A list of the late Gordon Lightfoot’s finest musical moments, including ‚Sundown,‘ ‚Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald‘ and ‚If You Could Read My Mind.‘
As news spread May 1 of Canadian songwriting and singing legend Gordon Lightfoot’s death, realizing the full impact of his artistry and the breadth of his catalog felt all the more jolting. To hear Lightfoot’s virtuosic work is to have been pierced by its beauty.
In a 2020 interview with this writer, Lightfoot rhetorically questioned his own storied craft. “Am I psychologically invested and involved?” he quizzed himself. “Yes. Are these songs me? I guess. It’s very important that I do the work that I do to get me there, writing these songs. All the poetic license allowed me from those around me helps. But when they ask where it is that all of this comes from, I still always say it is my imagination.” Then, with a sense of gallows humor, Lightfoot teased, “When I croak, will people remember that, remember my work?”
They will, from the gently trembling, sensualist tone of Lightfoot’s baritone vocals to the frankly soulful lyrics, and woozily folksy sound of his 12-string acoustic guitar-based songs. Here are 12 great musical moments from the pen and the voice of Gordon Lightfoot.
Nico, “I’m Not Sayin’” (1965)
Already a Canadian national treasure by this point, Lightfoot moved his fortunes and base of operations to the U.S., where he signed with Bob Dylan’s manager, Albert Grossman, and wrote and recorded his own version of this open-heartedly romantic single. Yet it was Nico – in a solo effort apart from the Velvet Underground – whose version of “I’m Not Sayin’” cuts deeper. For all her usual icy display (to say nothing of Jimmy Page’s production and his 12-string guitar), Nico’s version of Lightfoot’s words simply runs hotter.
