Rich Man asks,
1. When did Lightfoot's voice change from the strong resonant baritone that I remember to the thin elderly sounding quality that I hear now. Did smoking do in his lungs, did he lose his teeth.
I have been listening to samples of his albums since Endless Wire and I seem to detect a change beginning in "EAST OF MIDNIGHT"
2. Are there any concert videos available from the Sundown to Endless wire era that are available for purchase. The live in Reno concert on dvd is good but I would like a video of the Gordon Lightfoot that I remember, including singing harmonies with the band. Is anything available?
OK, Rich Man, I'm gonna do my best to reply. First off anyone who uses the word "hankerin'" is absolutely alright w/ me. I love those words. Grew up that way.
- If you saw Gord 3 times in the 70s, that was his hayday of worldwide popularity. And yes, his voice was very present. But if you'd heard him in the 60s, as I did, you'd hear a difference. Maturing, it's called. I've always thought of Gord as a tenor, not a baritone. Sinatra was a baritone.
Speaking of Sinatra and drawing a parallell to Gord. Have you ever heard the young Sinatra sing w/ Jimmy Dorsey in the 40s? Absolutely pure - and in his 20's. In Sinatra's ring-a-ding hayday the world-weary edge had begun to sneak in.
The Sinatra who sang Send in the Clowns yrs later is not the Sinatra who sang w/Jimmy Dorsey.
So it is w/ Gord, or Pavorotti (sp) for that matter. So it has been w/ me.
If I found a video of Gord from the 70s, I'd want it, too - much want. But if you consider anything after East of Midnight to be "less" than the 70s, you're off base. Different, not less. And that's not the same.
Please don't be so in thrall w/ the past that you miss the present. A friend of mine played piano for Lionel Hampton the last decade of his life. (He died at 92) I asked Beth less than a yr before Hamp died, "How's he play now. Still have the edge." Her reply, "He doesn't hit all the notes he used to . . . but he hits all the right ones."
I have Brother Ray videos from 63 to 2yrs before he died. In every one he hit all the right notes. Stronger in the 60s? Sure. Less in to 21st Century? Now way.
The Lightfoot you seek no longer lives. The Lightfoot I'll see in Cerritos in April will be grand - alive and grand.
See him now. The time will come when you won't have the 21st Century Gord to see live.
Priceless is priceless - 40yrs ago or tonight.
Sorry, Rich Man, this was meant to be a thorough reply and I ended up rambling. But it's not a Lesson in Love either. It's just The Rez hoping the Rich Man doesn't miss out while life and Gord are dangerously present.
The Rez
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It was a Beautiful Rainbow
A Beautiful Time in my Life
A Thing to Share
A Time to Care
To Be Alive
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