Celebrity Jukebox #87: Gordon Lightfoot

Another month, another legend gone. Gordon Lightfoot may not be a household name in the UK, where his biggest hit barely scraped the Top 30, but he was loved and respected in his native Canada, in the US, and throughout the musical community, with everyone from Elvis to Dylan to Johnny Cash to Neil Young and Paul Weller singing his praises and covering his songs. My favourite Gordon Lightfoot composition is this one... though The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald comes a close second.

How does Gord (as he was billed on his earliest hits) fare on the jukebox? Well, unsurprisingly, he gets a lot of love from his fellow Canadians, starting with this guy...

She can wear high heels and flannel
She can look sexy in a toque
She likes snow storms and Gordon Lightfoot
And if you're lucky she'll love you

Dean Brody - Canadian Girls

If you're wondering what a toque is (pronounced too-k, apparently), wonder no more...

What happens when those Canadian Girls grow up? Well, their record collection gets a lot bigger, for a start...

Gordon Lightfoot, Andy Kim, Terry Jacks, Anne Murray, Joni Mitchell

Don't forget Neil Young

Should we include Justin Bieber? No!

Lucky Doug Fergus - Canadian Woman

Meanwhile, the Barenaked Ladies are convinced that Gordon Lightfoot's favourite snack is pasta...

Barenaked Ladies - The Canadian Snacktime Trilogy

Now, can we all stand up for the Canadian National Anthem... the rap version? 

Our national mascot's a damned beaver
O Canada, we love our beaver
Home o' Hell's Angels, the North CMP
Home of Gordon Lightfoot and nasty TV

Classified - Oh... Canada

Barrie is a city in Ontario, just north of Toronto. However, Barrie the band comes from Brooklyn, and here they are singing about Michigan. 

You never change your clothes
Cause denim fades so good
Station wagon with the panel wood
Gordon Lightfoot if I could
Your summer love was all you knew
There's nothing left to do
But go crazy on you

Barrie - Michigan

Outside of Gordon's home country, we arrive first in L.A. where Rivers Cuomo of Weezer has written a terrific tune about some of his favourite artists... and Gordon is the first one he mentions.

Gordon Lightfoot
Sang a song
About a boat
That sank in the lake

Weezer - Heart Songs

Mike Viola is a frequent collaborator of Panic! At The Disco, Jenny Lewis and Andrew Bird, among others. Here, he compiles a list of artists he'd "let in to a very secret club"...

Paul Kelly and the Messengers, Costello, Crowded House
Squeeze before that Rolling Stone review that smoked them out
The Clash, The Cars, The Who, Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitch
Graham Parker and the Figgs would definitely make the list

Mike Viola - Future Horror Hockey Game

Any Squeeze fans know which Rolling Stone interview he's referring to?

I'm unfamiliar with the work of El Paso's Salim Nourallah, but on the evidence before me today, he's worthy of further investigation...

If you married me, I'd get Tres Leches cake when you're sad
And to prove my love, go see Gordon Lightfoot with your dad

Salim Nourallah - If I Married You

And, in an effort to make this blog more educational...

That's a Tres Leches cake. Looks like a heart attack waiting to happen.

Howe Gelb from Giant Sand always raises a smile when I hear his tunes... even if I haven't got a clue what he's singing about.

Feeling about the brotherhood has got me down and up
To no good
Feeling about the brotherhood has even got me sitting here
Singing like Gordon Lightfoot

Giant Sand - Hood (View from a Heidelberg Hotel)

Plenty of songs mention the name Lightfoot in their title, not all of them are about the great man himself. I reckon these are though, one way or another...

Ramsay Midwood - Lightfoot

Brown Shoe - Lightfoot

Aengus Finnan - Lightfoot

Allister Thompson & Philippa Dowding - Lightfoot

Ashley Naylor - Gordon Lightfoot

Burton Cummings - Gordon Lightfoot Does Maggie May

It's back to Canada for today's final tune though, with a song that doesn't only pay tribute to Gordon Lightfoot... but also his backing band, including John Stockfish, Charlie McCoy and Red Shea...

And Lightfoot

Edwardian, suddenly striped

His hair blondish and poetic

He is less than vinyl perfect

His foot is a precise anchor for the husk and vibrance of his voice

He is the image of Alberta

The side street near Chicago

The grim beauty of Toronto

He is an artist

He is an artist

He is an artist painting Sistine masterpieces of pine and fur and backwoods

Still echoes long ago the winter night of black July and then the outcome

Of an early Cleveland rainfall

RIP, Gordon. As a songwriter, you could read our minds...