Carefree Highway

I love the song carefree highway for the mood that it creates for me when i hear it. I reminds me of this past summer, the summer of my life. It reminds me of being in nature with friends just filtering in all the beauty around us. I can flip through my photo book and it really does "take me back to the times i love best".

I love the song carefree highway for the mood that it creates for me when i hear it. I reminds me of this past summer, the summer of my life. It reminds me of being in nature with friends just filtering in all the beauty around us. I can flip through my photo book and it really does "take me back to the times i love best".

[WillieMaysFan]

Legend, you are a kindred spirit. Carefree Highway is my favorite song, it takes me back to my earliest days. I was only 2 or 3 years old when I remember this song being played on the radio and in my house. This was probably the best interpretation of the song that I could have had because I didn't understand the words, all I knew was the melody and Gord's voice. That sound now brings me back to those days, the days when I didn't have a care in the world. And now that I understand the lyrics, especially having been in that situation before, it really touches me. The only thing I wanted to do was find a carefree highway of my own.

Someday, I am going to make the trip across the U.S. (I live on the east coast) to take the same picture Gord took that appears on the first page of the booklet included in the Songbook set. My wall won't be complete until I hang on it a picture of myself standing under the Carefree Highway sign in Arizona!

[young stranger]

Legend, you are a kindred spirit. Carefree Highway is my favorite song, it takes me back to my earliest days. I was only 2 or 3 years old when I remember this song being played on the radio and in my house. This was probably the best interpretation of the song that I could have had because I didn't understand the words, all I knew was the melody and Gord's voice. That sound now brings me back to those days, the days when I didn't have a care in the world. And now that I understand the lyrics, especially having been in that situation before, it really touches me. The only thing I wanted to do was find a carefree highway of my own.

Someday, I am going to make the trip across the U.S. (I live on the east coast) to take the same picture Gord took that appears on the first page of the booklet included in the Songbook set. My wall won't be complete until I hang on it a picture of myself standing under the Carefree Highway sign in Arizona!

[Hink]

Carefree Highway is the song that made me fall in love with Gord. I first heard it on the radio when I was eleven; when I heard it again seven years later, I listened to find out who the singer was, so I could get the album containing it—which I did. More albums followed.
Is the song about his failed marriage? If not, then what? In verse one he says "Her name was Anne," but in real life his wife's name was Brita.
One line needs clarification. It ends the first verse ("She left me not knowing what to do"). This phrase is grammatically ambiguous; the participle "not knowing" could refer either to her or to him.

[Joshua1]

Carefree Highway is the song that made me fall in love with Gord. I first heard it on the radio when I was eleven; when I heard it again seven years later, I listened to find out who the singer was, so I could get the album containing it—which I did. More albums followed.
Is the song about his failed marriage? If not, then what? In verse one he says "Her name was Anne," but in real life his wife's name was Brita.
One line needs clarification. It ends the first verse ("She left me not knowing what to do"). This phrase is grammatically ambiguous; the participle "not knowing" could refer either to her or to him.

[WillieMaysFan]

Joshua1,
The song is simply about being the one who gets dumped. So the line "She left me not knowing what to do" refers to him. You have felt this way if you've ever been dumped out of the blue (or at least YOU thought it was out of the blue).

Ann was apparently just a girlfriend, but he thought she was going to be a big part of his life. Gord's own interpretation appears in the booklet to Songbook (the box set) and reads:

There was a real Ann. It reaches back to a time when I was about 20 or so. It's one of those situations where you meet that one woman who knocks you out and then leaves you standing there and says she's on her way. I heard from her after a Massey Hall concert many years later; she stopped by to say hello. I don't think she knew that she is the one the song was about, and I wasn't about to tell her.

[young stranger]

Joshua1,
The song is simply about being the one who gets dumped. So the line "She left me not knowing what to do" refers to him. You have felt this way if you've ever been dumped out of the blue (or at least YOU thought it was out of the blue).

Ann was apparently just a girlfriend, but he thought she was going to be a big part of his life. Gord's own interpretation appears in the booklet to Songbook (the box set) and reads:

There was a real Ann. It reaches back to a time when I was about 20 or so. It's one of those situations where you meet that one woman who knocks you out and then leaves you standing there and says she's on her way. I heard from her after a Massey Hall concert many years later; she stopped by to say hello. I don't think she knew that she is the one the song was about, and I wasn't about to tell her.

[Brenda]

Geez, you guys make me feel like an old man! I was 19 when that song came out, and the only connection I could make was that Dick Van Dyke had a television show a few years earlier where he played a TV talk show hosted and he lived in Carefree, Arizona. If you tend to be restless or nomadic, it's a terriffic escape vehicle!

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[Westernstar9]

Geez, you guys make me feel like an old man! I was 19 when that song came out, and the only connection I could make was that Dick Van Dyke had a television show a few years earlier where he played a TV talk show hosted and he lived in Carefree, Arizona. If you tend to be restless or nomadic, it's a terriffic escape vehicle!

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[Borderstone]

Old thread/topic time!!! Hey,whatever happened to the above message leavers?
First I do recall that 1970's Dick Van Dyke show where he lived in Arizona. He lived with his wife and Spanish maid in Carefree,AZ. I caught the re-runs briefly in the 80s when they were shown on channel 3 here on Sunday mornings. Odd time.
After a few weeks it got to the 2nd season reruns and the locale of the show had changed to L.A.!! Then he was put back into a situation that was just like the old B & W show.

Second, first heard "Carefree Highway" after moving here to AZ in 1980. I tuned into local oldies station Kool-FM one day and heard the song. Not yet knowing I was living only under 15 miles away from the place he was talking about! Funny,how can a song that's only been around 6 years at that time be called an oldie? Sheesh!

By the way,how many of you know that after reaching #10 on 11/16/74,the song then fell down to #42 the following week? (11/23/74) What a drop! Well,been me,Aurevoir!

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Borderstone,gonna post some lines tonight!

[This message has been edited by Borderstone (edited May 01, 2004).]

[johnfowles]

quote:Originally posted by young stranger:
Someday, I am going to make the trip across the U.S. (I live on the east coast) to take the same picture Gord took that appears on the first page of the booklet included in the Songbook set. My wall won't be complete until I hang on it a picture of myself standing under the Carefree Highway sign in Arizona!
There are pictures of me doing just that on the page on my web site describing part of an Arizona visit in 2002 at:- http://johnfowles.org.uk/carefree/
the actual Songbook road sign has gone but we did find the one shown here:-


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My Gordon Lightfoot webring
starts at
http://www.johnfowles.org.uk/lightfoot

[This message has been edited by johnfowles (edited May 02, 2004).]

[johnfowles]

quote:Originally posted by young stranger:
Someday, I am going to make the trip across the U.S. (I live on the east coast) to take the same picture Gord took that appears on the first page of the booklet included in the Songbook set. My wall won't be complete until I hang on it a picture of myself standing under the Carefree Highway sign in Arizona!
There are pictures of me doing just that on the page on my web site describing part of an Arizona visit in 2002 at:- http://johnfowles.org.uk/carefree/
the actual Songbook road sign has gone but we did find the one shown here:-


------------------
My Gordon Lightfoot webring
starts at
http://www.johnfowles.org.uk/lightfoot

[This message has been edited by johnfowles (edited May 02, 2004).]

[Borderstone]

Mucho cool John!:cool; Hope you enjoyed trekkin' through Borderstone county!

By the way,that car that cut you off...that was me and my brother! Ha,ha!! You snooze,ya lose!

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Borderstone,gonna post some lines tonight!:D

[Morgus]

Well, as you can tell by my screen name here, I am a MAJOR lover of that song.

My first post at this board was something like in February, and I had already been very sick with what we thought was the flu for about two months. But the flu doesn't usually hang on that long, and my health is still up and down here in May, so it's obviously something more chronic. Don't have a firm diagnosis yet, but ulcers have been discovered. Does anyone else have them? Can they make you THAT sick for THAT long?

I don't want to bore people and re-tell the whole story, but I'll capsulize it. I had been living in the southwest to recover from a traumatic marriage breakup that DID have something to do with a woman named Anne. Then I got sick and was too weak to change the CD's in my player, but I had to have music because the place I was living in was so doggone noisy. All I could do was put "Carefree Highway" on repeat, and I must have listened to it an unexaggerated 500 times in a row. It had always been my favorite of his songs, but now it took on a new meaning. I loved the way GL rhymed that evil woman's name with "damned." Maybe the song helped me get well enough to travel by blocking out much of the stress, and eventually I returned to Kentucky to be near family while I continue to struggle with my health.

I still pop in a GL CD when I'm sick, depressed, or under major stress. Most recently it was as I was facing what would have been the anniversary of that failed marriage. Stress and illness caused me to sleep badly, and I woke up after having nightmares. My first thought on waking was, "Is it midnight yet?" I figured it was the anniversary thing causing the stress. Well, it wasn't quite midnight, yet, but now that I was awake I couldn't get back to sleep. I kept thinking about things. Him. The marriage. Anne. I wanted a GL song that would help me put the past behind me. So I connected to that first conscious thought, "Is it midnight yet?" and popped in "East of Midnight."

Ever onward, sea of dreams (nightmares....)

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"Pickin' up the pieces of my sweet, shattered dream..."

[AZroute74]

Well, as you can tell by my screen name here, I am a MAJOR lover of that song.

My first post at this board was something like in February, and I had already been very sick with what we thought was the flu for about two months. But the flu doesn't usually hang on that long, and my health is still up and down here in May, so it's obviously something more chronic. Don't have a firm diagnosis yet, but ulcers have been discovered. Does anyone else have them? Can they make you THAT sick for THAT long?

I don't want to bore people and re-tell the whole story, but I'll capsulize it. I had been living in the southwest to recover from a traumatic marriage breakup that DID have something to do with a woman named Anne. Then I got sick and was too weak to change the CD's in my player, but I had to have music because the place I was living in was so doggone noisy. All I could do was put "Carefree Highway" on repeat, and I must have listened to it an unexaggerated 500 times in a row. It had always been my favorite of his songs, but now it took on a new meaning. I loved the way GL rhymed that evil woman's name with "damned." Maybe the song helped me get well enough to travel by blocking out much of the stress, and eventually I returned to Kentucky to be near family while I continue to struggle with my health.

I still pop in a GL CD when I'm sick, depressed, or under major stress. Most recently it was as I was facing what would have been the anniversary of that failed marriage. Stress and illness caused me to sleep badly, and I woke up after having nightmares. My first thought on waking was, "Is it midnight yet?" I figured it was the anniversary thing causing the stress. Well, it wasn't quite midnight, yet, but now that I was awake I couldn't get back to sleep. I kept thinking about things. Him. The marriage. Anne. I wanted a GL song that would help me put the past behind me. So I connected to that first conscious thought, "Is it midnight yet?" and popped in "East of Midnight."

Ever onward, sea of dreams (nightmares....)

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"Pickin' up the pieces of my sweet, shattered dream..."

[LSH]

Very cool John! Great picture! I'm gonna have to do that someday...perfect

[Borderstone]

Laurel,now that you say that,I've been here since '80 and even I've never done that!

What'sa madda wit me?!!

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"A knight of the road,going back to a place where he might get warm." - Borderstone

[LSH]

B, get your rearend moving! Get a friend, get over there and have a pic done. good grief man! And then post it. You'll have as much fun as I'm having, I promise!

[Sidney Freedmen]

I'd love to go to either Orillia or Carefree, AZ to experience it.

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Sidney Freedmen

'Sit Down Young Stranger' and visit The Home Page Of Gordon Lightfoot

[silenceandsound86]

AZroute74: If you haven't gotten Harmony, get it. Then listen over and over to Shellfish. It's the best song around for getting you moving on to better thoughts. "There's still a ways to go. 'bout a thousand miles or so."

[Rona]

AZroute74: If you haven't gotten Harmony, get it. Then listen over and over to Shellfish. It's the best song around for getting you moving on to better thoughts. "There's still a ways to go. 'bout a thousand miles or so."

[Station Master]

woah, i love that pic, way to go!

hey, i didnt' know John had a website?!? (or webring, i dunno the diff ...yet)
fantastic! old set lits: john saw on susan's floor, rosanna, the gypsy, circle is small (probably sounding like original version, which is THE only version for me), so cool!

are there more old setlists?, i'm trying to check out a concert i saw early or mid 80's...there used to be at Wayne's site i think but i can't find them anymore :-/

sorry, i'm off topic, i must check those pics out when i get settled, thanks john!

[jj]

woah, i love that pic, way to go!

hey, i didnt' know John had a website?!? (or webring, i dunno the diff ...yet)
fantastic! old set lits: john saw on susan's floor, rosanna, the gypsy, circle is small (probably sounding like original version, which is THE only version for me), so cool!

are there more old setlists?, i'm trying to check out a concert i saw early or mid 80's...there used to be at Wayne's site i think but i can't find them anymore :-/

sorry, i'm off topic, i must check those pics out when i get settled, thanks john!

[johnfowles]

quote:Originally posted by jj:
woah, i love that pic, way to go!

hey, i didnt' know John had a website?!? (or webring, i dunno the diff ...yet)
well my website is now over 3 years old
A webring is a usually voluntary grouping of sites devotecd to one subject and ideally all sites display a simple navigation bar to let you proceed around thre ring or select a random site. lined up such a group and initially they were all listed on a "hub" page. I included sites such as the Rhino Songbook page, Google groups (the Newsgroup) and a slew of Lightfoot Yahoo group sites
but the problem is there is no way to get the navigation bar on such sites. after a ho webring.org did a check on all rings and sites without a Nav bar were removed from thre hub listing. i have devised a way aroiund ythis problem and will try to get it upand working soon
fantastic! old set lits: john saw on susan's floor, rosanna, the gypsy, circle is small (probably sounding like original version, which is THE only version for me), so cool!

are there more old setlists?, i'm trying to check out a concert i saw early or mid 80's...there used to be at Wayne's site i think but i can't find them anymore :-/
wayne's site has all from about 1981 it certainly includes the May 1981 London cocert I saw. i have a very few old lists to add yet.
sorry, i'm off topic, i must check those pics out when i get settled, thanks john!



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My Gordon Lightfoot webring
starts at
http://www.johnfowles.org.uk/lightfoot