Sad news, really. Another hero of my youth passed away. His Canadian Railroad Trilogy literally seized me about 50 years ago and refuses to let me go. One of my personal favourite songs of all times, but only in it's original version from his '67 The Way I Feel album:
R.I.P. Gordon
R.I.P. Gordon
Indeed, I’ve long felt Neil’s songwriting and guitar playing vastly surpassed his vocal skills, and while never particularly a fan of Leonard Cohen’s “singing”, his and Gordon’s lyrical artistry were at a whole ‘nother level.
Absolutely - one of the best 'story' songs ever written in my view. Where oh where did all that time go...
If, like me, you for the most part only listen to satellite radio in the car, you would think that he only wrote "Sundown" and "If You Could Read My Mind" along with, of course, that song about the boating mishap. Thanks for reminding me that there was a lot more to Gordon than I am currently exposed to.
I'm sure most of you know the hommage Rick Beato did immediately after GL's death:
...and also his great and thorough dissection and analysis of If You Could Read My Mind he did some time ago:
I have to recognise that GL's death emotionally clasped me more than than anyone else's in the recent time .
Best regards!
...and also his great and thorough dissection and analysis of If You Could Read My Mind he did some time ago:
I have to recognise that GL's death emotionally clasped me more than than anyone else's in the recent time
.Best regards!
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I'm not comparing Stomping Tom with Lightfoot, but he was another good story teller. In his own very unique way. Both them might of played Massey more then any? Don't quote that as I'm not firm on that. Music from all our past legends will continue to ring back through time. Yet remain timeless.
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This is not snobbery... please take that on faith. Music is very diverse; and various musical traditions focus on or highlight different aspects of all that is possible in music, OK?
Which is my Preamble for:
Gordon Lightfoot had an amazing, perhaps world-class, early-childhood music education as a church choral singer (in the English choirboy tradition); so much so, that he won a Canadian national competition for young male singers whose voices had not yet changed.
The young Lightfoot's competition piece, believe it or not, was the Schubert German Classical lied "An Sylvia," which was inspired by Shakespeare's Two Gentlemen of Verona:
a performance by Fritz Wunderlich, who died tragically young, and under suspicious circumstances.
BTW, Lightfoot's song "Rainbow Trout" seems to be an homage to Schubert's song "The Trout." DUUH.
After making his mark as a church singer and as a, believe it or not, singing dancer (in a "Hayloft Jamboree"-type C&W TV show), Lightfoot wrote a few songs, but, seeking a very regular paycheck, he moved to Los Angeles to study Orchestration at a private music school. However, after opening up the envelope with his first royalty check for "Early Morning Rain," he decided that he really did not need to be able to do Orchestration.
In parallel with that, Lightfoot's regular high-school literature courses were heavy on Victorian and Edwardian Ballad poems such as "The Highwayman." That, I think, is where The Edmund Fitzgerald came from.
I visited Lincoln Castle in England, and I just had to sing out, to the befuddlement of other tourists:
Here's a cute story about that adventure. https://thetannhausergate.com/index.php/2019/01/27/singing-lightfoot-in-lincolnshire/
amb,
john
Which is my Preamble for:
Gordon Lightfoot had an amazing, perhaps world-class, early-childhood music education as a church choral singer (in the English choirboy tradition); so much so, that he won a Canadian national competition for young male singers whose voices had not yet changed.
The young Lightfoot's competition piece, believe it or not, was the Schubert German Classical lied "An Sylvia," which was inspired by Shakespeare's Two Gentlemen of Verona:
a performance by Fritz Wunderlich, who died tragically young, and under suspicious circumstances.
BTW, Lightfoot's song "Rainbow Trout" seems to be an homage to Schubert's song "The Trout." DUUH.
After making his mark as a church singer and as a, believe it or not, singing dancer (in a "Hayloft Jamboree"-type C&W TV show), Lightfoot wrote a few songs, but, seeking a very regular paycheck, he moved to Los Angeles to study Orchestration at a private music school. However, after opening up the envelope with his first royalty check for "Early Morning Rain," he decided that he really did not need to be able to do Orchestration.
In parallel with that, Lightfoot's regular high-school literature courses were heavy on Victorian and Edwardian Ballad poems such as "The Highwayman." That, I think, is where The Edmund Fitzgerald came from.
I visited Lincoln Castle in England, and I just had to sing out, to the befuddlement of other tourists:
Here's a cute story about that adventure. https://thetannhausergate.com/index.php/2019/01/27/singing-lightfoot-in-lincolnshire/
amb,
john