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Old 08-07-2004, 01:25 PM   #1
azrandyusa
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I'm sure my question has been asked a bazillion times, but does anyone know if Gordon Lightfoot was writing about 'the' Carefree Highway in Carefree, Arizona (north of Phoenix)?

Thanks!

(I enjoy this website, too!)
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Old 08-07-2004, 01:38 PM   #2
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yes, I'm sure that was the inspiration for the song, since that's where he was when he started it. He almost lost the lyrics when he left them in the glove compartment of a rental car in Phoenix, AZ. Thank God he remembered to retrieve them,eh?
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Old 08-07-2004, 07:25 PM   #3
Sidney Freedmen
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i really love that song, so its nice to know its orgin

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'Sit Down Young Stranger' and visit The Home Page Of Gordon Lightfoot
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Old 08-07-2004, 08:14 PM   #4
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You're welcome. In the Songbook companion book, there is a picture of Gord and then tour manager Wally Bivens standing under a sign that says, Carefree Hwy, Right Lane.

The rest of the info, I remember from the Live in Reno video. He told that little story before performing the song. Good video by the way

glad I actually knew something to tell you. Usually, I'm the one saying, what? what?
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Old 08-07-2004, 10:32 PM   #5
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Hi Randy! Borderstone coming in from Phoenix,AZ myself! Right now I live about 15 or so miles south of the Carefree Highway and have only traveled on it once. If you've seen it,it's not all that spectacular except for there not yet being anything built near it (last I saw anyway).

He did indeed write about that. At the show I went to 2 years ago Aug. 6th,he mentioned that he was coming back from Flagstaff south on Interstate 17 and noticed a sign that read Carefree Highway. The sign he's under in the Songbook booklet is not the one he saw,that's long gone. I didn't even know there really was a C. highway until about 6 or 7 years after I moved here,when I looked at a map of Phoenix. Been me. Later!

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Old 08-08-2004, 05:23 AM   #6
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Randy,I bet you live up near either The Desert Ridge Mall or else someplace between Shea Blvd. and Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd. (also known as Bell Rd.) somewhere off Scottsdale Rd.

If I'm wrong may I forget the lyrics to Rainy Day People!

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Old 08-08-2004, 11:19 AM   #7
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quote:Originally posted by Borderstone:
The sign he's under in the Songbook booklet is not the one he saw,that's long gone.
Absolutely correct Mr Stoneborder.
My wife and I spent some time after an October 2002 convention (at the Chapparel Suites Hotel on Scottsdale Road)
exploring the fabled highway and Frank LLoyd Wright's house Taliesin West)and I previously replied to a topic http://www.corfid.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000607.html
in which "young stranger" said
"Someday, I am going to make the trip across the U.S.
(I live on the east coast) to take the same picture Gord
took that appears on the first page of the booklet
included in the Songbook set. My wall won't be
complete until I hang on it a picture of myself standing
under the Carefree Highway sign in Arizona!"
Actually in the songbook booklet the pic is credited to one Rick Haynes a little known ace photographer see pic of Gords hands on the back of theHarmony booklet. We were unable to find the actual old roadsign and as I explained "There are pictures of me doing just that on the page on my web site
describing part of an Arizona visit in 2002 at:-
http://johnfowles.org.uk/carefree/
the actual Songbook road sign has gone but we did find the one shown here:-
"



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starts at
http://www.johnfowles.org.uk/lightfoot
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Old 08-08-2004, 10:26 PM   #8
stationmaster
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Hamilton Country radio station plays "Carefree Highway"

Yes indeed! At 11:05pm someone actually played a Lightfoot song on live radio. Whew! Someone on the outside actually cares...
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Old 08-08-2004, 10:28 PM   #9
Borderstone
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Well John,unless you find a Highway patrolman that was here 30 years ago and knows the roads and things like a well read book,I don't think it's possible to find the original sign locale.

Had I been here in '74,I'd have a better chance at telling you myself. Hmmm,I wonder if it was still here in 1980? Betcha it was,darn! What a lost opportunity!

Benn me. Later~!

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Old 04-09-2006, 09:53 PM   #10
Affair on Touhy Ave.
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There was some show about Arizona on my PBS station tonight which was nice If I ever wanted to live elsewhere outside the Chicago area, this would be it. Unfortunatly know mention of CH.
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Old 04-13-2006, 04:53 PM   #11
Borderstone
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Most likely it was not important enough for them to mention.

By the way,I saw a clip of an old commercial for the Sundown LP awhile back and when they mention "C.H." they show a stretch of road leading to a rocky mesa (a tall cliff). I recognized it as not Carefree Highway, but the highway (in the movie) we see Forrest Gump running on with all those people follwing him in Monument Valley!


Anyway,it's kinda nice here Touhy but if you move here to Phoenix, be fore-warned.
Starting in May and usually through Sept (sometimes early Oct.) the temp.'s here range from the upper 90s to the 100-teens! [img]tongue.gif[/img] Ugh!

On June 26th,1990 it hit a record shattering 122 degrees! Thankfully that week I was on vacation in San Diego (left the day before,thank God.) :D

Winters here are either very rainy and cold 30's & upper 20s in rural areas,simply dry and cold (upper 30s or 40's-50s) or like this past winter soemwhat warm (upper 60's & 70s). Northern AZ is your best bet.

So if you decide to live here,remember,I told ya ahead of time. :D

[ April 13, 2006, 16:58: Message edited by: Borderstone ]
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Old 06-01-2006, 09:25 AM   #12
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If you search the forums for"Carefree Highway" you will get hundreds of topics I looked at a few then chose his old one to add a quote I was alerted to earlier by google alerts from the on-line Phoenix News Channel 5 at:-
http://www.kpho.com/Global/story.asp?S=4973457&nav=23Ku

"PHOENIX A once lonely two lane road made famous by Gordon Lightfoot is now a major east-west thoroughfare.

It's getting so busy, that Maricopa County this week launched a study of the Carefree Highway to guide future changes.

In 20 years, the population in the north and northeast Valley is expected to more than triple.

Today, residential growth in north Phoenix, Scottsdale, Cave Creek and Carefree has turned Carefree Highway into a heavily traveled link from those communities to I-17.

In 1998, Maricopa County road builders widened the highway to four lanes, with possibly more expansion in the future.

Rural residents say they're concerned their stark desert road will turn into a bustling thoroughfare lined with shopping centers, office buildings and apartment complexes."

In October 2002 during a visit to a conference in Scottsdale,Susan and I traversed the whole length of the fabled highway trying to find carefree itself:-
from the Western end where it starts on Interstate 17

John holding a hastily written sign (this was while Gord was still in a coma)

to the East end where it joins Scottsdale Road (the main artery into Phoenix at that point)

same sign but original picture doctored to make a 64th birthday card for November 2002
John Fowles
for more details and Carefree pictures please visit:-
http://www.johnfowles.org.uk/carefree/
No doubt Walter Bonestorder will have some pithy, as in "Pith", comment to make again!!
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Old 06-01-2006, 08:31 PM   #13
Shutup and Deal, I'm Losin'
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One day I'll travel on that highway whilst listening to the song.

(I better get one of those Volkswagon diesels that get around 50 mpg if I'm to travel that far, though) :D
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Old 06-10-2006, 05:37 PM   #14
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"Fading"...you should play the whole "Sundown" CD as well.
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Old 08-01-2007, 10:55 AM   #15
johnfowles
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Doing one of my periodic checks of GL images on google I found amongst 22,800 results:-
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMA6A


I also found
http://www.mpmellon.com/review_lightfoot.html
with a review of a Californian concert in 2002
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Old 08-01-2007, 05:30 PM   #16
Borderstone
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Yep,John that's the modern day Carefree Highway.
Thanks to the influx of people moving here in the past 15 years,the highway Gordon saw back then is no more.

Traffic lights,widened lanes,traffic jams,late night drag races .

So...this is progress...they can have it! [img]tongue.gif[/img] :
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