I write, of course, of the great artist Gordon Lightfoot. His work was first covered by such popular artists as Peter, Paul and Mary (“For Loving Me” and “Early Morning Rain”). Other stars such as Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, and Glenn Campbell also recorded his music. Bob Dylan, considered by many as America’s greatest songwriter, was reportedly a huge devotee of Lightfoot.
I became a fan during his heyday in the 1970s after hearing the plaintive tune “If I Could Read Your Mind” on the radio. I still cover that tune. It wasn’t until three decades after I discovered him, however, that I was able to attend a live performance. I was able to see Lightfoot twice when he came to the J.E. Broyhill Center in Lenoir, NC., a town I was living in at the time.
It was late in his career and I have to say I was a little disappointed that his singing voice had not fared well. The rich baritone vocals I had grown up listening to had become weak and raspy with age and abuse. He was reported to have been a hard drinker at one point in his life. I decided to attend the second show about a year later maybe in the hopes that he had had a bad night the previous time. No such luck.
But seeing such a legend and a personal songwriting idol of mine was still well worth it. And he certainly didn’t disappoint as he rolled out favorites such as “Sundown,” “Canadian Railroad Trilogy,” and “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”
At those shows he sat and played his acoustic guitar accompanied by a three-piece band. That made the live songs sound close to his recordings because all the guitar fills were provided along with bass and drums. There wasn’t much patter as I recall but the tunes transported me back to the 70s, an era when he had his biggest success and when I discovered his soulful and melodic sound.
I have several of his albums on both cassette – my early medium of choice – and CD. My collection contains a good number of his songs preserved in the style and voice of the musician I came to adore and admire more than half a century ago.