Gordon Lightfoot RIP

Hear the mighty engines roar see the silver wing up high she’s away and Westward bound high above the clouds she’ll fly you can’t jump a jet plane like you can a freight train so I best be on my way in the Early morning rain

Songwriting royalty.

Read this this morning…thought it was well said.

“ So many brilliant songwriters came out of Canada in the Sixties — legends like Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, and Robbie Robertson — that the talents of Gordon Lightfoot are sometimes overlooked by those who don’t know better. He never even appeared on a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ballot before his death at 84. That’s a raging injustice when you listen back to gems like “If You Could Read My Mind,” “Carefree Highway,” and “Early Morning Rain.” These songs earned him a sterling reputation as a songwriter’s songwriter, which you can see when you check the list of people who covered them: Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, and countless others. Or you can take it from Dylan himself, who famously remarked, “I can’t think of any Gordon Lightfoot song I don’t like. Every time I hear a song of his, it’s like I wish it would last forever.”

Awesome dude. I won’t post it here, but there’s a great clip on YouTube of Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, and Roger McGuinn playing “Coyote” at Gord’s, while he rattles around in the background.

Also, the character in the song “Sundown” is based on the woman who later gave John Belushi his last speedball.