At Toronto’s Sunnybrook Hospital on Monday night, Gordon Lightfoot passed away. He was 84. Because of his emphysema, he recently had to cancel his scheduled performances. His family asserted that he died peacefully and naturally.
Just before he passed away, the renowned Canadian singer-songwriter said to his longtime friend and booking agent Bernie Fiedler, “Bernie, we had a good run. ”.
A good run is a trite phrase, but it describes Lightfoot’s character. I spoke with him in 2019 at his Bridle Path home in Toronto, and he admitted, “I still question my ability.”.
“I still do and have for my entire life. By any means, I don’t consider myself to be a genius. Being called that is insulting to me.”.
Maybe that’s just the modesty of a “fair-haired farm boy from Orillia,” as The Globe and Mail’s John MacFarlane described the Ontarian from the sleepy Ontario village in his 1966 article. One of the first notable Lightfoot characteristics to appear in print was the heading for that profile: “Lyrical loner. ”.
Writing songs was an isolating, challenging task for a perfectionist who frequently experienced writer’s block. Using cigarettes, coffee, and a sizable commission as fuel, Lightfoot wrote Canadian Railroad Trilogy in three days. He once compared songwriting sessions to trips to the dentist, saying that both were uncomfortable but necessary and should be completed as soon as possible.
As a result, he was his own harshest critic. However, I also believe that he was his own greatest fan. This only proves that he had good taste. The songwriter being honored would frequently attend the annual Gordon Lightfoot tribute shows that were held at Hugh’s Room in Toronto for 15 years, sitting in the back to take in the performances of his songs. He had his eyes closed, enjoying the sounds.
In 2012, he performed more than 170 times at Toronto’s Massey Hall, where I got to speak with him. I was given a tour of the empty venue after which he said, “This is where I tune my guitar,” before he entered the stage and played Knotty Pine and I’ll Tag Along while muttering to himself, once more with his eyes closed: “This time tomorrow, we might be all packed and gone; I believe we should carry on.”.’”.
He wasn’t doing it for me or anyone else; he was only thinking about himself.
The term “singer-songwriter” was created with musicians like Lightfoot in mind. In addition to aiming for broad lyrical appeal and, yes, commercial success, he wrote songs that reflected his own experiences and performed them. He did an excellent job of delivering his points.
When performing live, Lightfoot once listed the nine songs that he insisted on including: Canadian Railroad Trilogy, Early Morning Rain, Don Quixote, In My Fashion, Beautiful, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, Sundown, Carefree Highway, and If You Could Read My Mind.
Like you and me, Lightfoot had his favorites. The best of his music was also the best of the genre; it was full of wistful, evocative expressions that drew the listener in with melancholy melodies and held them with vivid imagery. Through windows that were beaded with rain, he observed life. He was described as restless in the lyrics of the song Restless, which begin, “As we gaze off in the distance through the trees in my backyard.”.
I hear mood music with a poet’s touch, whereas some people classify Lightfoot as a folky Canadiana troubadour. It’s best to listen to something like Pussywillows, Cat-tails with your eyes closed and your mind open.
Together we daydream of catbirds and cornfields.
The dust in your eyes when riding along the roadside.
The summer nights can result in disheveling and reveling.
Roses, cattails, swaying willows, and soft winds.
The track was written by singer Lori Cullen for her album Calling for Rain, released in 2006. She told The Globe, “I feel like it is a part of who I am. “The cinematic descriptions of weather, nature, and connection are universal, and the listener can easily find their own memories or interpretation in them.”.
The first time Cullen heard of Lightfoot was in an elementary school in a suburb of Toronto when her teacher brought in a guitar and sang Pussywillows, Cat-tails to the class. “Although I was unaware of him at the time, there was a genuine quality to the song.”.
Cullen’s rendition of the song is just one of the many excellent renditions of Lightfoot’s songs that have been done, from Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash on down. Sundown was a performance by the British electro-rock band Depeche Mode for BBC Radio 2 earlier this year.
Not everybody enjoyed it, though.
Frank Sinatra attempted the recording of If You Could Read My Mind but quickly threw down the music sheets out of frustration, according to Nicholas Jennings’ comprehensive biography of Lightfoot.
He said, “Forget about it.
“I can’t sing that. There are far too many words.”.
It makes sense that the crooner who is known for singing the same two words twice, “New York, New York,” wouldn’t take to Lightfoot’s complex lyrics easily. Lightfoot, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and Leonard Cohen belonged to a new generation of sophisticated songwriters who realized the value of choosing the right words and placing them in the best order starting in the 1960s.
I last ran into Lightfoot at the Orillia, Ontario, Mariposa Folk Festival. The Mariposa Hall of Fame was about to induct him. An afternoon tribute was held on a small stage positioned in the trees as part of the celebration. Cullen sang The Way I Feel and Bitter Green with exquisiteness, and James Keelaghan gave The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald a memorable performance, among other Lightfoot interpretations.
Like at Hugh’s Room, Lightfoot was seated in a chair near the side of the stage and was a part of the audience. He heard a spectral rendition of the folk duo Dala’s song If You Could Read My Mind, which is about a divorce. With all due respect to Sinatra, the song’s word count is perfect.
The lyrics, which are self-referential, were hauntingly sung by Dala, with the line “You know the ghost is me” standing out in particular. With his eyes closed, Lightfoot listened. We didn’t need to read his mind because we had his songs to tell us what he was thinking. And we still do.
