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September 4, 2019 3:04 pm  #1


Documentary puts spotlight on Orillia legend Gordon Lightfoot

A documentary about the life and times of iconic Orillia singer/songwriter Gordon Lightfoot will be screened this week at Orillia’s Galaxy Theatre.
The documentary, co-produced by Martha Kehoe and Joan Tosoni, titled, Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind, made its world premiere at the Hot Docs Film Festival in Toronto earlier this year.
https://www.orilliamatters.com/local-news/documentary-puts-spotlight-on-orillia-legend-gordon-lightfoot-1671151

 

September 5, 2019 12:21 pm  #2


Re: Documentary puts spotlight on Orillia legend Gordon Lightfoot

Thanks Lorne.  I REALLY appreciate the update on Mr. Lightfoot.  He is, by far and away, my favorite singer/songwriter of all time.  I've had the good fortune to see him in concert several times and he is, by far, better live in concert than his recordings, though I haven't seen him in at least 15 years.  Besides his own famed recordings, he's also contributed to other artists' fame because they've recorded his music.  Of all of his recordings and voluminous songs he's written, I think I can count on one hand all the songs that he has recorded that are NOT his own songs.  One song, which he performed once on television back in 1972, Farewell To Nova Scotia - thank God for YouTube - is REALLY outstanding but he never recorded it.  In response to why he had never recorded it, he said his recording couldn't hold a candle to Ian & Sylvia's recording of that magnificent historical folk song.  I was impressed with his humility.  I still wish he had recorded it; this is a traditional song with no known author.  It's a super song approaching comparability to Canadian Railroad Trilogy.  

Canadians have all the rights in the world to be proud of artists like Lighfoot!

 

September 5, 2019 10:16 pm  #3


Re: Documentary puts spotlight on Orillia legend Gordon Lightfoot

And for some bizarre reason, he often performed The Auctioneer.

I remember at one of his shows he was tlaking about someone who said, "Are you really from Orillia?"  Another funny story I read awhile back, from Deana Carter.  Her father was Fred Carter, Jr., a pretty in-demand Nashville guitarist.  She said a lot of people would stay at their house, and that Gord did.  And being (probably at that bratty age) she just kept saying to him, "Is your name really Lightfoot?".

Last edited by Flo (September 5, 2019 10:25 pm)

 

September 5, 2019 10:30 pm  #4


Re: Documentary puts spotlight on Orillia legend Gordon Lightfoot

Wow, the things that you learn about here ... and it's especially amazing when you're the administrator and post about a local artist, and find that you have people from Ohio and Alaska telling you about things that you never knew about him. Flo, I was especially surprised by what you posted, so I did a search and found the following thread that I think will help to explain this. Thanks for sharing.
http://www.corfid.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=14624

     Thread Starter
 

September 5, 2019 11:14 pm  #5


Re: Documentary puts spotlight on Orillia legend Gordon Lightfoot

Yes, Flo, "The Auctioneer" is one of handful of songs that he's recorded that are not his.  Another song is Kris Kristofferson's "Me and Bobby McGee." Lightfoot has even done an off-the-wall Dylan tune, "Ring Them Bells."
 

 

September 5, 2019 11:25 pm  #6


Re: Documentary puts spotlight on Orillia legend Gordon Lightfoot

He also had a top 10 hit here in Toronto in 1965 with Dylan's Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues.... it's one of my favourite songs by him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m9k-tvBtdg

     Thread Starter
 

September 5, 2019 11:42 pm  #7


Re: Documentary puts spotlight on Orillia legend Gordon Lightfoot

And then there's this, which reached #27 in Toronto on the CHUM Chart in 1962 ... hard to believe that it's even Lightfoot, but it is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkZNrhmBIbM

     Thread Starter
 

September 6, 2019 1:31 pm  #8


Re: Documentary puts spotlight on Orillia legend Gordon Lightfoot

Thanks for that link, Lorne.  Lots of interesting information there.

 

September 6, 2019 4:30 pm  #9


Re: Documentary puts spotlight on Orillia legend Gordon Lightfoot

Yeah, what Flo said.  I actually purchased "Dark As A Dungeon" subsequent to your revelations above.  I had never heard it before but it has been recorded by a number of artists including Johnny Cash and author Merle Travis.  Great song!

 

July 29, 2020 7:11 pm  #10


Re: Documentary puts spotlight on Orillia legend Gordon Lightfoot

This documentary has finally reached parts of the U.S., and garnered a rave review in the Los Angeles Times.

Review: 'Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind,' a heartfelt ode to a Canadian icon

 

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