Canadian troubadour Gordon Lightfoot has passed away at the age of 84. Lightfoot was regarded as an exceptional songwriter, with credits that included “Sundown,” “Carefree Highway,” “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” and perhaps most notably “If You Could Read My Mind,” a ballad covered dozens of times by the likes of, among others; Johnny Cash, Olivia Newton-John, and Glen Campbell. The list of incredible songs he wrote is extensive.
Lightfoot!, his debut album, was released in 1966 and set the path for a long career of influence. 54 years later, in 2020, he released his final studio album Solo, without the accompaniment of other musicians. He won an incredible sixteen Canadian Juno awards, was nominated for several Grammys, and saw an endless stream of other official accolades along the way. For my money, he could sit on top of the same mountain with Tom Waits, Townes Van Zandt, Bob Dylan, and Leonard Cohen.
In 2019, a career-retrospective documentary Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind was released, and is as good a place as any for newcomers to gain an introduction to the man and his music. He had a history of heavy drinking that affected his performances and personal life for a time, but led a cleaner existence in later years. His ability to translate the beauty of the Canadian wilderness, long-lost ways of life, and scenes from barrooms, cafes, and railroad lines are unrivaled, but the regret and longing in his voice around contemplative lyrics of love squandered and lost were perhaps his deepest gift.
My own history with the music of Gordon Lightfoot started before my earliest memories, listening to Summertime Dream, Sundown, or Gord’s Gold on 8-track or AM radio as my family crossed the Mackinac Bridge into Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to camp and fish. Frequent visits to Mackinac Island had us walking up and down the docks at the marina, following my dad, who was feverishly looking for his sailboat “Sundown.” We never found it, but that didn’t matter. That music is entangled with those locations for me, and Gord’s Gold still gets a spin when US2 turns north onto M117 and then west onto M28 for that drive through the Seney Stretch and along the southern shore of Lake Superior towards Marquette.
30 years later my band The OffRamps would cover “Race Among the Ruins,” and last week a friend texted me that it came up on her shuffle, “Best cover ever,” she said. I’m not so sure about that, there’s some pretty good cover songs out there, but we did our best to honor it.
Just a couple weeks ago I watched this video for the third time, and it’s a good overview of what made his songwriting so special. The songwriter and producer in me sat glued to the screen as I tried to somehow gain some insight I could leverage into my own art.
Rest in peace, Gordon Lightfoot.
Jeremy Porter is a Co-Editor in Chief at Pencil Storm. He lives near Detroit and fronts the rock and roll band Jeremy Porter And The Tucos. Follow them on Facebook to read his road blog about their adventures on the dive-bar circuit.
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