Ontario Education System & Gord

[char]

My 12 year old daughter came home today with a new poem to study in English (gr.7) The Ballad of Yarmouth Castle!!!!!!! Finally - one redeeming quality in this god-forsaken education system! Could there be a light at the end of the tunnel?? We listened to it together and went over it line by line. How cool is that??
Char

[Florian]

Hi char,

Now that is waaay too cool ...

[fezo]

That is plenty cool. Especially "Yarmouth Castle." What an excellent piece of work!

Steve

[Rob Wells]

Hey this is too much fun. Does anyone remember back awhile ago when someone said this was one of his 'weaker' songs? Just shows to to go ya.

rob

"Like a toy ship on a mill pond,
She burned all throught the night,
Then she slipped,
Beneath the waves,
In the mornin'"

[Florian]

P.S.:
char: Please make it clear to your daughter that we accept nothing but an A++

[char]

This was part of the POEMS unit. She has done - Haiku, Form poems, Diamente poems, Rhyming couplets, Cinquains and this was the Ballad! Great choice. The teacher played the CD for the kids too. There were about 12 questions they had to answer - it was quite fun to help her with it.
Char

[fezo]

Whoa, Rob!

Glad I missed that one. Weaker songs? Oh, coem now. Now I won't say he doesn't have weaker songs (sorry), but Yarmouth Castle is surely not one of them! What an excellent piece of writing!

"and someone says, 'Shut up and deal, I'm losing.'"

[potter]

Okay, Okay, I admit, I'm the guy who was less than enthusiastic about Yarmouth Castle. It is a great example of a Ballad, but I just think that Gordon has had better tunes.

I'm glad to see that kids are still being introduced to the genius of Lightfoot the same way that I was. We studied The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald in a high school english class, and that was my first experience with Gordon. It has led to a life long devotion for me, and I'm sure many of my classmates.

Now, I don't like to harp on the negative, but in my opinion, another song that doesn't live up to his usual high standards is "Ode to Big Blue". As always, a story is told, but it lacks a certain poignancy that I've come to expect from this treasure of the modern literary world, GL.

[fezo]

I'll hate myself in the morning for this, but....

I agree that "Ode To Big Blue" isn't up there with my "best of..." I disagree with Yarmouth Castle which I think is fantastic. The killer with "Big Blue" is that it's on Don Quixote, quite argueably the best overall work GL ever did (go ahead - we can play that one, too, and I'll bet I'll find it hard to argue with your choice...). I find when I get to "Big Blue" I'm waiting for it to be over so we can pick up the pace of the album. By anyone else a good tune - I want to like it a lot - not up to GL standards.

[potter]

Right on, Fez-master. I'm glad that you get my drift - it's not that particular songs are rotten, they're just not the mastery that I've come to expect from GL.

By the way, I have a large circle of friends who refer to these forums, but do not comment as yet. We often reference people who submit entries when discussing Lightfoot. A little conflict has arisen regarding the pronunciation of your handle. Is it FEZ-0 (fez, rhyming with pez), or FEEEZ-O (fez, rhyming with cheese)? Sorry for the frivolous question, but it's really become sort of a bone of contention for some of my friends.

[Paul J B]

I don't want to attack anyone here, but you really can't say "Ode" isn't up to Gord's standards. He obviously he likes it or he would not have had it put on the Songbook cd's. I understand you have your own opinion, personally I like the song. Its different thats why I think its another great Gord song. Its one of those songs that show other dimensions of Gord's talent. He never shyed away from changing things up, slowing down, or taking his music in a completely new direction. Just wanted to throw that opinion out there.

------------------
"If people could look into each other's eyes
What a wonderful place this world would be"
GL

[Rob Wells]

Hi Guys,

Got to go with Potter on Big blue. Not one of his stronger songs, but it does make a point about the plundering of humankind at the expense of a beautiful animal species. I have alot of fun with the song myself because it's easy so to sing and a total gas to play on the guitar. I remember back in the seventies, how it was almost a local anthem for the Green Peace Corps here in Utah.

rob

Now the Grey whale is gone,
and the Sperm is almost done.
The Finland and the Greenland Rights,
Have all passed and gone.
They've been taken by the men,
For the money they could spend.
And the killing never ends,
it just goes on....

[fezo]

A couple of quick ones that have nothing to do with either education in Ontario or Yarmouth Castle....

Potter - yeah, it's fez, rhymes with pez...whatever. What happened was back when I was twelve (when dinosaurs roamed the earth) my then six year old brother and I were playing "Scrabble for juniors." It has liitle pictures around teh board with the words - he played "fez' because he had the z. I made "fezo" because I have 4 "O's" and hoped to cheat and lose one of them. Didn't work but the word stuck. I even had a band called fezo. My own little CD is on the fezo lable....

Rob - you want to have some serious playing fun, try "Don Quixote." The night my older daughter was born and they finally threw me out of the hospital I knew I wasn't going to sleep for a while and I'd always wanted to figure out how to play an acceptable version of ol' Don, so I just stayed up and noodled on the guitar. Capo up 4 or 5 frets and play around in the key of G and there is some real fun to be had!

We now return to our regularly schedueled program.....

[Frank v]

Interesting remarks about "Ode to big blue"I remember when the album came out the track took a bit of critisism, {Hollow and Repetitive}.I think thats a bit unfair.It's good to have a song that's completely different on an album.
My pony won't go on Old Dan's Records is another example.I like the stop start accoustic guitar on that track.It's as good as anything else on that album in it's own way.
No, Gord never made filler.
How many artists would have liked to have made "Ode to Big Blue"

Frank v.

[isabella]

char,

Very cool.My daughter introduced Garnet Rogers lyrics to her school system.They ended up studying Frankie and Johnie.You live in Ontario, Garnet Rogers land.If possible, go see him play.Be prepared to be amazed.

Isabella