It Is Now Time to Praise Gordon Lightfoot...yes, Gordon Lightfoot

Rainy Day People--great stuff!

"Rainy day people don't talk, they just listen `till they've heard it all."

Rainy day people know there's no sorrow they can't rise above."

"Rainy day lovers don't hide love inside they just pass it on..."

C'mon, my babies!

he can't be all bad.

Love your sig line...is it new? And yes, I love the EFG...it had a big influence on me when I was a kid living in Minnesoda...

and the peaks and valleys in the execution of it..along with the fact that I don't think a better tribute is possible

musical seascape would have been in his blood. You're right! It's difficult to try and explain this to someone who hasn't lived in that part of the country. Everyone who has spent any time along the North Shore "gets" The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzs...

James Taylor did a "rewrite" of Edmund years later called "The Frozen Man"

The monotonous tone puts me right out.

when the waves turn the minutes to hours?

no Edmund Fitzgerald!! Damn it all!!

I love this-a musical history lesson! Plus I learned where the Bay of Basque is!

We are the navvies who work upon the railway
Bending our backs in the long baking sun
Livin on stew and drinkin' bad whiskey....

My favourite David Letterman monologue joke from a few months back:

"The Department of Homeland Security has arrested Cat Stevens after landing in the US on a flight from the UK. And they say they're closing in on Gordon Lightfoot as we speak."

Letterman staying in NYC, unlike Leno, has been able to keep his ire up against bullshit!

I hope Gordon gets back to concerts.

Edited to add Songs for a Winter Night

Sundown ya better take care
If I find you bin creepin' 'round my back stairs


huh. was I surprised.

when I'm losing again

Got tired of Edmund Fitzgerald, but it's a great song.

He's a fine looking guy, isn't he? Sings pretty good, too!

guest disk jockey. Amoung other things he used to be the bassist with Ian and Sylvia. He said they used to go over to Gordon Lightfoot's house all the time and that he had a jukebox in his living room that you actually had to put money in to hear tunes. The jukebox had only Gordon Lightfoot songs in it!!!

It was only yesterday when I heard the teacher say
patiently, "One and two makes three". We were children, you and me.
Let us pray for the ones they call the children of today.

Nothing left but promises, nothing much is certain.
All we see is want and need across the board.
Why thank you, Lord, we're living in the glory of your care.

Skies of blue have all turned brown to the sound of sighing
Lord, abide, let us stem the tide of broken dreams.
Sometimes You seem to tell us it's too late for praying.

See the ocean wild and blue? Think of all that's in her.
She will not surrender to the likes of us, but then she must.
They tell us, wise men tell us it's too late.

For each child with eyes that smile, there'll be ten more cryin'.
Lord, abide, let us stem the tide of helplessness.
But then, I guess, we're livin'. Is it too late for tryin'?

Nothing here but grains of sand. Nothin' much worth savin'.
Guess we've all got problems of our own to bear
And still we share. Tomorrow could get better than today.

To the ones who loved in vain, will you be beholden?
Lord, abide, let us stem the tide of broken dreams.
Sometimes you seem to tell us it's too late for prayin'.

This is the only song I like by him ... i don't think it's as well known as all his dreary drowning at sea songs though ...

Steel Rail Blues

Well I got my mail late last night
A letter from a girl who found the time to write
To her lonesome boy somewheres in the night
She sent me a railroad ticket too
To take me to her lovin' arms
And the big steel rail gonna carry me home to the one I love

Well I bin out here many a long days
I haven't found a place that I could call my own
Not a two bit bed to lay my body on
I bin stood up I bin shook down
I bin dragged into the sand
And the big steel rail gonna carry me home to the one I love

Well I bin up tight most every night
Walkin' along the streets of this old town
Not a friend to tell my troubles to
My good old car she done broke down
'Cause i drove it into the ground
And the big steel rail gonna carry me home to the one I love

Well I look over yonder across the plain
The big drive wheels are poundin' along the ground
Gonna get on board and I'll be homeward bound
Now I ain't had a home cooked meal
And Lord I need one now
And the big steel rail gonna carry me home to the one I love

Now here I am with my hat in hand
Standin' on the broad highway will you give a ride
To a lonesome boy who missed the train last night
I went in town for one last round
And I gambled my ticket away
And the big steel rail won't carry me home to the one I love

Gordon Lightfoot is only slightly less than God to me. I can remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I first heard him sing. I've seen him in concert probably close to 50 times. There is no one like him. No one...

Favorites:
Seven Island Suite
Too Late for Prayin'
If You Could Read My Mind
Canadian Railroad Trilogy (I named my kitten "Gaspe" after listening to that song.)
every song on the "Summer Side of Life" album.

And he inspired me to learn to play guitar.

:loveya: :loveya: :loveya:

sun went down.And didn't Belushi cut Lightfoot's guitar strings once in a Saturday Night Live gag?

"If you could read my mind" is my favorite of all his songs.

I’m sailing down the summer wind
I got whiskers on my chin
And I like the mood I’m in
As I while away the time of day
In the lee of christian island
Tall and strong she dips and reels
I call her silver heels
And she tells me how she feels
She’s a good old boat and she’ll stay afloat
Through the toughest gales and keep smilin’
But for one more day she would like to stay
In the lee of christian island

I’m sailing down the summer day
Where the fish and seagulls play
I put my troubles all away
And when the gales comes up I’ll fill my cup
With the whiskey of the highlands
She’s a good old ship and she’ll make the trip
From the lee of christian island

Tall and strong she slips along
I sing for her a song
And she leans into the wind
She’s a good old boat and she’ll stay afloat
Through the toughest gales and keep smilin’
When the summer ends we will rest again
In the lee of christian island

I love like every tune he's ever released

nt

It predates Edmund Fitzgerald by about 10 years, and is even more powerful a song about death on the water.

It is only on Lightfoot's "Sunday Concert" live album, which is one stunning performance from beginning to end. It also includes other remarkable songs from his early songwriting era, including "Apology" and "Canadian Railroad Trilogy".

If you're a Lightfoot fan and haven't heard this album, I recommend you make a point of finding a copy. You absolutely won't be disappointed.

I heard that Lightfoot is on the road to recovery from his near-fatal abdominal aneurysm a year or so ago. I hope he'll once again be able to get back on the road, but I fear his touring days may now be over.

...on her honeymoon. She helped with the rescue efforts. Her husband was seasick.

I also have that CD. It is a phenomenal performance.

I challenge you to listen to that song and not slip away into reverie

Big 707 set to go
But I'm stuck here on the grass
Where the pavement never grows
Where the liqueur tasted good
And the women all were fast
Well there she goes my friend
She's a rollin' down at last"

One of my all-time favorites, "Early Morning Rain"

Gad, that goes back a long time. Shows how damn old I am.

I pm'd The Magistrate after our meet-up, asking if everything was ok. He never replied, but I see him posting today so I'll quit worrying...

:-)

Maybe he'll respond later.

:shrug:

Did we offend?

in Evansville, IN. Now it gets hot and humid in the Ohio Valley in the summer, and it was that night. The guy played for over three hours. I know he sweated his shirt out several times.