I'm Not Sayin' it's the Gordon Lightfoot listening thread (but it is)...new album every Thursday

There's something about Pussywillows, Cat-tails that sounds like it could be arranged for a precocious elementary school choral group to sing, and I think I read somewhere that Gord himself doesn't like it. Still, I remember being captivated by it as a kid (and even now, sure). Beautiful winding melody and an air of mysteriousness, like paddling a canoe down a meandering stream in some Northern Ontario provincial park.

Agreed that there are some really nice little details in the arrangements on this album. Always loved the sorta-kinda Spector drums on Black Day in July.

Pussywillows, Cat-tails definitely feels like with a few tweaks and the right children's choir it could fit right in on Song's For Friday Afternoon's era Benjamin Britten.

(btw, I meant the country outro on May I, not Magnificent Outpouring in my earlier post, I need to re-read what I write more today it seems)

ok I'm listening now. it's great. really playful in spots. "May I" is a really weird song for him to do...it's like a folky version of Syd-era Floyd

Did She Mention My Name (the song) has such a Canadiana Nostalgic thing going on for me. I grew up in south-western Ontario, and even though Gordo isn't from my era, or quite from my area, I feel like I can easily conjure up the scene I think he's painting. He's clearly keen to universalize the lyrics, but for me there's really a time and place to it. Mythical and sentimental of course, but legitimately evocative.

Will otm that the title track is a weird closer. I grew up with is as (I think) the first track on the UA best-of, which was one of about 10 records my parents owned. It’s a gem, easily one of my favourites of his.

Will, that's otm re: britten. I totally sang "old abram brown" in a grade school choir. You nailed the aesthetic i was thinking of.

This album is a stone cold classic.

I totally agree with the title track being prime Canadian Small Town Nostalgia, separate from the Big City national nostalgia of songs like CRT. Did She Mention My Name and Summertime Dream (coming up in a few weeks) are my go to songs for reminiscing about the small town experience I never had growing up in a big city like Toronto.

The Last Time I Saw Her is one of his most underrated songs. It's one of his most heart wrenching deliveries and one of the few vocals where you feel he's letting it all hang out.

been listening to these records to follow along. have only known the greatest hits cos my mom was a fan. pretty every song is at a bare minimum 'good'.

love the studio trickery on something very special, was unexpected. i keep going back to the album opener on this one tho.

Wherefore and Why is great, I also like this Glen Campbell cover of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vf-mk_8uh-8

...and its Thursday, time for a new album!

Back Here On Earth - 1968

"Long Way Back Home" – 3:02
"Unsettled Ways" – 1:51
"Long Thin Dawn" – 2:57
"Bitter Green" – 2:42
"The Circle Is Small (I Can See It in Your Eyes)" – 3:26
"Marie Christine" – 2:54
"Cold Hands from New York" – 5:16
"Affair on 8th Avenue" – 3:25
"Don't Beat Me Down" – 3:16
"The Gypsy" – 2:45
"If I Could" – 4:02

The most underrated song on this album to me is Long Thin Dawn, its gotta be the most country Gord ever gets. The harmonies in the chorus are great. Is it Stockfish & Shea doing the harmonies?

The Circle is Small just kills me, "I can see the way you look, when his name is mentioned and I die".

I had no idea there was an 'early' version of this - it's really great (the one I had for years on a Greatest Hits album was the later, re-recorded version)

don't remember much from this album so I'll give it a listen now. "If I Could" was pretty great if I recall

frogbs, you mean an early version of 'The Circle is Small'?

As an aside, I like that so many people in this thread got into Gord thru their parents playing the shit out of his GH or a record of two of his. There's a Velvet Underground style everyone that heard it started a band reference in here I can't quite make fit.

There are a few misses for me on this album though, Cold Hands from New York starts strong but I tire of it in the second half.

I like Bitter Green well enough, but I'd rather to listen to Christian Island or High and Dry or TWOTEF when it comes to his nautical songs.

I can never decide if I like Affair on 8th Avenue or not, depends on the day, I do really like the imagery of these lyrics and especially their delivery, that plus the descending chords and pace shift get me.

And our fingers entwined like ribbons of light
And we came through a doorway somewhere in the night

I also don't love Don't Beat Me Down. I feel like he packs too many syllables into it, if I want to listen to an urgent social issues song of his I'd rather hear Black Day in July.

I find The Gypsy slight, but I think about the lyrics every so often and they bug me, he sings in the third verse

You were taught to read and write, to take your lessons home at night
A little knowledge serves you well but the golden rule does not

and in the fourth verse he sings

And now I see with due respect, the more we learn the worse we get
So if you feel you've no regrets, go have your fortune read

But these don't reconcile right? Or is he saying he understands now that fortune telling is useless? Or am I over thinking some lyrics he threw together? haha.

There are some lovely melodies on this album, Bitter Green in particular, but on the whole the lyrics, arrangements, and execution feel rushed. The next studio album is a massive step forward, and the next album proper is one I tend to reach for when I need to hear him.

that long thin dong...

About 30 seconds of "Sundown" turns up in Beach Bum.

Hm not feeling this one so much. bitter green, circle is small and if i could are the only keepers for me.

are we doing Sunday Concert? I know it's a live album, but half the songs don't appear on any studio albums, including "The Ballad of Yarmouth Castle", which I think is excellent...almost a prelude to "Edmund Fitzgerald"

listening to Back Here on Earth again...never really appreciated this one, since a lot of the songs feel a bit like retreads of other songs from the UA albums, and it's right before his big hitmaking period. but it's really quite good I think...stripping back to just the three musicians makes it sound a lot more focused than the last record, and I've come to see "Cold Hands From New York" as existing in the same vein as "Canadian Railroad Trilogy". and "The Circle is Small" is indeed a classic. I like the last couple tracks too - nice to hear him get this straightforwardly melodic. It's a bit slight to recommend but it's good.

I was planning on doing Sunday Concert unless there's a lot of opposition to it!

Sunday Concert, hell yes.

Sunday Concert - 1969

"In a Windowpane" – 3:11
"The Lost Children" – 2:47
"Leaves of Grass" – 3:43
"I'm Not Sayin'/Ribbon of Darkness" – 2:54
"Apology" – 4:33
"Bitter Green" – 2:43
"Ballad of Yarmouth Castle" – 5:18
"Softly" – 3:16
"Boss Man" – 2:26
"Pussy Willows, Cat-Tails" – 2:53
"Canadian Railroad Trilogy" – 6:41

I'm goin for the "Sunday Concert - Plus" version, cuz I feel like Gordin' out a little harder today

"Lost Children" and "Yarmouth Castle" are both keeps from this. Actually all the 'new' songs are nice, though you can hear why they weren't recorded...they're fairly similar to stuff he's done already

actually, scratch that..."Apology" is excellent. one of his most poetic songs yet.

This is an amazing album, listened to it twice this morning. I have no fondness for “Softly” but the enthusiasm with which it is always received is infectious

Love this album so much. I made my own pilgrimage to see Gordon Lightfoot at one of his Massey Hall love-ins in 1987, and he was still performing about half the songs on this album with new arrangements (Pee Wee Charles on pedal steel, Mike Heffernan on keys). But Sunday Concert does a marvellous job of capturing the sound of that room.

this ones really good hadnt listened to it before

I like Yarmouth Castle a lot as well. I like how its a classic folk ballad style, Woody Guthrie-esque, makes it a nice counterpoint to the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

It might be weird to say but I wish Gord wrote more nautical disaster songs, especially more focused on the great lakes.

Ρεμπετολογια that would have been a great concert to see, I didn't see Gord til after 2000 and his voice was no longer as powerful as it once was of course.

That said, this seems like the appropriate place to ask what Gord concert stories people have?

I saw him in 2010. I heard his voice was pretty shot so I figured I wouldn't drive far to see him but he actually came to Manitowoc, Wisconsin, so what choice did I have? It's true that he didn't sound like he used to but it was still decent...the band was great and Gord himself was pretty affable, telling stories between songs and joking around a lot. It was a pretty varied set, I feel like he probably played at least one song from every single one of his albums, and there were a lot of great deep cuts like "The Watchman's Out". I had reservations but I definitely did not regret going.

I'm so Gord-ignorant I didn't know 'til I looked it up just now that he wrote "I'm Not Sayin'," even though I've had the single by Nico for 20-odd years, and could have looked at the label---and he's joined it to "Ribbon of Darkness" here! Gotta get it.

The more I listen to Sunday Concert, the more I like In A Windowpane. Apology is really great as well. I agree frogbs, its really poetic, I love the double time chorus as well, "I made a grab at anything the earth was gone and I was on a vicious circle then", really excellent.

I think the last time I saw him was the same tour you saw him frogbs, I saw him in Tampa (or St. Petes, I can't remember) in February/March 2010. He played all of the standards and the crowd of mostly snowbirds went crazy (or about as crazy as they ever get). I was also pleasantly surprised.

Kind of a slight era for Gord here, although his technical prowess is increasing. Back Here on Earth is a fine listen; the band is in great form and the simple production is spot-on, but none of the songs is a stone classic to my ears. Same goes for Sunday Concert. There’s something a little distant about the performance (maybe just the ambient sound of the room?) that keeps me from engaging with it too much. Sounds nice, tho.

Sit Down Young Stranger/If You Could Read My Mind - 1970

"Minstrel of the Dawn" – 3:26
"Me and Bobby McGee" – 3:38 (Kris Kristofferson, Fred Foster)
"Approaching Lavender" – 2:56
"Saturday Clothes" – 3:20
"Cobwebs & Dust" – 3:20
"Poor Little Allison" – 2:30
"Sit Down Young Stranger" – 3:26
"If You Could Read My Mind" – 3:48
"Baby It's Alright" – 2:58
"Your Love's Return (Song for Stephen Foster)" – 3:55
"The Pony Man" – 3:27

Here we are in the 70s

This album feels very unique to me in his catalog. Like was said earlier in the thread Ry Cooder, Van Dyke Parks and Randy Newman all worked on this album and I think it shows.

title track sure is something

"if you could read my mind" i mean - didnt realize this was released under two names

pls no one link the Stars on 54 version

but yeah obviously an incredible song

I think this is my favorite Gordon Lightfoot album. Though I suppose in the coming months I will know for sure. "Approaching Lavender" and "Your Love's Return" have long been two of my favorite deep cuts

yeah "Lavender" is a beaut

yeah wow good call on "your love's return"

that string flourish in the chorus ("roses are waiting for dewdrops to fall") is one of my favorite moments in the whole catalogue. Maybe that's why I considered this my favorite...there's a few songs I don't really like that much, like "Cobwebs & Dust" and the "Bobby McGee" cover (maybe because I can't stop thinking about Janis Joplin)

on the other hand "Baby It's Alright" is pretty fun and "Saturday Clothes" kind of has a cheery Sesame Street vibe to it

Summer Side Of Life - 1971

"10 Degrees and Getting Colder" – 2:43
"Miguel" – 4:12
"Go My Way" – 2:13
"Summer Side of Life" – 4:05
"Cotton Jenny" – 3:26
"Talking in Your Sleep" – 2:56
"Nous Vivons Ensemble" – 3:45
"Same Old Loverman" – 3:21
"Redwood Hill" – 2:48
"Love and Maple Syrup" – 3:13
"Cabaret" – 5:49

I didn't spend enough time with IYCRMM last week, partly because its one I've already listened to so many times and partly because of work getting in the way, but I agree about Approaching Lavender, I think it's my favourite. I like Poor Little Alison and Saturday Clothes as well, I agree Saturday Clothes has got a real innocence to it that is appealing. Gord manages to write really innocent songs, The Pony Man as well, yet also write the most worldly and knowing tunes and flip between them with an alarming ease.

I think the album starts slowly though, I am not a big fan of Minstrel Of The Dawn and I agree that the Bobby McGee cover, while competent, just can't stand up to Joplin's so whats the point.

On the flip side I haven't listened to Summer Side of Life in forever, I'll need to give this one a little time. The title track is fantastic and one of my favourites of all of his work. Cotton Jenny is a nice little song. I didn't realize Talking In Your Sleep made it to #64 on the charts in the US.

I never liked the title track much...I don't think those big brassy band arrangements suit him well

I also haven't listened to this one in a long time. Between the bland cover, the fact that I always mix it up with Summertime Dream, and the lack of hits, I kinda forgot about it. But there are some deep cuts on here I like - "Nous Vivions Ensemble" (does Gord speak fluent French?) and "Love and Maple Syrup", which almost sounds like say, Flight of the Conchords doing a Gordon Lightfoot parody (I mean that in a good way, of course). In fact I think the whole second side of this is pretty great ("Same Old Loverman" could be Elvis Presley!). And "Cotton Jenny", of course.

I've come to like this album a lot after listening to it a few times. Miguel is really beautiful and melancholic. Talking in Your Sleep is simple yet effective. That's a great point Frogbs about Same Old Loverman, I really have come to like it and it would fit right into Elvis' wheelhouse. I think Love & Maple Syrup has grown on me the most though, your right about how it could be a parody but it really works and feels very unique.

Some misses though, 10 Degrees and Getting Colder feels like paint by numbers Lightfoot. Go My Way just washes past me.

I think I agree about the second side of the album though, there are no duds at all.

Nancy Griffith’s cover of “10 Degrees & Getting Colder” is pretty great.

i'll have to check that cover out.

also i don't think Gord speaks French. At least that's the implication I get from this old Macleans article https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1968/9/1/gordon-lightfoot

I feel bad about not keeping up with this at all. I've not spent much time with these albums front-to-back but there are amazing songs on all of them. I think the project just seemed daunting and it's more so now that I'm five albums late or so. Will do what I can.

I'm Not Sayin' you gotta start from the beginning (but I am)