Dear Gordon:

I can only hope that thru some miracle of modern technology this message actually reaches you...

First of all, happy birthday!

I am 33 years old and living in Edmonton, Alberta. I first heard your music, as many did, way back when I was 5 or 6 years old. I started playing the guitar at the age of 7, primarily due to your influence. Thank you so much for the many years of great music.

As I got older, I trained in classical guitar and followed that route for some time. I periodically teach classical guitar and am the founder of our local classical guitar society which now has over 50 members. I have not persued my folk/country roots for some time now, but I recently tuned into your Canadian TV concert special on October 15/2000 (recorded in Reno, NV) and within seconds from when you started playing the first song my hair started to stand up. It was then I realized how powerful and influential your music has been on me. The next day I went out and purchased the 4 cd set "Songbook" and have been enthralled with it.

Your recent concert in Edmonton at the Winspear Centre was sold out so fast, I did not have a chance to get tickets. I can only hope for next time..

Finally, do you think at some point in the future you may run a workshop for guitarists/singers?? Im sure there are many (including myself) that would cherish the opportunity to learn from you...

Sincerely;
Dwayne
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
email:dwayne123@hotmail.com

[This message has been edited by dwayneo (edited October 16, 2000).]

Gordon, there is so much to say, but I will make it easy...

THANKS

Happy Birthday

Chris
Roanoke, VA

Happy birthday and thank you.
-raven-

Happy Birthday! Gordon
Your music has always given much pleasure to me. My teenagers would tease me about listening to "That Folksinger" so you can imagine my surprise when I walked into my sons room and he was listening to SUNDOWN. All he said was "there's something about this guys songs that keeps drawing you back to listen to them". He was right, I've been listening almost 30 yrs.
From the bottom of my heart I wish you a wonderful birthday and many, many, more.
Sincerely,
Barb Crego
Arizona

Happy belated B-Day Gordon Lightfoot! So good to have you in the world. You have inspired me and my own song writing since the early seventies. I know it's all been said before, but thank you for the songs that have meant so much to so many over the years and will continue to inspire well into the future. Every time I go north here in Michigan you are with me in spirit. As I cross the great bridge I sing the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald and I am thinking of you as I venture up to the Whitefish Point Shipwreck Museum. The first time I ventured out to the point there was nothing but an unmanned light, fog horn, and emerald green ice to greet the visitor. A quite desolate place, silent except for the periodic blast of the horn. This was right at the time of the tragic sinking of the Fitzgerald and after having heard your classic ballad of its demise I couldn't help but think of the freighter going down out there just beyond the point. I came home and wrote a song dedicated to the point called, appropriately, Whitefish Point. My writing has been inspired by you many times since. Thank you for touching my soul so profoundly.

[This message has been edited by windhorse (edited October 27, 2000).]

So, it's not a "belated" b-day wish after all. Thought I had missed it Gordon. (See response above) It's fitting that you should be a November child - born in the eye of the storm.

Dearest Gord,
Happy birthday! I have you in my heart for 29 years now. Since then, I've been playing your songs at the piano almost every day. But on November 17th I'll save my breath to blow 62 white candles for you. Keep doing your great, fantastic songs. Let me confess I still miss the four albums which did not come out on CD. Would you please make them released? Hugs from a friend from Brazil,
Heartfully, Carlos Mendes-Rosa.

I wish you a wonderfully "Happy Birthday" Gordon Lightfoot!!
I want you to know that I am 29 and since I can remember I have been listening to your wonderful music. My mother was a huge fan and she could always be found with a drink in her hand, candles burning & a "Gordon Lightfoot" eight track playing. So needless to say I was raised on you.
Luckily, before my mother passed away in 1991, she was able to see in concert in Des Moines, IA. I know it was one of lifes highlights for her! So, at her funeral we played a trilogy of your songs. "The Last Time I saw Her", "Wherefore And Why",and "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face". We know she was smiling down on us that day.
I have seen you in concert twice in Des Moines and they were both the best ever! I just want to wish you a Happy Birthday and to say that "If You Could Read My Mind", you know I would be saying THANK YOU FOR THE MEMORIES!
Sincerely,
Elizabeth from Webster City, IA

GORDON,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY 2000! A WISH FOR MANY HAPPY, HEALTHY YEARS
TO COME FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY.
BRENT DUNFORD,
WINNIPEG, MANITOBA

happy birthday mr. lightfoot, i am so happy that you were born, following your dreams and writing beautiful songs for us all. you have inspired people like myself to do the same, i hope that you have a wonderful time on your special day... truly
abigail winterberg

Your music makes me happy inside.
Happy Birthday!!!!
Suzy

BIRTHY HAPDAY TO YOU!!!
BIRTHY HAPDAY TO YOU!!!
BIRTHY HAPDAY MR. LIGHTFOOT!!!
BIRTHY HAPDAY TO YOU!!!

LOOKING AT THE PAST REPLIES I'M SURE THIS IS LATE BUT I ONLY GET ONLINE EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE, AND COME HERE WHEN I CAN. HOPE TO SEE YA IN MARCH!!!!

Guess I'm not late, I just read the first post. Silly me. I alway skip ahead whenever I visit a site. Anyway, another year older, another year better!!! Keep up the good work!!!

Happy Birthday Mr. Lightfoot.
May you have a wonderful day with many more to come. You sing to people's inner soul and heart it is not surprising that so many people want to wish you well on your day. It is almost like we know you and you know us and feel a special connection to you. I look forward to seeing you when you come to Duluth, Mn. Please do not sing the Fitz song as it is painful for those left on the shore this time of year.
God Bless
Julia


------------------

Happy Birthday Gord. I have been a fan for thirty years, and saw you every time you came to England. Please, please come back! Have a great day.

Happy Birthday, Gordon. Many more Happy Returns. Keep on playin' and singin'
Bruce from Cincinnati

Gordon - Many happy returns and many many more. You are the only artist (well, you and Cat Stevens) where I can say that I have every one of your albums. I kind of got away from you in the last decade because of some tough times that I went through, but I'm back again, in the northern Ontario wilderness that I fell in love with through your music.

Happy Birthday and Congrats on your PBS Special!
We here at KCPT ( Kansas City Public Television ) look forward to broadcasting it during our December Membership Drive.

Lee Knox
KCPT Producer

Happy Birthday, Mr. Lightfoot! May this message find you enjoying inner peace and serenity.

Your music's been a part of my life for so long now. "If You Could Read My Mind" was your first song I heard. I was about 14 at the time, and I've been a fan ever since. Your music's been there when I've been confused, sad, happy, in love. It's made me think and touched my heart, and for this I thank you.

Again, happy birthday, and enjoy what life has to bring, one day at a time.

P.S. Do you think you could do a concert in Colorado Springs?

From a Fan in Colorado Springs: Lisa Stahlschmidt

There's a little room on my list for tonight,
Wish you were here to fill it in!

I have loved you for over 30 years! Wish you were mine! Thanks for the enlightenment, encouragement, entertainment, and education you have given me.

Your performance in Santa Rosa, CA last march was my first opportunity to
see you live--and was wonderful beyond expectation! Your laid back attitude made me feel like I really was "in this house," as you said.

God bless and care for you and your family.

Happy birthday Gord.

[snip]

Dear DB,

If you happen to read this topic again, please drop me an email at webmaster@corfid.com.


[This message has been edited by Florian (edited October 31, 2000).]

Happy Birthday Gordon, have loved your music from day one and hope you continue to make wonderful music forever.

For all of the years of enjoyment, wonder, and inspiration, Gordon, I thank you. To have this opportunity to actually say so to you, under the guise of a Birthday Greeting, is just to wonderful to pass up. Happy Birthday Gordon!
...and many, many more.
Harold Cameron

I have been listening to you since you I was 7 years old (1972) when my dad played all your music on an 8 track in his car. Your music helped this little girl deal with the pain of her parent's breakup. You sang of love and love lost and understood. Thank you for your gift to the world. Your music will always hold a special place in my heart and memories.

Love, Moira

Gord,
I've enjoyed your music for many years and just wanted to wish you a happy birthday. I'm in the US military and travel around alot--saw you in Sante Fe in '99 and looking forward to seeing you in Alexandria in May '01. All the best...many more!!

Lt Col Joe Pugliese
Virginia

Gordon, Accept my wishes for a wonderful birthday. I must tell you that the highlight of my life was seeing you in Cedar Rapids and presenting you with the framed counted cross stitch of "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". I am so blessed by your insight and music...my dream is to someday sit with you on a one to one and just talk about you and your insights and music. Thank you for bringing your dreams to life through your music. I so appreciate you and what you do....may your birthday be filled with memories to forever cherish.
Grace Orvis
orvisgrace@hotmail.com
Iowa

Dear Gord,

Happy Bithday.Thank you or the love and light that you and your music has brought into my life over the years of my apprenticeship in sorrow and acceptance.Those experiences, either good or bad,leave us with the choice to learn from them, pass them on or live our lives without emotion.Thank God, you chose to share yours with us.We are truly grateful.
As a Canadian now living in Ireland, your music keps me grounded, reminds me of my roots and encourages me to dig deeper into the soil that I have planted the tree which is my life.May you always be a leaf blowing on my tree and may we both always feed the need in each other that is he human condition.
The UK wants you Gord.We want you bad..so get your little cannuck butt over hear so we can show you our appreciation.
A Winters Night with You for me this year will be without snow but at least, I can live in the moment thanks to your music.
I wish you love in abundance, wisdom in adversity, and much health.

Love,

Isabella

Dear Gord, Every time you were in Thunder Bay I was somewhere else. Oh how I wanted to meet you. I hav every song book and tape or at least most of them. How do you thank someone who has been a lifetime of inspiration as you and your music have been to me. You are clearly unequaled Gord and it gives me such pleasure to add to this list of friends and admirers in wishing you the best birthday ever and many more. I learned to play the guitar when I was 14 and finger style so I could play your style. I bought a big old D-18 and spend many hours pickin out those highway songs and singin them as well. I became an entertainer and started out singing Lightfoot songs in coffee houses halls and bars and right up to this day your songs are the most popular. Every song has such meaning especially songs like "son for a winters night" and spanish moss to mention a couple. I still live with the hope to see you in person someday and once again I wish you the smoothest road and the bluest skies ever. sincerely a fan for life, Cliff Redden , RR#3 Thunder Bay Ontario Canada P7c 4v2

Gordon:
I've enjoyed your music for many, many years. My favorite is the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. You are without doubt the most gifted lyricist ever. Your stories of life experiences are always true to the heart. The best. Here's wishing you a blessed and joyous Birthday - may you enjoy many more.
Johnfirebird

Gordon,
After hearing Spin, Spin on the radio in 1966/67, I saw you at the Ontario Pavillion at Expo 67. From that time, I've gone through 33 years of life listening to, playing and completely enjoying your music. Thank you for giving me such a precious gift. I go back to the old times in Montreal: Cafe Andre, New Penelope Coffee House, etc. and I rememeber everey time I caught your act like it was just yesterday. We'd love tou see you on Montreal the first chance you get. Until then, be well and Happy 62nd birthday.
Gerald Kandestin, Montreal

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GORDON LIGHTFOOT!!! YOU ARE MY FAVORITE SINGER AND SONGWRITER - NO ONE COMPARES WITH YOU - GOD BLESS YOU ON YOUR BIRTHDAY, AND MANY MORE HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!!!

Many happy returns,Gordon! Health, wealth,
happiness, I hope you have it all. I'm
looking forward to seeing you at your
concerts in Massey Hall.

Clear skies!

Susan Rappoport

Happy birthday from Switzerland

Herzliche Glückwünsche zu Deinem runden Geburtstag dieses Jahr! Seit vielen Jahren hast Du auch in der Schweiz viele Freunde Deiner Songs, die in die Musik- und Kanadische Geschichte eingegangen sind!

Gute Gesundheit und viele neue songs wünscht Dir Bruno St. Gallen Switzerland

Gordon, my wife and I just saw you this evening at the Honeywell Center. You sounded as great as you did when I saw you about 20 years ago. Thanks for a wonderful evening and a lifetime of memories.
Have a Happy Birthday !

Dear Gordon: Thanks for so many wonderful songs. I remember "If you could read my mind" the best. I loved it when I first heard it, I sang it in small shows and college concerts in New England and other locales over the years, always feeling the intensity of the emotion in that song. When I was getting divorced five years ago, (that is when the news first hit me), I took my kids to a playground to play, and I also brought my guitar. I played that song again, this time with a feeling that can only come from living an experience similar to what the song tells. It was such a comfort to be able to express my loss by singing your song. Over the last thity years that I've been playing guitar and writing songs, you have always been an inspiration. I first saw you at the Academy of Music in Pennsylvania, around the time of the "Sundown" LP. Great, incredible music. My girlfriend at that time, who was familiar with your music, said, "Wow, I remember when Gordon Lightfoot was only solo or with just a bass player". I was in the U.S. Coast Guard at the time, and I was desparately trying to get better on the guitar, (having played for only about two years or so then), and she took me to a little music store to by the songbook for "Sundown". I still have it. In fact I was playing "somewhere U.S.A. last night, figuring out the lead patterns, and also playing the melody to my six year old son as he was trying to fall asleep. My middle son says I should go back to singing and I'd be a much happier man, and I believe he is right! My daugher, who is the oldest, and who is into the music of her generation, also says to me she loves "Ghosts of Cape Horn", "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", "If You Could Read My Mind", and so many other songs. She's been to your concerts a couple of times. I'd like to take the boys sometime God willing. The other most unique story I have about your music is that while I was playing in a lounge in the former Holiday Inn in Springfield, MA (it used to have a restaurant at the top which rotated 360 degrees while people ate, drank and listened to music); I was singing the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, (which though it belongs to you has in the past made me pretty well known in the region), and then this salesman, who I guess traveled the country at the time and didn't listen to the radio much, came up to me and told me that the song really struck him in an emotional way because though he had never heard your song until he heard me sing it that night; he had been on the shore of the great lake where the tragedy occurred, in a camper, listening to the weather and news reports, and had contemporaneously perceived the tragedy by listening to it on the radio that night...that was really incredible to me. I wonder how long it would have been before he actually heard you sing it. Probably not too long. I've also always loved singing "Song For A Winter's Night", "Circle of Steel" "Fine as Fine Can Be", "Pussywillows-Cattails", "Affair On Eighth Avenue", "Early Mornin' Rain", "I'm Not Supposed To Care", "Carefree Highway", "Sundown", "14-Karat Gold"(you must have written that song for guys like me who need to try to sell their songs a little bit harder! http://www.corfid.com/ubb/smile.gif "Now and Then" "Canadian Railway Trilogy" "All The Lovely Ladies", etc., etc., etc. I can truly say that your songwriting style is absolutely incredible, though I enjoy many types of music and am inspired by many artists; if you were to sit and listen to me play the songs which I write, you would see echoes of your style...you have been the best music teacher, (and coach, I still get a grin on when I read the notes at the bottom of one of your songs where you instruct the novice player in how to get the effect, saying you can finger pick, and if you can't do that you can use a flat pick, and if you can't do that...get a job!" You can't believe how much your talent and blessings of your music have meant to me and my children all these years. I have not echoed you in one way though, and that is that I've never really tried to sell my songs yet, I guess I was lacking confidence or got distracted by my marriage, or by my now chosen profession (God gives us one face...and we make for ourselves another), and so they sit in the safe except when I do a local show or something for the kids. Because your music has been such an influence, I hope to record and sell my tunes, and that some day you can hear, on the radio, the influence you have had on me. It would be great to have the chance to have you hear it, not for any help, or assistance, or critique or anything self-serving, but just so you could see the quality of your inspiration. You are a man who is many times blessed, deservedly so, and God Bless you forever sir. It was quite a beautiful experience to access this website and see the many fans who have written to you for your birthday. Add me to the list Gordon. I pray and wish for you on your birthday and for every day that you will always have the best of everything, the blessings of God, the love of your family, fans, health and happiness all the days of your life. Though it's just a fan's, and a songwriter's wish, to meet you sometime, and of course to get a chance to hear you sing again many more times. You've still got it in a big way Mr. Lightfoot, and you always will. You know, I sing "Home from the forest" some times and it makes me think about my grandfather, my dad and my children and how life is so uncertain as to how we all end up. I have a hard time getting through that song these days because it is so emotional to sing it. When I was a younger man with no children of my own, I understood some of your songs, but I was unable to really feel the emotion until years later, with experiences of life to add to the singing! What I can't get over is the fact that as a songwriter you had so much depth to your music and lyrics at such a young age. It had taken my about 25 years to even come close in most respects, never mind actually understanding the feelings behind the words. Anyone can read a great poem or song lyric, and feel some of what the writer is writing. You however created such incredible lines, at such a young age that it is truly phenomenal. I don't think you need to hear anymore of such praise, as you probably hear it all the time to the point that you are tired of it. But I am thankful for this forum to express these thought to you, especially on the occasion of your updoming birthday. This is because I have not had luck in getting to say these things in person before, (since when I sent you a letter and some unsolicited tapes by mail, and also through your road manager at a local concert; I realized that you must be bombarded with this stuff by the thousands). So I just gave up trying to contact you. I still hope someday to meet you, preferrably with my three children at a concert sometime so that they can say that they too met you. Though it is still only a dream to me, I hope that you will be able to hear some of my better songs, like I said earlier, so that you can see the effect of your inspiration, your teaching of me without even trying. This would not be to solicit your comments, or critique, or your help, but just so you can see once again, how incredibly you have affected this "North American's Life". Well, I guess I've told it pretty much like it is, and I wish you the very best, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! : ) PS -By the way, your birthday and my dad's are only a couple of days apart, as is my parent's wedding aniversary. I wrote a song about them partly inspired by your style called "And their Golden Wedding Rings". They've been married about 59 years now, and I wrote it on the occasion of the 50th annivarsary. Anyway, God Bless, and remember to "Go first in the world...and pity the stranger who stands at your door." And though I've had to "trade off my (his) Martins" over the years to keep the rent paid, it's been a "carefree Highway", long and happy for the most part, thanks in part to your music. I do have one thing to ask of you though and that is, if you can, and only if you remember the thoughts I've written here today, that the next time you take the stage, or even pick-up a guitar at home or in the dressing room to sing a song for a minute, please be sure to play at least one song especially for me and my children sometime Gordon. The request is "Home From The Forest", for Tom, Caitlynn, James and Joseph. You will always be truly remembered well and dearly loved for you musical gifts to us all. If I ever make it to the "big time" (I've only been a big fish in a small pond in 'Show-Biz'), I'll be sure to tell it like it is as to your influence and inspiration, not for what it may get me, but for what it says about you. Sincerely, Tom Abdow - Just another Songwriter.

Happy Birthday Gord-here's to many more!
Saw your concert on the CBC special on Oct. 22--Thank You!

ThankyouThankyouThankyouThankyouThankyou Mr. Gordon Lightfoot!!!!! We went to your spectacular concert in Columbia, Missouri last night (11/5) and were treated to a most perfect performance by you and your superior band! We decided that one thing that made it so wonderful is that you sang your songs just as we remember them, not jazzed up and changed around to make them 'modern'. What fun to experience your sense of humor (hey-you're a real person) ! After so many years of playing your Gord's Gold album down to the white, I finally got to see and hear you in person and you were even better than ever. I found myself crying at the end because it was over much too soon. I'm still humming.
May you have oodles of birthdays to come, filled with inspiration for more golden hits that we can love and sing along with. Thank you for all your tender love songs, your fun "toe-tappin" songs, and ballads that have lifted me up over the years.
HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY GORDON LIGHTFOOT! WE LOVE YOU!!!
~elena & stanley

Happy Birthday Gordon Lightfoot. Thank you for the timeless hours I have spent with your music. My father captained freighters on the Great Lakes; my husband's grandfather ran a railroad and we have both spent (and still spend) our best hours tilting at windmills. For more than 30 years, your music has articulated our heartsongs in a way no other artist has accomplished. Happy birthday Gord.

Dear Gord,
My wife and I have been listening to, and loving, your music since we married in 1972. Our favorite album of that time was If You Could Read My Mind. Since then, we've bought everything you'vr done that we could get our hands on. We listen to other music as well, but you are and will always be, our favorite. You've provided the soundtrack of our lives. We saw you in Louisville at the Palace Theater, about the time of the Dream Street Rose Tour, I think. We love you. God Bless.

Happy Birthday Gordon. I truly wonder if you are aware of the dreams and feelings you create in people who listen to your music. As humble and contemplative as I am, it brings pure exhaltation to hear your words. Have a wonderful Birthday. I am getting married in a couple of years, would give anything to have your talent there!