[geodeticman.5]

Podunk - lol no the ears thing was just cuttin-up a little, having fun...
And since no one else commented on maybe he was lip-synching, as I think
was to be expected for television of that era as I recall.....he must not have been.
No else thinks so ? Hmm well he sure is singing well live, perfectly, actually. He did
have that magnificent voice - not without formal traning and education. And he sure could dance there, thats for sure...

I cant help but wonder how many "American Idol" contestants would sound dramatically
better if they got some real singing training and education - both. Lightfoot stated very
clearly on many occassions that he felt it strongly to his advantage, and to prospective singers wishing to make that their life's avocation - to get an education in it. Not just
a paper-mill training school, but he's been quoted several times as saying he felt that it
really helped get him on his way, and put out better music through his life, by learning music theory, composing, orchestration, piano, etc. Piano......from a reputable school of higher learning.

I have heard ( musicians out there tell me if its true) that for purposes of writing songs and composing beautiful melodies, learning piano as a primary instrument of song-writing has great advantages. He felt strongly enough that it is part of the advice he passes on to young upstarts - learn the fundamentals of music - how to read and write music, compos it, music theory, how to arrange it, how to harmonize, how to score it (?) with strings, orchestration, etc., and lyricism - on a piano.

Add mentoring and studying under a musician(s) that will impart experience, tricks and tools of the trade, long hours of burning the midnight oil, endless pactice, and of course - having innate talent to begin with.

It stands to reason that no number of lessons will take a voice with no appealing quality at all, and turn lead into gold, and no innate talent for lyrics to start, and turn them into a great songwriter. However, all this being what I read of as Gord's advice over time; I have to admit he said of the various qualities of the great singer-songwriter, writing lyrics was the most "teachable and learnable" aspect of the lot.

As I know nothing personally of this LOL, I defer completely to Gord's quoted coments, thoughts captured on camera in his interviews and exchanges with the audience, and what other artists have said besides Gordon. And, those of you in corfid who are singers and songwriters, and some very good ones I might add from what I have heard, literally, and figuratively.

Man he sure could sing there, and the maturation of his voice is still mesmerizing, just in a new and different way - like in Restless, one of my great all-time favourites. I don't think his younger voice ( possible thread idea here maybeeeeeee, hmmmm) could do justice to either Restless, or Drifters, or Cloud of Loneliness, for a few examples.

They would lose something with his younger, arguably more "perfect" voice. Never thought if it that way before.....and its not just 'cause they have become near and dear to me on albums where he is older , that his older voice seems to lend best to them, and a younger Gord would lack what the songs demand in some cases.

Just as you don't send a boy to do a man's job, you can't hope for an 18 year old young man to deliver a Presidential address, and be President, and you couldn't have a 25 year-old fresh-faced "Opie Taylor" do a Marlboro Man cigarettes add in the day; the younger Gordon would lose something trying to sing many of his mature years-written songs.

A quality that might be described as a bit weathered, that adds character lines and sound, and that certain quality of "been there, done that, got the t-shirt, and know better now in retrospect" which comes through in songs like Restless, Painter, Harmony, Inspiration lady, and numerous others..... just would not have had justice done them by the younger, scrubbed, wide-eyed Lightfoot! ( in relative terms).

You know, that really is hitting home with me now. I had trouble for awhile accepting his voice was no longer that broad-brimmed, a-b switchable vibrato on-demand, clear as a crystal bell voice of the 60's and 70's.

Condequentially I did not have a full measure of respect for his newer work. But as it grew on me, I now realize why... of course. A young Lightfoot, boy by comparison, couldn't sing the mature man's Lightfoot's songs and pull it off. He coudn't carry the detectable value and charisma of the wiser, humbler, mature, comfortably faded jeans, the weather-worn smokier mature register that define his more mature songs.

He coudn't pull-off the looking-back, "when I was in my prime" demeanour that commands his stage presence now and indeed gives him the necessary wisdom and comport to pull-off most of his newer work. I think I just added to my enjoyment of his three most recent albums - WFY, Painter, and Harmony ten-fold with this personal revelation.

Maybe its no coincidence my father, in his mature years, switched his pipe tobacco to "Revelation" brand in a can (really). And this analogue has nothing to do with the "name" of the tobacco... Maybe its no coincidence my memory of the wonderful aroma of that pipe-tobacco, wafting across the deck where we sat, defines my father in his mature years, - as part and parcel of the synergy that his component experiences and resultant wisdom exceeded the value of the sum of the parts in total for.

And trivial as it may be, the tobacco he smoked when younger, I remember as a boy I could open and smell, but the can of Revelation, when he was older, had a sliding-around-the-perimeter re-usable lift tab that pried the can open - and only Dad could make it work.... I could not as a boy.

In turn, the young Lightfoot would never have had the presence, the carriage, wind-and-sun-sculpted visage, and the voice that echo'd the life experience that we hear and love in his newer works. It all makes sense now. Not some clever metaphor, but for me, for ME, it makes sense now why I like his newer songs like Restless, Drifters, and Harmony et al SO MUCH.

Its in a different way than his 60's UA and 70's Warner work I am so fond of, and heretofor, my liking of his newer work in a special way, did not really know why.

Wow..... gonna have to chew that one over..... Maybe all this is/was obvious to you folks, but it just sank in for me. Not the obvious aspect of.. its different... but WHY. I'm going to play them right now.

Having just turned 50, I feel a bit.... of a card-carrying member of the "rights of passage", and its intrinsic rewards, scars, laugh-lines, worry-lines, and "I'm a bit wiser for it all club". Getting there, anyway....

humbled, but posessing of a sense of wherefor and why, just a little ..bit...better.

"And even at a glance, we know the road is long."................. "We don't wish to cause each other pain" ..... "Heaven help the devil, may he have a few unpleasant memories."

That song would be well -sung in his mature voice now, I appreciate it even more tonight now as such.

~geo Steve