[johnfowles]

I have previously mentioned here on corfid that I use a simple Number Rhyme Systen to remember concert setlists and the next morning I was very pleased to find that although Susan had taken my dictated listing down at the venue I could still recall all 27 associations,and they proved to be the same as the setlist published earlier on one of his two Lightfoot Facebook pages by fellow NJ resident Lawrence "Lozzer"Burke.
so I thought that for the record I would include them in my setlist posting but first here is an unsynchronised "video" that appears to have been cobbled together by somebody a lot younger than the speaker using what was most likely in those primitve pre video recorder days of 1974 an audio recording made from the BBC television broadcast of one of clever clogs Tony Buzan's (Booze-an) great series "Use Your Head". this provides a very nice demonstration of the system as spoken by Tony

I used that system on Tuesday evening to recall the set lists, and was pleased to fiind that even now I can still separate the two sets (I tend to recycle pertinent image associations so that it progessively gets more difficult to definitvely know which refer to the most recent concert.
set 1
1. Bun A night watchman having a late snack in a bun hence The Watchman's Gone
2 . Shoe footsteps in the moon's dust at Tranquility Base in 1969 hence Sea of Tranquility
3. Tree a single tree in the middle of the turning circle at the end of a cul-de-sac (or close) hence Never too Close
4 Door leave out one "O" and change "R" to "N "thus Don Quixote
5 Hive a huge swarm of bees creating a lsrge darkcloud Clouds of Loneliness
6 Sticks a song that always sticks in my mind Minstrel of the Dawn
7 Heaven heavenly (female)body Make Way for the Lady
8 Gate pressing down on an old five barred gate to a field near my old house in the UK
I'd Rather Press On
9 Wine the Beautiful colour of a glass of fine red wine
10.Pen A pleasantly surprising choice Much To My Surprise
11 Two vertical lines. as seen in a naked torso from behind the two shoulder blades
Cold On The Shoulder
12 turned is 21 the age of Sweet Guinevere
13 Lucky number for Gordon
The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald
(Gordon said this song changed his life)
14 number of pounds in a UK stone piles of stones supporting the posts of the famous signpost in Arizona Carefree Highway
intermission
1. Bun from the image of one of my favourite LP album cover photos Gordon eating a hamburger
Did She Mention My Name
2. Shoe tied with a ribbon Ribbon of Darkness
3. Tree a tree in front of a colourful sunset Sundown
4. Door Georgian Bay the door to the Great Lakes Christian Island
5.Hive a large beehive casting a large Shadow Shadows
6.Sticks artist's paint brushes A Painter Passing Through
7.Heaven Heavy rain when the heavens opened Rainy Day People
8. Gate swinging/riding on that gate near my old house Let it Ride
9 Wine Gord's most matured song If You Could Read My Mind
10.Pen what is for me the finest song he has penned Restless
11.number of players in a cricket team. cricket is a sport and so is golf (an incident at which inspired Gord to write Baby Step Back)
12.12am is early in the morning Early Morning Rain
13. No problem remembering the unusual encore Waiting For You
we felt ths Gord's voice was especially strong aided by the fact tht we were relaively far back in row Q where the sound came over very much better than in rows nearer the stage
He was pretty talkative twice referring to the fact that they had played this venue only 14 months ago
After IYCRMM he turned his back on the audience got the band to stand to acknowledge the applause and thus caused a standing ovation
his intro to Much To My Surprise began by him asking if we had ever forgotten the words to a song we had written.
I sometimes marvel at how he does remember some of his more convoluted lyrics, I recall that some years ago Don Quixote pulled out his rusty sword twice and on Tuesday I fancy that in Restless both the sky and rail tracks were either overcast/ironclad or ironcast-cast iron!
only one brave soul tried to finish the ending of Ribbon Of Darkness he was rewarded by Gord telling him that he had passed the audition so "please leave your name with the receptionist we'll call you!!"
the story of nearly meeting Elvis in Buffalo was slightly embelished and he said that Elvis also recorded a "rockabilly" version of For Lovin' Me.
The biggest surprise for us was Gord's introduction of the encore. He had come back on still wearing the specially strung Gibson from EMR and started by mentioning Bob Gibson and his song "Sweet Betsy From Pike" as the inspiration for this (final) song.I immediately confused Bob with Mickey Newbery and asumed that the encore was going to be the Canadian Railroad Trilogy,I remember thinking that it would be a most rare combiination of both EMR and CRT. so I was surprised to hear the opening of Waiting For You. which I had hitherto thought might well have been inspired by Gord having to wait whilst Liz got herself ready!!
Anyway I have checked up on the "Betsy" song which appears to be a mid 19th century ode although one lyrics page attributed it to Johnny Cash. there are several versions of the lyrics online but the following snippets to me suggest this song could have inspired CRT. but at the Meet and Greet after the concert Gord stuck to his story that Bob Gibson's Betsy had inspired WFY.
"crossed the big mountains
"Their wagons broke down with a terrible crash
And out on the prairie...."
"They swam the wide rivers and climbed the tall peaks
And camped on the prairies for weeks upon weeks"