Brief Comment by Kip Hansen — 3 May 2023

Gordon Lightfoot – how can we say enough good things about the living breathing force of humanity that was Gordon Lightfoot?   Born in 1938 and performing to the end:  His concert schedule announced on 11 April, 2023:

“Gordon Lightfoot announces the cancellation of his U.S. and Canadian concert schedule for 2023. The singer is currently experiencing some health related issues and is unable to confirm rescheduled dates at this time.”

He passed over on the 1st of May, dying of natural causes in Toronto at age 84.  The NY Times carried his obituary on 2 May 2023.

If you were alive in the 1960s and 1970s, you heard his songs performed by Lightfoot himself and also by the popular  “folk singers” of the day.   And not just “folkies” but almost everybody recorded at least one Lightfoot song.   A very partial list includes: Barbra Streisand, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Marty Robbins, Peter, Paul and Mary, Harry Belafonte, Anne Murray, Sarah McLachlan, Eddie Albert, Herb Alpert, Erik Clapton, Petula Clark, Chad and Jeremy, Judy Collins, Jim Croce, Percy Faith, The Grateful Dead, Richie Havens, Ian and Sylvia, Waylon Jennings, Dianne Krall, Trini Lopez, Jerry Lee Lewis, Tommy Makem and the Clancy Brothers, Johnny Mathis, Billy Joel, Don Mclean, Liza Minnelli, Peter Paul and Mary, Lou Rawls, Frank Sinatra Jr., Conway Twitty, Hank Williams Jr., Neil Young and many more.

Gordon Lightfoot songs are a part of the musical iconography of the 1960s through 1980s folk era and have lasted and passed the test of time having become true classics of several genres.  YouTube offers a free listen to Gordon Lightfoot’s “greatest hits” album from Rhino Records.

There are many tributes being paid to this light of music from around the world – you can sample them here.  There is a ten-minute tribute from Folk Alliance International that covers his career.

To quite the man himself: “But stories always end.”

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Author’s Comment:

Gordon Lightfoot‘s connections to climate and climate change start and end with a song title:  In the Early Morning Rain. 

My connection to him lies only in memory and song – as it should be.

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