EVANSVILLE, IN.June 25,2014 article

[charlene]

http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/06/2...ls-why-he.html

Gordon Lightfoot tells why he changed lyric to his signature song

BY ROGER MCBAIN
EVANSVILLE COURIER & PRESS (IND.)
Gordon Lightfoot exercised some lyrical license when he wrote "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," but the Canadian balladeer paid painstaking attention to the facts when he wrote the line that would haunt him for decades.

New evidence, uncovered a few years ago by a National Geographic research team, led him to take back his words, however, modifying the version he'll sings on tours these days.

Lightfoot's signature ballad tells the tale of the Edmund Fitzgerald, an ore freighter that sank in a sudden Lake Superior storm Nov. 10, 1975, taking 29 men down with her.

On the original recording, the critical line plays: "At 7 p.m. the main hatchway caved in." In performances now, however, Lightfoot sings: "At 7 p.m. it grew dark, it was dim."

An avid sailor, he knew it was a loaded lyric from the start, raising culpability questions for the deck hands responsible for securing the freighter's hatch covers.

He took the information for the original recording directly from news reports and Coast Guard documents, however, he said in a phone interview from his home in Toronto.

Even so, it remained a difficult line for Lightfoot, especially when sung before sailors, skippers and friends and relatives of the doomed ship's crew.

He's done that many times over the decades, as the song has become an enduring ode to those lost on the Edmund Fitzgerald and a folk hymn for all of those who have perished on hundreds of ships swallowed by the Great Lakes.

He recalled a church performance before an audience that included 18 Great Lakes ship captains.

"When I got to the part about the hatch covers, I had to cringe a little bit," Lightfoot said.

He was able to rewrite the line several years ago, after the National Geographic research "proved it was not the hatch covers that caused the fatal accident," he said. "They proved that the Edmund Fitzgerald broke in half."

Lightfoot can't change the lyric on the recording of his signature work, but the new line allows him to sing the ballad before any audience without wincing.

He couldn't have known when he wrote it, but his song has forged a bond with the families of those lost on the Edmund Fitzgerald, he said.

At 75, he still performs at reunions for the crew's families, "and I stay in touch with them all the time. It's a responsibility that will not leave me."

He also supports a maritime scholarship.

Lightfoot has scored lots of hits in his career, including "If You Could Read My Mind," "Sundown," "Carefree Highway" and "Rainy Day People," but none is more hauntingly enduring than "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."

His voice registered humility, pride and gratitude when he talked about his song's role in keeping the crew's memory alive.

"I wrote a song about some people who had great misfortune," he said. "Of some 250 vessels that have floundered in the Great Lakes, the Edmund Fitzgerald will be remembered."

And the final line of Lightfoot's song acknowledges all the others, who, like the crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald, have been lost without a trace:

"Superior, they said, never gives up her dead

When the gales of November come early."

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/06/2...#storylink=cpy

[charlene]

(this was probably the night before in NORMAL, IN)

(RICK: tear it down, pack it up!)

and Gordon is leaving the building! lol

[Dave, Melbourne,Australia]

"Tear it down, pack it up!"

As in the earlier "Normal IL" thread, Rick is quoting lyrics from Jackson Browne's "The Load-out":

Now the seats are all empty
Let the roadies take the stage
Pack it up and tear it down
They're the first to come and last to leave
Working for that minimum wage
They'll set it up in another town.

[charlene]

http://www.tristate-media.com/warric...a4bcf887a.html

Gordon Lightfoot concert stirs memories
Posted: Friday, July 11, 2014 12:00 pm
By Julie Rosenbaum - Engelhardt -

The tri-state once again had the opportunity to see and hear the remarkable Gordon Lightfoot on June 25 at The Victory in Evansville.

I saw him for the first time when I was 23 years old at Carnegie Hall in New York and more than 20 times between then and now.

He is much older, as we all are. After being near death in 2002, his voice is a bit weaker. But it is still beautiful and still mesmerizes his audience.

People from Warrick and Vanderburgh counties were joined by fans who came from other states, such as a couple we met from Ohio who follows Lightfoot all over the country.
On the way to last week’s show, they stopped us for directions. After the show, we stopped and talked to a man named Carl who remembered us from Lightfoot’s show at The Victory in 2008. That concert was great, however, Lightfoot’s voice was weaker.

But it seems to get stronger from year to year. In Louisville, Ky., in 2010, his voice was not as powerful as it was in Carmel last year. Now, it was even a bit stronger, never mind that he’s 75 years old.

He sang songs such as “Carefree Highway,” which brought tears to my eyes because it brought me back to Long Beach, N.Y., and my neighbor, Billy, telling me that every time he rang my bell for a cup of coffee, it seemed like that song was playing. My son, Michael, once asked me to ask Lightfoot if “Anne,” a woman in that song, was a real person. Gordon told me, “Yes, I met her curling in Canada.”

“Sundown” made all of us cheer as it was a mega-hit and brought many back to our college days and many firsts. I thought of close friends who always seem to be nearby when Gordon sang, “Rainy Day People” and could not help clapping and stomping my feet as he sang “Cotton Jenny.”

Gordon Lightfoot takes me through a journey of my life and each song has a place and time imbedded in my heart. “If You Could Read My Mind” seemed to be a nostalgic song for everybody around me. I saw arms around couples and some tears.

Lightfoot is from Toronto and his Canadian accent came through in all of his songs, which makes them even more his trademark. He received a non-stop standing ovation following “Canadian Railroad Trilogy,” and performed “Song For a Winter’s Night” as an encore.

It was an evening of memories and one to also make new ones. Here in the tri-state, we saw one of the world’s legendary folk singers. He tells his tales and touches our hearts.
Posted in Community news on Friday, July 11, 2014 12:00 pm.