Wayne Francis posted (in 1996 on another discussion group):
Lightfoot has long been an admirer of Foster's songwriting. I believe Your
Love's Return is dedicated to Foster because Lightfoot is attempting to
write a love song in a Stephen Foster style of melody and lyric. I've read
reviewers who consider Biscuit City to be very reminiscent of Foster's style also.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Also, in the section on Gordon Lightfoot's Influences (
http://www.lightfoot.ca/influenc.htm) first listed is:
STEPHEN FOSTER
Foster of course is the famous 19th century American songwriter with songs to his credit such as "Swanee River", "Beautiful Dreamer", "Old Folks At Home", among others. Lightfoot and Foster share a romanticism and to quote Marco Adria from his book "Music Of Our Times" which has a chapter devoted to Lightfoot, "Lightfoot and Foster share a passion for taste, craftsmanship and the animation of song and folklore."
Lightfoot claims the common bond between his songs and Foster's are the "simplicity and individual character of each melody. We all took Foster songs in school and some of that rubbed off on me. I was always a fan of Stephen Foster."
There are even some direct parallels in Lightfoot's lyrics to Foster's: Lightfoot's "banjo in my hands" in "Biscuit City" to Foster's "banjo on my knee" from "Oh Susanna". "Biscuit City" in particular has been cited as a very Fosteresque song in both lyric and melody.
Some other Lightfoot/Foster similarities include, quoting Adria, "Foster wrote for the commercial market, without abandoning his innate artistic standards, just as Lightfoot has done. John Howard's reference to Foster in this regard applies equally to Lightfoot: 'The market never soiled Foster's work - it merely gave him a voice that could be understood.' Second, for Lightfoot and Foster alike, the autobiographical component is present in the songs, although most autobiographical detail is disguised or transformed by the exigencies of the well-made song. Third, both Lightfoot and foster share a poetic stance of romanticism. In Foster's songs this is made clear in the expressions of longing (Old Folks At Home) and sensual imagery (Jeannie With The Light Brown Hair). In Lightfoot's work, romanticism is most evident in the contemplations of the Canadian wilderness, although the wilderness Lightfoot celebrates is not one that remains untouched by civilisation. For him, the romanticism of the wilderness is complete only when man has imparted order to it, as the famous line from the "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" states: 'The green dark forest was too silent to be real.' Thus, it is not the Canadian prairies or Rockies that he praises, but the prairies and Rockies transformed by the steel rails. It is not the land that is noble, but the land sowed with the sweat and tears of the anonymous naavies. We can also see romanticism in the imaginative names for women he has created in his songs: Lavender, Cotton Jenny, Bitter Green, Sundown, Dream Street Rose, and Knotty Pine."
Composer of "Your Love's Return"
The album "Sit Down, Young Stranger/If You Could Read My Mind" has the song "Your Love's Return" but there was no composer credit like they usually have in parentheses, only "Song For Stephen Foster". Was it composed by Gordon Lightfoot? Try as I might, I've not been able to find out. I even went so far as to call the late Robert J. Lurtsema of WGBH-FM in Boston who was having a Stephen Foster tribute. He was not familiar with the song.
I thought Gordon wrote that! 
- Borderstone
