As a fan of a wide variety of popular (and not-so-popular) music from the 1950s (and sometimes even earlier) up through the present, one of my bucket list projects for years has been to put together a list of my 100 favorite songs of all time. At some point I decided that, once I got around to figuring that out, I could put it out on a blog, for the infinitesimally small proportion of the Internet world that might be interested. So, here we are. While the Top 100 will be a major focus, I also plan to post on a variety of other musical (and occasionally non-musical) topics, in which you may or may not be interested. (If a particular posting doesn’t ring your bell, you’re only a few clicks away from a dancing cat video on YouTube.)

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Favorite Musical Artists: Gordon Lightfoot


Speaking of musical genres, I’m not sure whether Gordon Lightfoot was held back by their boundaries or transcended them – I prefer to think the latter. Although his earliest material had a decidedly country sound (and his later “Sundown” actually hit #13 on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles chart), he first gained attention as a folk artist, with performers such as Peter, Paul & Mary recording some of his material. Because of that background, I was always surprised when I found his albums in stores filed under Pop/Rock rather than in the Folk section. Similarly, I could never quite understand why he didn’t get nearly as much attention as did others (Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Carole King, fellow Canadian Joni Mitchell) during the 1970s “singer-songwriter” craze. Was it because he didn’t live in or hang around L.A.? Was it because his music leaned more “adult contemporary” than rock? (Although JT was certainly never known for rocking out.) Maybe it was because his songs never felt all that introspective: allmusic.com refers to typical singer-songwriter lyrics of the era that “were personal, although … often veiled by layers of metaphors and obscure imagery.”
 
All that aside, I’ve always had this somewhat fanciful notion that there’s some supernatural power that assigns all of us some fixed number of great songs. (For most of us, of course, that number is zero.) During his prime years during the 1960s and 1970s, Gordon Lightfoot certainly came up with far more than his share.
 
Favorite songs:
 
The Way I Feel (version from the album of the same name)
The Last Time I Saw Her
The Circle Is Small
Early Morning Rain
 
Summer Side Of Life
Did She Mention My Name
If You Could Read My Mind
10 Degrees & Getting Colder
Song For A Winter's Night
 
For Lovin' Me
Crossroads
Softly
Same Old Loverman
Endless Wire
 
Pussywillows, Cat-Tails
Sundown
Can't Depend On Love
Sit Down Young Stranger
That Same Old Obsession

3 comments:

  1. So I remember one day in the Lower East Side of Funkhouser, you asked Brent Gardner what he thought of LIghtfoot's newest song, Sundown, and he said he thought Lightfoot sounded off-key.
    You flipped him the bird and left the room.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, obviously I knew that, in 2019, I'd be naming him one of my all-time favorites. (Lightfoot that is, not Brent.) Although Brent will always have a place in my heart for introducing us to The Boss. (BTW, "Blinded By The Light" is great!)

      Delete
    2. Amen on both counts re: Brent.

      Delete