It's undoubtedly Elwood. He actually wrote new verses, so he is partially the songwriter. That got his record ruled "not Canadian content" in Canada (for purposes of radio play), so it backfired. He had hoped for the extra radio play in Canada that being a Canadian record could get him.
In general, anyone can record another songwriter's song. The writer gets royalties for every record sold. Although many (most) Lightfoot fans would not fall in love with Elwood's recording, the fact that a rapper would choose the song and make it a hit with a new generation is really a positive thing. And, who knows, a few of the new "fans" might want to hear the original.
And, for good measure, they actually do get to hear 10 or 12 seconds of the original music. That's Gord's 12 string intro they sampled at the start of the song.
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Valerie Magee
Visit my GL web site at
gordonlightfoot.com and Cathy Cowette's site at
cathycowette.com