I’ll add a bit of a personal touch on this piece. I’ve travelled all across North America for fun, 48 states in the US, 27 in Mexico and 6 provinces in Canada. The man who inspired me to hit the great, white North? Gordon Lightfoot.
He made his nation seem so similar to the USA yet so other worldly at the same time. Detailing of the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald on the great lake that divides the two nations, heading to Alberta in “Alberta Bound” after he couldn’t get a date in snooty Toronto, hitting the “Carefree Highway”. “Picking up the pieces of my sweet, shattered dream, I wonder how the old folks are tonight?”
Passing at 84 years old, Lightfoot’s contribution to the folk music scene of the 70’s is immeasurable. He sang about love, but that wasn’t his main topic. He gave a voice to the travelers, the wanderers, the kind who never seem to be able to find home, and who felt most at home along the open road. He spoke to people like me.
He had four top 10 hits, and numerous top 40 ones, providing an essential soundtrack to the 1970’s and the wayward young souls that occupied it.
He was born in Orilla, Ontario, not far from London, across the water from Detroit.
He moved to Los Angeles in 1958 when he was 20 years old. He had a bit of a career there, producing commercial jingles for radio and television.
But Canada was calling him home, and he moved to Toronto two years later.
He was an early proprietor of the coffee house folk music movement. In the 1950’s, Greenwich Village, Manhattan became the epicenter for counter culture singers, whose songs had deeper lyrics reflecting on the politics of the day. It was a hard departure from the saccharine pop that ruled the decade. That movement seeped up the road to Toronto, and Lightfoot was at its forefront.
In 1963, the legendary folk group Peter, Paul and Mary recorded his song “Early Morning Rain”. Soon after he signed with United Artists, and the rest is history. It took five years to cross over into the US charts after Lightfoot cemented his place as a singer. He hit big in 1970 with “If You Could Read My Mind.” That song is incredibly autobiographical, as it described his crumbling marriage at the time.
After the hits dried up, Lightfoot made great money touring with a cult like following. Even in his 70’s, he was at the gym six days a week. He said he was “fully prepared to go whenever I’m taken.” He said he was on borrowed time, and had to cancel his 2023 tour. He didn’t slow down until death.
So RIP to the man with beautiful melodies and profound lyrics that’ll make you look deep into your soul. He created words around so many intangible feelings we as human beings face. Canada lost a bit of royalty.
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