Songs that took a little while to grow on you
 

Are there any Gordon Lightfoot songs that you really, really like now, but did not like or at least did not care for all that much when you first heard them?

Hi'way Songs - This song is among one of my favorite GL songs now (and that's saying something). I won't say I disliked it to the point of it getting the skip button, but for a little while there it wasn't anything special. Since it's a song about travel, I decided to play it after getting up one morning because we were going on a long vacation trip that day. Seems like ever since then it's grown on me more and more.

Broken Dreams - If I was driving or doing something I could listen to this one, but if I was sitting still listening to it, this one would just about get the skip button every time. But after having a few 'broken dreams' in life, I can now relate to this song a bit more, and therefore I like it a lot better. :D

Keepin' On Yearnin' - Well, to start with, this song IMO was just about as bad as Canary Yellow Canoe. I was having a very good day one day and decided to give this song a listen, and since then I've loved it. (It'll still get the skip button if I'm not in a good mood though ;)

Inspiration Lady - Although I've always sort of liked this one, it really didn't hit home until I saw a youtube video of this song and I believe on it was Gord's baby granddaughter. I like it twice as much now. :)

Poor Little Allison - This one has just grown on me gradually over the years of listening to Gord. No apparent reason really.

Flyin' Blind - Never really cared for this one until I listened to it with earphones (if you've never listened to music with a good set of earphones, I highly recommend trying it; the quality is A LOT better), and after being able to hear that bass much more clearly I've taken a liking to it.

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When I worked at VMS, I had a girl named Allison who worked for me, and all she ever did was complain. She tried to sneek out for a break every hour, watched TV, and kept all the other people riled up. I gave her a verbal warning, and she just got worse. Gave her a written warning and she chewed me out and called me a few choice names. Gave her a suspension, after which she packed up and moved south, and I haven't heard from her since.

And yes, every time Poor Little Allison comes on, I hit the skip button. I was never very fond of the song in the first place.

It's a damned good thing she didn't screw up one of my favorites!

Cathy

Re: Songs that took a little while to grow on you
 

Summerside of Life, now I hit the replay button...over and over and over and......

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Ringneck Loon and The Gypsy

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In My Fashion (now that I'm older and have some wreckage behind me), End of All Time, Go My Way, The Patriot's Dream, and a few others.

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"Your Love's Return"
(I'm sure I could think of others, but it's the first one that came to mind.)

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Saturday Clothes
Your Love's Return
Harmony

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Would you believe the one I really changed my mind about was The Wreck... I thought it was the world's longest dirge and for a while it was just Everywhere. Then I heard it live and I was mesmerized, I felt like I was watching that ship go down ..I could almost feel the wind and rain and horror in a way I never "got" before.

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For me, strangely, it was Sundown. Even though it was his biggest hit, I felt at the time that it didn't compare well to some of his others, such as Don Quixote, Minstrel of the Dawn, and IYCRMM.

But it's held up well over the years, and has really begun to grow on me. It's not quite in my personal top 20 yet, but it's inching closer.

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Not many songs fall into this category with Gordon, but a few come to mind... "Inspiration Lady", until I saw the video. The video really made me appreciate the love in this song. "Canary Yellow Canoe" always seemed silly to me, but I grew to love it because my teenage daughter and her friends thought it was great. We had to play it often in the car if I wanted to listen to Gordon in the presence of teenagers! "If I Could" grew on me the more I listened. Gord's voice is so strong in this one. "Blackberry Wine" and "Baby Step Back" often got a pass until I saw both live and was facinated with Terry's playing. Now I hit repeat often on both songs.

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For me, "The No Hotel comes to mind. At first I didn't like it, and now I play it all the time when I'm in the car. It's a catchy guitar rhythm with a tune that makes me sing along.

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Ditto. Took awhile to appreciate the beauty in the repetition, and the perfect effect it creates for the listener.

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Your Love's Return and Saturday Clothes - now they are my absolute favorites - great hearing them in the BBC '72 concert on youtube!

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In My Fashion...always loved Terry's guitar riff, but despised spoken portion...didn't even "get it" until I heard it live at Wolftrap about a decade ago.

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ALL I'M AFTER - Sounded too old fashioned to me. Especially the long note. "I think I got it maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaade>>>
But one day several years ago, while sitting in a NY traffic jam, I listened to the words and it was so relavent to my life at the time that it is now one of my favorites, even with the long note. [I used to be able to hold the long note, but not anymore.LOL] My favorite lines are:

"All I'm after is the sunlite summer nights. By the seashore, don't want no more neon lights. Just the sand and the sky as the hours roll by. . .

and

"All I'm after is to be the flame in your tattoo, be the one gal who can thrill me through and through."

Others are Your Love's Return; Mountains & Maryanne [until someone in the old news group suggested it is about a motorcyclist-gave it a whole new and fascinating perspective]; River of Light [took a while to catch on to the tune-a YouTube video helped-now one of my favorites from HARMONY]; Too Many Clues In This Room [Just a matter of maturity].

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that long note has wrecked the whole song since i first heard it. Sahdows is such a great album thats only got one clunker on it - this one

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You two are not the only ones who would agree with that; the song would have better without it. I wonder if Gordon can even hold the note for that long himself now... He might get the backup singers to do it instead. :confused:

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I find there are album tracks that for some reason I've completely ignored and then caught on to for some reason.

Last week for example, I paid attention to Hey You for the first time and just really enjoyed it as a fun little song. Entertaining. Too Late For Prayin' was another I ignored because I thought some of the lyrics were a bit dodgy, but then I heard a live version and found it a pretty touching song.

It's great to find "rarities" among the albums you've owned for years!

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These took quite a long time to appeal to me.

In order of LP's :

Pride Of Man
Crossroads
Go Go Round (The go-go dancer theme is before my time)
Boss Man
Cold Hands From New York
The Gypsy
Don't Beat Me Down
Ballad Of Yarmouth Castle
Apology
Poor Little Allison (Least fave from SDYS/IYCRMM)
Redwood Hill
Love & Maple Syrup
My Pony Wont Go
The Patriot's Dream
Alberta Bound
Cherokee Bend
Too Many Clues In This Room
Race Among The Ruins
Dreamland
Songs The Minstrel Sang
Mister Rock Of Ages
Blackberry Wine
Without You
Someone To Believe In
You Just Gotta Be
Welcome To Try
Ringneck Loon
I Used To be A Country Singer
On Yonge Street
Boathouse
Shellfish
Mama Said
Heaven Don't Deserve Me
Lifeline


None from the "Sundown" Lp,loved them all right away. :)


The verdict is still out on :

May I
Brave Mountaineers
Protocol
Biscuit City
Uncle Toad Said

Been a long time since I did a list like this! LOL! Miss doing that. ;)

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"Sweet Guinevere" the opening tune on the 011 tour. Fantastic song, melody is incredible, had never heard it before, though I've owned all the albums (including "Sit Down Young Stranger" before it was "IYCRMM." Other gems like "14 Carat Gold," too. Loving the comeback of the old tunes and his attitude.
Recently overheard a conversation where one guy was telling the other about going to the Raleigh show, and criticizing Gord. Preposterous! My godson, who attended the Raleigh show with me and loved it, leaned over and said, "You're not going to say anything to this guy, are you? I mean, we don't want a scene..." I just said, "Son, I'm 58...too old to start a brawl anymore..."
I've been playing the stuff from the shows, but keep coming back to "Sweet..."
The man tells great stories, but he's truly a master of the music, the blending of tunes. I saw the first show in Greensboro and the following one in Raleigh and it's good to here from others that Carter is getting a lot of praise.
The pressure the guy has been under has been incredible, after all.

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It took a while for Gord's take on Me and Bobby McGee to grow on me. By the time I had purchased SDYS, I already was used to hearing the song as performed by Roger Miller, Janis, the Grateful Dead, and Kris himself. The BBC concert enhanced my appreciation for GL's interpretation and it stands on its own with me pretty well.

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For me I think it would have to be Make Way For THe Lady.

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The ones that spring to mind are "Somewhere, USA", Rainbow Trout, Waiting For You, and the original Circle Is Small.

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Endless Wire but it was overshadowed by the greatness of If Children Had Wings, Hangdog Hotel Room and Daylight Katy

On the other hand, the chord progressions of The Gypsy, I'll Tag Along, Inspiration Lady and Morning Glory are pure genius and I can actually play all of them.

I used to be able to pick up CHAY FM in the early years and they played a lot of GL songs from the full spectrum. Whatever happened to that station?