Sing It Or Wing It

I have not quite bounced back following the Norovirus episode after Easter so this will be brief; my small tribute to Gordon Lightfoot. He was an amazing balladeer who wrote magically evocative, mostly autobiographical, songs about life: love, railroads, shipwrecks. He once noted that radio stations preferred to play songs that made people happy rather than made them think but he found a distinct audience that enjoyed both. While people variously attempted to classify his work as folk, pop or country it was none and all of it. He was simply a fine 20th century poet who wrote the words that moved his music and ultimately his fans.

His songs were covered by dozens of the greats and admired by many icons themselves, including Bob Dylan. Gordon always said he didn’t consider himself an icon, although he was, but simply “a hard working musician.”

Anyway, thank you Gordon for a lifetime of evocative songs and memories. Raj and I met him once in the late 60s or early 70s while we were in college. He was known but not yet a huge success, still playing quite small venues. Raj’s friend was his Mid-west concert promoter and got us tickets for the after show party. It was a small gathering where we actually got to talk to the artist. He was just an ordinary guy, normal, down to earth but with a huge talent. His lifelong unassuming countenance put many of his talented but narcissistic, loud mouthed  contemporaries both north and south of the border to shame for their superiority and greatly exaggerated sense of self importance in the world at large.

This is not one of Lightfoot’s  “biggest hits” but it has always been my favorite. It is evocative, emotional, tinged with regret and honest: everything he did so well.

R.I.P. minstrel extraordinaire.

“Your Love’s Return”