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Music icon Gordon Lightfoot says that age 71 the music he's performing is among his best
Gordon Lightfoot, truck driver.
The mere image seems strange. But driving a truck was just one of the jobs that Lightfoot endured before beginning to make a name for himself as a singer-songwriter. By the 1970s, he was well on his way to carving a path that would lead to music icon status.
Posted: August 15, 2010 - 12:12amPhotos
Famed singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot performs at 8 p.m. Sunday at the Topeka Performing Arts Center.
By William Kerns
A-J ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
Gordon Lightfoot, truck driver.
The mere image seems strange. But driving a truck was just one of the jobs that Lightfoot endured before beginning to make a name for himself as a singer-songwriter. By the 1970s, he was well on his way to carving a path that would lead to music icon status.
Already, he had influenced such artists as Bob Dylan, Jim Croce, Dan Fogelberg and Jimmy Buffett.
Dylan reported that, when he listened to Lightfoot, he “didn’t want it to end.”
Lightfoot, born in Orillia, Ontario, Canada, was drawn to music at a very early age, coming out as a boy soprano while singing in the choir at St. Paul’s United Church, under the direction of choir master Ray Williams. In his biography at activemusician.com, Lightfoot credited Williams for teaching him “how to sing with emotion, and how to have confidence in my voice.”
As a teenager, Lightfoot taught himself how to play percussion instruments while continuing his piano studies. The guitar would come later.
He told The A-J, “After high school, I was the only one I knew from Canada to move to California. It was a very bold move on my part at the time, and I was advised against it by people I knew. I studied at Westlake College of Music in Hollywood (in 1957-58). It was an old building, but I had the very best teachers and I learned a lot.”
He was studying jazz composition and orchestration but, in the process, grew lonely for Canada.
In fact, he never moved away from Canada again.
When he returned home, he wasn’t ready to pursue a career as an entertainer. That, he said, is when he began driving a truck to pay the rent.
“And after that,” he said, “I moved to a larger city (Toronto) and I became a copyist, someone who copies the parts for arrangers. That’s where I learned more about reading and transposing music.”
But it wasn’t long before Lightfoot began taking his guitar and playing his music in coffeehouses. He also recorded an album with Terry Whelan as The Two Tones, and played in coffeehouses in Europe.
His first break, in terms of exposure, came when ensembles such as Ian & Sylvia, Peter, Paul & Mary and Chad & Jeremy all wanted to record Lightfoot’s “Early Morning Rain” and “For Lovin’ Me.”
Indeed, Lightfoot — who eventually would record more than 200 of his original songs on 20 albums, including two volumes of “Gord’s Gold” — first made his mark as a songwriter, and others, from Marty Robbins and Richie Havens to Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley, kept covering his songs.
Lightfoot’s debut recording arrived in 1966 and, by 1971, he was releasing a string of hits, including “If You Could Read My Mind” and “Sundown.”
His story songs always stood out, the best being “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” Lightfoot said that he was inspired by an account of the event in Time magazine, and his lyrics were born of media reports about what really happened.
“I’ve written my share of songs about sailing ships, like ‘Ghosts of Cape Horn,’” said Lightfoot. Trains were not ignored and, as Lightfoot recalled, his beautifully detailed “Canadian Railroad Trilogy” actually was commissioned.
He said, “The Canadian Broadcasting Company asked me to write a song for a television special about Canada’s 100th anniversary. That’s where that song came from.”
Lightfoot cannot hide his age, yet he is more active this year than the one before. Having headlined at 20,000-seat arenas, this year he is taking advantage of the acoustics in 2,000-seat venues to put on an intimate, two-hour show.
He is well aware of the deep pool of material from which he must choose, and said he solved the problem by rotating at least 10 songs from one show to the next.
He knows there are songs he must play at every venue — “If You Could Read My Mind” and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” for example — and is pleased to do it. Indeed, some band members have been with him for 30 years and Lightfoot, said, “The music has kept improving, like fine wine. Truthfully, it’s taken all this time for my songs to start sounding the way they should, and for the first time.”
There were setbacks along the way.
Earlier this year, a prankster used Tweeter to inform the media that Lightfoot had died. He heard a radio station reporting his death when he was driving home from a dental appointment. “I pressed down on the accelerator,” said Lightfoot, and called the radio station from his home. “I probably had an easier time getting the truth out than Mark Twain,” said Lightfoot — referring to Twain’s famous quote: “Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”
The Toronto Sun ran a photo of Lightfoot, with the words “Dead Wrong” dispelling the rumor.
Still, the rumor was made easier to believe by Lightfoot’s earlier medical problem. In 2002, he complained of a stomach ache before a concert and was rushed to a hospital, where he was treated for a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm. Four surgical procedures followed, including a tracheotomy when Lightfoot fell into a six-week coma.
Returning to music took a herculean effort.
“You have no idea how weak I was; hell, I’d been unconscious for six weeks,” noted the musician. “Immediately upon returning home, a guitar was the first thing I reached for. My first priority was to get the use of my fingers back. It took hours and hours of practice over a long time.”
He was more angry, he said, because he had recorded songs for what would turn out to be his final album, and post-production and release had to be placed on hold for so long.
Looking back, it seems somewhat ironic that Lightfoot has written so many gorgeous songs about love and the joy and pain that walk hand in hand with relationships. Having been married twice, he is the father of six — two each with his wives, and two out of wedlock.
Yet, asked if being a husband, and especially a father, inspired him as a songwriter, he thought for a moment and answered, “I never let it get in the way.
“There always was family and career, and sometimes they fought, and usually career won. I’ve been by myself again for the past seven years, but I stay busy. We (he and band members) work together as a team. Plus I’m at the office, and visiting a gym five times a week when I can.”
At 71, Lightfoot cannot keep his mind from hearing new melodies. He has no trouble remembering the titles of all his songs and where he was when inspiration struck. He also recalls the first time he played the Greek Theater in Los Angeles as a career highlight.
But he doesn’t give a second thought to recording or sharing new songs. “Why should I?” he asks. “I finished up with Warner Bros. in 1998. Being under contract for 33 years meant always being under the gun. I’m through with all that.
“I suppose I could release songs on the Internet, but I cannot find time to sing all of my songs now, as it is.”
Lubbock article - Aug.15,2010
