GORDON LIGHTFOOT KEEPS ON KEEPIN' ON
Published on: Friday, March 16, 2001
Section: WEEKEND
Edition: BRADENTON
Page: 21
Byline: Rod Harmon, Herald Staff Writer
Column: NIGHT LIFE
Some singers are so unique, you can recognize them from the opening note.
Bing Crosby had such a voice. So did Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley
and a handful of others.
Gordon Lightfoot has it, too.
For more than 40 years, the Canadian troubador has lent his honey-smooth
baritone to songs that wrap around you like comfortable old sweaters. It's a
soothing voice, a calm voice, a voice that lets you know everything's going to be all
right.
Throughout the years, Lightfoot has stayed true to his roots, surviving acid
rock, glam rock, disco, punk, heavy metal, new wave, electronica and all the other
dozens of trends that have come and gone in pop music. Maybe that's why he's
remained so endearing.
"I wanted to be part of the folk revival that took place during that little small
window of time between about 1958 'til about 1963," the 62-year-old said recently
from his home in Toronto. "I tuned in that way, and I stayed that way, even after
it had faded. I found a direction in there, and I stayed with it through all the stuff
that I did."
Born in Orillia, Ontario, in 1938, Lightfoot tried a short-lived career at writing
TV commercial jingles in Hollywood during the '50s before returning to Canada and
touring the coffeehouse circuit. He hooked up with manager Albert Grossman, who
at the time was also handling Bob Dylan, and was soon writing songs that emulated
Dylan's style.
"Dylan was a major influence on me," he said. "I recognized the fact that no one
was ever going to catch this guy."
Lightfoot recorded a series of albums for United Artists beginning in 1966, but
it wasn't until a label shift to Warner Bros. in 1970 that he began to achieve
commercial success with songs like "If You Could Read My Mind," "Sundown" and
"Carefree Highway." Once "Gord" hit gold, there was no stopping him; he released
an average of an album a year throughout the '70s.
"I've always enjoyed writing, because I like getting on the roll of knowing it was
going someplace, beginning to ending," he said. "I would get excited about that. I
still do. I like exploring the various vowels, the A, E, I, O, U. You gotta use 'em all.
That way, you get some variety in your rhyme schemes. Because I still believe
that songs have to rhyme or they're not songs. (Laughs.)"
One song in particular, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," became
Lightfoot's signature work. Based on a shipwreck on Lake Superior in November
1975 that killed 29 crew members, the song was one of his biggest hits and
immortalized the victims in a way that no plaque or statue ever could. He often
performs it during memorial services on the anniversary of the disaster.
"I was into sailboating around that time, and was doing it up in that area, in Lake
Huron," Lightfoot said. "I was able to relate to that story, because I remember
hearing about it on television 3 1/2 hours after it took place. I got the newspaper
accounts and read an article on it in Newsweek magazine, and started working on
it about two weeks later.
"It was very easy to do, and it was very easy to record. The musicians I had at the
time, my steel player and my guitarist, came up with the sound, and it suggested
very strongly the feelings of waves and water in motion. It's a wonderful song to
play on stage."
Scores of artists have covered Lightfoot's songs, including Elvis Presley, Glen
Campbell, Anne Murray, Harry Belafonte and Barbra Streisand. Dylan even
recorded Lightfoot's "Early Morning Rain" on his 1970 "Self Portrait" album. It's
all quite astonishing to Lightfoot, who views his work with the utmost modesty.
"I never would have dreamed that people of that stature would bother to record
one of my songs," he said. "I am deeply grateful more than anything else. And no
matter what I say or think about a song, if an artist wants to know what I think
about it, I just tell them it's great, and that's it. I never criticize them."
Lightfoot continues to tour on a regular basis, but his recorded output has
slowed down considerably from that of 25 years ago. He attributes it to getting
married for the second time at age 50 and having two young children. (He has six
children altogether, ranging in age from 36 to 6.)
"When I was unattached, I had a very productive run of about eight or 10 albums,"
he said. "Living this kind of life, the writing is, I would not say suffering, but it just
takes longer. It takes a lot longer. When you marry and have a family, it will slow
you down by half, at least, in your productivity. But I was alone so long, I like the
company. (Laughs.)"
That's not to say he doesn't write anymore. He does --- constantly. In fact, he
doesn't have any other hobbies.
"Either I'm with the kids or I'm working on stuff or tuning the instruments or
practicing," he said. "I never get away from it. Oh, I go to the (health) club and
attend normal family functions, all that stuff. But basically, my head is just into
the music and the family."
As long as he's able to hold a pick between his fingers, Lightfoot will always play,
he says. And as long as his voice is able to resonate with that sweet baritone, he'll
continue to sing, too.
It's what he's always done. It's what he does best.
"We're going to try to make one more album, and we've got a bunch of concerts
comin' up," he said. "We just want to keep going. That's what's next for us."
Memo: Rod Harmon, features writer, can be reached at 745-7051 or
rharmon@bradentonherald.com
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