GO Erie.com interview-6-13-2013

[charlene]

http://www.goerie.com/article/201306...worth-a-listen

PUBLISHED: JUNE 13, 2013 12:01 AM EST
UPDATED: JUNE 12, 2013 12:13 PM EST
Take 30: Gordon Lightfoot still worth a listen

By Kevin Cuneo

In yet another sign that life is slowing to a crawl, I find myself stopping with increasing frequency to watch those TV infomercials that sell the old music from the '60s and '70s.

I used to laugh at the aging artists who host the infomercials, but lately I stop, listen and think, "Boy, the music was pretty good back then."

One song that still affects me is Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." In the clip on TV, Lightfoot appears fit and vigorous, which is not at all how he looks today. At 74, he's pretty frail.

Lightfoot continues to tour at a brisk pace, however, and I'm tempted to drive to Sandusky, Ohio, on Wednesday to see him sing again.

I was in college when the Edmund Fitzgerald, a 729-foot ship carrying a full load of iron ore to Detroit, disappeared in a storm on Lake Superior.

A story in a Chicago newspaper mentioned that the ship's namesake -- the real Edmund Fitzgerald -- was living quietly in a nursing home outside Milwaukee.

Who knows why we get silly notions in our heads when we're young, but I felt compelled to track down poor Mr. Fitzgerald and interview him about the tragedy.

It didn't take long to locate the nursing home, and the switchboard operator put me right through to his room. Fitzgerald, who was a retired Milwaukee banker, had apparently been fielding other calls from curious nuts like me, and within about a minute, he'd worked himself into quite a lather.

"I feel awful, just awful about what's happened!" I remember him saying, his voice rising. "And none of it is my fault!"

A nurse grabbed the phone and told me I was upsetting Mr. Fitzgerald. "Please! Just leave him alone!'' she demanded, and slammed down the phone.

Lightfoot, who lived on the outskirts of Toronto at the time, was also deeply moved by the tragedy.

"I was into sailboating at the time, and I did a lot of it up in that area," he told me. "I heard the report on TV a couple hours after it happened, and the next day I went out and bought all the newspapers. I read the stories, sat down and started working on the song.''

Lightfoot said the words flowed freely. "It was easy to write," he said. "The story unfolded in a straightforward manner. The musicians I had at the time -- my steel player and my guitarist -- came up with the sound. It suggests the feelings of waves and water in motion.''

An old folkie from the '60s, Lightfoot has always seemed like a genuine sort. Except for a brief spell as an advertising jingle writer in Los Angeles in the late '50s, he's never strayed far from his Canadian roots. And all these years he's carefully guarded his song, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," from becoming too commercial.

The victims' survivors seem grateful that Lightfoot reviews all requests to use the song, and that he routinely rejects most offers.

Lightfoot has attended numerous services over the years for the lost crewmen, and when he can't make it, he usually sends a big wreath.

"At a gathering of survivors of the crew a few years back," Lightfoot said, "one of the reporters asked if there would ever be a film based on the Edmund Fitzgerald."

Lightfoot recalled one of the widows speaking up. "We don't need a movie," she said. "We have a song that tells the whole story.''

"It was the greatest compliment anyone's ever paid me," he said.

[niffer]

I was in college then too, and I remember reading that if Mr. Fitzgerald was listening to the radio and the song came on, his family members had to quickly change stations because it made him so upset. Not the song itself, as much as the tragedy, even though he certainly hadn't caused it in any way.

Why anyone would think it a good idea to interview him about it is beyond me.

[Borderstone]

Hey,great article and it takes place on my birthday too! What a cool present!

I don't dig the man calling Gorodon frail but otherwise,a good article.

A "frail" man doesn't do a natioanl tour.

[ellen]

I've just seen Gordon Lightfoot from the second row at 2 concerts. I would not call Lightfoot frail, by any means. He's rail thin, yes, but he moves like a much younger man and there is definitely a spring in his step. Twenty-eight songs one night, twenty-five the next - and with his voice as strong at the end as the beginning. That's not a frail man, not at all. I'd say he's refining to the essence. He looks and sounds better than he did last October, and much better than a few years ago. Whatever he's doing, it's working.

[Borderstone]

Soemthing spectacular would be if he could do his total works in 6 hours. LOL!

(Well.....I'm sure some of you would not want Canary Yellow Canoe.)