At sometime in 1984 Gord traded in his Martin!

[Rich Man Spiritual]

I am a man coming out of a Gordon Lightfoot time capsule. The year is 1978. The album is Endless Wire. I know virtually nothing of what happened to this great singer/songwriter subsequent to this year. I was poor in 1978 but now find that I have adequate funds to indulge my musical whims. To aquaint and reaquint myself with Gordon's past and present musical accomplishments I use a portion of those funds to purchase and then listen to all 20 of his original albums. The results of this endeavor are forthcoming.
THE RESULTS:
Since 1978 Gord has put out an additional 7 albums resuming (from my point of view) with "Dreamstreet Rose" and ending so far with "Harmony". The songwriting and musicianship are as always superb. The voice is rich and full and as remembered until "East of Midnight". The album "Salute" is the last that I hear of a voice that I remember! I go to lightfoot.ca and read reviews of his concerts to see if I can find a clue as to the time and nature of change in this voice of non-pareil. I find a review from a concert of April 21st,1984 in Duluth, Minnesota. In addition to many plaudits the reviewer has this to say "The voice shows all of the singer's 46 years, in ways. The richness of the lower register is gone forever and there's an at times nasal quality up high. And he still mixes up a lyric here and there. But the warmth radiates, still." It is now 2005 and for over 20 years the voice which I heard and loved from "Don Quixote" to "Endless Wire" and now including "Dream Street Rose", "Shadows" and "Salute" has been missing and changed. I doubt I will ever know the reason but at least I know. What will I do now. In 1984 Gord traded in his vintage 1940's D-28 herringbone scallop braced Martin of a voice for an Ibanez of much newer vintage. I remain a steadfast fan, an ardent supporter but nostalgic in remembering the voice from my relative youth which is forever gone!

[Joe M]

Hi Rich,

The "voice"thing. If you scroll down a wee bit you'll see we had quite a discussion about this a few weeks ago. I totally agree with you and only wish I could have articulated it as well as you.

To me GL of the Don Quixote and as you say up until Salute was just simply magic. It's funny you mention that concert review. I saw Lightfoot here in Portland in I think 1984. He was great but I did notice some of his vocals a bit thinner than when I had seen him a few years before. And I agree, I too miss that voice because I know, there will never be another quite like it.

Joe

I believe his voice changed due to the alcohol and/or smoking he did. Sometime between 1982 and 1983 he quit drinking and that somehow effected his voice.

[Rich Man Spiritual]

I cut my guitar playing and singing teeth on Gord's songs back in the mid 70's. I learned the Travis pick (named after the late Merle Travis) playing "Sit Down Young Stranger". It was initally very difficult to learn how to make your thumb independent of your other fingers. I had several of Gord's song books and it seems my favorite was the one that went along with the album "Don Quixote". I use to try to copy his embrochure that is in the way he shaped his sound when he sang. That sound came from deep within. Your diaphragm had to be strong to replicate that lower toned resonance. Gord had the ability to hold on to notes without losing the quality of his tone. Because I tried to copy these quality traits when I would sing his songs it became the sound that I would always associate with Gordon Lightfoot. I wouldn't like to try to copy his sound now which he has had for the last 20 years. The sound comes from higher up in his throat, he doesn't have the ability to hold notes, his phrasing is very abbreviated and choppy. There is no strength in his diaphram. He now longer chooses to overdub his harmonies which was quite prominent in the middle 70's to the Salute album which I liked immensely. It is interesting to note (at least for me) that Gord's singing voice (that which was recorded) held from 1966 to 1982, 16 years. In other words, he have been without his trademark quality voice longer than he has been with it. I am glad that I have all 20 of his orginal albums and even though I don't enjoy the voice as much anymore he is still worth my attention.

[This message has been edited by Rich Man Spiritual (edited March 17, 2005).]

[WishingWellGhost]

Funny thing, when I met Gordon backstage in New Orleans on the '78 Endless Wire tour, the first thing I noticed was how nasal his speaking voice was--very, very much like his current singing voice.

[Rich Man Spiritual]

I noticed that in "Harry Tracy" the movie that Gord was in, his speaking voice had a very soft quality to it. His voice didn't fit the part of the lawman that he was playing. You notice that in the song "In My Fashion" off the "Shadows" album he speaks in a lower coarser sounding voice. I guess that if his speaking voice sounded nasally to you during the "Endless Wire" period at least we know that his singing voice did not. But unfortunately it does now!