Lightfoot was in the audience ( Gravenhurst is not far from Orillia, his hometown) and came backstage afterward. I had a fine voice then – I soon lost it – and sang Did She Mention My Name. John Ibbitson : In the late 1960s, the Muskoka Boys Choir put on a concert of Lightfoot songs at the Gravenhurst Opera House. Readers reflect on their favourite Gordon Lightfoot songs ![]() Remembering is honouring, and that’s the gift the song will always give. As a Nova Scotian from a place that knows too well this kind of loss, and as someone who married into a family forever changed by a brave life claimed by the sea, my heart hurts whenever I hear it. The melody is haunting but the words matter more, and he took such care with them – even changing a line later when he learned that it was most likely the nature of the storm and not human error that that caused the tragedy.įact-checkers can quibble with other details, but this song, all six minutes, is about making sure people remember. The song tells the story of the sinking of an American freighter on Lake Superior during a gale in November, 1975, that took all 29 crewmembers down with it. We spoke for more than an hour in his mahogany-walled study, and he played me a lovely song that he was working on about a river of light.īut The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald is the one that stays with me, for so many reasons. And a song that helped me understand that there is a vast difference between playing the notes and making music.Įrin Anderssen: Twenty years ago, for a Globe assignment, I knocked on Gordon Lightfoot’s door and he graciously let me in. Pussywillows, Cat-Tails is not my favourite Gordon Lightfoot track (that’s If You Could Read My Mind, hands down the 45 was on regular rotation on my sister’s stereo). In my head, I heard it in Lightfoot’s voice, which had brought it to life in such a profound way. This is extremely embarrassing, but I took to dancing around our basement with a branch I would clandestinely pluck from that tree next door, singing the song. Instruments as birds, painting the Canadian landscape. Gordon Lightfoot’s velvety voice, that gorgeous string arrangement. Then one day, a revelation: I heard the actual song. I was attracted to the song in part because I coveted the pussy willow tree in our neighbour’s backyard. Once I learned to read music, I tried plunking my own way through it. Marsha Lederman: The sheet music for Pussywillows, Cat-Tails sat on our Mason & Risch piano, where my big sister, a teenager, would play it proficiently. On the news of Gordon Lightfoot’s passing, The Globe’s resident music lovers (current and former) reflect on his musical legacy. It does not store any personal data.Please log in to bookmark this story. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". ![]() ![]() The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly.
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