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:

 

Canadian Railroad Trilogy

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