Born in 1964, I recall first hearing Lightfoot tunes (the hits) on Detroit radio in the 70s. The Edmund Fitzgerald--wreck and song--were big when I was about 12 years old. At that age, I certainly did not take Lightfoot "seriously." In the mid 80s, when I was deeply into "cool" bands such as R.E.M., I considered Lightfoot embarrassingly UNcool, kind of sappy and dull and outdated! Then I read a brief quote from one of my alternative artists that shocked me: he actually complimented Lightfoot! Speaking of If You Could Read My Mind, he said something to the effect of, "You can tell Lightfoot really felt those emotions strongly..." and I realized this guy truly admired Lightfoot as a songwriter. My eyes were opened. I took note of the release of East of Midnight. Hesitant, I bought the LP, and though the voice was very different than what I was used to, I recognized that many of the tracks were great. Two years later, I was living in Los Angeles. I bought Gord's Gold Vol II and was stunned by the wealth of incredibly beautiful songs I had NEVER heard before. It was then that, one by one, I acquired cassettes and later CDs of all the Lightfoot albums available. Today, though I've parted ways with pop music (even my absolute favorite, the Beatles!) in favor of classical, I still retain two artists in my collection: the Beach Boys (amazing stuff that never got on the radio) and Gordon Lightfoot, who has my permanent respect and admiration.
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