{"id":85054,"date":"2023-05-03T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-03T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=85054"},"modified":"2023-05-03T12:22:15","modified_gmt":"2023-05-03T17:22:15","slug":"there-were-no-illusions-on-the-summer-side-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=85054","title":{"rendered":"There Were No Illusions On The Summer Side Of Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I get the impression that Gordon Lightfoot knew time was short when he recorded his last album, three years ago.  At 81, it wasn&#8217;t a big stretch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Gordon Lightfoot - Return Into Dust - Official Lyric Video\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tR3peyxpmQ8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s the best album he&#8217;s done in quite a while &#8211; done solo, just Lightfoot on an acoustic guitar, solo, his voice nowhere near it&#8217;s strength and power of his glory days, but still very much him.  And it was a surprise &#8211; in 2016, he famously retired from songwriting, saying it&#8217;d caused a lot of problemls with, and for, the people closest to him in his life.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lightfoot&#8217;s best work wrestles with one of those most troublesome human emotions &#8211; regret.  Popular culture&#8217;s current affectation is to &#8220;have no regrets&#8221; &#8211; which is only possibly if you live a life with no failures, mistakes or risks.  Like Warren Zevon&#8217;s final album, <em>The Wind<\/em>, it sounds like a guy wrapping up accounts for a life spent swinging for the fence &#8211; and leaving a few broken bits and pieces in his wake. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s a wonderful end to a wonderful career. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>I tried to figure out where to start writing something that I haven&#8217;t written dozens of times before, with a long-overdue watching of <em>If You Could Read My Mind<\/em>, the 2020 documentary about his sixty-plus year career, life and legacy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The documentary opens, rather pointedly, with Lightfoot and his third wife watching him peforming &#8220;For Loving Me&#8221;, a semi-comic cad&#8217;s anthem that, it turned out, wasn&#8217;t nearly fictional enough to have not affected many of Lightfoot&#8217;s relationships over the years.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He&#8217;s visibly uncomfortable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"For lovin&#039; me. Gordon Lightfoot  (1967).\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WpkATS6mjbc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Turn it off.  I hate that f*cking song&#8221;, he says, face wrinkled in disgust that, we learn in the next 90 minutes, has a whole lot of hindsight behind it.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the hindsight is fascinating indeed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>The first acoustic guitar part with a moving bass line that I ever learned to play, back in eighth grade, was &#8220;Sundown&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Lightfoot, Gordon - Sundown (LIVE - Midnight Special - 1974)\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sSmv38nClGo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>And it occurred to me &#8211; while LIghtfoot&#8217;s music wasn&#8217;t a huge, life-altering influence at the front of my mind, like Springsteen or (in my annoying adolescent days) The Who, Lightfoot&#8217;s music was always not just <em>there<\/em>, but found a way to burrow into my mind.  Lightfoot&#8217;s music was always <em>filling<\/em> &#8211; there was as substance to it.  It didn&#8217;t just flit through the mind and keep going. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He was an infamously fastidious songwriter and producer (not to mention, as the documentary notes, a rhythm guitarist who was in his prime such a solid, powerful musical presence that his band didn&#8217;t need a drummer until well into the seventies).  His craftsmanship was very deliberate, very personal (in sixty years, he never worked with a co-writer), and pretty much completely <em>him<\/em>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He came to fame in the folk music revival scene of the early 60s, on the basis of a lot of live performances and several songs covered by other artists; &#8220;Early Molrning Rain&#8221; and &#8220;If You Could Read My Mind&#8221; were covered by everyone from a Johnny Cash-style version by, well, Johnny Cash, to a disco version by VIola Wells that topped the R&amp;B charts for a month in 1980.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that leads us to one of the things that always drew me to Lightfoot; his music, like Dylan&#8217;s, kicked the fey, mewling limitations of &#8220;revival&#8221; folk music out of the way.  The covers wandered all over the waterfront &#8211; from Wills&#8217;s disco read of &#8220;If You Could Read My Mind&#8221;&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Viola Wills - If You Could Read My Mind (Official Video)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OM5_8b9Y7O0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>To the Replacements sloppy punk&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"I&#039;m Not Sayin&#039;\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/k7Pmo4hE7TY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>To Sarah McLachlan&#8217;s alt-pop:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Sarah McLachlan - Song For A Winter&#039;s Night (Audio)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/G0vSA5_8J0M?start=4&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Favorites, looking back at a sixty year carer?   Leaving out some of the obvious ones, like &#8220;Sundown&#8221; and &#8220;Wrech of the Edmund Fitzgerald&#8221;?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some days, it&#8217;s the maddeningly oblique &#8220;Summer Side of Life&#8221;, with not-subtle Gospel overtones, distinctly un-folky Hammond organ part, and one of the most glorious vocal hooks ever?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Summer Side of Life\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4xbR3Nrq_fI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The subtle &#8220;Don Quixote&#8221;, a protest song about&#8230;well, everything, and one that runs through my mind every time I on the air, today?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"gordon lightfoot don quixote\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/q9bo1C2KOPM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The tartly autobiographical &#8220;Race Among The Ruins&#8221;?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Race Among the Ruins\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9OsonnGnXQU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The freezing-cold social commentary of &#8220;Circle of Steel&#8221;?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Circle of Steel\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pUs8Qxi5O9U?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>On any given day, any or all of &#8217;em qualify. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But for today?   Looking back at Lightfoot&#8217;s 84 years (and my own, uh, several decades), this one seems most appropriate; a wistful look back, wrestling with regret, and finding away to live with them and still live. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"1974 HITS ARCHIVE: Carefree Highway - Gordon Lightfoot (stereo 45--#1 A\/C)\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MHXtkBGQNAw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>RIP, Gordon LIghtfoot.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I get the impression that Gordon Lightfoot knew time was short when he recorded his last album, three years ago. At 81, it wasn&#8217;t a big stretch. It&#8217;s the best album he&#8217;s done in quite a while &#8211; done solo, just Lightfoot on an acoustic guitar, solo, his voice nowhere near it&#8217;s strength and power [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-memoriam","category-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=85054"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85067,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85054\/revisions\/85067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=85054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=85054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=85054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}