Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (Lightfoot From: Joe Offer Date: 01 Sep 13 - 09:38 PM Here's an obituary dated August 29, 2013 from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel EDMUND B. FITZGERALD |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (Lightfoot From: Beer Date: 04 Jan 11 - 12:03 AM You don't know where to begin??????? After saying what you have just said, nor do I. So reveal yourself guest if you know or are so close to Mr Lightfoot. And yes there are many writers on this site. I say all of this in appreciation of one of Canada's premiers songwriters. But you need to explain yourself a lot more. ad. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (Lightfoot From: GUEST,Lightfoot Fan Date: 03 Jan 11 - 11:54 PM The song is not an example of songwriting craftsmanship. It was so shoddy that explaining the examples, I don't know WHERE to begin. How many listeners are songwriters? I'm sure that Gordon knows what I'm talking about. |
Subject: RE: New doco on 'Edmund Fitzgerald' loss From: JennieG Date: 25 Mar 10 - 08:04 PM Sorry Mick....I must have missed it! My brain isn't working well lately. Cheers JennieG |
Subject: RE: New doco on 'Edmund Fitzgerald' loss From: Big Mick Date: 25 Mar 10 - 07:47 PM Jennie, there is already another thread on this HERE.
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Subject: New doco on 'Edmund Fitzgerald' loss From: JennieG Date: 25 Mar 10 - 07:37 PM Have just read that there is a new doco made on the sinking of the "Edmund Fitzgerald", link here . Gordon Lightfoot has changed the words when he sings the song in live performance, but recordings will stay as they are. Cheers JennieG |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (Lightfoot From: Michael Harrison Date: 25 Mar 10 - 01:45 PM Of those I admire, Lightfoot is near the top - long may his songs survive. harrison |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (Lightfoot From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego Date: 25 Mar 10 - 01:29 PM What an odd mix of disdain, praise, admiration, envy, literary criticism, etc., etc., ad nauseum. I was just trying to put myself in the shoes of someone, such as a Gordon Lightfoot, who had a stellar early career and quite a measure of fame. At some point, in order to keep pace with changing tastes and commercial pressure (not unlike in writing)there is the need or, at least, the temptation to experiment with new song styles, techniques, different instruments, overlays of orchestration - real or electronic - and different backup performers. As in the old Ricky Nelson song, "Garden Party," in the end, "You can't please everyone, so you've got to please yourself." I have always admired Lightfoot's songs, among many others, but I have my favorites. The ones I tend to like are those which are evocative of mood or place, both in lyric and instrumental accompaniment, something at which he excelled. The late, great Red Shea contributed powerfully to his earlier work, most of it acoustic. With a few exceptions, those are the songs I prefer. I saw Gordon last year in San Diego. He has been much affected by the prior years of excess and the illness which nearly took him. He looks a bit gaunt. But, he is still a trouper. His voice has lost some range and smoothness and he would be the first to tell you he likely is done recording. But he put on a good show and most of his key backups are still with him, notably guitarist Terry Clements. By the way, I don't much care whether others share my admiration for Gordon or any other particular musician, but I tire of comments from some that sound like sour grapes or are simply arrogantly dismissive of someone else's music or success. Think Karma. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (Lightfoot From: Beer Date: 25 Mar 10 - 01:27 PM Very well said Mick. Beer (adrien) |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (Lightfoot From: Big Mick Date: 25 Mar 10 - 12:15 PM It absolutely does change the story. It has long been the contention that the crew erred, which released the owners and operators of the vessel from liability for the sinking. The evidence now seems to show that the crew acted exactly as they were supposed to, and were not at fault. Whenever I hear "pilot" or "crew" error, I am a bit suspicious, especially when this is publicized even before extensive research is done. It generally says to me that someone is trying to limit their liability. Take the example of the commuter jet that went down over Buffalo. Sure the crew was in error, but the extensive investigation showed that crews are being allowed in the cockpit who, by reason of lack of hours and training, have no business in there. And lost lives are the result. Corporate interests consider this "acceptable risk". But the families that have lost loved ones have no recourse. Bravo to Gord for making a small change that acknowledges that this crew did what they were trained to do. I hope it brings solace, at least, to the families. All the best, Mick |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (Lightfoot From: sian, west wales Date: 25 Mar 10 - 12:03 PM The Canadian media seems to be interested in Lightfoot changing the lyrics From what CKTB has been saying it sounds like a very small change: "at 7 p.m. the main hatch gave in" to "caved in". Can't see that it changes the story ... sian |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: Clinton Hammond Date: 03 Feb 02 - 03:09 PM Hey robomatic ! "And I've never heard of the Capt. Torres song. Where would one be after finding a recording of that? " James Keelaghans cd "Road" His web site, http://www.keelaghan.com/ .-) |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: GUEST,kivatrader Date: 03 Feb 02 - 11:27 AM I grew up in the early 60's in Northwestern Washington State. We got a lot of Canadian television in those days, and from the time I became interested in folk music, I heard Lightfoot's music regularly. They still pay the soundtrack in my mind regularly. To my way of thinking, I've always believed that the songs that became true folk classics WERE the ones that people played and heard a lot, not the obscure ones listened to by groups of literati gathered around an old victrola listening to Library of Congress recordings (not that there's anything wrong with that!)Just because a song is popular and reaches a large audience, it shouldn't be relegated to the "light and fluffy" category. Lightfoot's music has always inspired me and I now play over 30 of the tunes (adequately -- not well)and they never fail to move the listener. I guess I'm a fan -- ohmygod! I also agree that the Tony Rice compilation is a must to hear. His arragements and voice are fresh and accessible and point out just how gret the writing really is. Gord is a treasure of at least two nations! |
Subject: Latest News on Gordon Lightfoot From: vlmagee Date: 03 Feb 02 - 09:57 AM Just thought I'd write a quick note mentioning that Gord's Live In Reno video (DVD and tape) was released this past Tuesday. It's from a concert in April, 2000. I think it is a beautifully done video, and I especially enjoy watching how Gord plays; there are lots of great close-ups of both him and the band. The music is wonderful and he plays just about all the great songs (well, 22 of them). Also, I just got an update to his tour schedule this week. There are 50 dates so far for 2002 (he generally aims for 50 to 60 a year) including a tour in Eastern Canada (6 concerts) for the first time in quite a number of years. The tour ends up with 4 nights at Massey Hall in Toronto in November. The other 40 concerts are around the US. There is other news at my web site if you are interested. The web site is at gordonlightfoot.com . The direct link to the tour schedule is: here . |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: catspaw49 Date: 08 Nov 01 - 12:56 AM Hey Gypsy! When I did school programs with Hammereds, I'd tell the kids that one of them could play a duet with me right away and ther was always a big deal to see who it would be and I'd generally do it with 3 or 4 by the time it was over. I'd give them a pair of hamers and have them beat a quarter note D and G "drone" while I played the "Wreck" melody line. Always a winner. Spaw |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: CaptainLewis Date: 08 Nov 01 - 12:38 AM As a native Minnesotan, having sailed Superior many times, I have a profound respect for that "lake"! The gales can blow up right quick and without warning. I heard of the wreck when it happened. I had a friend in Duluth who had lost his uncle on the wreck, and spent the remaining time that I knew him, getting drunk at a local bar and sailing out in storms recklessly, he was eventually lost in one. As for the melody I dimly recall a simiar song associated with an Irish or English shipwreck from the turn of the century or earlier and labelled traditional. As for the song itself, I've heard similar complaints about Stan Rogers. Pity about all that commercial success - spoils the enjoyment of good music. ;-) CLB |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: Gypsy Date: 07 Nov 01 - 11:03 PM my 2 cents are still for Gord. Remember when the actual wreck happened, cuz i was living in the area at the time. We still play the Wreck on a regular basis. Of course, we play it with no guit, just mando, banjo, hammered dulcimer, and fiddle. |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: ollaimh Date: 07 Nov 01 - 05:38 PM the melody to back home in derry is hundreds of years old and has a b part and a chorus, which are not in the wreck. lightfoot may have borrowed the main melody but it's isn't exactly a complicated or unusual one so it's just as likely he co-discovered it. there are nmany old irish and scottish ballad melodies that keep turning up. when lightfoot was young he was in a toronto irish band which did did quite a bit of traditional ballad music so maybe he got it there ., or just got the feel there, in any case it seems quite within folk tradition to me. can anyone count how many folk melodies woody guthrie borrowed, or dylan for that matter.goodnight irene has been rewritten so many times it amazes me |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: vlmagee Date: 07 Nov 01 - 07:34 AM Yes, Kim C, it's "waves". I suggested going to my copy of the lyrics because I had carefully proofread it, comparing it to the sheet music as well as to what he sings. I know that sometimes published sheet music is wrong, but in this case, it isn't. I used the individual single sheet music, which is still in print. The song also appears in several "anthology" songbooks. As far as the confusion over "Derry", let me add that for reasons known only to them, the Rheostatics either created or intentionally popularized the claim that Back Home In Derry was the source of the music. The Rheostatics yell out "Remember Derry" or something like that at the end of one of their versions of Wreck, and their web site actually says that Derry is the original. I have read that they retracted that statement and say it is only a joke (a joke?), but the claim remains on what I believe is their official web site. Back Home In Derry was recorded by Christie Moore, who attributes the lyrics to Sands and the music to Lightfoot. Moore's recording was released in 1984 on his "Ride On" album. Wreck, as you all know, was released in 1976. The shipwreck, by the way, was on the evening of November 10, 1975 - the 26th anniversary is just days away. |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: catspaw49 Date: 06 Nov 01 - 11:37 PM The true problem is the song was way overplayed. It has some wonderful or hateful qualities which tun some off and other on. Do you hear a drone or 75mph of wind in the rigging? Lots of facets to it and still, for my money, one of GL's best works. BTW, it had a very mixed effect on the surviving families too. There are probably as many opinions about this song as there are opinions as to why the Fitz went down. There are actually THREE "OFFICIAL" Reports with three different conclusions. Even after finding the wreck and diving on it, there is still no definitive answer. Perhaps none of the 29 men who lost their lives that night off Whitefish Point knew either......... Spaw |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: robomatic Date: 06 Nov 01 - 10:56 PM Gordon Lightfoot wrote a great song with 'The Wreck of...' but he has some godawful lyrics out there. My housemates used to torment me with 'Alberta Bound' 'Oh the Skyline of ToRONto is something you'll get ONto' 'And if you've got the MON-ey, you can get yerself a HON-ey' which is right up there with Neil Dimond's 'and no one made a sound, not even the chair' Meanwhile, try Stan Rogers 'The Flowers of Bermuda' for a good shipwreck song And I've never heard of the Capt. Torres song. Where would one be after finding a recording of that? |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: 53 Date: 06 Nov 01 - 10:14 PM gordon is all right in my book. BOB |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: SDShad Date: 06 Nov 01 - 09:24 PM "Fitz" is a song I've enjoyed a lot, and found greatly entrancing at times, but I do suffer from the syndrome of having heard it just a few too many times. However, the problem I have with it is that it seems to be the only Gord song that some random yobbo at every open mike in the known universe has ever heard of (that, and maybe "Sundown"), a yobbo who feels compelled to yell out "sing Wreckadaedmundfitzgeeeeerrraaaalllld!", whenever I say "this next song is by Gordon Lightfoot now," or words to that effect, before singing "Canadian Railroad Trilogy," or "Early Morning Rain," or my personal favorite, "Ten Degrees and Getting Colder." Okay, so I don't always handle hecklers/requesters/heckling-requesters too well. I am, after all, the guy who once said "no, I sing real country" when asked to sing Garth Brooks.... Shad |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: SharonA Date: 06 Nov 01 - 07:16 PM He "lost" me for a time when "East of Midnight" came out. By that time, his Lightfoot-song-that-sells style had evolved to the point that not only did all the songs sound the same, but so did all the lyrics: he mumbled his way through each song, and I couldn't understand a word! It was like listening to the chorus of "The Auctioneer" on every track! Now I'm trying to catch up with those latest CD's of his that I did not buy at the time they were released, and I'm about ready to see him in concert again. |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: GUEST,frankie Date: 06 Nov 01 - 06:42 PM I was a big fan of Lightfoot early on and then I kind of lost interest when he seemed to take a sort of commercial turn around the time of "Sundown", I think. Tony Rice frequently does Lightfoot tunes and even released a compilation of them. When I got this last year and heard all those songs it made me realize once again how good a writer GL is. Tony also does an excellent solo version of "The Edmund Fitzgerald" imho. f. |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: Mountain Dog Date: 06 Nov 01 - 06:23 PM While I honor the shades of those who went down with the Edmund Fitzgerald and I appreciate the song and its writer, I confess I do so strictly in the abstract, thanks to my initial (over)exposure to the tune. I'd caught it on the radio once or twice when it first came out and found it powerful and haunting. (As a former DJ, I also pegged it as a instant favorite among on-air types, as its prodigious length allowed plenty of time for taking care of the necessities of life that often go begging when you're chained to a pair of turntables in a small room, forever spinning 3-minute tunes...) Things got ugly for me when my stepfather discovered the tune and brought it home...on 8-track! Seems that TWOTEF was just the right length to get its own program on the tape...which meant all that step-dad had to do to "hear it just one more time" was to pass by the stereo, punch swiftly through the other three programs and, voila!, there was Gord whanging away again, off for another spin around the lake! The *#$@! tape didn't leave the player for the next 48 hours and things grew dank and bilious throughout the house. "Evokes the sense of a ship in distress", you say? "And how!," says I! Cats yowled, bilge sloshed, grown women and stripling youths chewed the carpets, alas, to no avail. Never before or since have I experienced anything with the power to render the far better part an entire family, landlocked and housebound in the hintermost Midwest, seasick, green and heaving with nary a scupper to wretch in! And all the while, our cruel captain stayed faithful to his rounds, punching the damnable button thrice in succession each time he passed the stereo by, howling above the ceaseless storm: "This is his'try, y'know! This really happened! Gawdamahty, whatta great sowng!" At last, in desperation, having lashed myself to a dining room chair for stability, I staggered by dark of night to the stereo where it pitched queasily atop its particle-board stand (which, now thoroughly waterlogged, had begun to swell and split, its faux-walnut laminate hanging in limp and glistening tatters) and with clammy, numbed fingers prized the tape from the heartless beast's tireless maw. Mom saluted me weakly from beneath her dripping sou'wester whilst I danced a vigorous hob-nailed hornpipe on the plastic cassette, scattering the shards like chaff as the grateful sobs of siblings and neighbors rose to fill the air. Over the years, I have recovered to the point that instead of breaking furniture or committing random acts of road rage when I chance to hear "The Wreck", I slip peaceably into a semi-catatonic state and gibber quietly to myself until the storm has passed. Yes, all things considered, I take it pretty well on the outside these days, but, oh, if you could read my mind, love... |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: Kim C Date: 06 Nov 01 - 05:21 PM Isn't it "the WAVES turn the minutes to hours"? The event, and the song that followed, all happened when I was a wee lassie. I loved the haunting eerieness of it then, and now. There are a lot of epic songs which have words that don't rhyme exactly, and sometimes sound clumsy. Maybe sometimes it's the telling of the tale that's more important than having all your words scan perfectly. I followed with interest the retrieval, replication and return of the Edmund Fitzgerald's bell a few years back. |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: Clinton Hammond Date: 06 Nov 01 - 04:46 PM Jack... Ya know how to find me if ya want an mp3 of "Captain Torrez" eh?? ;-) |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: Jack the Sailor Date: 06 Nov 01 - 03:32 PM ClintonHammond, I'm getting a feel gfor your point of view. I think I would Like Captain Torrez. Mary Ellen Carter is one of my favorite songs. Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald was. But like you, I've heard it way too many times. Gordon Packed a lot of information into an admittedly long song. I've read entire books with less information. If Lightfoot said it was poorly written he was wrong. Through the media I've heard him on occaision denigrate his own songs and abilities. He rerecorded "Early Morning Rain" among other songs for "Gord's Gold" because he thought he couldn't sing well when he first recorded the songs. Millons of his fans would disagree. |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: The Hiker Date: 06 Nov 01 - 03:14 PM The lyric to back Home in Derry is attributed to the republican hunger striker Bobby Sands if this is true then it dates the melody to The Wreck as being much earlier. |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: Little Hawk Date: 06 Nov 01 - 02:51 PM Alex - Naw. Putting a bridge in that song would be as unworkable as putting a bridge across Lake Superior. Bad idea in either case. :-) - LH |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: SharonA Date: 06 Nov 01 - 02:49 PM I agree with Maxine. Thanks, Pete, for telling us about your experience. BTW, I use the one verse where all five Great Lakes are described ("Lake Huron rolls; Superior sings...") to remember their names! |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: GUEST,maxine Date: 06 Nov 01 - 02:35 PM Have been reading this thread with interest. Pete, your account is fascinating. It's lovely to hear from someone who has some sort of geographical knowledge of the whole thing. When I first heard this song, I imagined it to be from the 1920/30 period, whereas it actually happened 74 ish (I hope I'm right). I just wanted to thank you for adding your 'piece' it makes it even more real to me. |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: TonyK Date: 06 Nov 01 - 02:00 PM Thanks, Leeder. That's the one I was thinking of. I'm surprised to hear (read) that 'Wreck' came before 'Derry', Clinton. Thank you. TonyK |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: Clinton Hammond Date: 06 Nov 01 - 01:40 PM "Wreck" came first, Leeder.... |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: Leeder Date: 06 Nov 01 - 01:39 PM TonyK, "The Wreck..." has the same melody as the Irish song "Back Home in Derry". I'm not sure which song came first. StevenG, the songs you mention are ones I think of as around the end of GL's "early period", before I started getting bored with his stuff. I agree with you entirely on those songs, and much of what he wrote previously. Not that it matters, but I remember the Country Hoedown TV show when they announced that a young backup singer was leaving the show to go out on his own, and they gave him a solo spot. Yes, it was GL. I also remember "The TuTones", Gordon Lightfoot and Terry Whelan. Wish I'd bought their LP, it'd be a collector's item now. Lastly, my aunt, a music teacher in Orillia, prided herself that she gave Gordon his first music lessons. So much for name-dropping... |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: Amos Date: 06 Nov 01 - 01:32 PM GUEST setledown: Have ye not heard of common manners when visiting? Have ye not heard of spelling? This is the first time you have let us all down. Don't let it happen again!! We aren't taking you for granted hereafter... Regards, A. |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: Clinton Hammond Date: 06 Nov 01 - 01:26 PM " it is deliberately written in a kind of archaic, heroic storytelling language" Gord the Board himself has admitted it's not very well written... |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: PeteBoom Date: 06 Nov 01 - 01:22 PM Actually, I remember the storm the sank the Fitzgerald. Even tho I was a LONG way away from Lake Superior, and 50 miles inland from Lake Michigan late that night. That afternoon I'd been along the lakeshore doing a photographic shoot. Trying to anyway - Even though it was the fringe of the storm, there were massive breakers pounding the beach and harbor entrance. Waves towering over the breakwater guarding the entrance, with white water crashing as high as the top of the lighthouse (Holland, Michigan). I found out that night that a couple of kids were washed off the walkway on breakwater. One washed up a few days later, the other, if I remember right, washed up a month or so after. The next morning, or course, came word that a freighter was overdue - something that hadn't happened on the Great Lakes in years - even the Carl D. Bradley (1958 or 1959) had a chance to send a distress call that saved 2 crewmen out of 30+. The first time I heard the song, I thought the rolling feel, complete with the odd "jerk" in the lyrics, touched really well the feel of a ship in trouble. Lake Superior is a strange thing - Ships designed to handle her have trouble when she's riled - Those just designed for the North Atlantic have no chance at all. Ah well - time to work - Pete |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: mousethief Date: 06 Nov 01 - 01:10 PM It's not so much the clunky lyrics or lengh I mind, but the gawddawful drone melody. If ever a song would benefit from a bridge.... Alex |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: Peter T. Date: 06 Nov 01 - 01:05 PM I am amazed that people think that there is clumsiness in this song. It is a piece of extraordinary writing: it is deliberately written in a kind of archaic, heroic storytelling language (note the Longfellow feel to the opening), full of rough "telegraphed news", mingled with modern terminology. It is completely and utterly brilliant writing. Lightfoot has written a lot of bad quasi-poetry: this is not. My hat is off to him. yours, Peter T. |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: GUEST,Steven G. Date: 06 Nov 01 - 01:02 PM I think the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald of the best song that Lightfoot ever written. I really like playing this song with a 12 string guitar, and doing a little picking in it. Like Valerie, I am a big fan of Lightfoot music. All of his songs are timeless classics, to "If You Could Read My Mind to Sundown, they are all great songs. And I find that Lightfoot uses alot of different or variation of chords, than other performers. As for Lightfoot, he is still playing his classic songs anywhere he goes. Valerie Magee site, http://www.gordonlightfoot.com has nearly all the tour dates for next year, lyrics, news, you name it, its there. Anyway that's my .02 cents worth. Steven G.
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Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: TonyK Date: 06 Nov 01 - 12:57 PM I once knew what song 'The Wreck...' was based on, or rather what melody it used but I have forgotten. Anyone know? TonyK |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: Willie-O Date: 06 Nov 01 - 12:53 PM Clinton, I think it's inappropriate to compare "Edmund Fitzgerald" with "Capt. Torres". They both concern real-life modern shipwrecks, but the subject is approached completely differently. Lightfoot commemorated the loss of the Fitz and its crew by writing a very traditional style, straightforward narrative with reference to the past (native legend, etc.) People relate to it on that basis, because it sounds like history, and are often surprised that it refers to an event that happened in 1975. The only thing non-traditional about the song is the electric guitar lick. Keelaghan, who works a bit harder at innovative literary devices, wrote a masterpiece in "Captain Torres". It examines the irony of modern day technology that allows the shorebound wives to receive "phone calls from young men dying", but cannot save them from their fate. You learn a lot from the Edmund Fitzgerald, if you study the lyrics, of what happened, where, and maybe why. Very little of this information is present in the Keelaghan song. They are both great songs that have moved many, although of course the Edmund Fitzgerald has been overplayed. You don't have to like 'em both, but it's not a case of one good, one bad. Respectfully, on dry land,
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Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: SharonA Date: 06 Nov 01 - 12:39 PM Seems like he's okay, apparently; he has a full tour schedule for March-November 2002 listed on his website (www.gordonlightfoot.com). Lyrics to his songs are also there!!! For other seagoing ballad-songs by Lightfoot, with haunting chord progressions, check out "Ode to Big Blue" and "Ballad of Yarmouth Castle". |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: TonyK Date: 06 Nov 01 - 12:19 PM Does anyone know how Lightfoot is doing these days? TonyK |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: Clinton Hammond Date: 06 Nov 01 - 12:18 PM "And clumsy lyrics are also part of a long tradition." ya... the tradition of BAD songwriting... And Jack... if you re-read my post, you'll notice I said "4 good chords"... When I have to play wreck in my solo show, I cut a verse and the song is still way too long... I then, most likley play either "Marry Ellen Carter" to wake people back up, Or I play "Captain Torrez", to show whoever requested "Wreck" that there are much better shipwreck songs out there... I thik you'd really like Captain Torrez... ;-) |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: Little Hawk Date: 06 Nov 01 - 12:11 PM Inexperienced and ambitious young songwriters are much given to the habit (and the conceit) of writing songs with a large variety of odd chords in them, hoping that this will produce a superior song. It generally doesn't. Most of the better songs have a pretty simple chord structure. And yes, there are some exceptions to that, but it goes fairly well as a general rule. People think Lightfoot's songs all sound the same mainly because his voice has a very distintive quality, and his voice is in all of them (duh!). People think the same of Leonard Cohen's songs for precisely the same reason. Hell, Ian Tyson's songs all "sound the same" too, and he's a superb songwriter, as are Cohen and Lightfoot. For a truly unique Lightfoot song, how about "Ghosts of Cape Horn"? - LH p.s. Some more corrections to the lyrics in Edmund Fitz: "they'd have made Whitefish Bay if they'd PUT fifteen more miles behind her" "with a crew and GOOD captain well seasoned" "they may have BROKE deep and took water" "Superior sings in the ROOMS of her ice water mansion" (that's what I think the words are, anyway...) |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: MichaelAnthony Date: 06 Nov 01 - 11:48 AM Songs are supposed to have lots of chords? |
Subject: RE: Have you not heard of Gordon Lightfoot? From: GUEST,maxine Date: 06 Nov 01 - 11:39 AM When my husband decided to learn to play the guitar, a great friend of ours, taught him 'Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.' This friend was ruthless in as much as he jumped on my husbands foot each time he got the rhythm wrong and banged him on the head with a tambourine each time he had to change chords! Hence, my husband now gives a very good rendition of Edmund Fitzgerald, (he was too scared not to get it right!) This friend of ours died in August,aged just 37, and now to hear this song played with the same passion he played it, is both wonderful and extremely emotional. Cotton Jenny, Rainy Day People, Sundown, his version of Bobby Mcgee is the best I've heard (perhaps I'm biased.) He can do no wrong in my eyes. We've many a happy memory singing Gordon Lightfoot songs - amongst others - well into the early hours. Unfortunately, memories are all we have of our friend now - but the Edmund Fitzgerald will always remind us of him. |
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