Blog thoughts about Lightfoot and songwriting

[charlene]

http://mog.com/billforeman/blog/1525223

billforeman
Gordon Lightfoot, "Carefree Highway"
Posted 4 days ago

Artist:Gordon LightfootAlbum:SundownTrack:Carefree Highway

I'm very aware that this is far from a creative choice when it comes to Gordon Lightfoot's music, but as much as I'd love to be hipper to things than I am, I'm not. My exposure to Lightfoot came as a kid, with my father's copy of Sundown. I know the big, popular tunes of his, and that's it.

So I'm as guilty as anyone else when I say that Gordon Lightfoot deserves a lot more attention than he gets. I've occasionally posted to my Facebook status something mentioning that I've just listened to one of his tunes, and everytime I have a bunch of people commenting or liking my status than if I'd made a brilliant observation of some sort. Clearly, people have very positive associations with his music, and positive associations are really the most important thing there is in music.

I have something of a feeling why he's mentioned less often than his work merits--it sounds on the surface very mid-'70's, and those of us who were kids at the time have mixed feelings, or ought to, about the period. The music industry really started its downhill slide in the era, as recording technology became increasingly sophisticated, refining the process away from the playing of music to the producing of it. Lightfoot's stuff sounds "produced," for sure. Note the guitar solo, which repeats more than once, basically note for note. I don't go for this kind of thing, generally, as someone ought to be able to improvise a guitar solo properly: it's just correct in my book.

Yet, I'm amazed. Something in me actually likes hearing the same guitar solo twice. Dylan flirted with a more "produced" sound here and there, and even with the best of those efforts, Infidels, even based solely on the best tunes, it really doesn't work. There's an unnaturalness to those Dylan records that's like a stain, wrecking a good shirt. This, on the other hand, is totally natural, in a way that's almost bizarre for someone like Lightfoot with such serious folkie/singer-songwriter credentials.

The thing that Gordon Lightfoot had and I'm very sure still has though I'm ashamed to say I didn't pick up his most recent record, Harmony, is an approach to song that conforms simultaneously to folkie and pop conventions. Of course he's capable of a more typically folk structure, as "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" amply demonstrates, but here his song is song-y in a pop way without being a pop song and nothing more. Significantly, "Carefree Highway" is light on actual narrative. One can glean some sort of story from it, but to do so requires itself a creative imagination. Take this:

Picking up the pieces of my sweet, shattered dreamI wonder where the old folks are tonightIt's a great start to a tune, but there's absolutely no causal link between the two lines. I wouldn't suggest that you can't find a couplet in the piece that's linked by more than just rhyme, but I would assert that the ideas of the tune are only loosely and thematically linked, rather than held together in a tight, narrative structure. At the same time, the entire piece is incredibly evocative of a sort of melancholic regret at roads not taken combined with a genuine sense of ease borne of a lack of attachments. Free and easy wandering, as Chuang Tzu wrote. Lightfoot keeps both emotions in balance, perfectly, I'd say, throughout, and this requires an absolute focus and grasp of the craft.

There are certainly much more writerly songwriters than Gordon Lightfoot, but I'd caution that it does violence to a form to apply another form's criteria. It's wrong to say that a sculptor lacks a painterly touch, wrong not as in incorrect, but wrong as there ought to be a law against it. Indeed, one should watch out for songwriting that boasts literary merit, because generally talk of the literary merit of a songwriter is inversely proportional to the quality of the writer's melody. While the best song lyrics stand with any written verse as art--please witness my piece on Skip James--there needs to be a reason that the writer chooses song as her or his medium rather than the printed page. That reason must be because the writer has an ear for a tune. It would be wrong to say that Lightfoot is all about melody, but everything with Lightfoot supports the melody, and it's his melodies that really put him among the top writers of song. His words give his melody a place to be, and in turn the melody ties the words together more tightly, as I noted above, than any narrative would, in this form.

[RM]

Originally Posted by charlene

Indeed, one should watch out for songwriting that boasts literary merit, because generally talk of the literary merit of a songwriter is inversely proportional to the quality of the writer's melody.

What ????

[jj]

Originally Posted by RM

What ????

he did say 'generally' and maybe that is true but if so that would make GL all the more rare as he possesses both qualities...there are some sections I need to reread later one in the right mindset, cos first glance gave me a headache

one thing jumped out: so the e-gtr solo in Sundown was played once and then duped to the later solo section rather than it being actually played? I don't listen to Sundown a lot (since it's radio single days and the first months I got the LP) but didn't even realize the solo was a note for note copy...I like the production on the Sundown album actually, not too raw (is there such a thing? ) and not too busy..and great harmony overlays, imo

here is a question that may deserve it's own thread: I don't think of the GL catalogue as one which has a bunch of instrumental solos within it...what songs stick out as songs that have the recognizable solo?

Baby Step Back, Sundown, AB...that sort of thing...my 2 cents: I do like the acoustic one in I'd Rather Press On

we've heard Rick take a live solo but will the day ever come where Barry let's loose?

[joveski]

Barry mentioned on the soundstage 79 show that he was used to beating the crap out of the drums, but playing for gord, it was more important in what he DIDNT play

[jj]

Originally Posted by charlene

Clearly, people have very positive associations with his music, and positive associations are really the most important thing there is in music

well, in reading this again i would say i this above segment hits home most...and I also learned what a facebook status is! eg) dear friends, I have just listened to 7 island suite and am feeling optimistic

nice find, char...i didn't realize there were blogs of this nature out there...i'll have to explore that link sometime

earlier i was way off mark in my Sundown solo reply as I now realize his entire post is about CH, as is clearly stated in the subject, lol

as far as solo improv goes, i think of GL's fairly rare solos as 'scored' and not something that is spontaneously arrived at in studio sessions...as i've said before, i'd love a VH1 Classic Albums episode on Sundown or any or all of his albums...the Harmony album itself would make for an interesting doc, imo

it would be wonderful to read Richard Harrison insights into the process that unfolded

if this guy is implying that GL is first and foremost a composer then I agree although even if he had never created a single melody, his poetry alone would be quite top notch...I wonder if A Sculptor Passing Through would have worked...maybe that's what Gino's bio will be called, lol

joveski, yeah always really liked that quote...I was joking around a bit about the solos, I don't think 'orchestras' take solos...in general I admire the band as a whole for what they don't play...I suppose i think of Barry's signature moments being the lovely work he does in Restless and perhaps his jingle bells work in SFAWN

didnt mean to try take this off topic with the instr solo work list request...again, i find there are unusually few...GL's albums are about the songs and the cast supporting the recordings typically have the 'play for the song' approach, refreshing

[DawnsMinstrel]

Originally Posted by jj

...one thing jumped out: so the e-gtr solo in Sundown was played once and then duped to the later solo section rather than it being actually played? I don't listen to Sundown a lot (since it's radio single days and the first months I got the LP) but didn't even realize the solo was a note for note copy...

jj - it's not a note-for-note copy. To convince yourself pay close attention to the last few notes in each instance. They change from instance to instance. I've long noticed - and appreciated - this fact about this song and it bugs me that the writer gets this wrong.

In fact I take issue with a number of things said in this article, in particular the implication that GL's lyrics are not literary and that there is some kind of inverse relationship between the literary quality of lyrics and the melodic quality. That's just nonsense. There is no obvious reason why one shouldn't be able to have both.

Sheesh the more I write, the more ticked off I get. Better stop.

[jj]

Originally Posted by jj

earlier i was way off mark in my Sundown solo reply as I now realize his entire post is about CH, as is clearly stated in the subject, lol

hey there, Tim....i gotta say, even though i misread his post initially, his statements certainly have provoked some thought...you and rm both object to his generalization and i would have to say that besides GL, you both are additional exceptions to his 'inverse relationship' claim he did say 'generally'...specific artists aside, i would say that in various genres of music i've found that lyrics vs composition outweigh one anotehr and v.v....GL has such a nice balance

i guess we all pick out different things from blogs that hit us...i was more puzzled by the 70s production comments and his using Sundown as an example...i dont think it belongs in that kettle of fish at all...it led me to scan over the album credits for the first time in a long while...now i am listening to the guitars in Sundown (Gord on 12, Terry on 6 and Red on e-leads...as I've said, i really love acoustic leads) ...i dont think there's a production on Sundown that i question, even the synth on 7IS...perhaps i could do without the Smith harmonies on High and Dry, as could Gord

I hope others chime in...I will be reading some more of his blogging and see if there are equally bold statements/generalizations in his other offerings

[Jesse Joe]

Pretty good (fair) read.

Gee all of a sudden my original post doesn't sound too good, not right on . Better read that thread opener again, slower.

[RM]

Generally........I'm not this blunt.

I reread the blog and came to the same conclusion......it's a pompous piece of poop.

Originally Posted by RM

Generally........I'm not this blunt.

I reread the blog and came to the same conclusion......it's a pompous piece of poop.

writerly so

[jj]

doncha love that adjective, pam?

i am going to start describing myself as an unsongerly songwriter....

[timetraveler]

Myself, I've always enjoyed his music, for reasons that i can never fully explain. His songs that tell stories are by far my favourites. His kind of music was what I grew up on. Some of the stuff that's out there today gives me a flamin' hot headache at times.