I figured I'd get some good, thoughtful info when I posted my query. My 16-year-old daughter, who has become a Lightfoot fan by listening to my discs while we travel here and there, thought all along that it was Gord himself doing the whistling -- and yes, it is a human whistle, not a hornpipe or the like. She also thinks the guitar for the whistle-guitar "duet" is acoustic. So do I. We turn the volume way up and listen attentively, hopefully dodging traffic and not attracting too much attention. So far, I have yet to hear the give-away twang of an electric string buzz or a scrape of a pick being amplified by the electric pick-up. There are a couple of faint "slides" of a calloused finger up a string, which makes me think the engineering was quite good on this recording. Regardless, it is one damned great song, both lyrics and music, and the execution is outstanding. I seem to have a vague, old memory of somehow hearing or reading that this piece was indeed specially written to accompany the National Geographic show by the same name. Wish I had a tape of that show. I saw him ring the Edmund Fitzgerald bell on that fairly recent special. Thank you all for your words of welcome and your good information and thoughts. You are appreciated. Send rain -- the grassfires here in the Texas Panhandle are all around us. --Seems to me that's a good source for a new Lightfoot song. Cheers. J
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