't get into that one.

I'll go with CYC and MPWG. I generally skip them
Ring-neck loon I kinda like. I even used it for my ringtone for a former co-worker...
Add Boathouse to the skip list for me.

JohnStinson · 03-02-2009, 01:11 PM

unbelievable...joveski!!

Well thats it then. Uncle Toad Said is liked.

Anyone else or is joveski the only one??

But I gotta ask.... is it really liked or are you just saying that.?? It certainly isn't your favorite ...is it?

Your list of disliked GL tunes is remarkably shocking. IMHO. But that's OK.

As far as My Pony Won't Go... - I am in agreement...not my cup of tea either.

charlene · 03-02-2009, 01:15 PM

He's just being ornery..lol

johnfowles · 03-02-2009, 02:08 PM

some funny selections have arisen
I have always loved Gord's fantastic interpretation of Ewan McColl's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" the second recording by Gord (after the too neglected Spin Spin")that I heard on Montreal radio station CHFM in 1966.And Couchiching?I can understand some finding it annoying but to see Gord sing it live with such relish is magical in my book.
I was very disappointed last year however when of all the great songs he never performs nowadays he elected to add "My Little Love" to the 2008 rotation (at least for the earlier concerts),as that has to be my most unfavourite song on the Sit Down Young Stranger album

joveski · 03-02-2009, 07:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnStinson

unbelievable...joveski!!

Well thats it then. Uncle Toad Said is liked.

Anyone else or is joveski the only one??

But I gotta ask.... is it really liked or are you just saying that.?? It certainly isn't your favorite ...is it?

Your list of disliked GL tunes is remarkably shocking. IMHO. But that's OK.

As far as My Pony Won't Go... - I am in agreement...not my cup of tea either.

my list was completely true!. uncle toad isnt a favourite of mine but i always listen to it.
not a fan of My pony wont go either

Don Quixote · 03-02-2009, 07:59 PM

Sorry, I like Uncle Toad just fine. Boathouse and Yonge Street can be skipped every time I play PPT. May I is a song that is not great, but has a slightly cute premise and some playful lyrics. Just going down the list, it's amazing there aren't more songs on the negative list, but almost every one has some redeeming quality.
DQ

Tim · 03-03-2009, 12:46 AM

I remember a post reviewing a Gord concert from a few years back - around the time of the release of the "A Painter Passing Through" album. (not sure if it was here, or on the other Lightfoot newsgroup) The post included an amusing event, where a fan set a large ceramic toad on the stage in anticipation of Gord singing "Uncle Toad Said."

Does anyone else remember that?

Doug · 03-03-2009, 01:03 AM

I'll go along with Jenney on "May I" and add "Blackberry Wine". CYC and "Flyin Blind" are torture to listen too,

At first I didn't like Couchiching but it grew on me after I realized it could have been his final number there.

I have a special liking for Ring Neck Loon and Uncle Toad is just fine. Perhaps because the first time I met Gord (and Jenney) was at the APPT signing at Sam's in May of 1998 and later the same year in San Diego when the boxed set deal was first presented to Gord by Thane.

I don't care much for Welcome to Try and I almost always skip MPWG.

Of all of them, the one I'd be embarrassed to let a friend know Gordon Lightfoot wrote it would have to be May I

joveski · 03-03-2009, 03:39 AM

the whole of APPT through touches me because i bought just as my granfather died and every song reminds me of him.

Welcome to try is another that never grabbed me - it seems unfinishedd

JohnStinson · 03-03-2009, 11:55 AM

If I knew how to do the Poll thing ..I'd start a Poll for what is thought to be the least..but alas I don't...

APPT...seems to have a number of least favorites... maybe this is the least favorite album...don't know. (..but I respect joveski's remark about APPT)

Does anyone have the # copies sold of each album. .. ??

Summertime Dream or Sundown were his most sales ...weren't they??

Had a grin when i read about grabbing the remote to "skip" a song. I do that too..of course.
Doing the 'skip' play as your listening to an album is certainly a clue to how you much you like the song...
But depending on my mood ...I'll even skip songs like Beautiful ..
so its not a defining moment just a 'sign post' for me.

I have heard its said by pundits and critics that GL's best work was his first album. So many hits.

I used to think many years ago that GL had a formula for putting his albums together.. You know.. 2 soft guitar ballads.. one long repetitive sounding story song. ..A lite melodic one. That kind of thing. Then there were these ones I couldn't categorize... like Uncle Toad Said...Yonge St. They were always the ones I liked least.

RM · 03-03-2009, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnStinson

If I knew how to do the Poll thing ..I'd start a Poll for what is thought to be the least..but alas I don't...

The poll thing is fairly simple. Start a new thread, scroll down below the text box and select the "poll option", and then submit the 'new thread'. At this point, you will be able to specify the number of choices and what they are, along with the number of days you wish to leave to leave the poll open.

I have one going in the Small Talk forum : song vs song competition :

http://www.corfid.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=19375

It's an effort to limit the 'final' poll to no more than 10 choices. Right now, there are far more suggested songs than that.

Borderstone · 03-03-2009, 04:35 PM

Well i do recall this being a topic but it was years ago.

In my own case it's the more "serious" ones that I've tried to get into but just cannot.

"Cold Hands From New York"
"Protocol"
"Black Day In July" (like it a bit more than before)
"Brave Mountaineers"

Then there's the one's that just don't click with me (sorry in advance)

:

Biscuit City
Blackberry Wine
Someone To Believe In ( Got someone's ire up last time I said that).
Race Among The Ruins
May I
The Gypsy (Diddle-dee-dum,diddle dee dee!)

A few more but can;t think right now.

jj · 03-03-2009, 04:49 PM

since i can list 50 i really love and another 150 i really like, i don't feel too bad listing several he must have laid down after consuming a few bad cookies

anything for love

may i

fading away

songs the minstrel sang

sweet guinevere

stationmaster

cobwebs and dust

baby step back

somethign very special

all i'm after

no hotel

no others

bjm7777 · 03-04-2009, 11:05 PM

My remarks under the Poll thread about the top least favorite songs should have been posted here. Sorry all....BM

Nightingale · 03-05-2009, 12:58 AM

Oh yeah, I forgot all about "Blackberry Wine"...lol. Not on my favorite list. I feel the same way about "Cobwebs and Dust".

BendRick · 03-05-2009, 01:39 AM

This is hard to do, as I love the man's music; however i admit to skipping past several songs because they are annoying. Here they are:
Cold Hands from New York
Cobwebs and dust
I'd do it again
Bells of the evening
Anything for love
You just gotta be
Ringneck Loon
On Younge St.
Ring them bells
No mistake about it
Shellfish

I have no problem with May I, can't he be forgiven for the madness that was the 1960's? It's clearly a song written for children, like Pony Man.

bjm7777 · 03-05-2009, 09:29 AM

Man, my pony ain't going at all this early morning.......I have casually observed that while there are some songs that appear universally disliked, there is still quite a variation. I like some of the ones that others don't, and so forth.
I guess I should add the sea shanties to my "diss list", but it's a matter of taste, because the story told in "Ghosts of Cape Horn" is pretty compelling - the legend od ghost ships wandering the ocean have been around for a few hundred years. Gordon once referred to the Edmund Fitzgerald as a "modern day Flying Dutchman". So I don't know...another man's trash is another man's treasure when it comes to all these songs, but one thing's certain - I can't write any music at all.....

JohnStinson · 03-05-2009, 01:18 PM

All I'm After - Shandows -1982

..GL made one mistake on this, IMHO, and someone already commented..

"..i guess i got it maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaade'

What got into him??

For me the song is very OK except for that part.

Romance - Salute -1983

Someone somewhere said Romance was one of their least favorite. When I first bought the album its the only one I replayed again and again. My wife really thought it was good too. I like the way it rolls along...up and down.

Some else put these down as least, here's my thoughts on them
Cold Hands from New York B
Cobwebs and dust - D
I'd do it again - C+
Bells of the evening B+
Anything for love B
You just gotta be C
Ringneck Loon C
On Younge St. F
Ring them bells A
No mistake about it C-
Shellfish B-

Somewhere..somehow ... there are a small # of GL songs that a good majority of GL lightheads think are 'F'.

Here's another thought...someone just brought it up as well... song order on the albums. Could a song be better placed.. Oh forget it.
I gotta get back to whatever I was doing..

RM · 03-05-2009, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnStinson

Here's another thought...someone just brought it up as well... song order on the albums. Could a song be better placed..

Along that line........In the usenet newsgroup, a regular poster was/is Richard Harison, Lightfoot's tour manager (?), during his rise to fame.

I once posed the question if there was a method used to determine the placement of songs on an album. His response was "No".

Just a FYI.

JohnStinson · 03-05-2009, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bjm7777

...I have casually observed that while there are some songs that appear universally disliked, .

Thats my point for starting this foolish analysis..

What are they???

Thank you bjm7777.

hkusam · 03-05-2009, 08:01 PM

Hi!
Uncle Toad is genuine! Although, true enough...."when Uncle Toad spoke it was not a pretty sight" is not great stuff...I suppose if Uncle Toad moved it wouldn't be a very pretty sound either. And I likely wouldn't play it at a wedding, but it rocks away, so I'd say it's just fine.
Keeping to the animal theme....hands down, "My Pony Won't go"...has to be the all time
worst. Someone might have an interpretation of it somewhere, but they'd also have to explain how the melody is also such a dreary one.
(Gord will forgive me for posting this, I'm sure)
Hkusam

teherie · 03-05-2009, 09:16 PM

As I read through this topic, I find myself wondering if anyone posting has any idea how difficult it is for an artist to maintain a creative edge when they are under contract by a record company executive who is pressuring them to crank out work that the exec thinks will sell. Milt Okun (John Denver's producer) said that RCA exec's dropped him from their label without warning even though he had outsold every artist but Elvis.

I read somewhere that a critic once panned one of Comedian/Actor/Writer Steve Martin's books. Steve's reply?

"Considering I started out with a bunch of blank paper, I thought it turned out pretty well."

joveski · 03-05-2009, 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnStinson

All I'm After - Shandows -1982

..GL made one mistake on this, IMHO, and someone already commented..

"..i guess i got it maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaade'

What got into him??

For me the song is very OK except for that part.

agree about the rest of the album being good. the harmony vocal on that line makes it even worse

JohnStinson · 03-05-2009, 10:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by teherie

... difficult it is for an artist to maintain a creative edge when they are under contract by a record company executive who is pressuring them to crank out work that the exec thinks will sell.

I think this is true... but I wouldn't know.

If it is true...I think GL's best work was when he was under those constraints. I can't recall or maybe I never knew if APPT in 1998 (i think) was an album he recorded independently. His later ones were for sure.

..And thats the one with with UNCLE TOAD SAID.

Nightingale · 03-06-2009, 12:31 AM

teherie, I think you can see that out of the 200+ songs that Gordon has written, we only have a handful that we don't like around here.
The polls are for the interest factor and bacause we are all bored and have nothing better to do with our time right now...lol.

I can't think of any musician / songwriter that I admire more than Mr. Lightfoot

Even his bad songs are pretty good.


	You are at: Home - Discussion Forum