Gordon Lightfoot Forums - "Still Has the Passion" From Courier-Journal

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Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Gordon Lightfoot still has the passion
By Christa Ritchie
critchie@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal

By Christa Ritchie
critchie@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal

Gordon Lightfoot -- the well-known Canadian singer/songwriter who's been performing for more than 40 years -- is headed to town Thursday for a concert at the Louisville Palace.

The 68-year-old crooner's songs have been covered by some of the biggest names in the business, including Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash.

We recently caught up with Lightfoot by phone from his home in Toronto. He chatted about everything from recovering from a coma several years ago to Elvis -- and even proved he's got a line on Louisville.

"I know Loo-uh-vul is the right way to say it," Lightfoot said. "I have a friend from there named Mickey Clark. He comes from Louisville, and he got me straightened out on that one time."

(Clark, who also sings and writes songs, said in a phone interview that they've been friends since the 1960s -- and he would definitely be at the show.)

Q: Tell me a little bit about Thursday night's show at the Palace.

A: We do stuff like "Cotton Jenny," "Carefree Highway." We do "Beautiful," "Sundown," "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." We do songs like "Restless," "If You Could Read My Mind," "Don Quixote," "Early Mornin' Rain, "Canadian Railroad Trilogy." Those songs are usually in all the shows. They get a pretty good cross section. As a matter of fact, it goes right through the whole catalog … from A to Z. We've got something off every record that I've ever made just about.

How is your health these days? (In 2002, Lightfoot suffered a near-fatal abdominal hemorrhage that left him in a coma for nearly two months.)

I fought my way back. I actually was out for two years and it was sort of touch-and-go there for a while. We wondered if I would be able to perform again. The first time I was able to drive my car was 19 months later from the time it happened. As soon as I started driving my car, I started going back to my gym class. And then, about seven months later, I did my first concert. So it was 28 months altogether between concerts.

What else have you been up to these days?

I am not doing much writing now. I did my contract with Warner Brothers. I did all 14 of the albums that were called for under the contract. It was renewed twice through the years (1965 to 1998) that I was with them. It hardly appeared sensible really to resign myself up again for another five records at that time. As time wears on, I find that I don't want to have to lock myself away anymore like I used to have to do … which I did for so many years when I was under contract for 33 years.

A lot of my children are growing up now and a lot of them are grown up. As a matter of fact I have four grandchildren, and they require my attention too. I like to share that with the music side.

What inspires you to keep touring?

I love the work. I have four backup musicians who love to play… They've all been with me over 30 years now. I know it's unbelievable. We're like Moody Blues and Deep Purple. … They're about in the same age bracket as we are, and they're all out there playing the music and loving it.

Of all your songs, "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" is probably most associated with you … at least in the United States. Are you cool with that, or are you more attached to your personal songs?

The other two that were major down there were "Sundown" and "If You Could Read My Mind." They're both great songs, but I love playing "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" best. It's very dramatic and they're a lot of people who relate to it. I am thankful I did the whole thing in chronological order because it makes the story unfold just exactly as it was reported in the media, which wasn't much.

Is it true that in Elvis Presley's cover of your song "Early Mornin' Rain" that he changed the lyrics in the fourth verse from "as cold and drunk as I can be" to "as cold and drunk as I might be"?

Yes, it is. It's a wonderful story. It was so aesthetically correct that I thank Elvis for doing that.

Is it also true that you now sing the song that way yourself?

It stuck. It stuck for sure. Did I change it? Well, of course I did (laughing). Certainly, it sounds a lot better.

Did you ever have the chance to meet Elvis?

I was to meet him backstage when he played at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. By the time I fought my way back there, this voice came over the intercom and said Elvis has left the building. He got away from me. I didn't get back there quick enough. They were gone. It must have been 30 years ago. It was a great show. He had about 14 people on stage.

You were featured earlier this summer on a 52-cent Canadian commemorative postage stamp honoring Canadian recording artists. That's huge. What did you think about that?

Well, I said now I can sit at home and travel all over the world.

What's next?

I am booked until the end of 2009 right now. I do 50 shows a year. It usually gets stretched. This year we're doing 53. We've got a passion for the music. That's why we're doing this.

Reporter Christa Ritchie can be reached at (502) 582-4144.