As one who spent most of his life somewhat detached and auditing the emotional roller coaster rather than riding it, I gained a new perspective looking back at the ride with a somewhat melancholy muse. Now that I have found the time to evaluate the ups and downs of my ride, I have found that when it coast into the last few hills with maybe one loop go before that long straightaway toward the braking station, all the baggage starts to fall apart and unload I am somewhat perplexed that the ride is almost over. All I can say is was a great ride, I survived and enjoyed most of it. I have few regrets. I could perhaps wish for a longer deceleration leg into the station, but wouldn't we all.
Now that I have time on my hands, It is my habit to immerse myself in research about musicians and their life history, I was happy to find this poor quality video of Gordon singing his trademark song in 2015 at 77 years old. Two things stood out to me. 1: He is still a pretty good guitar player. 2: He has lost all the emotion associated with that past love and sings this song now for the 10,000th time with a rote rendition to please those still stuck in the throes of his pathos. Like so many musicians who are blessed to live long enough to experience their own version of Groundhog Day, I think he does the song justice nonetheless. beaufortcountynow.com And the saga continues. |
You're right. I have dated two extraordinarily beautiful women in my life.
The first one did not work out, and this song rang a deep bell for me. The second beautiful woman, I married 39 years ago, and sired 4 children with her. She is still extraordinarily beautiful ... and my best friend. Maybe that is why I forgot about the song for so terribly long. It is still a great song on so many other levels, and yes, those picking licks will be hard to duplicate; I may just strike out to achieve my own feel /mood. Remarkably, my voice works fairly well for this type song. |
Gordon wrote this song about the breakup of his first marriage. As I was putting the final touches on my broken marriage in 1970, the lyrics held particular meaning for me as well. Anyone who was ever broken someone's heart or had their heart broken can relate to Gordon's pathos.
And the Guitar work ain't all that bad either. |
Watching and listening to this video once again after so many years of forgotten praise of this song, I am very much looking forward to your accompaniment, Lynn, when I get the picking down a bit better with the phrasing of the lyrics.
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You know B.T., Gordon Lightfoot has grown to look more like the guy who writes this music.
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Really nice article. I never realized how much I liked this song, but I guess remembering the lyrics as I do is telling.
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As I said in my piece, I have not thought of Gordon Lightfoot in nearly a decade, maybe more, and then I remembered this fantastic song, and it is just as powerful now as it was then.
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What a strange coincidence, I wrote an article about Gordon back in 2013, which I have not submitted to BCN. Just last week I was reminded of him by a flashback prompted by an incident at the Old Folks softball championship in the neighborhood. I updated the article for my Grandpa's Diaries.
He was and still is at 78 a troubadour of lost love as well as the story of the "Edmund Fitzgerald" Here is his tour schedule for 2017 www.lightfoot.ca |
Removing a Statue is a common practice - Then and Now | For What it's Worth, Best Music Ever, Music Reviews, Music, The Arts | Gordon Lightfoot – Warning Signs on the road of life |
Music is a wonderful art. Now that I am out of politics /governing, when I work with tools, I don't recite speeches or think about what I saw in the news, I think about music: melody and verse.