Gordon Lightfoot Forums - View Single Post - Tulsa review

RJ · 06-29-2007, 02:03 PM

re: Don't roast me, RJ..

eheheheheh..
ok man, it's a deal..

I guess my frustration (though I don't lay awake at night worryin' about this stuff particularly etc.).. is that all this stuff about how, "Oh his voice isn't what it was," and, "Oh he looks older," and, "Oh he has trouble hitting some of the high notes," etc., etc..

and I'm thinkin, "Uh, ya? and, the point is?"..
(I know this fantastic musician who, upon hearing Drifters, the first song on what was at the time the new album Painter Passing Through, refused on the spot to ever listen to Gord ever again because Gord's higher timber older voice made him too depressed to listen further, and I thought, "WHAT THE!?")..

I feel that at the base of these problems people have with Gord's aging (gonna get Freudian here fer a sec sorry) is a sort of projecting our own fears of mortality onto a public figure..
Y'know what I mean?..

Hey, the guy's in his late 60's..
ok, his voice has changed..
ok, he looks older..
ok, things aint the way they were 30 years ago..
"Uh, ya? and, the point is?"..

Isn't change and growth and aging and death..
isn't all that a beautiful thing really?..
I mean we don't express disappointment in our parents that they don't remain in their prime forever do we?..
We allow them to grow and age and change and find new beautiful things in themselves to keep expressing.. isn't that right?

He's lost some of the bottom end of that beautiful voice, but what has he gained?..
There's a wonderful vulnerability now in his singing which isn't apparent in, for example, Too Late For Prayin (with that infallible choir boy vibrato voice of youth), or Affair on 8th Avenue..

Gord for me, has grown, and changed so beautifully, not just as a singer, writer, but (not that I know him personally) as a human being..
which I suggest is most wonderfully exemplified by the change some years ago, of the live lyric in If You Could Read My Mind..
when he changed the (recorded track line we all know and love so well) "the feelings, that YOU lack."..
to.. "the feelings,.. that WE lack."..
etc..
think about it..

No one left to blame indeed..

I hold the guy up as a fine example of how to do this thing..
getting old..
and all it entails..
with a little dignity..
even if the pipes waver a bit..
over the years..
etc..

Ok, I'll shut up now..

Off to Cedar Rapids in about an hour..
The weather is amazing up here in the Midwest..
gonna spend the night in Waterloo..
See you guys!..

06-29-2007, 02:03 PM	#7
RJ Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Twin Cities Posts: 194	re: Don't roast me, RJ.. eheheheheh.. ok man, it's a deal.. I guess my frustration (though I don't lay awake at night worryin' about this stuff particularly etc.).. is that all this stuff about how, "Oh his voice isn't what it was," and, "Oh he looks older," and, "Oh he has trouble hitting some of the high notes," etc., etc.. and I'm thinkin, "Uh, ya? and, the point is?".. (I know this fantastic musician who, upon hearing Drifters, the first song on what was at the time the new album Painter Passing Through, refused on the spot to ever listen to Gord ever again because Gord's higher timber older voice made him too depressed to listen further, and I thought, "WHAT THE!?").. I feel that at the base of these problems people have with Gord's aging (gonna get Freudian here fer a sec sorry) is a sort of projecting our own fears of mortality onto a public figure.. Y'know what I mean?.. Hey, the guy's in his late 60's.. ok, his voice has changed.. ok, he looks older.. ok, things aint the way they were 30 years ago.. "Uh, ya? and, the point is?".. Isn't change and growth and aging and death.. isn't all that a beautiful thing really?.. I mean we don't express disappointment in our parents that they don't remain in their prime forever do we?.. We allow them to grow and age and change and find new beautiful things in themselves to keep expressing.. isn't that right? He's lost some of the bottom end of that beautiful voice, but what has he gained?.. There's a wonderful vulnerability now in his singing which isn't apparent in, for example, Too Late For Prayin (with that infallible choir boy vibrato voice of youth), or Affair on 8th Avenue.. Gord for me, has grown, and changed so beautifully, not just as a singer, writer, but (not that I know him personally) as a human being.. which I suggest is most wonderfully exemplified by the change some years ago, of the live lyric in If You Could Read My Mind.. when he changed the (recorded track line we all know and love so well) "the feelings, that YOU lack.".. to.. "the feelings,.. that WE lack.".. etc.. think about it.. No one left to blame indeed.. I hold the guy up as a fine example of how to do this thing.. getting old.. and all it entails.. with a little dignity.. even if the pipes waver a bit.. over the years.. etc.. Ok, I'll shut up now.. Off to Cedar Rapids in about an hour.. The weather is amazing up here in the Midwest.. gonna spend the night in Waterloo.. See you guys!..