Proverbs from Gord

[KHester]

To me, Gord's song "The House You Live In" reminds me very much of the Book of Proverbs.
The song is full of truth and wisdom. I seem to recall somewhere that Gordon mentioned that "THYLI" was his mother's favorite. It's always has been high on my list also.

Besides this song being a wonderful place to start what are some more lyrics that we could add to this proposed book of wisdom and truth

I'll start off with a couple...

And if you got the money you can get yourself a honey
With a written guarantee to make you smile ..... Alberta Bound

You can't jump a jet plane like you can a freight train ..... Early Morning Rain


Kevin

[Shutup and Deal, I'm Losin']

Gather not your gold on earth, your kingdom is in Heaven ..... Apology

[Shutup and Deal, I'm Losin']

But will you gather daydreams or will you gather wealth, How can you find your fortune when you cannot find yourself? ..... Sit Down Young Stranger

[Islandgirl1]

Hi everyone. I haven't posted here for some time, although I check Corfid out everytime I'm online. Anyway, I had to jump in on this one with:

"Time has been wasting away
You know time doesn't wait for nobody to find what they're after
It just keeps on rolling on down the deep canyons
And through the green meadows
Into the broad ocean . . . ."
-TATTOO

[formerlylavender]

I always loved the line "Be known as a man who will always be candid on questions that do not relate". Lots to be learned from this song for sure.

[jj]

Originally Posted by KHester

And if you got the money you can get yourself a honey
With a written guarantee to make you smile ..... Alberta Bound

dunno if that one ranks, he's mentioned he doesn't like that line and doesn't sing it live anymore (the entire second verse gone actually)

YouTube- Gordon Lightfoot - Alberta Bound- Live

(the date says 10/16/18....what is that all about?)

cool topic, kevin...there is an archive of some fave lyrical lines i recall but they were more about imagery i believe than a proverb/wisdom theme...good stuff, lemme think (that's dangerous)

"beauty lies within the wounds, of lonliness and dark despair..." FO1000P

[charlene]

18 - typo - should be 08..
lol

[Jesse Joe]

"Our love for each other may not be explained
We live in a world where tears must fall like rain"

This one has always been one of my favorites.

[RM]

I hope this is appropriate :

Think of the air you're breathing in, think of the time you waste
Think of the right and wrong and consider the frown on your face

[sunshine]

I like, "The answer is not easy, for souls are not reborn
To wear the crown of peace, you must wear the crown of thorns."
________
buy silver surfer vaporizer

[Unsettled 1]

Great thread. I think "The Soul is the Rock" is one continuous example, as well as being an underrated song.

[Jesse Joe]

If Jesus had a reason, I'm sure he would not tell
We(they) treated him so badly, how could he wish us(them) well

[jj]

"See it through, don't let the night put the bite on you
Take your time, make your plan...be your own best man"

i hope this fits the proverb category...i still don't even know what a pronoun is

[bjm7777]

Originally Posted by Unsettled 1

Great thread. I think "The Soul is the Rock" is one continuous example, as well as being an underrated song.

Hear, hear! Also, "If you must do it better, ya just gotta do it the most..." from Make Way For The Lady

[Jesse Joe]

Im not sure I understand what he means by these lines in "Make Way for The Lady" ???

Making hay with no gravy, gets the day's work done

Making hay with no gravy, brings all the good folk down

Anyone who can explain this to a french Canadian ?

jj or Char maybe ?

[formerlylavender]

I guess gravy would refer to excess, and not having anything but the bare essentials to work with on a daily basis. JMO...

I like the line:
"You know living a life of ease don't make your meals taste better, if you please" from Someone To Believe In.

[jj]

jjo, i've been exposed to and utilized the two expressions much over the decades but i've never put the two together in the lyric with any certainty as to what GL is getting at....same with the blue moon phrase ie. the not so common occurrence of having an 'extra' full moon during a season...maybe it ties into formerlylavender's gravy/'extra' interpretation

anyhow, we use the 'better make hay' line early in the morning when there is a call for bad weather later on and there is a outdoor chore/project to be done that is time sensitive....or when we're trying to finish up a task early in the eve as darkness creeps in, quickly...so making hay is basically "getting at 'er"!

gravy usually meant getting rewards or perqs as a result of little extra effort...recently the neighbour and i needed to demo a shed...when the work was done we realized we could take some bits to the scrap metal yard for $$$...later i thanked him for the help and said 'you can keep the gravy($)'

i always liked his phrasing of the line but am not much for making sense of GL phrases (once he said of a particular penning, 'it's just a lyric')...when he follows it up with 'brings the good folk down', you could interpret 'down' more than one way...either way, for me, the song has a 'daily routine' vibe to it

char and many others likely have a more concise and conclusive response, lol

[charlene]

perhaps making hay with no gravy refers to making 'something' without any "payment" and that is what brings the folks 'down'..?

hmmm.....

[Jesse Joe]

Thank's formerlylavender, jj & Char, I believe I do get it now. For me gravy was something you eat with fries or potato(e)s.

[bjm7777]

Originally Posted by charlene

perhaps making hay with no gravy refers to making 'something' without any "payment" and that is what brings the folks 'down'..?

hmmm.....

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy..." (Nursery rhyme used by the camp commandant on Bridge Over The River Kwai). I dunno - I think that's what Gord is getting at.

[Dan O'Malley]

"Be always too soon, be never be last at the time when all times must be laid" that song is FULL of em!

[Moose]

"Friends are for sorting out the hang-ups that we hide" ~ Walls

[lighthead2toe]

Originally Posted by KHester

To me, Gord's song "The House You Live In" reminds me very much of the Book of Proverbs.
The song is full of truth and wisdom. I seem to recall somewhere that Gordon mentioned that "THYLI" was his mother's favorite. It's always has been high on my list also.

Besides this song being a wonderful place to start what are some more lyrics that we could add to this proposed book of wisdom and truth

I'll start off with a couple...

And if you got the money you can get yourself a honey
With a written guarantee to make you smile ..... Alberta Bound

You can't jump a jet plane like you can a freight train ..... Early Morning Rain


Kevin

A most interesting topic Kevin and thanks for putting it up there.

After reflecting on some thoughts that came to me regarding "The House You Live In," I recall an interview that I taped during the years I lived in Toronto which Gord did with radio station CFRB interviewer, "Wally Crouter, a friend of Gord and they talked about THYLI.

In that interview Gord says that he was asked by a girlfriend of one of the band members of "April Wine" to write a song for her boyfriend and he wrote that song at her request and the first verse was written within the first five minutes.

I remember also during the early sixties when he performed on a live CBC TV show and I was up front sitting and listening to him sing "Face of a Thousand People."

That was a mind blower believe me!

The song was never recorded but the lyrics are available on Wayne Francis' site.

My favorite proverb is from that song and it was written many years ago and this is it:

"Today I saw the world again
It seemed the same as yesterday
The splendor of it's ruins and it's shame,
It's towers rose against the sky
Reminding all who care to look
That what's been built can be destroyed again."

Was Gordon Lightfoot ahead of his time or what!

Cheers,
RJ.

[Jesse Joe]

A true genius in songwriting. That one (FOATP) is a very powerful song first brought to my attention by John Fowles.

[jj]

Originally Posted by jj

"beauty lies within the wounds, of lonliness and dark despair..." FO1000P

the first one that came to mind from from that tune...i guess i used the wrong short form, lol

interesting tidbit from Wally, rj...i miss Wally (who's basking in the sun)...and Ron Sonin