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Gordon Lightfoot Quotes

Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. is a Canadian singer-songwriter who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music, and has been credited for helping define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s. He has been referred to as Canada's greatest songwriter and internationally as a folk-rock legend.

Lightfoot's songs, including "For Lovin' Me", "Early Morning Rain", "Steel Rail Blues", "Ribbon of Darkness"—a number one hit on the U.S. country chart with Marty Robbins's cover in 1965—and "Black Day in July" about the 1967 Detroit riot, brought him international recognition in the 1960s. He experienced chart success in Canada with his own recordings, beginning in 1962 with the No. 3 hit " I'm the One". Lightfoot's recordings then made an impact on the international music charts as well in the 1970s, with songs such as "If You Could Read My Mind" his first U.S. top 10 hit reaching #5. "Sundown" a #1 hit, "Carefree Highway" which followed reaching #10, "Rainy Day People at #25, and "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" .

Some of Lightfoot's albums have achieved gold and multi-platinum status internationally. His songs have been recorded by some of the world's most renowned recording artists, including Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams Jr., The Kingston Trio, Marty Robbins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, Barbra Streisand, Johnny Mathis, Herb Alpert, Harry Belafonte, Scott Walker, Sarah McLachlan, Eric Clapton, John Mellencamp, Jack Jones, Bobby Vee, Roger Whittaker, Peter, Paul and Mary, Glen Campbell, The Irish Rovers, Nico, Olivia Newton-John, Paul Weller, Nine Pound Hammer, and Ultra Naté.

Robbie Robertson of the Band described Lightfoot as "a national treasure". Bob Dylan, also a Lightfoot fan, called him one of his favorite songwriters and, in an often-quoted tribute, Dylan observed that when he heard a Lightfoot song he wished "it would last forever". Lightfoot was a featured musical performer at the opening ceremonies of the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary, Alberta. He received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 1979 and the Companion of the Order of Canada—Canada's highest civilian honour—in 2003. In November 1997, Lightfoot was awarded the Governor General's Performing Arts Award, Canada's highest honour in the performing arts. On February 6, 2012, Lightfoot was presented with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal by the Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario. In June that year he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. On June 6, 2015, Lightfoot received an honorary doctorate of music in his hometown of Orillia from Lakehead University.

✵ 17. November 1938
Gordon Lightfoot photo
Gordon Lightfoot: 14   quotes 5   likes

Famous Gordon Lightfoot Quotes

“Hail hero, hail hero, child of your fate
Come into the kitchen don't stand by the gate
And show us your wisdom before it's too late”

Gordon Lightfoot

Theme song of Hail Hero! (1969), co-written with Jerome Moross

“But now the seeds are planted and the gates are opened wide
The old ways are forgotten there is no place left to hide
And the legacy I'm leaving you is not very hard to find
You'll see it all around you at this crossroads of time
In the sweet soil its a growing at the crossroads of time”

Gordon Lightfoot

Crossroads, Track 4, United Artists
The Way I Feel (1967)

“I can see her lookin fast in her faded jeans
She's a hard lovin woman got me feelin mean
Sometimes I think its a shame when I get feelin better when I'm feelin no pain
Sundown you better take care if I find you been creepin round my back stairs
Sundown you better take care if I find you been creepin round my back stairs”

Gordon Lightfoot

Sundown, Track 7, Reprise
Sundown (1974)

“Some say he was a sailor who died away at sea
Some say he was a prisoner who never was set free
Lost upon the ocean he died there in the mist
Dreaming of a kiss
Bitter Green they called her walking in the sun
Loving everyone that she met
Bitter Green they called her waiting in the sun
Waiting for someone to take her home”

Gordon Lightfoot

Bitter Green, Track 4, UNITED ARTISTS
Back Here On Earth (1968)

“If I could only have you near
To breathe a sigh or two
I would be happy just to hold the hands I love
On this winters night with you”

Gordon Lightfoot

Song For A Winter's Night, Track 10, United Artists A hauntingly beautiful version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbgfXp5M02M
The Way I Feel (1967)

“And the body of a dead youth
Lies stretched upon the ground
Upon the filthy pavements
No reason can be found
Black day in July”

Gordon Lightfoot

Black Day In July, Track 3, (mono 45 edit), UNITED ARTISTS 50281, March 1968
Did She Mention My Name? (1968)

Gordon Lightfoot Quotes

“You can't jump a jet plane
Like you can a freight train
So I'll best be on my way
In the early morning rain”

Gordon Lightfoot

Early Morning Rain, Track 7, UAS-6487 The Song That Changed Everything http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFJ5Bj_put0
Lightfoot! (1966)
Context: The liquor tasted good and here the women all were fast...
You can't jump a jet plane
Like you can a freight train
So I'll best be on my way
In the early morning rain

Way , Training

“Oh! The song of the future has been sung
All the battles have been won
On the mountain tops we stand
All the world at our command
We have opened up the soil with our teardrops and our toil”

Gordon Lightfoot

Canadian Railroad Trilogy, Track 11, United Artists Watch it Here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjoU1Qkeizs
The Way I Feel (1967)
Context: There was a time in this fair land when the railroad did not run
And the wild majestic mountains stood alone against the sun
Long before the white man and long before the wheel
When the green dark forest was too silent to be real...
Oh! The song of the future has been sung
All the battles have been won
On the mountain tops we stand
All the world at our command
We have opened up the soil with our teardrops and our toil

World , Mountain , Future

“If I could read your mind love
What a tale your thoughts could tell
Just like a paperback novel just like the kind a drug store would sell
When you reach the part where the heart aches come the hero would be me
But heroes often fail
And you won't read that book again because the endings just too hard to take..”

Gordon Lightfoot

If You Could Read My Mind, Track 8, Reprise
Sit Down Young Stranger (1970)

Love , Books , Reading , Heart

“Searching through the fragments of my dream shattered sleep
I wonder if the years have closed her mind
I guess it must be wanderlust or trying to get free
From the good old faithful feeling we once knew
Carefree highway, let me slip away on you
Carefree highway you seen better days..”

Gordon Lightfoot

Carefree Highway, Track 8, Reprise
Sundown (1974)

Faith , Dreams , Feeling , Search

“Hail hero, hail hero, child of the sun
All covered with flowers still having your fun”

Gordon Lightfoot

Theme song of Hail, Hero! (1969), co-written with Jerome Moross

Flowers , Sun

“When supper time came the old cook came on deck saying "Fellas its too rough to feed ya"
When at 7:00 pm the main hatch way caved in he said "Fellas its been good to know ya"
The captain wired in, he had water coming in and the big ship and crew was in peril
When latter that night when her lights went outta sight came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours?…
And all that remains is the faces and names of the wives and the sons and the daughters…”

Gordon Lightfoot

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, Track 2, Reprise Get the kleenex now http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgI8bta-7aw
Summertime Dream (1976)

Love , God , Way , Light

“Hail hero, hail hero, let me see you smile
You been gone for so damn long, I wish you'd stay awhile”

Gordon Lightfoot

Theme song of Hail Hero! (1969), co-written with Jerome Moross

Smile

“Satin rays and coloured days
Stark blue horizons
Naked limbs and wheat bins, hazy afternoons
Voicing, rejoicing the wine cups do bring
Pussywillows, cat-tails, soft winds and roses”

Gordon Lightfoot

Pussywillows, Cat-Tails, Track 8, UNITED ARTISTS
Did She Mention My Name? (1968)

Cats , Wine

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