Almanac of Story Tellers: Gordon Lightfoot

Every day brings a new story.  And each day contributes to story telling -- in prose and in poetry, in art and in music, on the stage, on the screen, and, of course, in books. 

Today is the story of Nov. 17th

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    It is the 321st day of the year, leaving 44 days remaining in 2022.

 

    On this day in 1938, the Canadian singer and songwriter, Gordon Lightfoot, was born in Orillia.

    He tells his stories with a 12-string guitar and a baritone voice. His words aree heartfelt and decent, using simple language to show honesty and integrity. His music is folky and folksy.

    He started performing early in life -- in the fourth grade, he sang Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ra at a parents event in his primary school. He learned to play piano and drums as a teenager, mostly self-taught, and attended the Westlake School of Music in Hollywood, Calif. By his early 20s, he was performing with his band, The Singin', Swingin' Eight, and had released two singles.

    Lightfoot's songwriting also found favor with singers such as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash,  and Barbra Streisand. He put out his first album, Lightfoot!, in 1966.

    He found success during the '60s and '70s singing his own songs, among them If You Could Read My Mind, Sundown, and Early Morning Rain.

    But the song he is best known for is about a shipwreck on the Great Lakes during the winter of 1975. The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald showcases Lightfoot's storytelling and musical ability with a melodic tune and inspired lyrics. 

    It starts with a native legend "of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee," turns to the hard November weather on Lake Superior -- "when the waves turn the minutes to hours" -- before focusing on the 29 men who died when the tanker ship sank.

    Lightfoot explains, with some artistic license, their final minutes, then turns to a geography lesson on the Great Lakes -- "Huron rolls, Superior sings in the rooms of her ice-water mansion" -- before ending with tribute to the memorial service at the Mariners' Church of Detroit, where the "church bell chimed till it rang 29 times."

    Lightfoot lives in Toronto and continues to tour.