Deliberately ignoring the province-wide fire ban (!), the mountain parks guys’ prescribed burn (!) in heavy winds (!)near Banff that quickly and naturally got out of control. Who in their right mind/s vetted this absurd and dangerous move? An egregious, asinine, reckless attempt to destroy Banff and its people.
“And many are the dead men
Too silent to be real.”
–last lines of “Canadian Railroad Trilogy”
Lightfoot’s signature song: “If You Could Read My Mind”.
He was always very good on capturing the nuances of male-female love and relationships.
His top 2 narrative songs: (tie)
“Canadian Railroad Trilogy” and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”
for egregiously and mindlessly (no sense of reality/climate change) cutting millions from AB firefighting.
As Alberta burns to the ground, destroying thousands of lives and places, Albertans should remember on May 29 that the UCP has maliciously caused tragedy by gutting the province’s fire-fighting services.
I was aware, originally, of what it meant when blacks used it in connection with Black Lives Matter. Of course, the GOPs and rednecks got hold of the term and quickly misconstrued it, misinterpreted it to fit their agendas.
So, for me, it’s a lost word, a corrupted, abused word having no agreed-upon meaning. It is useless to try and use the word in conversation with others and it isn’t long before “woke” speech runs smack into unnecessary, gratuitous problems, misunderstandings, and conflicts.
I will say this, though, by way of larger context. For me, my first main ‘woke period’ began in my teens and it was centered around the words “consciousness” and “freedom”. The 1960s were largely centered around these two terms. You might say I “woke” then and continued to grow in consciousness ever since.
One of my main beliefs is that freedom is a good, nurturing, growth-promoting value. All people need to be free and individuals need individual freedom in order to grow both as people and individuals.
“Consciousness” is a relative term for each person. Some are more conscious than others. Some have freer heads and attitudes than others. In my personal experience, gaining consciousness and becoming more consciousness were growth factors in my life that have made me more creative, more philosophical, and freer in numerous ways.
So, my interest in “wokeness” is minimal/nil. But I shall go on practising and encouraging individual freedom and consciousness. Those are two very important values and states worth pursuing in life.
1966, a Sat. aft tv show from T.O.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-7WSVtoRCs
Trio went on to have a 57 year run.
Well, of course, there are Bruce, Joni, Buffy, and Ian, but–going back to the 1960s– Gordon Lightfoot has had a solo career spanning 7 decades. There are two large audio archives of his consistently strong and memorable material.
For those who remember the early days up to 1970, there’s The Original Lightfoot which covers the early United Artists albums of some 60 songs. There are many highlights including “Canadian Railroad Trilogy”, “Early Mornin’ Rain”, “For Lovin’ Me”, “I’m Not Sayin’”, “Steel Rail Blues”, “Walls”, “Go Go Round”, “Home from the Forest”, “Song for a Winter’s Night”, “Wherefore and Why”, “Black Day in July”, “Pussywillows, Cat-Tails”, “Did She Mention My Name”, “Bitter Green”, “The Circle Is Small”, “Affair on 8th Avenue”, “Softly”. Unfortunately, this set does not include “Spin, Spin, Spin”–one of the catchy first 45s he released which got a lot of Canadian radio play.
Below: Gordon Lightfoot Songbook.
His initial success and strong concerts led to a Warner contract and many more hits such as “If You Could Read My Mind”, “Summer Side of Life”, “Cotton Jenny”, “Don Quixote”, Old Dan’s Records”, “Sundown”, “Carefree Highway”, “Rainy Day People”, “Summertime Dream”, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”, “Dream Street Rose”, “Shadows”, “Baby Step Back”, and “A Painter Passing Through”. (This set includes his best UA work on disc 2 BTW.) There are also plenty of strong album cuts including “Sit Down Young Stranger”, “The Pony Man”, “Alberta Bound”, “In My Fashion”, and “Someone to Believe In” among the 88 songs.
I’d still recommend his U.A. album The Way I Feel, the first Lightfoot LP I bought back in 1967. Every song on that is a winner plus you get the rearranged East Indian-sounding version of “The Way I Feel”.
If You Could Read My Mind was his first big American production album in 1971; the songs on it are strong, anchored by his classic breakthrough hit of the same name.
His next consequential album is Sundown–featuring the cool #1 US single, and there is not a remotely weak cut on this LP.
………………………………………………………………..
I have many Lightfoot memories. I first saw him on Canadian tv on Saturday afternoons, then went to see him in Winnipeg at the old Civic Auditorium circa 1966-67. I have seen him several times. Another memorable concert, again in Winnipeg, at the Centennial Hall, had him stopping his show a couple of times to ‘intermission’ the crowd, while he stayed inside with the band adjusting the sound; he was not happy with it–a very fussy, temperamental perfectionist.
I’ve seen him here in Edmonton 3 times at the Jubilee Auditorium–the last time several years ago when it looked like he might stop touring after his life-threatening 2002 aneurysm. The vocal range had narrowed by then and there were songs he no longer did. Since then, he has kept up his annual Massey Hall shows up till this year! The poor guy was even falsely fake-newsed as dead at one point and earlier when he lost a lot of weight after he gave up alcohol; people thought he might have cancer.
Lightfoot is a Canadian institution who had quite a following in the States, but he chose to stay and live in Canada: a homegrown boy very popular with Canadian audiences. A new album had just come out in 2020 and he kept rolling along in decade 8 of his career; he actually started out on the old CBC tv Country Hoedown show back in the 50s and his first 45s were actually country in flavor; Marty Robbins had a hit with “Ribbon of Darkness”.
1968, Winnipeg: The Lightfoot Influence?
Rachel Notley vs. “Marjorie Taylor Greene”
Albertan/Canadian vs. American/Republican/Trumpian
I have often quoted these in the course of days so far. There is truth in every one. Like epigrams, there is also a much-appreciated pithiness to them.
A man’s home is his castle.
A place for everything and everything in its place.
A man is known by the company he keeps.
A man’s reach should exceed his grasp.
A picture is worth a thousand words.
A watched pot never boils.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Actions speak louder than words.
All’s well that ends well.
An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
Ask and ye shall receive.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Better be alone than in bad company.
Better late than never.
Better safe than sorry.
Birds of a feather flock together.
Buyer beware.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.
Don’t judge a book by its cover.
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
Every cloud has a silver lining.
Every dog has his day.
Good fences make good neighbors.
Great minds think alike.
Half a loaf is better than no loaf.
He who hesitates is lost.
Hindsight is 20/20.
Home is where the heart is.
Honesty is the best policy.
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.
It’s not over ’til it’s over.
Knowledge is power.
Laughter is the best medicine.
Live and let live.
Let sleeping dogs lie.
Look before you leap.
Make hay while the sun shines.
Money is the root of all evil.
Necessity is the mother of invention.
Never judge a book by its cover.
Never look a gift horse in the mouth.
Never say ‘Never’.
No man is an island.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
Opportunity seldom knocks twice.
Out of sight, out of mind.
Patience is a virtue.
Practice makes perfect.
Rome wasn’t built in a day.
See and ye shall find.
Slow and steady wins the race.
Strike when the iron is hot.
The best things in life are free.
The early bird catches the worm.
The pen is mightier than the sword.
The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
There’s no fool like an old fool.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch.
There’s no use crying over spilled milk.
Tomorrow is another day.
Two heads are better than one.
United we stand, divided we fall.
What you don’t know can’t hurt you.
When it rains, it pours.
Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.
You can’t always get what you want.
You can’t make an omelette without breaking some eggs.
You can’t take it with you.
You win some and you lose some.
“I studied English literature, so words really matter to me. I tend to defer to the actual definitions of words when I use them.”
–Justin Trudeau
“When I can, I try to tell the truth.”
–Donald Trump
