Lightfoot FAQ Part VII Section C
Wayne Francis
FAQ Part I
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Early Biography
Discography
- Albums
- EPs
- Singles
- Remixed Singles
- Internet Tribute CD
FAQ Part II
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The Lightfoot Band
- Lineup Changes Over The Years
- Band's 1979 Soundstage Comments
- Present Day Member's Profiles
- Musicians By Album
- Fret Magazine Interview
FAQ Part III
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Books
- Books On Lightfoot
- Books With Text By Lightfoot
- Songbooks
Unreleased Songs
1996 Tour Summary
FAQ Part IV
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Section A:
TV Appearances
Radio Interviews
Music Videos
Movie Roles
Awards
Waiting For You - Chords
Section B:
Recording Notes
Album Sales Designations
FAQ Part V
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Tour Schedules 1974-1995
Section A: 1974-1984
Section B: 1985-1996
FAQ Part VI
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Album Reviews
Section A: 1961-1965
Section B: 1966-1978
Section C: 1980-1993
FAQ Part VII
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Concert Reviews
Section A: 1964-1976
Section B: 1977-1987
Section C: 1988-1995
Section D: 1996-
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Section C: 1988-1995
1988
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A Greek Theatre review from 1988.
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A LEAN GORDON LIGHTFOOT PLAYS THE GREEK THEATRE
Gordon Lightfoot kept it simple Saturday night at the Greek Theatre.
Now approaching his 50th birthday, the songwriter laureate of Canada
was well aware that a five-piece band, a few strategically placed
spotlights and his own warm baritone voice were all he needed for a
pleasant evening of musical reminiscences.
Looking healthy and lean, his self-acknowledged drinking problems of
the early 80's well behind him, Lightfoot seemed content to amble
through the highlights in his vast catalogue of material. The
topical songs - The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald, Christian
Island, Alberta Bound - were as atmospherically evocative as ever.
Lightfoot was almost as good on the ballads - especially the
now-classic If You Could Read My Mind, but also the more recent A
Lesson In Love.
There were no announced new songs, and the next scheduled album is a
second collection of greatest hits. Though Lightfoot's position as a
pop songwriter-performer whose work has transcended both era and
style is secure, it was hard not to wonder - amid the concert's
persistent waves of nostalgia - if the once-prolific Lightfoot
songwriting spring has dried up.
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That last point was a legitimate one to raise back then and actually
until 1991 when some new tunes began to surface. Fortunately for us
all, the concern proved to be unfounded. And a new album in store
for 1997 too!
1989
====
1989's contribution to FAQ Part VII is from a show Lightfoot did in
his hometown of Orillia, Ontario. The date was December 16th.
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LIGHTFOOT'S HOMECOMING THRILLS SOLD-OUT OPERA HOUSE CROWD
Gordon Lightfoot brought the crowd to its feet twice and then left them
standing there, wanting more and more and more.
His homecoming disappointed no one last night when he played to a sold-out
crowd at the Orillia Opera House.
Except maybe Gordon Lightfoot.
"We would not be working at 100 per cent tonight because we haven't played
for a couple of weeks," Lightfoot said following the benefit show, staged
to raise money for the Soldiers' Memorial Hospital and programming at the
Opera House.
"I felt good about it. We'll have it tightened up by tommorrow."
The veteran folk musician put on a good show, belting out Lightfoot classics
to a responsive audience. Backed by a tight band, he gave his audience a
spine-tingling rendition of The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald which stood
out from a long list of favourites. Pussywillows, Cat-Tails stirred the
audience when Lightfoot talked about childhood days on the North River.
He revved up the crowd when he said hello to his mother, Jessie, an Orillia
resident who attended last night's show. He also introduced his new wife
Elizabeth and their five-month-old son Myles, bringing them out on stage.
The crowd ate it up.
He ended the concert with Canadian Railroad Trilogy. A guitar string broke
just a few bars into the classic, prompting Lightfoot to stop and fix it.
He could be the first Canadian musician to receive a hearty round of
applause
for re-stringing his instrument on stage.
Accidentally or not, it was a homey touch that the audience appreciated.
They called him back to the microphone twice, giving him a standing ovation
both times.
1990
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Here is a preview of a 1990 appearence at Chastain Park in Atlanta.
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GORDON LIGHTFOOT STILL HAS TALES TO TELL IN HIS SONGS
Here is Gordon Lightfoot, one of the last of the true troubadours, still
laying down fresh musical cuts when most of his 1960's compadres have
slumped into the artistic Barcalounger of nostalgia racks.
The Canadian singer-songwriter, who performs Wednesday at Chastain Park as
part of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Pop Series, is speaking by phone
from his home in Toronto. And there is in his voice a rather puckish lilt
for a 52 year old man who's weathered some heavy bouts with John Barleycorn,
written 170 songs and survived many changes in the public taste.
"I'm getting into a more ethereal thing now," he says in a playful, guess-if
I'm-putting-you-on tone, referring to the mysterious dreamscapes in such
1980's tunes as Sea Of Tranquility and Fourteen Karat Gold.
"The other day," he continues, "I told my producer about a new lyric, and
he asked me what it was about. I said, 'It's about nothing.' What else
could I tell him? The last thing the world wants is another song about a
current issue. I'm still telling stories, but they're between the lines,
you know?"
Mr. Lightfoot has created in his melodic songs a personal mythology with a
certain amount of truth behind it. His is the image of the romantic knight-
errant, thumbing for a truck ride on a dark highway with the 12-string
slung across his back, who - after spending all night in a loud, smoky
tavern - is able to capture the beauty of a mist-covered lake at dawn,
echoing with the call of the loon.
As times have changed, Mr. Lightfoot's songs and his excellent band (Terry
Clements on lead guitar, Barry Keane on drums, Rick Haynes on bass, Mike
Heffernan on keyboards) have moved away from the fresh acoustic clarity of
his early favorites (Early Morning Rain, Don Quixote) in favor of a slicker,
more cushiony studio sound.
Something was gained in the process and perhaps something was lost. In any
case, Mr. Lightfoot no longer breaks into the pop charts as he did in the
first half of the 1970's (such as, If You Could Read My Mind).
But as the concert song list will show, some of his lovliest ballads have
been quietly released in subsequent years, benefitting from this mature
musicianship, including The Ghosts Of Cape Horn and the title song of his
fine, under-appreciated 1982 album, Shadows.
On Wednesday evening, Mr. Lightfoot will also offer Ring Them Bells, a
recent
release from Bob Dylan, one of his 1960's comrades-in-arms ("I played it for
Bob when he was in Toronto recently, backstage before his concert, and he
liked the way I did it just fine.")
Even if his records do not represent any bulk-competition for Janet Jackson,
Mr. Lightfoot is still in strong demand as a live performer. With his mellow
aged-whiskey baritone and weathered-handsome looks, he cuts a virile figure
on stage. Singing of old love affairs, the dangerous beauty of the sea and
the sweep of his native landscape (his Canadian Railroad Trilogy is an epic
show-stopper), Mr. Lightfoot is the kind of vintage that goes down
especially
well with a bottle of wine in the open air of Chastain.
The Last Time I Saw Her is often the powerful emotional crest of his
concerts
and for good reason. Mr. Lightfoot, who remarried two years ago, says he
wrote it for his first wife. "That song was real."
The line on Mr. Lightfoot used to be that he gives a great concert - when
he's sober. The new line, he says, is that he's been sober since 1982, has
trimmed down and loves performing again.
"Yeah, I was gettin' pie-eyed for awhile there - trying to string a guitar
with one hand with a beer in the other...Now I've got a bouncy new baby,
11 months old, and the first song of my new album is in the can."
"Tell those people in Atlanta they're gonna have a great time."
1991
====
Here is a concert review from 1991 at the Merriweather Post Pavilion.
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Among Gordon Lightfoot's favorite things are trains, boats and planes, and
he sang of each at Merriweather Post Pavilion Saturday night, reviving
mostly acoustic versions of "The Canadian Railroad Trilogy," "The Wreck
Of The Edmund Fitzgerald," "Early Morning Rain," and other hits.
Although the Canadian singer-songwriter performed with a four piece band,
it was basically a one man show, with the arrangements discreetly tailored
to show off his handsome, reedy and instantly recognizable voice in both
uncluttered folk and country pop settings. It was also about a faithful
a representation of his recordings as one could want; save for the new
love song "Only Love Would Know," the focus of the concert was almost
entirely retrospective and, truth be told, more than a little predictable.
Still, anyone who came solely to hear Lightfoot breathe life again into his
epic balladry and sea songs, or effortlessly revive such durable hits as
"Sundown" and "If You Could Read My Mind," was rewarded with a midsummer
night's dream of a concert. - Mike Joyce
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Here is a nice 1991 review of a Carnegie Hall show, where Lightfoot has
performed many times.
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In the three decades since he began performing in Canadian folk clubs, the
Ontario-born singer and songwriter Gordon Lightfoot has changed remarkably
little. The 52 year old singer, who appeared at Carnegie Hall on Friday
evening, remains the master of a low-key pop style that is two parts folk
to one part country while incorporating light brushstrokes of rock.
Mr. Lightfoot's music extends the traditional folk format of Pete Seeger by
discreetly seasoning it with a touch of Bob Dylan's grit. Although his songs
occasionally touch on current events, they are never what one would call
broadsides. while other songs, most notably, If You Could Read My Mind,
link Mr. Lightfoot to the confessional songwriting movement of the 1970's,
an underlying reticence prevents his work from ever seeming nakedly
autobiographical. The cumulative picture presented by his body of work is
of a lonely, hard-bitten troubadour who is always moving on.
That was certainly the image Mr. Lightfoot presented at Carnegie Hall,
where he appeared with a four-member band. The material ran all the way
from terse, early songs like For Loving Me and Early Morning Rain to
recent compositions like Wild Strawberries, which presents two contrasting
views of the world, one idealistic, the other cynical, and which Mr.
Lightfoot performed in two distict voices, an octave apart.
In between, there were hits like the battle scarred love song, If You
Could Read My Mind, well told yarns like The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald
and the historical Canadian Railroad Trilogy.
Mr. Lightfoot is no longer the suave folk crooner he used to be. A
cragginess
and a terse astringency of timbre have crept into singing that is carefully
understated. But these middle-aged seams add emotional depth to a voice
that at one point sounded almost too smooth to be recounting such rugged
adventures.
1992
====
Here is the 1992 contribution to FAQ Part VII. The show was his
first of 1992 and was given on Sept. 16 at the Kennedy Centre
in Washington DC.
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GORDON LIGHTFOOT IN PERFECT FORM
What you hear on record is what you get in concert when Gordon
Lightfoot performs these days. Indeed, his show at the Kennedy
Centre Wednesday night wasn't just a reasonable facsimile of his
recordings, it was nearly note-perfect.
Over the course of a couple of one hour sets, the Canadian
troubadour frequently revisited his Top 40 glory days in the
mid-70's, when it was all but impossible to avoid hearing Sundown
and The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald on the radio. To his credit,
Lightfoot doesn't give his hits short shrift by compressing them in
to time saving medleys; he still renders them earnestly, playing
either a 12 or six string guitar and singing in his gentle, reedy
and instantly recognizable voice.
Most of the new material was confined to the second set, when the
singer and his polished quartet performed performed several original
tunes from from Lightfoot's latest album and a faithful cover of Bob
Dylan's Ring Them Bells. In turn, Lightfoot neatly revived one of
his songs that Dylan, Elvis Presley and numerous others have
recorded: Early Morning Rain.
1993
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Here is a 1993 review of a show in his hometown of Orillia, Ontario.
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LIGHTFOOT PACKS OPERA HOUSE
Orillia's best known sailor, songwriter and singer came home with a few
friends last night. In front of a standing room only crowd at the Opera
House, Gordon Lightfoot kicked off a weekend of three shows to benefit
Soldiers' Memorial Hospital and the Opera House Programming fund.
"There's something real special when we say we're going back to the
hometown.
There's been a few rough roads and a few detours, but it's sure good to be
back," said Lightfoot in the middle of a 14-song first half. As he admitted
himself early in the second half, his voice is a little hoarse but,
especially for fans who are used to his distinctive tenor, the slight rasp
added a different and pleasant maturity to old favorites like "The Pony
Man",
"Alberta Bound", and "Christian Island."
Lightfoot who turned 55 earlier this week, wore black denim trousers, brown
western boots, and a cream colored patterned shirt for a relaxed and
confident
first set. Those who have tickets for this afternoon's and this evening's
performances will see a spry and slightly shy showman delivering songs like
"Carefree Highway", "Sundown", and the song, as he said, "that bought the
ranch - If You Could Read My Mind."
He seemed to be as delighted as the audience was at times that these famous
chords were coming from his polished acoustic guitar. With a quizzical rise
of the eyebrow or cunning grin to the four piece band behind him, Lightfoot
conveys the impression he's strumming his way through "The Wreck Of The
Edmund Fitzgerald" as if it was an old friend he hadn't seen for many years.
With his mother and family seated right down front, Lightfoot dotted the
show
with reminisces about growing up in Orillia. "The beautiful thing about
Orillia is you get on your bicycle and after two or three miles, it's all
the
streams and hills a boy could want." He remembered Ray Williams, the man he
said gave him his first training as a boy in the choir of St. Paul's United
Church. And he jokingly blamed his mother for getting him in to the music
business. "I remember when she heard Bing Crosby sing, she said, you know
Gordon, you can make a living at that."
1994
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Westbury Music Fair - Sunday Nov. 13
LIGHTFOOT'S NEW WORK STANDS UP
Gordon Lightfoot. The Canadian singer-songwriter, just a few days
short of his 55th birthday, revives the folk-rock 60's and the
Beaujolais and Brie 70's, Sunday at Westbury Music Fair. One of the
few Canadian pop artists to enjoy broad commercial acceptance in the
States, Gordon Lightfoot began his career as a folky songwriter
whose work was turned into hits in the 60's by Ian & Sylvia and by
Peter, Paul and Mary. He recorded five albums before the
breakthrough of If You Could Read My Mind in 1970. Then came a long
run of quintessential 70's pop albums that made Lightfoot a major
part of the mellow singer-songwriter movement that included Joni
Mitchell, Jackson Browne and James Taylor.
With the coming of punk in the late 70's and MTV in the early 80's,
Lightfoot continued to tour but garnered little attention. He seemed
to be rejuvenated with his 1986 album, East Of Midnight. Still,
though he toured sporadically, he waited until last year to release
his next album. Entitled, Waiting For You, it is a sparse recording
that recalls his trademark musical sound.
Lightfoot's two hour show Sunday, his first in five years at the
Music Fair, was filled with songs that spanned a 28 year career.
The show began a bit raggedy, and one of the early numbers, Carefree
Highway, was somewhat marred by a clunky rhythm backing. Lightfoot
seemed to struggle early on to bring the full power of his
distictive vocal style to the fore, his singing sometimes lacked the
rich, resonant bottom it once had.
Still, after warming up a bit, he managed to bring enthusiasm to
songs he has sung a thousand times, including such lyrically
complex epics such as The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald and the
Canadian Railroad Trilogy. There were plenty of Lightfoot
favourites, including such early songs as Minstrel Of The Dawn, and
Cotton Jenny, such later ones as Rainy Day People and Blackberry
Wine, and of course his two biggest hits, If You Could Read My Mind
and Sundown.
Only, Early Mornong Rain, one of his early folk songs, really fell
flat, lacking the acoustic simplicity of the original studio
recording. Numbers from his last two albums - especially A Lesson In
Love from East Of Midnight, one of the best songs he has ever
written - actually worked better at times than some of the older
ones.
With the re-emergence of the singer-songwriter style on the acoustic
underground, a cover of Lightfoot's Song For A Winter's Night by
Sara McLaughlin on the soundtrack of the remake of Miracle On 34th
Street, and the promise of a new album next year, Lightfoot doesn't
seem ready for retirement just yet.
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1995
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Here is the text of the 1995 Massey Hall program.
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Gordon Lightfoot is apologizing to _me_.
"I'm sorry I didn't answer the phone sooner. I'm here (at his
Rosedale home) working with Rick (Haynes, his bass player) and we were
running through a tune. I knew the call was coming, but we got
carried away..."
Now, if you're of a certain vintage and grew up in Canada,
this means something. As he speaks, my mind reaches back, remembering:
1970. Lightfoot, that rare species of Canadian "star," stands remote
in a single spotlight on the Massey Hall stage for his annual gig. An
untouchable inspiration, sometimes energized, at others distant and
off in his own world. A cool guy, back when cool was first invented.
Even earlier, there was the Yorkville coffee-house circuit.
Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen--names to be conjured with on
steamy, summer nights at the Riverboat and the Purple Onion.
By 1970, the first time I saw him in concert at Massey Hall,
Lightfoot was already an icon to a generation that measured its heroes'
worth in musical coinage. Bob Dylan and Joan Baez were the gods.
And so, at least at home, was Lightfoot.
"Dylan was my mentor," Lightfoot muses, when reminded of his
own status. "Thanks for the compliment."
Humble. Self-effacing. Quite the contrast with his reputation
for aloofness, arrogance almost. "Yeah, I know people say that about
me," he admits reluctantly. "Let's move on, it's getting kind of
interesting."
Actually, it comes out more like "gettin" and "intrestin."
Cowboy talk, semi-drawled, but not self-consciously so. Just the
result of years serving as the country's head folkie, a troubadour
whose sound often veered into new country music before the genre was
invented.
So we move on, to the new work he's deep in the middle of,
along with his long-time band--Haynes on bass, Terry Clements on
guitar, Mike Heffernan on keyboards, and Barry Keane on drums.
We're working on two or three songs and I like hammering
away at the stuff," he says. "At the moment I'm writing lyrics
that border on introspection. It takes me longer than it used to."
(This is the guy who, in 1965, dashed off _Early_Morning_Rain_ in
an afternoon.) "I can still find an original melody though. I'm
just pickier."
Lightfoot remains under contract to Warner Brothers and is
delighted. He considers it an honor for "a person like me" to have
such a deal these days. Yeah, we get it. Lightfoot at 55, not
talking about slowing down exactly, but talking about getting one
more album out if it's there inside him. The previous one,
_Waiting_For_You_, is only a year old.
Lightfoot is from the old school; he believes he needs to
produce new songs "in order to keep honest about performing. So
we can't tour as much as we would like to. But we're still out
there an average of 40 to 50 days a year." That includes the
Massey Hall dates, this year from March 16 to 18 and 23 to 25.
He doesn't play in the fall because that's when he writes.
"Concertizing is nice to have," he says, "even though we keep it
to a minimum. Luckily, our concert following is such that we can
continue to tour. But I remember the time I didn't make an album
for almost eight years, so if there are new songs in me now, I
want to get them out. Time is marching on.
"The urge is compelling and very deep. I started at such
a young age in Orillia, Ont., in high school. I was 17. Who
knows why a person does that? Probably it was because of some
very early influence like a Tony Bennett record."
There are other draws to keep him at home more now. He's
the father of five-year-old Miles and eight-month-old Meredith.
A new daddy. But one who doesn't talk much about family, except
in passing. "I like to keep that stuff out of the public domain.
I live in this city."
And this is where he writes, in his music room, while
wife, Liz, and a nanny take care of household matters.
After a sometimes rocky, showbiz-style past, Lightfoot
has at last achieved a delicate balance between fame and privacy,
a sane lifestyle that some of his American musical contemporaries
might well envy. On the streets in his home town, where he
strolls three times a week to a downtown gym, he's mostly not
even recognized. "That's because I don't do TV," he surmises.
"I can walk around Toronto with no problem at all. If someone
says hello, it's usually just a 'hi, Gord.'"
Yep. That easy. Hi, Gord. After all, he's been with
us now for more than 30 years, churning out tunes as cosy as
eiderdown, as Canadian as the beaver. Is there anyone out
there over 40 who doesn't know--and love--_Early_Morning_Rain_,
_The_Wreck_of_the_Edmund_Fitzgerald_, _Alberta_Bound_,
_If_You_Could_Read_My_Mind_, _For_Lovin'_Me_, and
_Black_Day_In_July_?
And here's the irony. Six years ago he told a journalist
he'd gone off those last two songs--the first because he now
thinks it's sexist, the second because it's too "preachy" for
a Canadian. The controversial 1967 song about the Detroit race
riots was banned by some radio stations in the United States when
it first came out.
But some things stay the same. There may, or may not,
be a new song unveiled at Massey Hall. If a new one is ready,
he says he and the band will take it out and see how it sounds.
But this is an important gig and they don't want to take any chances.
Unlike way back in 1968, 24 concerts ago, when just getting
up on the Massey Hall stage was a risk. "I don't really have any
earthshaking memories of the hall," he muses. "I do remember
meeting some interesting guests backstage over the years, like
Marty Robbins, Dottie West, and Kenny Rogers. I even remember
seeing Kenny more than 20 years ago, when he played a place in
Scarborough!"
"But I'd have to say that my most memorable time at
Massey Hall was the first time I ever played there. It was an
important step from the coffee house to the concert stage.
"And each time I go back it's another milestone of sorts.
It remains an ongoing event in my life."
Like he is, in ours.
This is the Toronto Star review of opening night at Massey Hall on March 16.
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LIGHTFOOT: CANADA'S BALLADEER LAUREATE
Is there such a thing as a balladeer laureate of Canada? There should be and
Gordon Lightfoot should be it.
Over twentysomething years, the man's been a faithful chronicler of our
tribe, a
merciful scribe of our moments both large and grand, personal and national.
Something of a prophet too; when he sang last night of "a time when the
railroads did not run," it was sobering and scary to think that for many
Canadians that time has come again. But the mood in front of 2,200 fans was
warm and celebretory, in keeping with a gig at which the man's grandchildren
Johnny and Amber, were in the front row.
A multiple stand at Massey Hall is an annual tradition with Lightfoot, and
fans
who'd seen a number of them opined that last night's set was one of the
better ones, mixing songs from his first album with tunes so fresh they
haven't
been recorded yet. All delivered in his finely cured bourbon of a voice,
although he no longer imbibes.
Ears accustomed to high decibel concerts thought the vocal mix was short on
volume. This was only Lightfoot's way of making sure attention was paid to
every nuance of tunes like "A Lesson In Love" and "A Winter's Night With
You."
The latter was a microcosm of the Lightfoot style; a gorgeous melody with
only the tastiest of frills, and those peacefully underplayed.
For a fan of guitar, this concert was a workshop on understated playing.
While
it was an easy night at the office for the rhthym section, it was up to
keysman Mike Heatherton and lead guitarist Terry Clemens to flesh out the
often gaunt skeletons of Lightfoot tunes. Clemens coaxed the most haunting
sounds out of his Les Paul, moaning like an unquiet ghost at one moment,
getting down 'n' swampy with the aid of a well-deployed whammy bar on the
rocky "Fading Away."
When it comes to grit and commitment, this man has it. After battling throat
cancer successfully, the financially secure Lightfoot didn't have to come
back and sing for us. His remarks regarding a particular song, "I only do
this one for the challenge," could stand as a fine motto for this singular
man, who does it again tonight and tomorrow, winding up his Massey Hall
stand next weekend. - Lenny Stoute
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A Lightfoot Sunday concert
Long I've been a lover of Gordon Lightfoot music. About every two years I
closely watch the Sunday entertainment sections of the dailies, longing
for an announcement of Lightfoot's return to the Twin Cities.
Six weeks ago ads announcing April 29-30 "25th Anniversary" concerts in
St. Paul prompted this fan of the Canadian troubadour to immediately seek
tickets. Sunday night my wife, Nancy, and I were among 1,700 mostly
middle-agers in the sold-out audience at the College of St. Catherine who
listened to Lightfoot's 31-selection concert.
Lightfoot's visit was like replaying old Gord's records. Five songs which
he said were his favorites, according to a St. Paul Pioneer Press preview
Friday, were all performed: "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," "Early
Morning Rain," "If You Could Read My Mind," "Canadian Railroad Trilogy,"
"Don Quixote." Those all could be termed "early Lightfoot" or his
"greatest hits" from the Sixties and Seventies.
Interestingly, his top commercial success, "Sundown," which was a number
one-hit single in 1974, isn't near the top of Lightfoot's personal
preferences. But it certainly was among the tunes performed in
O'Shaughnessy Auditorium which drew the most applause from the Minnesota
legion of Lightfoot fans.
The concert itself was a bit uneven-which even Lightfoot, now 56, had to
admit. In the initial set, he started one song with the wrong opening
lines. He caught himself reversing verses in "Edmund Fitzgerald." Towards
the end of the second set, he quipped about the earlier flaws, "I hate to
make mistakes and I made so many in my personal life."
Lightfoot's reference to failed romances and past heavy drinking days was
unmistakable. It was an interesting admission, both in the public
confessional and also about that evening's performance. For an entertainer
of Lightfoot's stature, there are few secrets. And it's impossible to hide
errors when you're standing on stage in the spotlight and almost everyone
in the audience knows your songs.
And his are worth knowing both old and new!
The evening in St. Paul included vintage Lightfoot-"Carefree Highway,"
"Cotton Jenny," "Pony Man" and "Baby Step Back." It opened with "The House
That You Live In" and closed two and a half hours later with "Old Dan's
Records." Six of the ten songs on Lightfoot's latest CD, the 1993 release
"Waiting For You," were performed. (Only two of Sunday's repertoire was
from the 1986 "East of Midnight" album, the previous cutting.)
There was one interesting juxtaposition of the college campus name and a
line from the Bob Dylan-written "Ring Them Bells" (from the '93
collection). "Ring them bells, St. Catherine, from the top of the roof,"
Lightfoot emphasized from the Dylan lyrics.
Lightfoot himself continues concert tours and song-writing, according to
Ann Leibold of his Early Morning Productions based in Toronto. I spoke
with her Tuesday, trying to identify two songs from Sunday's menu I didn't
know. One was "Farewell, Nova Scotia," an Ian and Sylvia piece which
Lightfoot has not actually recorded but occasionally plays in concert,
Leibold said. It was chosen to conclude the first set.
The second, "Much to My Surprise," is a new Lightfoot creation. It was
sung in the second set, without introduction.
Will it be part of a new album? I quizzed my contact in Lightfoot's
headquarters.
"There's nothing scheduled," Leibold said. "It's something he's working on
and he's written a few things. But he's not sure there's enough there for
album standards."
And the success of "Waiting for You"? (One always wonders if Lightfoot
will ever soar to the commercial heights of his earlier days.)
Timing, Leibold suggested, has much to do with success. No hit singles or
videos resulted from Lightfoot's latest CD, though it was received with
critical acclaim. Had it been issued now two years after its initial
appearance, Leibold observed, "Waiting For You" might have given Lightfoot
a place in the current vogue she called "adult alternative" radio.
Still his place in music history can't be taken lightly. It comes from the
cumulative effort of songs sung Sunday (and others like "Cold on the
Shoulder" and "Rainy Day People" which were not included).
And there's nothing better than being in person for Lightfoot re-telling
the story in song of the November 1975 Lake Superior shipwreck of the
Edmund Fitzgerald. Five times in concerts dating back to 1987 have I heard
the haunting melody and the poetic rendition of the death of 29 Great
Lakes sailors.
It's this songwriter at his best. You not only see the capsized ship; you
also feel the wind, the waves and the presence of tragedy.
An in-person rendition of "Edmund Fitzgerald" is incredibly touching to
one's emotions-especially for a Minnesotan who was born in Duluth and
frequently visits the Lake Superior shoreline.
Sunday's repeat experience in a Lightfoot audience is why I'll be watching
the entertainment section ads in a year or two.
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Wayne