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Old 12-13-2003, 01:51 PM   #1
brink
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Just wondering how you younger posters got into listening to Gord. Most of us were around back in the day when Gord was a regular staple on the radio. Now he is't played much at least in the US. So how did you get into Gord's music?
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Old 12-13-2003, 02:17 PM   #2
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i am a 40 year old father of a 20 year old daughter and i can only speak for my daughter as i just found this site and she doesnt know about it. as a toddler, she was put to sleep by sitting in a swing-o-matic and listening to Sundown. she was always asleep by the 4th or 5th song. i also listened to my music in the house and car and would not change it when my kids would ask to listen to the newest pop or rap station. my 10 y/o daughter has stated that i am corrupting her because she likes classic rock. so, i believe these young folks got into GL by way of their parents.
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Old 12-13-2003, 02:24 PM   #3
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I am a 17 year old fanatic of Gordon,

It all happened in like 3rd grade (i was already a huge Moody Blues and ELO fan) so I was listening to the classic rock station and heard Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald. I was entrigued by it! I had to get out there and get a Gordon Album and it turns out his folk music (and even catchy pop rythems) got me into him bigtime. By the time I was 13 I finally had all his albums and a year ago got his Live DVD.


Thanks Gordon, you rule!

As for US station playtime, I hear Sundown, Edmund Fitz. and Carefree highway on our classic rock station on the regular playlists...
Forgot one, If You could Read my Mind is on too!

------------------
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[This message has been edited by Porter (edited December 13, 2003).]
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Old 12-13-2003, 02:38 PM   #4
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congratulations porter...you seem to be a young person wise far beyond your years..unlike most 17 y/o's. so, keep showing your support for GL and buying his cd's so he can live a very comfortable existence because if anyone deserves it..he does.
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Old 12-13-2003, 05:12 PM   #5
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Porter-Oma is from Wisconsin too. You are very lucky your classic station plays Gord, the only time mine does is if I call in and request it.
recatejr-what better way to raise kids than by Gord!
DMD3 What's your story?
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Old 12-13-2003, 11:02 PM   #6
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My dad had 'The Edmund Fitzgerald' downloaded on Napster back in the day and I heard the song and really liked it. Soon I played it once a day or whenever I was feelin' blue(back then as long as the tune was good, it didn't matter what the song was about, I wasn't as picky). And I learned the story of the Big Fitz. But one day we had to put Windows 95 instead of 98 on our PC, and that was after Napster had been sued. So no more listening to the 'Wreck Of The E.F.'! So after a few days, my dad said he had a CD with another version on it but it was a little bit faster and not as good, and so I found it and listened to the New Wreck and didn't really like it. Over time I started liking other songs like 'The Pony Man, High And Dry, and most of all, Shadows'. Then a couple of months later, I got my Mom to order the Summertime Dream album off ebay and we won and on a Friday afternoon(best day of the week if you ask me) it came in and I listened to it. One of the best Gord days of my life. But unfortunately around a month later I got burnt out on it . But I came to like a few other songs on the album. Then while in a music store I saw another Gord album, If You Could Read My Mind. I got it because it had the original of 'The Pony Man'. I had never heard the original before. And once again, I found 6 or 7 other songs I really liked.
(I'll edit this and finish this later)
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Old 12-14-2003, 03:01 AM   #7
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For me, it was my mother's love for the music. She has always loved his music. I am 25 now, and didn't like the music when I was younger, because, in my young days, I can't believe I actually liked the dance music we now a days call pop music. These days, I wouldn't listen to that music at all. My brother used to, and still does, call Gordon "Gordon Lighthead," and I have to confess that I might have done once or twice years ago. However, I think that even without my mother's love of his music, that I would've found Gord's music eventually, because of my tendancy to listen to acoustic and folk music. My mother doesn't really listen to any folk music, and Gordon is really the only folk artist she listens to. I've always loved acoustic music, and that is why I've enjoyed the acoustic Bob Dylan and stuff like David Mallett and John Prine. I play a variety of acoustic instruments, such as guitar and banjo, and whatever else I can get my hands on, including harmonica. The same situation happened with my dad and his country music. I didn't like country music at all, worse than I didn't like Gord back then. Now, I'll listen to old country along with everything else. There's a post I wrote a year or so ago about dad and I going to see Ray Price. When I moved out here to Phoenix where he lives, I got him into collecting records after he got into the record collecting hobby, when he found out how easy it is to get old country lp's that you can't find on cd. In fact, right now, I've got some Conway Twitty on the turntable. But watch out! I can switch from Hank Senior to Metallica in a second, then back to Gord, and then to foot-stomping bluegrass.
Matthew
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Old 12-14-2003, 09:29 AM   #8
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When I was a kid, I had a fascination with trains (still do!) so my Dad would make me tapes with songs about trains that I could listen to while falling asleep. Steel Rail Blues, Early Morning Rain, and Sixteen Miles (all which mention trains) were the first Lightfoot songs I ever heard. I always knew who Gordon Lightfoot was, but never really became a fanatic until I was in grade 9 (14 years old and am now 23). For my 15th birthday, my parents got the three cd set "The Original Lightfoot" and from that moment on, I made a point of getting every Lightfoot recording I could get my hands on. Since that time, I've seen Gord in concernt 10 times, met him 3 times, as well as the band backstage at Massey Hall in 2001. I even secured a ticket for the Intimate and Interactive show in Toronto in 1999, but couldn't get away from work so unfortunately missed it. I think the highlights of my Lightfoot "experiences" were seeing the "original" band of Gord, Terry, Barry, Rick and Pee Wee Charles at the Orillia Opera House in 1997 (Mike Heffernan was ill), and meeting so many wonderful fellow Lightfoot fans at the 2nd Internet Lightfoot Convention in 2001. How wonderful to meet so many nice people who appreciate such great music. I hope to see you all again in the near future.

Kenyon
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Old 12-14-2003, 08:35 PM   #9
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I am 23yrs old, and the way that I got hooked was through a friend(Jeff). He was telling me a story of an artist who's live singing made his mother weep it was so beautifull. He said that for his parents, they would die happy knowing that they heard Godon Lightfoot live. I figured that anything that could invoke that kind of happiness must be good. Saddly I was wrong it's positively wonderfull music. So good infact that Beautifull was my wedding song. My name is Chad, its been four years and I'm a Gordie addict, thank you for listening to my confesion.
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Old 12-25-2003, 05:59 PM   #10
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You guys have no idea how much I enjoyed reading these posts! I have two children.
Blake is three and Shelby is eight. They too
are growing up as Lightfoot fans. I feel
confident that a whole other generation of fans will take our place. Good music is of course, timeless.
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Old 12-25-2003, 06:14 PM   #11
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i was 20 when i first heard sundown (arounmd this time in 1997). it was a hot summer night. 5 in the morning and i couldn't sleep. turned the radio on and i was flicking through regional AM stations. Sundown came on - nice catchy song. the same thing happened a few days later, but IYCRMM came on. i taped those 2 songs and listened to them opver and over that year.

around a year later (end of 98) i found summer time dream on vinyl and at 2nd hand shop (Cash converters) for only 50c. bought it and loved every song on iot. then during 99, i collected all the album apart from the final 4 and WFY which i had vinyl transfers done to CD. bought them when they came out and Watchman helped me out with a copy of WFY last year. Thanks!
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Old 01-05-2004, 07:05 PM   #12
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Hi, everybody. I've been following these posts for some time now, but haven't written anything. This seemed like a good time to reply. I am 17, and I think it was about three years ago that I became a fanatic. My father bought the Gord's Gold album and told my sister to come hear "Rainy Day People" and "Don Quixote". I had nothing better to be doing, and went with her. I think I was more impressed than my sister, who continues to mock me for liking music that is older than me. The thing I like about Gordon Lightfoot (and really the reason I like music older than me more than current stuff) is that I listen to music for lyrics more than anything else. How can you not love lines like "So over the mountains and over the plains/Into the muskeg and into the rain/Up the St. Lawrence all way to Gaspe/Swinging our hammers and drawing our pay" (The Canadian Railroad Trilogy) or "Searching through the fragments of my dream shattered sleep" (Carefree Highway)? I may have just referenced less popular songs. If that's true, I'm gonna claim it was a stroke of ironic genius.
Backing out of this topic now, ALL HAIL MUSIC FROM BEFORE 1986!!!
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Old 01-07-2004, 08:35 AM   #13
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I'm 25 now and have always known the song of the Fitz, maybe partly because of watching freighters on Lake Michigan growing up. I bought Gord's Gold 2 on used vinyl about six years ago but didn't listen to much else on it (mainly High and Dry and Endless Wire). That was until one day at the grocery store I worked at when I would change the satellite radio station to the "Jukebox Gold" station (under threat of disciplinary action, but they were always playing terrible music!). I heard a song come on that I hadn't heard in years and years and ran upstairs to check out who did it, and it was Sundown! So before long I had found the album and bought it, and have been hooked since. I saw him last year in Kalamazoo, MI, and was surprised to find out when I told my mom that she had seen him when she was pregnant with me! So I've been to two Gord concerts, that was alright by me! Maybe there's a connection....?
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Old 02-06-2004, 09:20 PM   #14
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Hello! I'm new and have been poking around for a few weeks -- I saw this topic and thought I'd reply. I am 26 and was raised in a house full of Lightfoot albums. There is something about his music that is so totally soothing to me. I think I like him more than my parents do at this point! I remember going to see him in concert when I was little enough to wear pajamas to the show. Anyway, my brain must've been a sponge for those great tunes, because I listened to DSR for the first time in probably 15 years, and some of the chords, lyrics and phrasing were so familiar -- like an old friend. I can't pick a favorite -- I might be able to pick 20 favorites!

Thanks for letting me ramble,
Amy
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Old 02-06-2004, 09:51 PM   #15
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Thanks for all the stories! I wonder if Gord has any idea how his music still spans the age groups. I really feel fortunate that I was around during his "heyday" and that he is still pulling in new fans. It just goes to show what fantastic taste I had!!! (okay and everybody else on this site too.)
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Old 02-10-2004, 01:23 PM   #16
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My dad use to put me to sleep to Summerside of Life when I was a baby and I have been hooked since then. That was almost 29 years ago. Now both my little ones William who is almost two here in a few weeks and Cora who is almost three months old.

Our local radio station here in Howell, Michigan still plays the Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald, Sundown, Carefree Highway and IYCRMM from time to time. I blast the radio when they do.

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Old 02-10-2004, 01:24 PM   #17
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Sorry about that it was almost 27 years ago.
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Old 02-13-2004, 10:38 AM   #18
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Hi,

I'm 37 years old and originally from Germany. We moved to Pittsburgh 3,5 years ago and since August 2003 are living in Minneapolis. Two years ago I finally picked up a guitar and got lessons ( always wanted to do that ). Looking for some nice guitar music I was strolling through the CD store and stumbled somehow over Gordon. I remembered, that my father had a LP and I kind of remembered that I liked his music. So I bought "Greatest Hits". Well, since then, I'm totally hooked to his music and bought all available CD's. I never ever get tired to listen to him. Being in a bad mood, his music helps improve it, being happy, I'll get even happier... I love his guitar playing and his wonderful lyrics. The better my english gets the more I think I understand the meanings, although I'm sure, the meanings are different for everybody. And than this incredible voice, oh my God. I never ever listened to someone who's voice seemed to get right into my soul. It's touching and sometimes it makes me shudder. I'm well beyond my teenage years but I have to admit, I feel so drawn to him you could think I'm 17 or something like that. Needless to say I'm female right...?
I can't wait to hear his new CD and, like everybody else here, hope and pray his health will getting better and better and he'll be able to tour again - I would do almost everything to hear him in concert.
Well, thank's for letting me bubble...
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Old 02-13-2004, 04:06 PM   #19
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Living in Michigan, one gets used to hearing the Wreck on the radio. It used to get more airplay than it does now. I remember buying the 45 back in the mid-late '80s, when I was in high school. I nearly wore it out listening to the depth of Gord's voice, and also learned Race Among the Ruins (which was the B-side). As I grew older and began playing guitar semi-professionally, I decided to begin learning more material, and Gord's playing style suited me very well. A friend had the Gord's Gold CDs, but I bought Songbook and many of the songs immediately became favorites. I learned to play everything I liked, and then bought the UA Collection and Sunday Concert Plus albums to help round out my inventory. I'm 32 and Lightfoot's songs are a favorite of mine to hear, sing and play.

Dan
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