This has been a month of reflection on major losses in the music industry. Harry Belafonte and Canada’s own Gordon Lightfoot were both ionic music leaders.
Gordon Lightfoot was part of the fabric of my life. As many of you may recall from a previous blog I trained to become a nurse in Orillia. Our residence was the Stephen Leacock Motor Hotel. Stephen was the first famous person who had lived in Orillia. Gordon Lightfoot became the second.
Gordon Lightfoot was born (November 17, 1938) and raised in Orillia. He walked the same streets I did. He would enjoy Centennial Park on beautiful Lake Couchiching. Our residence was right beside this park on the Lake. Across from us was the “Pav” a dance club with many famous live bands. I am sure as a teen Gordon would have gone a few times and quite possibly sang there, although his songs were not really conducive to dancing.
Gordon was only 11 years my senior and most of us as nursing students had a huge crush on him. We would hope that we might see him sometime in Orillia.
It was many years later in 2010 that I did see and hear him at the Mariposa Folk Festival in Orillia for its 50th anniversary. This festival began in 1961 in Orillia. Over the years it moved to various places but mainly Toronto. Gordon was instrumental in getting it back to Orillia where it remains to this day in Tudhope Park. What an incredible show that featured many famous artists such as Ian & Sylvia, together once again for this festival.
Gordon’s first album came out in 1966. It was just called “Lightfoot”. It included the following famous songs, “For Loving Me”, “Early Morning Rain”, “Steel Rail Blues”, and “Ribbon of Darkness”. His songs were sheer poetry. He was a true storyteller.
I read that Bob Dylan when asked about Lightfoot’s songs he claimed that “whenever he heard a Gordon Lightfoot song he wished it would last forever!” I think this was so true for many of us.
I know that I would often get lost in his songs. He had a way of telling stories about Canada. What a rich way to learn about our history from an artist who stayed in Canada. I think in many ways that endeared him to us even more.
Gordon Lightfoot wrote the famous song about the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior on August 7th, 1957. This ship and crew sailed from Detroit. There were 29 souls on board.
The Mariners Church Bells would ring out 29 times on the anniversary of the deaths of these men
Did you know that Gordon Lightfoot for 40 years on this anniversary would visit the families of this terrible disaster?
Here is the end of this song:
“In a musty old hall in Detroit, they prayed
In the Maritime Sailors Cathedral
The church bell chimed ‘til it rang twenty-nine times for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald”
The day after his death the Mariners Church Bells rang 30 times to honour Gordon Lightfoot for gifting his song to those who mourn still.
Thank you Gord for the memories of such a rich musical history. You will be remembered forever in your songs.
