Legend’s Daughter PLEAD With Him To CHANGE the LYRICS of 70s Classic Due to THIS…| Professor of Rock
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- Опубликовано: 4 окт 2024
- It’s quite possibly the most vulnerable song about a broken relationship of the Rock Era. The late Gordon Lightfoot wrote an absolutely gut-wrenching ballad where a man, who was once a hero, calls himself out as the culprit for a failed marriage, and pleads with his wife not for forgiveness, but for empathy. It’s the story of the 70s classic If You Could Read My Mind. Years later Gordon’s daughter pled with him to change the lyrics to this heart-wrenching ballad. We also tell the story of Gordon’s rise to fame and pay our respects to the singer/ songwriter who was on Bob Dylan’s Favorites. An institution. Mr. Gordon Lightfoot. ...NEXT…on Professor of Rock.
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#classicrock #70smusic #vinylstory #gordonlightfoot
Hey music junkies, Professor of Rock, always here to celebrate the greatest artists and the greatest songs of all time. Today I want to get to right to it and remember one of our greatest singers songwriters….
Ya know I remember, as a young boy, hearing “If You Could Read My Mind” by the late Gordon Lightfoot for the first time. I hadn’t lived long enough to understand the song or had enough experience to relate to it, but it grabbed me in a way that was hard to comprehend. I suppose, like every other kid, I was instantly attracted to bubble gum pop, or the ear candy of a catchy chorus & melody, but there was something about Gordon Lightfoot’s tune that struck me as if it were important for me to hear it, even if I couldn’t truly feel its significance until many years later…. It just made my heart ache…
Listening to Gordon’s riveting baritone vibrato, and being stung by references to “ghosts in a wishing well,” “dark castles,” “chains” and fallen heroes” was very powerful to my innocent ears... a foreshadowing...if you will...of emotions to come…. They say “a picture paints a thousand words, and I do believe the adage. But Gordon Lightfoot’s heartbreaking ballad “If You Could Read My Mind” evokes a thousand different FEELINGS.
Gordon Meredith Lightfoot was born in Orillia, Ontario, Canada- about 150 kilometers north of Toronto. Over 84 years, Gordon had a wealth of experience in many aspects of life. He was a choir boy, a square dancer, a banker, a singer/ songwriter, and a grandfather. And although he was often self-deprecating about his performances on camera, Lightfoot was also an actor- portraying roles on film and television.
Gordon was but a wee lad when his parents recognized his gifted singing voice, and put him in the St. Paul’s United Church choir. As an 8-year-old, he learned to place the piano and performed on local radio programs. During his teens, Gordon taught himself to play the drums and the guitar. He spent two years at Westlake College of Music in LA- studying composition and orchestration. Then he got a part singing and square-dancing in a troupe that performed on the CBC- TV show, Country Hoedown. Following his days as a regular on Country Hoedown, Gordon played in folk clubs in the Toronto area, where artists like Joni Mitchell, Ian & Sylvia, and Leonard Cohen got their start.
Gordon’s first hit in his native Canada was “Remember Me (I’m the One)” that climbed to #3 in 1962: He had another Top 10 hit on the Canadian Singles chart in ’66 when “Spin Spin” peaked at #7. Between ’62 and ’68, Gordon’s career was flourishing.
Poll: What is Gordon LIghtfoot's greatest song?
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald is my Favorite , Sundown , Rainy day People are also very good
RiP Gordon , You live on in your music
While Sundown is amazing I have to go with The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald.
I really love old Dan's records it pulls at my heart strings
Probably the one you talk about in this video, for me. But, I love many GL songs.
My favorite was the Canadian Railroad Trilogy. I first heard it was in the 60’s.
I had the honor of meeting Gordon Lightfoot backstage after a show in Northern Michigan. The week prior, I interviewed him over the phone for a local newspaper, and I told him how my grandfather was an engineer aboard the Arthur Anderson - the ship that was on Lake Superior communicating with the Edmund Fitzgerald the night she sunk. My grandfather was part of the first rescue team to respond to the disaster. He and his crew saw the Fitzgerald vanish from their radar, and described that night as the worst storm he had ever witnessed. When I told Gordon that story he was amazed and told me "I'm proud to know you!" He was a truly kind and generous, and a complete gentleman. We talked on the phone about an hour, and after the concert he remembered me and shook my hand. I still have the photo. It's not everyday one of your musical heroes says something like that to you. I still beam inside when I think about it. RIP Gordon!
What a great story! Very cool.
How lovely and special. ♥️
Wonderful story. Thank you for sharing.✌🏼
"Heroes often fail." Quite possibly one of the most heartwrenching truths.
Yup
A hard truth to learn.
I love his song, but "The Circle is Small" is my favorite.
My eyes swell up when I hear that part. The whole song is just perfect poetry.
Absolute truth ✌🏼
I think it's pretty safe to say that popular music will never again have lyrics that go this deep.
What do you mean?? The depth of some of our "Modern" Rap and Hip-Crap about bitches and killing and drugs are as deep as any sewer around. Even most of country
now. I have XM so I dont have to deal with any of it. I thank God I was in the 70s Era of music when music meant something. (: My favorite was Neil Young doing
Southern Man and Skynard answering with Sweet Home Alabama.
Ah come on you mean like these poetic lyrics : work work work duh duh duh or something like that by Rhianna. lol Seriously, I agree. Gord was just simply amazing.
Well said, Gordon's lyrics run very deep. Personal favorites are Sundown and Carefree Highway, Gordon Lightfoot songs are good for the soul. Absolutely timeless. Love all his music.
@@tedhardulak7698 Yep I went without XM for a couple months and it was almost torture. I stick with the channels Classic Rewind, Classic Vinyl, Margaritaville, 70s on 7, Yacht Rock, maybe a few others but almost always those.
when a guy can open his heart so honestly to the world the world listens
Anyone who had been in the business could have told Gordon how his marriage tanked. But then, we would not have this hauntin, beautifulul song. I love his voice, his looks, everything, including his weakness. Becoming my age (83) has shown me no one escapes making mistakes, huge mistakes, and also how important compassion is in our lives. ❤
It's so true. It's so sad.
It’s all part of the human race. Keep rocking on Raquel.
What a beautiful way to put life
They who have loved much, shall be forgiven much.
@Pat Last He sang in Portland a song...."forgive me Lord, for I have sinned".....went the lyrics....the only time I ever heard that song....
Never fails when I listen to "If You Could Read My Mind" I get a lump in my throat and goosebumps on my arms. There never will be another as talented as Gordon Lightfoot. RIP.
Definitely a tear jerker.
Heart wrenching
Same here. It's one the best ever.
@@ProfessorofRock it was one of the very few songs that settled me when I was a toddler
@@ProfessorofRock it was one of the very few songs that settled me when I was a toddler
Gordon Lightfoot has so many great songs including Sundown, my personal favorite. Can you believe that he's not in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, mind boggling.
Another mindboggler for sure. Thanks Daniel!
Oh i believe it. The "Hall of Fame" is and always has been a complete joke.
I mean why not? A lot of folk singers in there already.
The HOF charges artists big bucks to come and accept their award. It's an overrated tourist trap.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a sham.
My wife passed away in January of 2022. I'll never forget driving up the highway while waiting for the phone call to come to the funeral home to pick Jessica's ashes up. If You Could Read My Mind came on the radio at that moment. I can't explain it, but I've never heard it the same way ever since. It seemed to bring out everything that I felt, and will forever bring me back to that time.
Why is this wonderful man NOT in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame??????? Pathetic. Opportunity missed! Thank you for spotlighting one of our national treasures. We will miss him forever and he will never be truly replaced ❤
Because the HOF is ran by a bunch of morons!
He was certainly great, but I never considered him a "Rock 'n' Roll" star.
@@davidmcginty6370 He could rock out a tune or two, but was never a Rock &Roller. And the other reason he is not in the hall of fame is that he never belonged to us. He was a Canadian through and through. There is a lot of wisdom in his music. I feel double lucky, I can listen to him anytime I want and do, and I got to sit front row center stage and watch him in the Fox theater in Detroit.
As a Canadian, we always kinda felt like he was ours. It really warms my heart to see the outpouring of love coming from the south side of the border. It really shows that Gordon belongs to the world. Thank you all. ❤
We share the falls one of the seven wonders of the world!
I'm proud that he was a Canadian.
He was still doing shows pretty late in his life and at one very small venue we got to meet him and chat with him for quite a while. Probably 10 of us stayed after the show while he was packing up and kept him company. Awesome down to earth guy. When he passed I probably would have cried anyway, but somehow after meeting him I felt like I had lost someone I knew
There's a lot of admiration for Gordon Lightfoot in the UK. Especially in the north of England, it touches hearts.
Along with Rush, April Wine, Guess Who, Neil Young, to name a few.👍
As someone who grew up in Canada the 60s and 70s, it wasn't so much that you were a Gordon Lightfoot fan, but that his music was part of the makeup of Canadian culture. If you were into music at all, you heard Gordon Lightfoot. His music was just everywhere. It didn't matter that he was an amazing instrumentalist, or that he had a unique voice, or that he had songwriting skills that even Bob Dylan envied. He had all those things and many more, but uniquely for the time, he was part of the heart and soul of what made you a Canadian.
I just found out the other day from one of my teachers that Canadian radio stations are REQUIRED to play songs from Canadian artists, and I brought up Gordon Lightfoot.
@@xxlilly_playsxxkiz9980 Yup. Otherwise we would be overwelmed by American Culture. It is know as the "CAN-CON" or Canadian Content regulations. And it is the reason why we have such a robust artistic & cultural part of Canadian life. They have to play a percentage of their total on air music by Canadian artists.
Exactly! I was born in 1964, so was I much more interested in pop music in the 70's, but I was also listening to the radio, so I got to hear a lot of different music (and thank you, whoever came up Can Con). So I wasn't huge fan at the time, but I liked his music when I heard it, and his music was there all the time. Part of the musical background to my growing up. I've been listening to a lot of his music since he passed, and I'll hear one and think "hey, i forgot that one...that's pretty terrific!" I also heard some I'd never heard before, and think "hey, that's terrific!" I was going to say that I wish that I'd become a fan sooner, but I think maybe I've always been one.
@@FarrellMcGovern I agree. Honestly, I stand with Canada here.
@@susanmacdonald4288 another '64 baby. We always had the radio on in our house, usually country, but I would crank up C-FOX, when my parents went out for the day. 😂
This wasn't just a song; it was poetry set to music. The beautiful guitar playing & strings borders on hypnotic.
The instrumentation is phenomenal. Well done, Mr. DeCaro 👏🏾
I love "Sea of Tranquility" also. It's wonderful to just sit and crank up the volume and immerse oneself in the powerful music. You can have any flavor you happen to see. 🎵
I loved almost every song this man performed. I was fortunate to see this legend perform. That performance & Peter Frampton at the same venue are among my best experiences at any concert. I sat front row within 25 ft from the man Frampton. Eye contact with the crowd. It was almost as if he was peering into my heart. I love both of those guys so much!
Music can reach into your soul & changes you. I idolize Peter Frampton & Gordon Lightfoot for the same reason. They both made you feel the lyrics in your heart. They gave me so much joy. Frampton has been my idol from the first time I heard him on vinyl at the age of eleven.
Now about my love for Gordon Lightfoot. I think the first time I heard him I was five years old. As many say about him, he was a songsmith. His lyrics & composing combine with the guitars & they dance together in perfection with his amazing almost haunting voice. From the first song, I was hooked & have been for 52 years.
He was perfect at hitting every note so precisely. He played guitar as flawlessly as he sang. He was as close to perfect as a performer has ever been. You have to really listen because every time you find new subtleties in his guitar playing. The man gifted us with beautiful perfection. RIP Gordon, you've done enough for the world. And thank you!
Check out Rick Beato's "What Makes this Song Great"
Gordon Lightfoot reminds me of hearing the AM radio playing in my mom's kitchen in the 1970s.
I just read in the news that most cars are getting rid of AM radio! Sucks 😔
Yes!
Same here.
Totally!
💙😢📻🎶🎶
I married a Canadian in 1968 so I took many trips to Canada for visits with his family. I discovered Gordon Lightfoot. I brought his music back home in Virginia and introduced him to my friends. I followed him all my life, including many concerts. He was a story teller of the best kind.
🇨🇦
His songs have caused me to pause what I’m doing, turn the volume up, and go on his beautiful through the tune and lyrics. I’ve shed many a tear during his songs. Being near 70, I was fortunate enough to follow his rise through the charts. He will forever be missed but his songs will also forever keep us in tune with our own hearts. Well done Professor.
With songs like these, you have to stop and listen closely to the story.
Same thoughts , age and experiences, thanks for posting !
Yes. I cry like a baby..in the car, home, elevator..teehee. Like a Baby.
RIP Gordon, you were indeed a legend in music!
My husband was a Marine Engineer/Merchant Mariner, he can’t let The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald be played without blasting it at top volume. Even though Lightfoot never went to sea he captured that tragedy so well. interestingly the lyrics are almost directly taken from a newspaper article covering the incident. But the hauntingly beautiful music takes it to a place where the listener feels the fear, loss and eventual acceptance that all is lost.
This song and the wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald both pull at your heart strings before he even starts singing.
His beautiful voice is just irreplaceable.😢❤
He had that magic touch.
Edmond Fitzgerald tears me apart every time I hear it.
I had a coworker who loved the song so much he requested it be played at his funeral. Very sadly he died at 65 in a head on car collision. His request was sadly fulfilled far sooner than anyone expected.
Mr. Lightfoot was, absolutely, the poet laureat of music.
The lyrics of this song, particularly:
"When you reach the part where the heartaches come, the hero would be me. But, heroes often fail"
Holy hell, that hits
Your exactly right! Beautiful!
JUST PERFECTION.
This man had such a way with words and delivered them in a way that will never be equaled. RIP Mr. Lightfoot.
No question. Thanks Jana!
He’s one in a TRILLION.
@@xxlilly_playsxxkiz9980 Maybe 1 in 8 billion.
Wow! Never knew the story behind this song until now. Thanks for bringing this to light and celebrating the musical genius that Gordon Lightfoot was! We're losing the legends one by one and it's sad because very few, if any, make music like this anymore. RIP, Gordon!
The music industry is vapid and it includes national radio. While there has always been "industry plants" and other manufactured bands that are just a creation of some deep pocketed producer, there was always the opportunity to have some DJ spin a record that is heard and then they achieve fame.
Social media has certainly changed the landscape, but often these same shady producers are utilizing that same social media they way they did radio and they also are infesting all the top platforms... as well as still picking what gets played on the radio and what isn't played.
What is sad is there is not the true "top 40" type radio stations that play a mix that appeals to the masses where people get exposed to all kinds of genres and learn to like things they never expected. It is just programmed garbage!
Sad stuff. These music shows on TV are junk too. They often pick singers with vocal gimmickry, a pathetic backstory but not stellar talent. Some quality singers are discovered without a doubt... and frankly those shows probably fare better than what "rises up" on modern music charts.
@@Bonzi_BuddyI hope more people will read your reply. I was associated with the music business just after the payola scandal in the 1950s and into early '80's. Nuff said 😢😮😢😮
Yep we are losing the legends and there's absolutely nobody to replace them not that anybody could, the future of music is very bleak
As a teenager in the 60s I remember hearing if you could read my mind. Laying in bed was such a great song .
Gordon Lightfoot was one of the greatest ever - a true legend.
NO question. What a loss.
💯
The lines "I don't know where we went wrong but the feeling's gone and I just can't get it back" pull at my heart strings every time; the first time I heard the song in full and actually understood it was when it appeared at the end of a movie I watched - I think it was "The Last Days of Disco" when I was going through a breakup. It took on even more significance at the end of my marriage.
That line alone shows how much he has mastered the craft of songwriting.
I’m so agree …. One of those songs that take you to a time and space…. I feel such sorrow every time I hear it…
"I don't know where we went wrong but the feeling's gone and I just can't get it back" - Yeah, that was the lyric to the end of my marriage, too. This song because the sensation that it was and still is because Gordon captured what so many of us went through. It's cathartic in that regard.
As a fellow Canadian I feel he never really got the credit he so rightly deserved . Good on you Adam for shining the light on him if only for a moment.
Are You Kidding Me I’m In America And I Know For Sure He Was Loved Here A True Legend
This was a great tribute. He lived a good full life, but his passing still hurts. But we can’t keep them forever. 💔 RIP Gordon Lightfoot. 💐🕊️
I missed a chance to see him perform live in Ottawa at Algonquin College, with what turned out to be his last tour. Because of that, I have tried to see as many performing artists as possible with my daughters so that they can have the memories when these artists are no longer with us. Just this summer we saw Bruce Cockburn in concert at the NAC in Ottawa. Fantastic concert, but at age 77 and in declining health, there won’t be too many more opportunities to see and hear him live.
The most romantic song ever, I listen to it and only hear his heart felt love for his wife and his inability to rescue the marriage not his failure as a man who cheated, but a heart of regret.
This song tears me up every time I hear it. It hit me hard when I was young. Now that I'm older, and have been through what this songs brutally honest content is about, it knocks me to my knees. THIS is songwriting at its best. It doesn't get any better than this.
Brutal with a capital B! Thanks Jimmy!
So many songs from my youth are like that, they were just songs when I was young, but now they are part of my life story, embedded in my soul.
I'm in my 60s now, but even today I'll hear an old song and have that dim bulb in my brain light up and I finally get what the songwriter meant!
I've loved John Prine since I was a teen, I know most of his songs by heart and most are fun upbeat kinda silly lyrics that lift my mood. After my mom died and we were cleaning out her house to sell it, I went home drained so I played some Prine to make me feel better... yikes. He jerked every tear I thought I'd already cried.
There's this song called "Souvenirs":
_"All the snow has turned to water
Christmas days have come and gone
Broken toys and faded colours
Are all that's left to linger on
I hate graveyards and old pawn shops
For they always bring me tears
I can't forgive the way they robbed me
Of my childhood souvenirs
Memories, they can't be boughten
They can't be won at carnivals for free
Well it took me years to get those souvenirs
And I don't know how they slipped away from me..."_
Raw, unadulterated emotion.
The Professor is correct that songs today never approach this kind of writing. Actually, outside of a handful of songs, most of the music from the mid 90s on just don't hit me hard (exception: Johnny Cash's cover of Nine Inch Nails "Hurt;" that just yanks the tears from my eyes).
@@LazyIRanch Emotions. Great post. Yes, songs can bring that out. In my youth I was never into the words of songs. But now in my 70’s I find myself listening to old favorites and really feeling those words. Thanks
I don't often associate the word perfection with many singer/songwriters. But, Gordon Lightfoot deserves that label. RIP to one of the greats.
Truly. Unmatched top tier excellence.
RIP Gordon! A world icon, a Canadian treasure, but a jewel to the whole world!
He was a special singer/songwriter, in the same class as Jim Croce, Cat Stevens, Harry Chappin, etc…
Gordon Lightfoot recorded so many great songs during the 1970's. "If You Could Read My Mind" has always been my favorite. A really heart-wrenching song.
It’s such an amazing song.
Mine too!
My favourite song of all time. It touches my heart every time I hear it.
Dear Professor; I grew up listening to Casey Kasem , and you make his loss tolerable. Your talent and depth of music appreciation, personal stories of your family really hit home . I admire your knowledge and business savvy ❤ Thank you for all the wonderful episodes , they all are hits.
He has picked up where Mr. Kasem left off ...a perfect successor!
Born in 1971 I remember well listening to Casey Kasem's "America's Top 40" every week. I had never thought about it but if there was still an "America's Top 40" show Professor would be a worthy successor.
Yes!
So did I!! Thank you, professor!
Gord's Gold Songs of a Troubadour, poet, historian, father, grandfather, singer, entertaine!! I'm biased. I first heard Early Morning Rain on the telecast of Aloha from Hawaii. Have the dvd and play it often. The video to the song reminds me if my younger, stupid, drinking days. I survived. Mr. Lightfoot was Incredible. Think I'll slip onto Carefree Highway for a while. Thanks Professor
"Save a Prayer" is easily, far and away, Duran Duran's best song. I couldn't be more pleased to learn that Gordon was an inspiration for it.
Isn't it amazing? What are your other top Duran Duran songs?
Me, too.🙂
You know you’re a legend when even an 80s new wave band takes inspiration from your music.
Ordinary World absolutely amazing song 💛
DD sung that song the same day Prince died. Man…I bawled
Gordon was definitely one of the best singer/songwriters. I've loved "If you could read my Mind" since the 70s. There is definitely something magical about that song. It's almost haunting.
What's your favorite line from the song Mike?
@@ProfessorofRock I had to think about that one but I suppose the opening line, "If you could read my mind love, what a tale my thoughts could tell." That's a pandoras box right there. Just think if you could read your lovers mind or vice versa. We all sometimes think things we don't want to, or shouldn't, express. It would be informative yet sometimes wonderful and sometimes hurtful. The lyrics are full of similes relating to the challenges of relationships that we can all connect to. The lyrics are deep and really makes the listener think. That's what makes the song so engaging.
It is very haunting if you let the words seep into your very soul.
Thankfully, I lived in the same lifeline as Gordon Lightfoot!! Jim Croce is up there for me too.
He was a true Master of his craft. His music meant many things to a lot of us.
Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald is such a haunting song.
If You Could Read My Mind is a song that most of us can relate to in regards to regrets we may have. I can't listen to it without falling apart.
❤ Jim Croce ❤
@johnnyjohnson1326 I consider "Edmund Fitzgerald" one of the greatest songs ever written.
I cry every time I hear this song.
Gordon lightfoot and Jim Croce played together at the farm house
Thank you Professor of Rock for an outstanding tribute to Gordon Lightfoot. Your sincere thoughts are easily recognized as coming from your heart. Mr. Lightfoot had a way of relating the human condition from his experiences to many people through his songs. We have lost a treasure , but his legacy will remain.
I remember this when I was younger, it made me cry. The " and I just can't get it back" really got me 😭😭
In 1979, my girlfriend took me to see Gordon at Massey Hall. A great hall with great acoustics. The concert was mesmerizing. I always thought of him as a poet who put his poems to music. As a flawed individual, as most of us are, he could reach us on an emotional level like few can. This song resonates on a scale like Don Maclean's Vincent. Both paint pictures in the mind that are cinematic complete with soundtrack.
How was the experience?
Aaah, Vincent. I remember when I was a teen in the 80s, and hearing that song for the first time. It made me cry. I still haven't been able to get through that song without shedding a tear, for some reason. If You Could Read My Mind, on the other hand, was just a beautiful song that I liked, until recently. Now, I add it to the shed a few tears pile. I still can't believe we have begun to call him "the late Gordon Lightfoot". Another one of the greats from my childhood gone. May he RIP.
Great analogy, comparing it to Vincent
Gordon is legendary in every sense of the word. Just pure songwriting magic, especially if you've had an influence on Bob Dylan. Appreciate this one man
GORDON WAS A HEROE OF MINE
Even more so now. What songwriter. What a singer. Thanks RC32.
@@kenperkins7921 He was a hero to us all!
@@ProfessorofRock Absolutely!
@@RC32Smiths01 I didn't know his first popular song was in '62.... That's class though when one legend compliments another legend and it turns out they're mutually admirational... Ozzy Osbourne and Post Malone for instance although Posty hasn't been around long enough to quite be a legend yet lol...
Just amazing lyrics. Every time he relates to being the unseen ghost who will never be set free, or the failed hero... It's just so well written. In lesser hands, those themes could come across as incredibly cliché. Instead he finds a haunting balance between heartache, devastation, humbleness, and bitterness.
Those similes and metaphors are so palpable.
Nicely Stated
I saw him in Tacoma, WA around 2014. I had the Gordon Lightfoot image in my head and that deep manly voice. I was shocked by the frail old man on stage and how much higher pitched his voice had become. By the end of the show I was reminded why I loved him from my childhood. It was a hell of a show!
Saw six times from 77 - 2022, yes, his voice was shot, last year my lady friend thought he was going to fall over backwards when he picked up his 12 String, he even had to stop to take a nebulizer treatment during the show. Even watching him last year live for the last time, I too in my Mind’s Eye, I could hear him sing as he did in his prime. Great memories! My all time favorite.
Enjoy his music , met him and Terry Clemens after a show in Merrillville, Indiana about a dozen years ago, both were as nice as nice could be!
I hope the Lord and others are enjoying the performances he is doing now! 😅
@@irazzimmer85 Thank you for sharing your memories. It was a life's delight to here the man sing "If you could read my mind" and to hear "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgereld" (you could drown in that guitar tone) was like whipped cream to top it off.
@@harrykP9 I just retired last month as an educator/administrator I have always loved music have it playing at work or in the house on the radio (it’s the only musical instrument I can play). I have ordered a Zager guitar, waiting for it to arrive, Hope I can learn to play it. “If you could read my mind” isn’t to hard, that is the first song I want to learn to play
Also, family has owned cabins since the mid ‘70’s outside of Bemidji Mn. On my trip to the cabin from NE Indiana where I live. I go through Superior/Duluth on Wisconsin Rte 53. You go over the port where the Edmund Fitzgerald was loaded with taconite. I always make sure when I go over Richard I. Bong bridge the Edmund Fitzgerald is playing on the van’s CD player! It’s like a tribute to the men and the song
When I was younger, I thought the song was about the Abbott and Costello movie "The Time of Their Lives"... about a ghost from a wishing well.
LOL 😂😂😂 I think about Abbott and Costello when ever I hear this song! I haven't seen that movie since the 70s.
Once again, Adam, you increase the emotions of a song tenfold just by adding your own. Gordon Lightfoot was a great storyteller, but so are you.
Thank you dearly! Made my day!
Absolutely 👍
@Professor of Rock your video of wreck of the edmund fitgerald was the best tribute to an artist I've seen you do.
Great segment, Adam! A lot of great stories circulating about Gord as we share our memories of this Canadian icon. An interesting fact is that he attended Westlake Music College in LA to learn how to write his own song charts, thus retaining the publishing royalties to his music, which turned out to be a very wise financial decision! There is a move afoot up here in Toronto to rename Young Dundas Square (our version of Times Square) to Gordon Lightfoot Square, which would be a fitting tribute to him.
Thanks for sharing Robster. Where are you in Canada exactly? What's the closest state to it?
@@ProfessorofRock Toronto. Closest major cities are Buffalo NY (about an hour) or Detroit MI (about 4 hours) by car.
That would be a fitting gesture to name that square after Gordon, but don’t let Trudeau have ANYTHING to do with it.
I’m convinced that Gordon still had many years left in him and the Vax mandate most likely ( imo-40+ years in medicine) took his life, on his FB page it shows him getting the 🦠💉 in March of 21’- the average time span from 💉 to “sudden death “ is about 24 months!!! Needless to say I’m very upset by this needless loss along with the hundreds of thousands of others. 😢
I say, rename the square. 😊
Would be a wonderful tribute
Carefree Highway has always been my favorite Gordon Lightfoot song, but it's so difficult to truly pick a "greatest" from his catalogs because they're all so wonderfully good! God rest your soul, Mr. Lightfoot. Thank for you for brining so much joy to so many.
I sing it in the shower. ❤
There’s a whole selection of Gord’s Gold.
Mine too. In 1974 I had a girlfriend named Ann, she left me not knowing what to do.
He was leaving Phoenix on the I17 and saw the sign for CAREFREE Highway going to Carefree and Cave Creek Arizona. I love going there on the Weekends in the Winter those towns are Lovely.
I've been a Lightfoot fan since I discovered his music in 1969. I once put on a Lightfoot album as background music while I was doing some chores around the house. I discovered I couldn't do both, because the poetry of his music demanded my attention. So, I put the chores on hold and sat down to listen. He was a superior craftsman of words and music.
Gordon was a huge part of my childhood. My father was stationed in New Brunwich from 1972 to 1975 and my parents played his albums all the time. My mom's been gone for 30 years and I can't hear one of his sing without thinking of her. Thank you, Gordon. RIP to them both.
New Brunswick , most beautiful place …..
Gordon is very relatable. The one I tend to really connect with? “Carefree Highway”, great song for bad days, takes me back to childhood, a carefree special time, old folks referred in the lyric gets me thinking of my grandparents.
As B Gibb stated, “good music comes from human experiences and stirs deep emotion”(sic)
He really knew how to write something we all felt or would feel.
Carefree Highway is wonderful no doubt. Barry was right!
Brought tears to my eyes; the pain in his word and the grief in his voice…
Gives you goosebumps, doesn’t it?
The most beautiful, saddest song of all time. Thank you mr. Lightfoot
Thank you Gordon for the music 🙏
Regret is a very powerful emotion. Devastating, if you let it.
I've been playing this song every day for a long time, as I am watching my marriage dissolve, and our separation begins tomorrow. I, too, was absolutely taken by it since I first heard it at eleven years old, as if it was a foreshadowing for me decades ago. Powerful and touching, it is a work of musical genius. It is my flagship song at this stage in my life, haunting yet cathartic.
Best of luck to you, Amy. Heroes often fail...
@Amy Caldwell Been there, done that and bought the t shirt. It was one day a few weeks before my separation when I knew the marriage was on life support this song came on. I listened to the lyrics and for the first time completely understood the song. It captured every thing I was feeling. Painful but as you said, cathartic at the same time. Even now 10 years later hearing this song transports me back to that time. Good luck on your journey. Even though there will be hard days, there are better days ahead.
Hugs.
Amy, may God bless and keep you in your time of tragedy. I wish you all the best.
I’m so sorry Amy. I hope are doing Ok.
Songs with feeling do not get any better than this one. Great post Prof!
NO truer words were ever spoken! Good call Mark!
I discovered this song’s meaning after my first year of marriage, I totally understood this classic, love it Professor, thx for the history.
Thanks Marlin!
@@ProfessorofRock much love , excellent content my friend
How can anyone call out one song as the best? Early Morning Rain was the first Lightfoot song I put on my Spotify list as I grew up in the Vancouver area and woke up to the rain on many a morning. But so many songs take me back to my parents' livingroom as I'm one of your contemporaries and my parents played his records often.
I managed to finally see Gordon at Perth, Scotland in one of his last appearances. I first heard of him (I was ten then) on the then reliable BBC show "ED Stewart" every Saturday morning. It opened me in later life to appreciate his songs and they still resonate weekly with me when I'm online. God bless you Gordon, you're still a huge part of my life.
Back in the early '70's when they added radios to the school buses (to soothe the savage beasts, I think!), I used to hear this and Sundown and I totally fell in love with his voice. I have never fallen out of love with it. I was lucky enough to see him at the Utah State Fair in 1985 and it was the best concert I'd ever been to. No one was screaming, no one was stoned, and the amplifiers weren't turned up so loud that your ears bled. It was comfortable, companionable - like sitting down with your best friends and just enjoying the evening together, everyone singing along. I cried my eyes out when I heard he'd passed. No one can hold a candle to the Minstrel of the Dawn. I've truly been "the victim of his minstrelsy" and I've loved every minute of it. 💔
How sad. What a talented musician, composer, and lyricist. I didn't realize how close this was to his own life.
I have loved Gordon Lightfoot my entire life!
I'm only diving deeper into Gordon Lightfoot in the last few months. I was already practicing If You Could Read My Mind on my guitar when he passed.
There are some songwriters who really resonoate with me in the poetry of their lyrics, the stories they weave, the emotion they bring. Dan Fogelberg and Jim Croce are chief among them in my book. And so is Gordon Lightfoot.
Have you watched Rick Beato video "what makes this song great" about "If you could read my mind"
@@steveyeager6177 oh yes.
Rick Beato's break down of this song is incredible. I especially love how Rick focuses on all the incredible complexities of the instruments and how Gordon did an amazing job of blending the guitar with the string section to invoke the pain and heartbreak Gordon must have been feeling at the time.
Question
Just purchased a guitar. One of the first songs I want to learn to play is “If You Could Read My Mind”. Is it a song that will be easy to learn? I have never played an musical instrument other than the stereo
Thanks in advance letting me know about this quest
@@irazzimmer85 there are several online resources that can give you the chords for that song. I don't know how far along you are in your own journey ( I'm coming back to the guitar after about 20 years, and I was never that good to start with), but you can definitely find some simplified chord sequences for it if you need to.
Good luck to you!
"If you could read my mind" is absolutely still one of my favorite songs ever! Unbelievably beautiful and haunting. And yes, it still makes me cry. 💜
This is one of the best segments you've ever done. Thank you for this. I love Gordon Lightfoot's catalogue.
My wife and I were fortunate enough to see him in concert just before the pandemic. His voice, understandably, wasn't what it was back in his prime, but he could still play the 12-string and make it look easy. Gordon will always be a favourite. Rest well my friend.
You know, we all get older every day. I understand.
You forgot to add the part where you went for snacks, fell in love with the hot cashier, causing your marriage to end in a fit of irony
"Home is where the heart is and sometimes a good home is broken" Rest in peace Gordon.
Musical genius.
This song contains some of the best uses of simile ever, and I was blessed to hear it live once- and it was perfectly sung! Great show Professor!
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You are exactly right. Amazing.
I remember my third grade teacher showing us similes like these.
Gordon was a fabulous wordsmith…his music got me through high school and college. Rest in peace, Gordon. 💚🙏🏻🎵🎼🎶🎤☮️
Carefree Highway and Early Morning Rain were my theme songs as I hitched around the country in my youth.
I first learned this song in my middle school choir, and like you I didn't really understand it, but it was a beautiful song. Forty two years later I finally understood it on a level I never imagined I could.
Wow! thanks my friend.
Wow, your music teacher was epic to introduce you kids to such beautifully crafted music! They knew what they were doing. You probably don't remember a lot of other songs your choir performed, but you sure remember that one.
Our music teacher taught us some Carpenters songs, which I thought were lame at the time. As I matured, my appreciation for their music increased.
I fell in love (hard) when I was 20, and all the sudden that goofy song we learned in middle school made sense!
"Such a feeling's coming over me
There is wonder in most everything I see
Not a cloud in the sky, got the sun in my eyes
And I won't be surprised if it's a dream"
(Top of the World)
We seem to appreciate more as we get older. That’s natural.
@xxlilly_playsxxkiz9980 True. However, I understood it so much better, at least partially due to a divorce that I never expected. The primary difference was that she was the one who inserted the interloper into the equation.
@LazyIRanch - Ah yes, we definitely learned and performed several Carpenters tunes, including that one. I also played the trumpet, so I learned a lot of the music from the '60s and '70s. We were fortunate.
Gordon Lightfoot was a HUGE part of my childhood. I still have the albums that I bought back in the 70s. One of my absolute favorites of his would be "The Circle is Small"
Thank you for this beautiful profile on Gordon Lightfoot. There will never be another singer songwriter like him again. Truly one of a kind.
NEVER! He's was the embodiment of musical integrity.
He was one in a trillion, meaning no artist today may ever rise to Gordon’s level of genius.
It still breaks my heart. Love Gordon.
I was fortunate enough to have seen him in concert twice. I loved how, each time, virtually all of the audience in their adoration of him would sing along with him but never loud enough to overwhelm his performance.
I also saw him twice. Once at the outdoor venue called Pine Knob in the '70s. The other in Royal Oak , MI a couple years ago. A 40-year+ span with no loss of talent.
My therapist was a Gordon Lightfoot fan. He used this song as a means to understand the importance of connecting with our dark side, our shadow. The song is a beautiful example of someone going deep down, having the courage to see himself honestly, taking responsibility and most amazingly giving that journey for the world to see/hear. Usually it is stuff that stays within a private space and with very few. RIP Gordon, you were a big part of who I am today. Thank You
I turned 68 years old yesterday, which got me to thinking about my life. Gordon Lightfoot's music has been the musical score for the story of my life. It has always expressed how I've felt and my sentiments as my life has played out. Although I never met Gordon in person, I consider him a life long friend whom I'll truly miss.
I am 60 and I too felt like I had lost a best friend.
This song brings me back to the happy times when I was really young and felt secure with both mum and dad. I wish I could feel that again.
Don’t We All
I've loved him since the 70's!! Every now and then, I listen to "Gord's Gold". It's always nice to hear, every time.
I had an eight-track player and my mom gave me Lightfoot’s album. My mom was a Canadian so she loved him. I listened to that album over and over again on Saturday nights in junior high. His voice was mysterious and haunting.
The guitar parts are mind blowing.
Amazing!
This backing track is so, so beautiful.
My earliest musical memory was hearing "Sundown" on the radio for the millionth time back in the 70s when I was about maybe 3 years old. I remember asking my mom why that same song was on the radio 15 times a day. That was when i first began to understand the concept of a "hit song".
Gordon will always have a spot in my heart. My dad and I spent hours together listening to him driving to my hockey practices and games. When I hear him, it brings all those great memories back. Nothing more Canadian than Gordon Lightfoot and hockey.
maybe some tim hortons coffee and poutine
@pjpredhomme7699 neither of those. Back then, we never went to Tim Hortons it was as big as it is today. Poutine wasn't either.
Rainy day people..Mt favourite ❤ "Rainy day people don't hide love inside, they just pass it on". Stunning ❤
As a Canadian who thought that world of Lightfoot, all I can say is well done Professor of Rock! Fantastic video!! Thank You for paying tribute to a Canadian Icon!!
What a Canadian legend!!
So many great songs. Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald is my favorite from GL. He was such a great storyteller!! RIP GL!
A master. No question.
Perfect song.
Early Morning Rain is one of my favorites from him.
A great choice my friend.
Love it.
He was such a great storyteller. He had so many hits “If you could read my mind” is one of my favorite songs by him. Rest in peace, Gordon Lightfoot.
So many classics.
When people die we are asked to give thanks for that life . Gordon’s fans are in deed Grateful . It’s a better world I think with his songs in it . ❤
Yes! Absolutely... There's nothing like his music. Very 70s. My childhood. I can listen to his stuff over and over and over.
Wow. I always knew this was a great song, but it hit like a sledgehammer to the chest to find out it was deeply based in his real-life personal failings. It gives the song a whole other dimension for me. When you write songs, you hope to get lucky enough to write something that's timeless, evocative, and universally moving. Gordon Lightfoot did this on a legendary scale. I think he knows his home country loved him as a national treasure, but millions of his south of the border cousins felt the same. RIP.
Gordon was an essential folk singer/story teller in the 60’s and 70’s. His work is vetted out through time.
So influential.
Wife and I was listening to Gordon’s hits just last night. Perfect timing. Gordon is a treasure. An amazing songwriter. Anyone who can write a documentary (Edmond Fitzgerald) and make it mainstream is a master.
Yeah, that is one of the problems I had with GL. When I was younger, I could not really appreciate him. Now, I just turned 60, and listen to him again. And just go "Wow". This is pure talent, and a poet.
A great sad song. Writing about a marriage that failed. Wishing it could be back. Knowing it never will. Trying to apologize to her for all the pain and sorry.
You summed up Gordon Lightfoot in one word, "integrity". Amen
Can't believe we lost him at the start of this month!😢
It's a painful loss... for sure.
Right after Harry Belafonte! 😢
The wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald introduced me to Gordon. I fell in love with his voice and the way his songs just seem to flow like water in a gentle stream.
Gordon was probably the last of the true bards, hopefully only for now. He was truly in touch with "the source". He made the music come to life and touch your senses with pure bliss and love.
Goodbye Mr. Lightfoot, there will never be another with your skill. Thank you for the music and the memories.
Musical Shakespeare he was.
Yes. I was also quite young when I first heard this. (I was about 8) I didn't understand this subject of the song but I loved the sound and I knew it told a good story.
The same thing with "Time in a Bottle" by Jim Croce.
Great pieces of music the weren't understood by me, but they still sounded so great that I didn't want them to end.
Thanks Paul. Love both songs ever so..
Take on new meanings as we get older.
@@xxlilly_playsxxkiz9980 100% !
What else do you need to know beyond the fact that Bob Dylan said that Gordon Lightfoot never wrote a bad song?! I agree completely. Black Day in July, Did She Mention My Name, Song for a Winter's Night, Affair on Eighth Avenue, the list just goes on and on.
An amazing Canadian and troubadour!!!! He will be sorely missed!!!
If You Could Read My Mind played in the closing credits of the underrated film Wonderland. A beautiful song.
Wow. No kidding.
Amazing.
Gone way too soon but NEVER to be forgotten. RIP Mr Lightfoot and thank you for the music.
As a young teen, I had the same reaction to this song..
Thanks for sharing!
It’s a masterpiece.
Just like birds of a feather
We too have followed the golden sun
It feels so good
Knowin' the watchman's gone