For my 84th birthday my kids took me to Victoria to a concert.that was 4 years ago. I will always be grateful I was able to see him one last time.Always my favourite musician.
I was fortunate to have a sister who introduced me to the music of Gordon Lightfoot. I was eleven when Elaine pinned an 8x10 of Gordon on her bulletin board. Today I have that photo and happy memories of listening to Canadian Railroad Trilogy. Rest in peace Gordie and Elaine
Gordon Lightfoot was one of a kind❤ I'll always be a fan. Canada has produced many great artists of all types. I loved GL, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, all the comedians!!!! Many musicians influenced my own music, he was one of them.
Such a beautiful, haunting and evocative line. Having grown up surrounded by the pine and cypress forests of North Florida, full of life and filled with a constant cacophony of sounds, and then having spent time in the northern woods of the Pacific Northwest and Canada, so still and eerie by comparison, this line has come to mean all the more to me.
I saw him at Blue Lake in Michigan where he put on an amazing show. A few years later I visited the Museum of the Great Lakes on Lake Superior. His song about the Edmund Fitzgerald was playing softly in the background. They have the actual ship's bell there and I got to ring it. Hearing the song and listening to the bell ring sent chills up and down my spine. Thank God for him and his music.
Life is hard. You do the best you can, and sometimes laugher is the most appropriate response to really terrible situations. I'm sorry for you troubles and struggles.
I'm not sure to what you're referencing. Where did I post or put any lyrics? If it's something in the CC captions, or transcript, I don't make those -- some RU-vid AI algorithm does, and it's notoriously bad at it. :)
@@ferallutheran2608 Fair. When the clip started, the words were "... in this spare land..." Obviously inserted by someone who knows nothing of the "CRT" or Lightfoot. Cheers, Eh 🍁💖🙃 (Lightfoot, Mair & Williams are probably looking down laughing "Typical British to not get the words right! 😂😇😂😇😂😇)
My late sister had an 8x10 black and white of Gordon Lightfoot in her room. It was the Centennial year and I was eleven when I fell in love with Canadian Railroad Trilogy. I still cry when I hear it. Rest in peace Gordon and Elaine
Thank you so very much for making this video available! I was 13 years old when I was washing dishes at my grandparents’ house and listening to the radio. The DJ introduced a brand new song and a singer that I’d never heard of before. There was a soft guitar intro followed by the most beautiful man’s voice I’d ever heard. Time stood still for me, and I found myself crying because of the beauty of the song and that voice. When it ended my world had changed. I wanted to make music that brought that kind of heartfelt emotion to others. That experience and soon after seeing a world famous cellist convinced me that I wanted a life in music. From that first time I heard Gord until today I continue to be a huge fan and try to introduce new people to Gord’s artistry. May he rest well knowing that his music has touched and changed lives all over the world for the last 60 years. He certainly did mine.❤️🎵
Thank you for watching and commenting! It is amazing how similar were our first experiences with Gordon and his music. I was nine when I first heard "If You Could Read My Mind" on the radio, and when I did, I was immediately amazed with the composition and fascinated by the brilliant poetry of the lyrics. But even more than these, it was his voice, and his masterful control of its power, tone and depth to wring every nuance out of the lyric, in resonance and harmony with the music, which captivated me -- and still does. The well of emotion and personal trauma from which he drew was obvious, even if, at that age, I could not fully understand, let alone had never experienced, the heartache and loss of love gone wrong. I was instantly then, and remain now, enthralled by the artist and his work. I came from a musical family; my mother was an actress, musician, singer and dancer; my father, a professor of literature, an actor, director and audiophile who himself had no musical ability, but a great depth of passion and appreciation for all kinds of music, and a great library of reel to reel tapes and albums; my sister was a prodigy at the piano. Thus, I grew up in a house filled with music, and music was an ever-present part of my life back to my earliest memories. At that time, for me, there were only two other artists (really, artistic groups) who had affected me in a similar way with their mastery of music, lyric, voice and depth of emotion -- The Beatles and Simon and Garfunkle. A few years later, when I was able to buy my own music, my first three cassettes were each their respective greatest hits. Their impact on me, my life and my own creative journey was formative, and still powerful and generative, half a century on. This video is the inevitable consequence of that journey and history, and it has been my great honor and privilege to try to honor Gordon and his legacy as best as I can. It has also been my great pleasure and satisfaction to know that, for so many people whom this video has reached, it has resonated deeply with their own experiences with and of, and love for, Gordon. Thank you again for sharing your story.
Yeah, age takes its toll, unfortunately. It's a shame that he lost his clarity, tone and range, but loved performing so much that he didn't want to quit. I don't blame him, because performing and the music and his audiences were what kept him going. RIP indeed.
I got hooked on Gordon's music when I was 17. I'm 71, now. I live in Alabama, so, as you can imagine, I traveled far and wide to see him live more times than I could count. I even had his office number in Toronto, where I would call periodically to get his itinerary; they were always very accommodating and sent it right along. I finally managed to get to Toronto several times to see him play at Massey Hall. In my estimation, no greater singer/songwriter has ever existed. Bless you, Gordon; you enriched my life!
Thanks for watching, and commenting. I am a little unsure of why you emphasize that the northern, border states were well aware of his music, and The Guess Who as well, as I never directly stated or intended anything in the video to suggest they weren't, even if I didn't specifically mention his popularity in this region, or the influence of Gordon on The Guess Who, or their 1969 song "LIghtfoot." I grew up in Florida, and was well aware of his music, so certainly, speaking in geographical terms, proximity to Canada was little barrier to the success and spread of his music, which achieved global recognition and a world-wide audience. The video does mention Gord's widespread influence on the world of music and other musicians, and the great number of other artists and groups who covered his material. The challenge and problem of trying to make a brief tribute and mini-documentary about anyone whose creative work was so powerful, brilliant, popular, influential and well-respected, and extended over such a long period, is that inevitably you are going to have to leave out a lot, and can only say and show so much. If, somewhere in the process of making this video, my choices offended those who wish I had chosen something else, or they created an impression that some region or group were being somehow excluded or ignored in their awareness, appreciation of and relationship to, or with, Gordon and his music, it was certainly unintentional.
As a Canadian, Gord is on my Canadian music Mt Rushmore. With Randy Bachman, Oscar Peterson and Gord Downey. Honourable mention to Leonard Cohen. I was a kid in the 60's, but I'd give anything to go back and watch Gordon do a set in the 60's in Toronto's Yorkville. I did get to see him in '79 at Massey Hall.
Thanks for watching, Jonathan, and for commenting! I'm very glad you enjoyed it. It only took me four years to find the footage that I fought could do the song justice. :) The ship was the sailing vessel Astrid, a vessel with a long and "interesting" history. She was built in the Netherlands in 1918 and first named "WUTA.," an acronym for a Dutch phrase meaning "Bide Your Time." She was originally rigged as a "lugger," a type of sailing ship with two or three masts, each mounting a single, large quadrilateral-shaped sail. Luggers were generally smaller vessels with long, thin hulls and relatively shallow draft, fast and agile and idea for running small cargos or passengers along the rugged coasts and islands of the Baltic and North Sea. This also made them ideal for smuggling and eluding patrol vessels. Carrying a two-cycle engine as well as sails, the WUTA was well-suited for such work, legitimate or not. By 1930 she had been re-rigged as a schooner, and then in 1937 she was completely de-rigged and sold to a Swedish owner. Renamed Astrid and operating on her motor alone, she served as a cargo and work boat in the Baltic and North Sea until 1975, when she was sold to new owners and registered under the Lebanese flag. At that point, her story definitely took a shady turn, and she was a constant suspect in smuggling and drug-running operations. Finally, after being shadowed by customs patrol boats, she mysteriously caught fire and disappeared, eventually to be found abandoned and burnt out off the English coast. The wreck was acquired by a British trust and rebuilt as a classic square-rigged sailing ship, and operated for the next decade as a training vessel and competing in various tall ship races and regattas. When the trust expired, she was sold to Dutch owners who refit Astrid as a luxury sailing vessel first for conventional passenger cruises and charters, and then as a working "guest crew" ship, where passengers are trained to operate the ship and serve as the crew under the direction of a small cadre of experienced, permanent crewmembers. The Astrid was sailing in this capacity in July of 2013 when she lost power in poor weather and was driven ashore near Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland. Rescue vessels took off all of her 30 crew safely. Plans were quickly drawn up to salvage her, and she was refloated and towed into Kinsale Harbor in September. The owners wanted to refit and refurbish her, but the insurance inspectors declared her a total write-off. Unable to generate enough interest to raise the needed funds privately and financially ruined by the wreck, the owners had Astrid broken up for scrap in 2014. Ultimately, some of the Astrid's wood and canvas ended up being turned into designer handbags. The official investigation into the sinking concluded that engine failure was the primary cause of loss and exonerated the captain of any culpability, but it also revealed that the ship was not properly maintained and was sailing with multiple violations of safety regulations, and that both her seaworthiness certification and her master's certification were expired, which meant she should have never put to sea and was sailing illegally at the time of the accident. All in all, a sad end for a vessel that had survived nearly a century through war and peace.
Perfect You found the footage to do this justice. Only one I've ever seen that sincs up the narrative to the images. Great finds. Thank you. Wonderful way to start the day.
Thank you for watching and for commenting! It's only taken me four years to find the footage to try to make this work, and I'm very glad you think it did.
Was introduced to this song and to Gordon by a Jr. High School English teacher. We studied this song and dissected it for class. I've been a fan since 1975!
His song 'Stay Loose' deserves a high ranking , although it didn't do as well as we think it should have. It really cuts through the morass of relationships, and the inevitable grinding disappointments that people endure . His message: With hurt and the agony of loss, it's important for a person see the other side and realise that life will have it's ups and downs. Stay Loose, in time , things should get better. The melody and beautiful harmonies are unique and just mind altering. We rarely hear songs like this on the airwaves anymore. They should play it everyday, especially these days.
There's no way to describe the impact this humble Canadian has had on the music industry. From world renown musicians to the everyday Joe, his incomparable poetry and incredible music touches us all like very few others. I love you, Gordon Lightfoot.
Excellent job on this documentary. His death over a year ago was a hard one to take. He just seemed that he'd carry on forever. I wasn't aware of the large impact he had on so many fellow singer songwriters, and I probably should've appreciated how good his lyrics, music and recordings actually were. He was everywhere it seemed in my youth (I'm 67), maybe that familiarity caused me to gloss over the skills. On listening now after he's gone and having taken the songs for granted.....I'm startled by how incredibly good the musicianship is, and the production level on these records are fantastic. Well I guess better late than never. What a prodigious talent and he was smart enough to surround himself with superb talent as well!
I think you're right on the money that his longevity made it easy to overlook his skills and his influence on modern music; that, and he was never one to play the celebrity card or try to translate his talent or success into a narcissistic effort to glorify himself or seize the media and entertainment business spotlight. I'm glad you enjoyed the video and that it added to your appreciation of Gordon and his genius. Thanks for watching, and for the feedback.
The words that haunt in the song Edmond Fitsgerld are Does anyone know where the love of God ges !!!when the gales of November come early.The lake it is said never gives up her dead when gales of Noember come early.😢😢❤❤❤
Absolutely! When that song came out, I played it over and over again listening to those lyrics and being haunted by Gordon's masterful use not only of language, but how he used the modulation of his voice and the composition of the music to create a tone poem that invoked the visceral, eerie and mysterious quality of a storm on The Great Lakes, and the disappearance of the ship.
You are very welcome, and it was a bittersweet pleasure to do so. His music was such a part of my life that I couldn't have NOT done something. Thank you for watching, and for commenting, and may his words and music always live on in you.
In 1976 I was 16 yo and starving and wound in Seattle to The Center and had my 6-string so as a Busker by the fountains just looking to make enough to buy me a cheap meal and have a cheap hotel with a bed and a shower. All I knew ere Gordon songs and did my best. Made a few hundred over a weekend of cash dollars and coins but my own troubadour life cut short with a 10-year stretch in prison where I had to lean many new lessons. GL has been a lifelong hero of mine I've seen him live maybe I think 10x in past 45 years and treasure each time. He gave me hope.
Thank you for sharing your story. Music can speak to us, and change us, like few other things; it can give us hope when nothing else can. I am glad that Gordon's life and work spoke to you, and gave you comfort when you needed it. May it remain ever so. Thank you for watching, and commenting.
I’ve been an American fan of Gordon Lightfoot since I was 14. I’ve always recognized him as a troubadour, from the stories his songs told. Thanks for sharing this most accurate description and more information than I’d known. You’ve done a beautiful job here.
You are very welcome, and thank you for watching and commenting. i'm glad the video did honor to him in your eyes, and that it helped give you a deeper appreciation and understanding for this exceptional talent and human being.
I first saw Gordon Lightfoot at the Fillmore East in 1963, where he played "In the Early Morning Rain" and have followed his music ever since, while living in four different continents. His songs saw me through some tough times, with the words of his songs telling me, "You're not alone--we all have our bad times". Goodbye, Gordon Lightfoot, you were one of a kind.
You are very welcome, and thanks for watching and commenting. It is a sadness and a tragedy, in a way, of our modern, advanced world, that the wonders of the heavens are either so frequently obscured by the light which turns our night to day, or so frequently ignored or forgotten by those too busy, or too focused on things before them, to look up and lose themselves in the stars.
God bless you Gordon may you Rest In Peace . I love your music I had never heard of you until my American Air Force husband introduced me to you . We dated to your music in the 80S we love you ❤
