IF YOU COULD READ MY OBIT…
Sundown has come for Canuck folkie Gordon Lightfoot, aged 84. Lightfoot first saw headwinds as a songwriter in the 60s, with recordings of his songs by Peter, Paul and Mary and Marty Robbins bolstering his industry credibility, as well as the glowing praise of Bob Dylan, who remarked “Every time I hear a song of his, I wish it could last forever.” Now a Canadian hero, name recognition outside of the Great White North still evaded him.
That changed with Canadian No. 1 and US top 5 hit “If You Could Read My Mind”, a solemn, oft-covered reflection of his ongoing divorce. Though it (or Lightfoot in general) didn’t achieve the same chart success in the UK, it would nevertheless creep into UK consciousness as regular backing music in prankfest Trigger Happy TV. His success would continue with two more Canadian No. 1s – “Sundown”, which was inspired by a subsequent volatile relationship of his and also topped the US charts, and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”, a mammoth ode to the doomed shipping freighter and its 29 crewmen that Lightfoot considered his finest hour.
His commercial fortunes faded in the 80s, though he continued to steadily tour and found himself in the spotlight when suing the songwriters of “The Greatest Love of All” for aping “If You Could Read My Mind”’s melody (ultimately withdrawing the suit once Whitney Houston was ensnared in the battle). He remained charmingly humble, never seeing himself as a superstar even as he was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and bequeathed the Order of Canada.
Former alcoholic Lightfoot was long in declining health, and was lucky to survive an aortic aneurysm in 2002. He was diagnosed with emphysema in the 2010s, and recent cancellation of concerts signalled we’d soon see Lightfoot in the grave. Drunkasaskunk’s B Team is among the trio who knew that ghost is him.
Gordon Lightfoot
17 November 1938 – 1 May 2023, aged 84
3 TEAMS (💀💀💀💀💀💀 6 POINTS)