I just got the CD Cold on the Shoulder and I noticed on the cover that Gord appears to be seated in front a table covered with original sheet music. Does anyone know if Gord can actually read and write music? It might surprise you to know that many popular 'musicians' can't actually read and write music, the Beatles chief among them.

I just got the CD Cold on the Shoulder and I noticed on the cover that Gord appears to be seated in front a table covered with original sheet music. Does anyone know if Gord can actually read and write music? It might surprise you to know that many popular 'musicians' can't actually read and write music, the Beatles chief among them.

Yes, indeed, Gord can and does write his own music. An excerpt from the Globe and Mail article last month:

He took his cues early on from Bob Dylan, who established, as Lightfoot puts it, "that you could crank out songs" even when maybe you didn't feel like it. He takes pride in the fact that he can write his own music and arrangements, skills he picked up during three semesters at the Westlake School of Modern Music in Los Angeles, where he moved when he was 19. "He writes like Mozart," [Murray] McLauchlan says. "He writes down actual notes. Everybody else just gets a bottle of Scotch and hammers away."

Yes, indeed, Gord can and does write his own music. An excerpt from the Globe and Mail article last month:

He took his cues early on from Bob Dylan, who established, as Lightfoot puts it, "that you could crank out songs" even when maybe you didn't feel like it. He takes pride in the fact that he can write his own music and arrangements, skills he picked up during three semesters at the Westlake School of Modern Music in Los Angeles, where he moved when he was 19. "He writes like Mozart," [Murray] McLauchlan says. "He writes down actual notes. Everybody else just gets a bottle of Scotch and hammers away."

Three of the early WB songbooks come with original leadsheets - Summer Side Of Life, Don Quixote and Old Dan's Records. These books also come in "Piano and Vocals" versions, so be careful when you buy if you want the leadsheets. They are not in print, of course, but copies show up on Ebay.

And in the songbook for The Way I Feel you'll find the leadsheets for one song - Canadian Railroad Trilogy.

------------------
Valerie Magee

Visit my GL web site at gordonlightfoot.com and Cathy Cowette's site at cathycowette.com

Thanks!

Thanks!