Do you have any favorite renditions of your songs?
Barbra Streisand, If You Could Read My Mind. Beautiful recording.
Bob Dylan once said that your music greatly impacted him. He said listening to a Gordon Lightfoot song, you kind of wish it would never end.
He was being kind. I was always inspired by him, because he was so damn prolific, and everything was different, and he liked to do stuff that had a beat. He liked to sing with soul. Bob Dylan had soul. I could recognize that in him from the very first time I ever met him, in Woodstock in about 1962, 1964. He was a hell of a good guitar player, and a good piano player. He became my mentor. I got to know him. We got to hang out together.
What was he like back then?
He was very, very prolific, and he was always working. Working at it. He had an old Underwood typewriter that he used to have in his room up at Woodstock, at his place. He used to type out poetry on his typewriter, and he said, “Didn’t you take this in high school?” I said, “I guess, I could have, but instead, you know what I took? Latin. I took Latin.” He laughed.
You spent a lot of time on the road. You must have some interesting stories!
I remember when I was playing in Detroit; the club owners, they had me staying in a condemned house, with a whole bunch of ex-criminals. These guys would test their .45 automatics down in the basement. You could hear the shots coming right up through the whole house.
One night, one of them came in with a bullwhip. I had just gotten back from playing a [gig] and was lying down to go to sleep. I wasn’t going anywhere and I sure as hell wasn’t going to a party. But the door opened, and he snaked the bullwhip out, and said, “You’re gonna come down and play us a couple of tunes, Lightfoot.” So, I immediately got up, put on my jeans, while he stood over me with the whip, and went down and I played them a couple of tunes. I can remember both the tunes I played for them. That’s how badly they had me scared! I played Steel Rail Blues and For Loving Me. (Laughs.)
You’re 83 now, but you’re still kicking it on stage. How do you manage it all?
I eat well, I get well fed. Fortunately, my third wife makes sure I get fed. And good rest, and I walk. I had to give up the gym. I started going to the gym just before I quit alcohol, around 1980. I was an alcoholic. I was able to stop drinking in 1982. Now I walk. I seriously walk. I’m an all-weather walker. I do it every day. The first thing I do as soon as I get out of bed is get a cup of coffee, and then go and take a walk.
I gave up smoking two and a half years ago. It’s why I have emphysema. The voice always looks after itself. I never practice the vocals. I just practice the guitar. I walk out onto the stage, and I open up. I’m just lucky, I guess.
You’ve had a prolific career; you’ve played with so many talented people, and your music has impacted so many lives. What do you want to be remembered for?
I would like to be remembered as a guy who looked after his kids and his ex-wives. That’s how I’d like to be remembered. As far as the music goes, it can look after itself.
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