Total word count of all Lightfoot Lyrics

[JohnStinson]

Just thought I would add this trivia question to the mix. I haven't heard it asked before. Might have been noted in the Quiz thread.

What's the total word cound of all Lightfoot Lyrics?

I'm still going to get the total running time of 'released' gl tunes from his 20 albums if noone has it. Just gonna read the album notes and add em up.

[charlene]

John - you are gonna be the death of me or at least responsible for the falling out of my already substantially grey hair!
lolol
:0

[Don Quixote]

Question: what counts as a word? If, as you wrote, "gonna" ever shows up, do you count it as one or two, since it's "going to"? How do you count "Steel Rail Blues" and oo-oo-oo-woo-hoo-hoo?
Sounds like we'd better rethink this one.
DQ

[joveski]

12,954

[charlene]

Originally Posted by joveski

12,954

we have a winnah!!

[jj]

Originally Posted by JohnStinson

What's the total word count of all Lightfoot Lyrics?

I'm still going to get the total running time of 'released' gl tunes from his 20 albums if noone has it. Just gonna read the album notes and add em up.

I read that JohnF has been working on the calc and some sort of other analysis for a while ...if he doesn't post the tally soon you or I will steal his thunder ...i don't know what it really means, i just have total, per itunes...

only 12,954 (ie, 50 per song? ) I would quadruple that estimate

ok, what's the #of unique words in his lyrics? or the #of adjectives and nouns...now that would be a nice list to see

we've already nailed the list of Pronouns

[geodeticman.5]

Originally Posted by jj

I read that JohnF has been working on the calc and some sort of other analysis for a while ...if he doesn't post the tally soon you or I will steal his thunder ...i don't know what it really means, i just have total, per itunes...

only 12,954 (ie, 50 per song? ) I would quadruple that estimate

ok, what's the #of unique words in his lyrics? or the #of adjectives and nouns...now that would be a nice list to see

we've already nailed the list of Pronouns

jj - I reccomended your resources that could be tapped on your ipod with the whole library - when the question first came up - it seems to me (w/o ALL the info - granted) that duplictious effort. or better said - unneccessary effort is taking place at Sir John Bart level is taking place. With the total you spoke of having on your ipod jj, quite awhile back. If any one else is doing it, its a simple spreadsheet app. Couple of hours ? . I am only guessing,=. The main q would be efficient and non-manual data imput - a data stream with or w/o breaks to input into windows office. But like I had echo'd from you mentioning it a good several months ago, you allready have it on you ipod. Can you get a song count (I'm sure) and a word count (I'm not sure) ?

[JohnStinson]

See...where this makes sense to me is comparing other artist to GL. Now I am sure, that Dylan's word count is more than GL's.
Another thought, while my back is killing me, and I can only type you see...my thought is how many words does an 'average' book have. So does GL's lyric count equal or surpass an 'average' novel size or is it more.

BTW ...i think 'gonna' is one word

ooo is not a word

[JohnStinson]

10 degrees and getting colder has about 260 words from WORD.

200 songs

Roughly 52,000 words

(but Yarmouth has 519 words...and many GL songs are long..so its more than 52,000 words but certainly not over 100,000)

I am currently reading Master and Commander by Partick Obrien. Each page has about 370 words times 411 pages is 152,440 words. What is average for a book ...who knows.

Well there you have it. But the numbers are not exact.

[jj]

Originally Posted by jj

only 12,954 (ie, 50 per song? ) I would quadruple that estimate

so my estimate is same as yours, JohnS ...ie. about 52,000

if duplicates were elimated i wonder what would remain, maybe 20,000?

no, i don't have a lyric database like geosteve does or Sir John may

and i get a chuckle, i do not have an ipod...and when i got a replacement cellphone the other day they sales guy was all over me about downloading songs and other toys but i said, i just want a good signal and battery that will hold a charge...i dont listen to music on little headphones!!!! lol

i have a mac G5 which is my edit suite using Final Cut Pro and Sonicfire Pro, and also has free toys like garage band, idvd and iTUNES....i hardly use that stuff at all but have lately enjoyed the abilities of iTunes (again, NO ipod, lol)...alot of my music listening is done on a little transister radio, that's how progressive i am

ok, we give JohnF til end of day for his result...in the meantime i am not spoiling any thunder with this revelation:

on Gord's 20 album releases there are 217 recordings....i have always included the extra 18 songs from Songbook so the total is 235

you could discount that if you wanted by eliminating On Susans's Floor, Changes, Red Velvet, Used to Be a Country Singer, etc which are not Gord penned songs...you want to call it 230 or so?

John has said the # is more like 270 or so but he rightly includes all sorts of 'extras' from his huge collection of never heard (or shared, lol...just a joke ) before stuff...actually i did hear 1968 CBC thx to our man

ok, JohnS...how many text characters are in the Gord song catalogue? lol

[jj]

Originally Posted by joveski

12,954

no,
but it is the average # of words in a geosteve post (j/k friend, lol)

[jj]

Originally Posted by jj

on Gord's 20 album releases there are 217 recordings....i have always included the extra 18 songs from Songbook so the total is 235

here is an exported listing supporting the 235 total
(the album# is included, with Songbook extras noted as **):

1 Rich Man's Spiritual
1 Long River
1 The Way I Feel
1 For Lovin' Me
1 The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
1 Changes
1 Early Mornin' Rain
1 Steel Rail Blues
1 Sixteen Miles
1 I'm Not Sayin'
1 Pride Of Man
1 Ribbon Of Darkness
1 Oh, Linda
1 Peaceful Waters
2 Walls
2 If You Got It
2 Softly
2 Crossroads
2 A Minor Ballad
2 Go Go Round
2 Rosanna
2 Home From The Forest
2 I'll Be Alright
2 Song For A Winter's Night
2 Canadian Railroad Trilogy
2 The Way I Feel
3 Wherefore And Why
3 The Last Time I Saw Her
3 Black Day In July
3 May I
3 Magnificent Outpouring
3 Does Your Mother Know
3 Mountains And Marian
3 Pussywillows, Cattails
3 I Want To Hear It From You
3 Something Very Special
3 Boss Man
3 Did She Mention My Name
4 Long Way Back Home
4 Unsettled Ways
4 Long Thin Dawn
4 Bitter Green
4 The Circle Is Small
4 Marie Christine
4 Cold Hands From New York
4 Affair On 8th Avenue
4 Don't Beat Me Down
4 The Gypsy
4 If I Could
5 In A Windowpane
5 The Lost Children
5 Leaves of Grass
5 I'm Not Sayin' / Ribbon of* Darkness
5 Apology
5 Bitter Green
5 Ballad of Yarmouth Castle
5 Softly
5 Boss Man
5 Pussy Willows, Cat Tails
5 Canadian Railroad Trilogy
6 Minstrel Of The Dawn
6 Me And Bobby McGee
6 Approaching Lavender
6 Saturday Clothes
6 Cobwebs & Dust
6 Poor Little Allison
6 Sit Down Young Stranger
6 If You Could Read My Mind
6 Baby It's Allright
6 Your Love's Return
6 The Pony Man
7 10 Degrees and Getting Colder
7 Miguel
7 Go My Way
7 Summer Side Of Life
7 Cotton Jenny
7 Talking In Your Sleep
7 Nous Vivons Ensemble
7 Same Old Loverman
7 Redwood Hill
7 Love and Maple Syrup
7 Cabaret
8 Farewell To Annabel
8 That Same Old Obsession
8 Old Dan's Records
8 Lazy Mornin'
8 You Are What I Am
8 Can't Depend On Love
8 My Pony Won't Go
8 It's Worth Believin'
8 Mother Of A Miner's Child
8 Hi'Way Songs
9 Don Quixote
9 Christian Island (Georgian Bay)
9 Alberta Bound
9 Looking At The Rain
9 Ordinary Man
9 Brave Mountaineers
9 Ode To Big Blue
9 Second Cup Of Coffee
9 Beautiful
9 On Susan's Floor
9 The Patriot's Dream
10 Somewhere U.S.A.
10 High And Dry
10 Seven Island Suite
10 Circle Of Steel
10 Is There Anyone Home
10 The Watchman's Gone
10 Sundown
10 Carefree Highway
10 The List
10 Too Late For Prayin'
11 Bend In The Water
11 Rainy Day People
11 Cold On The Shoulder
11 The Soul Is The Rock
11 Bells Of The Evening
11 Rainbow Trout
11 A Tree Too Weak To Stand
11 All The Lovely Ladies
11 Fine As Fine Can Be
11 Cherokee Bend
11 Now And Then
11 Slide On Over
12 Race Among The Ruins
12 The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald
12 I'm Not Supposed To Care
12 I'd Do It Again
12 Never Too Close
12 Protocol
12 The House You Live In
12 Summertime Dream
12 Spanish Moss
12 Too Many Clues In This Room
13 Daylight Katy
13 Sweet Guinevere
13 Hangdog Hotel Room
13 If There's A Reason
13 Endless Wire
13 Dreamland
13 Songs The Minstrel Sang
13 Sometimes I Don't Mind
13 If Children Had Wings
13 The Circle Is Small
14 Sea Of Tranquility
14 Ghosts Of Cape Horn
14 Dream Street Rose
14 On The High Seas
14 Whisper My Name
14 If You Need Me
14 Hey You
14 Make Way For The Lady
14 Mister Rock Of Ages
14 The Auctioneer
15 14 Karat Gold
15 In My Fashion
15 Shadows
15 Blackberry Wine
15 Heaven Help The Devil
15 Thank You For The Promises
15 Baby Step Back
15 All I'm After
15 Triangle
15 I'll Do Anything
15 She's Not The Same
16 Salute (A Lot More Livin' To Do)
16 Gotta Get Away
16 Whispers Of The North
16 Someone To Believe In
16 Romance
16 Knotty Pine
16 Biscuit City
16 Without You
16 Tattoo
16 Broken Dreams
17 Stay Loose
17 Morning Glory
17 East Of Midnight
17 A Lesson In Love
17 Anything For Love
17 Let It Ride
17 Ecstasy Made Easy
17 You Just Gotta Be
17 A Passing Ship
17 I'll Tag Along
18 Restless
18 Ring Them Bells
18 Fading Away
18 Only Love Would Know
18 Welcome To Try
18 I'll Prove My Love
18 Waiting For You
18 Wild Strawberries
18 I'd Rather Press On
18 Drink Yer Glasses Empty
19 Drifters
19 My Little Love
19 Ringneck Loon
19 I Used To be A Country Singer
19 Boathouse
19 Much To My Surprise
19 A Painter Passing Through
19 On Yonge Street
19 Red Velvet
19 Uncle Toad Said
20 Harmony
20 River Of Light
20 Flyin' Blind
20 No Mistake About It
20 End Of All Time
20 Shellfish
20 The No Hotel
20 Inspiration Lady
20 Clouds Of Loneliness
20 Couchiching
20 Sometimes I Wish
** Remember Me (I'm The One)
** It's Too Late, He Wins
** A Message To The Wind
** You'll Still Be Needing Me
** Mama Said
** Station Master
** Too Much To Lose
** Heaven Don't Deserve Me
** Stone Cold Sober
** Borderstone
** Betty Called Me In
** Keepin' On Yearning
** Canary Yellow Canoe
** Never Say Trust Me
** Why Should I Feel Blue
** Always On The Bright Side
** Forgive Me Lord
** Lifeline

[charlene]

[QUOTE=jj;148478]
John has said the # is more like 270 or so but he rightly includes all sorts of 'extras' from his huge collection of never heard (or shared, lol...just a joke
QUOTE]

yes, he has TONS of stuff over the last several years he has yet to share..pictures/audio and video..

I enjoy sharing the stuff I acquire/tape/record/photograph..and share it all quite willingly and asap, as do many other folks ...

so Sir John it's time to start sharing... get along now..get to work...we're waiting..still..


I laff when I think of Bill Garrett introducing his song he was going to do at Hugh's Room several years back in 2004.. he was singing Don Quixote, and said:
"Gord has to be one of the wordiest son of a bitches."
lol

[Tim]

JJ wrote:

"so my estimate is same as yours, JohnS ...ie. about 52,000
if duplicates were elimated i wonder what would remain, maybe 20,000?"

Could I ask what do we mean by "duplicates?" Do we mean songs recorded more than once such as "The Cirle is Small" (from the "Back Here on Earth" and the "Endless Wire" albums) or the various songs that appeared in re-recorded versions on the Gord's Gold albums? Or are how about songs that contain refrains that are sung repeatedly within the song? Do we count the refrain only once, or do we count the words in a repeated refrain again and again? Oh, this is making my head hurt -- but at at least its hurting from a very pleasant exercise.

[charlene]

I think by duplicates he means the repeat of any words..the lower count would be for original first time use of each word..
e,g, - if he uses 'pain' in 10 songs and 10 times in each song it would count as only ONE word..

I think..
lol

[jj]

yes, right char....think of how many times he used "I" or "the" which would have to be subtracted....so what is the # of unique words? again, i would be more interested in the # of adjectives and nouns, etc. cos that's really what his imagery is all about not the repetitive prepositions, conjunctions, etc...wow, are we an anal lot or what? lol

Tim, yes, The Circle is Small and The Way I Feel are the only 2 repeated songs in his 20 standard albums, right? edit: wrong, there are surprisingly 9 (mostly found in those first half dozen albums) ...I don't count compilation CDs ie. recordings from Gord's Gord or GG2, etc.

so the revised unique song total from those is 226 (edit: less the 4 written by others would then equal, 222)

....meaning i should change my # of non-unique words estimate to about 49,499....lol

[charlene]

please take note that it is the males of the corfid group conducting these exercises. i, as moderator (female) am only performing my job..
lol

[jj]

lol, well all that great work you did for hunting and pasting the MISC cover thread links was about as retentive as it gets! i would say you, auburn and a few other gals fit the A.R. mould also...or is it mold? lol

[Tim]

JJ wrote:

"Tim, yes, The Circle is Small and The Way I Feel are the only 2 repeated songs in his 20 standard albums, right? edit: wrong, there are surprisingly 9 (mostly found in those first half dozen albums) ...I don't count compilation CDs ie. recordings from Gord's Gord or GG2, etc."


Okay, fair enough. However, have you given credit to those songs which appear ONLY on a compilation CD such as "If It Should Please You" from GG2, or the numerous songs that appear only on the "Songbook" CD. ("Remember Me I'm the One," "It's Too Late, He Wins," "Mama Said," "Borderstone," "Never Say Trust Me," and a host of others)

P.S. I can see Char shaking her head at us males who are getting so anal about this exercise, but it's too much fun not to :-)

[charlene]

Remember; I'm making the big bucks here and am partaking to keep track that the whole exercise doesn't implode or explode..or grow mould.

[jj]

Originally Posted by Tim

JJ wrote:

Okay, fair enough. However, have you given credit to those songs which appear ONLY on a compilation CD such as "If It Should Please You" from GG2, or the numerous songs that appear only on the "Songbook" CD.

good one, yes, need to include IISPY from GG2 for sure

yeah, included were those 18 off of Songbook

so to recap:

# recordings on the twenty standard albums = 217
# songs recorded multiple times on the above = (9)
# songs authored by others (4)
# Songbook rarities = 18
subtotal = 222

previously unreleased song from GG2 = 1
total = 223

as SirJohn has stated in other threads, there are a whack of others that could be added such as those which were played live only or appear on bootlegs and/or from the pre-"Lightfoot!" era

if all lyrics were pasted into a spreadsheet (sound like geosteve and Sir John may have one) then a simple function exists that would count # text characters but i don't know of one that will count # words or better yet, filter out the thousands of repeated words in the lyrics

we would need to have all cordiddlers gather together and count using their fingers and toes, stubbed and all

[jj]

Originally Posted by charlene

Remember; I'm making the big bucks here and am partaking to keep track that the whole exercise doesn't implode or explode..or grow mould.

lol. you really need to apply some Prep H to this thread for us