Toronto star article-Jan.19,1966

[charlene]

Some men are paid good money to climb to the top of The Toronto Dominion steelwork.
Gordon Lightfoot would like to get to the top of the Commonwealth's tallest building too. But he can't get clearance.
"I'm writing a song about it," he says."But I'd feel a lot better about it if I could go up there and get the feel of it for myself."
Steelwork on the building is now at 46 floors, with 10 to go.
"I'm disappointed there aren't any Mohawk Indians on the project" he says. "It would add a twist to the song. I'm told most of the steelworkers are from Newfie."
His program is well-balanced, with something sad, something rebellious and something romantic in Lightfoot's love-'em-and-leave-'em way.
His only weakness is an entire set was a slight carelessness of diction in "Early Morning Rain" which slurred some of the lyrics.
Lightfoot, who opened last night for a two-week engagement at the Riverboat on Yorkville Ave. keeps up with the news. He has written another one about the sinking of a few months ago of the cruise ship Yarmouth Castle.
He has written about 80 songs. His current publisher has 50 of them.
The songwriting part of the game pays well. He has picked up about $5,000.00 in royalty cheques since he began.
"Most of this was from the Peter,Paul and Mary version of "For Lovin Me," he said.
Gord does most of his writing in the den of his York township home.
"I pick up the guitar and fumble for melodies. I'm lucky. Melodies come quickly for me. I'd have twice as many songs written if I didn't have to worry about lyrics."
Sometimes he writes a song quickly. "Im Not Saying", which was a big hit in the Toronto area with his own recording last summer, was written in 15 minutes.
"Sometimes I can write it all in an afternoon or an evening. Some take longer. Some I never finish.
He did a one-nighter at Ryerson last week. And he has a winter carnival at Ottawa coming up. Next month he travels to England with Ian and Sylvia for a whirlwind tour of Britain (at one point, seven concerts in seven nights).
It's a long cry from the days when Gord square-danced and sang in the chorus of "Country Hoedown" for CBC-TV.
It's an even longer jump from his boyhood days in Orillia.
"I've been interested in music pretty well all my life." he said. "Even when I was in high school in Orillia. I had hopes of making a living out of music. I've never done anything else.
Gord studied music theory for a year at a jazz school in Los Angeles. Then he came back to Toronto.
"I was anxious to get going" he said. "Toronto's a good jumping off place to the big time, a lot better than Los Angeles."
He worked for the CBC 3 1/2 years as a studio singer, chorus singer, dancer and drummer.
"I was making fantastic money-$250.00 a week.That was something for a kid 21,22,23.
"But I quit. I knew it wasn't getting me anywhere."
He took off for Scandinavia, then settled in England where he hosted and sang on The Country and Western Show, a 45 minute BBC-TV show. "It really featured members from slick cowboy musicals- "Annie Get Your Gun", "Carousel", shows like that."
Then Gord began writing his own songs.
He was booked into Steele's Tavern on Yonge St. when Ian and Sylvia came into the club and heard him. He singled out a couple of numbers he liked best. They were Gord's own.
Ian and Sylvia did "Early Morning Rain" and "For Lovin M." The former has now been recorded by eight different artists.
Gord, now 27, seems to be a genuinely modest man, but doesn't waste time with false modesty. He knows that, in Toronto, he has made the big time. The New Gate of Cleve brought in about $2,000.00 a week during his last engagement there. He packs concerts. He has priced himself out of the Mariposa Festival and his once-a-month After Four TV show on Channel 9 has a large following.
And what is it? Folk music? Folk-rock? Rock and Roll? Country and Western? EWverybody has to fit into a classification these days.
"Country folk would be the best way of putting it." he said. But he doesn't knock rock and roll.
"It's changed so much in the last few years that it's now an intelligent, artistic form of music," he said.

[Auburn Annie]

Terrific article, Char - same ol' Gord. Love the "he has priced himself out of the Mariposa Festival" line, LOL.

[Jenney]

So Char, finally catching up with those newspapers piling up around the house?
Sparky.

[bjb]

"He took off for Scandinavia"

this would be when his first marriage took place? Wonder if he was asked not to mention that he was married -- do agents still do that?


PS These must be your parents' newspapers, Char!!! Or were you a fan even as a child

[Affair on Touhy Ave.]

Originally posted by charlene:
Some men are paid good money to climb to the top of The Toronto Dominion steelwork.
Gordon Lightfoot would like to get to the top of the Commonwealth's tallest building too. But he can't get clearance.
"I'm writing a song about it," he says."But I'd feel a lot better about it if I could go up there and get the feel of it for myself."
Steelwork on the building is now at 46 floors, with 10 to go.
"I'm disappointed there aren't any Mohawk Indians on the project" he says. "It would add a twist to the song. I'm told most of the steelworkers are from Newfie."
His program is well-balanced, with something sad, something rebellious and something romantic in Lightfoot's love-'em-and-leave-'em way.
His only weakness is an entire set was a slight carelessness of diction in "Early Morning Rain" which slurred some of the lyrics.
Lightfoot, who opened last night for a two-week engagement at the Riverboat on Yorkville Ave. keeps up with the news. He has written another one about the sinking of a few months ago of the cruise ship Yarmouth Castle.
He has written about 80 songs. His current publisher has 50 of them.
The songwriting part of the game pays well. He has picked up about $5,000.00 in royalty cheques since he began.
"Most of this was from the Peter,Paul and Mary version of "For Lovin Me," he said.
Gord does most of his writing in the den of his York township home.
"I pick up the guitar and fumble for melodies. I'm lucky. Melodies come quickly for me. I'd have twice as many songs written if I didn't have to worry about lyrics."
Sometimes he writes a song quickly. "Im Not Saying", which was a big hit in the Toronto area with his own recording last summer, was written in 15 minutes.
"Sometimes I can write it all in an afternoon or an evening. Some take longer. Some I never finish.
He did a one-nighter at Ryerson last week. And he has a winter carnival at Ottawa coming up. Next month he travels to England with Ian and Sylvia for a whirlwind tour of Britain (at one point, seven concerts in seven nights).
It's a long cry from the days when Gord square-danced and sang in the chorus of "Country Hoedown" for CBC-TV.
It's an even longer jump from his boyhood days in Orillia.
"I've been interested in music pretty well all my life." he said. "Even when I was in high school in Orillia. I had hopes of making a living out of music. I've never done anything else.
Gord studied music theory for a year at a jazz school in Los Angeles. Then he came back to Toronto.
"I was anxious to get going" he said. "Toronto's a good jumping off place to the big time, a lot better than Los Angeles."
He worked for the CBC 3 1/2 years as a studio singer, chorus singer, dancer and drummer.
"I was making fantastic money-$250.00 a week.That was something for a kid 21,22,23.
"But I quit. I knew it wasn't getting me anywhere."
He took off for Scandinavia, then settled in England where he hosted and sang on The Country and Western Show, a 45 minute BBC-TV show. "It really featured members from slick cowboy musicals- "Annie Get Your Gun", "Carousel", shows like that."
Then Gord began writing his own songs.
He was booked into Steele's Tavern on Yonge St. when Ian and Sylvia came into the club and heard him. He singled out a couple of numbers he liked best. They were Gord's own.
Ian and Sylvia did "Early Morning Rain" and "For Lovin M." The former has now been recorded by eight different artists.
Gord, now 27, seems to be a genuinely modest man, but doesn't waste time with false modesty. He knows that, in Toronto, he has made the big time. The New Gate of Cleve brought in about $2,000.00 a week during his last engagement there. He packs concerts. He has priced himself out of the Mariposa Festival and his once-a-month After Four TV show on Channel 9 has a large following.
And what is it? Folk music? Folk-rock? Rock and Roll? Country and Western? EWverybody has to fit into a classification these days.
"Country folk would be the best way of putting it." he said. But he doesn't knock rock and roll.
"It's changed so much in the last few years that it's now an intelligent, artistic form of music," he said.

R&R, an intelligent forum of music? so what is folk music? un-intelligent?