When I drive my son to school, he often likes to take control of the radio. We mostly listen to SiriusXM Canada and his favourite channel, 40s Junction. I can sometimes motivate him to listen to other channels such as Symphony Hall, Bluegrass Junction, Real Jazz and B.B. King’s Bluesville. Those musical moments are fleeting, and we’re back in the 1940s before long.
Andrew has always enjoyed different musical styles, but he seems to prefer big bands over just about everything else. Many of the songs are upbeat and catchy, so that may have something to do with it. If it makes him happy and content during the car ride, then who am I to argue?
That’s why I was surprised to discover his interest in the music of Gordon Lightfoot. We happened to come across one of his signature songs, “If You Could Read My Mind,” during a brief period of channel surfing a few weeks ago. Andrew seemed quite mesmerized by the lyrics and melody, and was pleased to listen to it until the very end. The same thing happened when we happened to catch part of another classic Lightfoot track, “Sundown,” a couple of days later.
Similar to his interest in 40s Junction, I can’t really explain why the artist affectionately known in this country as “Gord” brought him such joy. Who am I to argue, right?
Canada has produced many great musicians. It was Lightfoot who stood above all others and epitomized our rich, vibrant music scene. He was the closest thing we truly had to a musical deity in the Great White North.
I wrote about Lightfoot’s passing in the Wall Street Journal on May 4, 2023. It seems appropriate to briefly examine his life and career once more.
Born on Nov. 17, 1938 in Orillia, Ont., Lightfoot was passionate about music at a very young age. His mother, Jessie, recognized his talent and pushed him in the right direction. He went from singing at local churches and radio shows to winning a contest at age 12 and appearing at Massey Hall in Toronto.
Although he would spend time in Los Angeles and hosted BBC TV’s Country and Western Show between 1963-64, home was always where his heart was. Lightfoot became one of Canada’s greatest musicians and songwriters. A musical contemporary, Robbie Robertson, aptly described him as a “national treasure.”
Several of his songs were recorded by well-known U.S. musicians like Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Harry Belafonte and Peter, Paul and Mary. He was praised by Jimmy Buffett, Billy Joel, Bob Dylan and John Prine.
What made his music so captivating? Lightfoot’s songs often pulled at your heartstrings and created an emotional bond. He made listeners feel like they were going through the same personal highs and lows with him. Which, in some instances, was probably true.
The aforementioned “If You Could Read My Mind,” written during his first divorce, was self-described in the liner notes of the box set Songbook as “a song about the failure of marriage.” Similarly, “Sundown,” his sole No. 1 single in the U.S., was inspired by a difficult romantic relationship. There’s also “Early Morning Rain,” an often-covered single that he dreamed up while homesick in Los Angeles and watching planes land at the airport on rainy days.
He also touched on fictional characters and historical moments, and brought them to life.
“Don Quixote” was a fascinating examination of Miguel de Cervantes’s titular character. “Through the woodland, through the valley/Comes a horseman wild and free,” it starts off, “Tilting at the windmills passing/Who can the brave young horseman be?” In contrast, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” was based on the sinking of an American carrier ship on Lake Superior. Lightfoot had read about the incident in a November 1975 Newsweek piece and felt compelled to write about its final, agonizing voyage.“Does any one know where the love of God goes/When the waves turn the minutes to hours?,” he wrote in one haunting passage, “And all that remains is the faces and the names/Of the wives and the sons and the daughters.” According to a Mar. 2, 2010 interview with Connect Savannah, “of the hundreds of songs he’s written,” this was the one “Lightfoot is most proud of.”
Lightfoot also wrote passionately about the country he loved. Tracks like “Christian Island (Georgian Bay)” and “Alberta Bound” provided insights to people, places and things he saw on concert tours and trips. There’s also “Canadian Railroad Trilogy,” a six-and-a-half minute ballad about the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the late 19th century. “There was a time in this fair land when the railroad did not run/When the wild majestic mountains stood alone against the sun,” this magnificent anthem begins. Through plenty of blood, sweat and tears, the future was an “iron road runnin’ from the sea to the sea/Bringin’ the goods to a young growin’ land/All up from the seaboards and into their hands.”
This was a Canadian artist who truly made his mark in the world. He was loved and admired for his skills and talents, but remained humble and grounded to the end. “The world lost one of its great storytellers yesterday,” the Canadian-born actor Kiefer Sutherland tweeted on May 2, 2023, the day after his death. “Canada lost part of itself. And I lost a hero.”
Like the title of his most commercially successful compilation, Gord’s Gold will always be treasured by his legion of fans and admirers. He just picked up a new one, it seems.
Michael Taube, a longtime newspaper columnist and political commentator, was a speechwriter for former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper.
