For nearly ten years before scoring his first major US hit, Gordon Lightfoot had been a fixture on the Canadian Charts.
In fact, his first Canadian single, "(Remember Me) I'm The One" went all the wa to #3 on CHUM Radio's Hit Parade in 1962.
Other Canadian Top Ten Hits followed: "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" (#8, 1965), "Spin Spin" (#6, 1966), "Go Go Round" (#6, 1967) ... nine Canadian Chart Hits in all before "If You Could Read My Mind" crossed our border in 1971, peaking at #3 in Record World and #5 in Billboard.
His biggest US Hit was "Sundown" ... it topped all three national charts for a week in 1974. ("The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald" was also a #1 Hit according to Cash Box Magazine ... it peaked at #2 in Billboard in 1976)
Lightfoot passed away yesterday (May 1st) at the age of 84.
He had recently cancelled his upcoming tour for undisclosed health reasons ... clearly more serious than most might have suspected.
Early Gordon Lightfoot compositions like "For Lovin' Me" and "Early Mornin' Rain" became folk song classics, crossing over to the pop charts in a very big way, too. ("Early Mornin' Rain" was covered by everyone from Peter, Paul and Mary to Bob Dylan to Elvis Presley!)
His US exposure kicked off with an appearance at The Newport Folk Festival in 1965. A year later, he was signed by Albert Grossman, Bob Dylan's manager, and he started to build a following in the folk music community. (Dylan once said of Gordon Lightfoot, “Every time I hear a song of his, it’s like I wish it would last forever.”) Ironically, his career REALLY started to take off in 1971 when he decided to leave the folk music arena and try to branch out a little more into the pop side.
In a 2010 interview, Gordon told the Georgia newspaper Savannah Connect, “By the time I changed over to Warner Brothers, round about 1970, I was
reinventing myself. Let’s say I was probably just advancing away from the folk era,
and trying to find some direction whereby I might have some music that
people would want to listen to.”
"If You Could Read My Mind" was written about his divorce from his first wife ... and it connected throughout North America, peaking at #6 in Canada and #3 here in The States.
Lightfoot has had a number of medical setbacks over the course of his career. (In 2002 he nearly died and spent six weeks in a coma after suffering an abdominal aneurysm just prior to taking the stage. In 2006, he had a stroke that left him unable to play the guitar for the better part of a year. Gordon was also known to have a serious problem with alcohol ... and contracted emphysema in 2016, prompting him to finally quit smoking.) Still, he weathered on and toured regularly right up to the time of his death. When he cancelled his entire upcoming tour for undisclosed health reasons, many felt this might be it for the Canadian troubadour. Sadly, this proved to be the case.
THE GORDON LIGHTFOOT HIT LIST
1962 - (Remember Me) I'm The One (US - xx / Canada - #3)
1962 - It's Too Late, He Wins (US - xx / Canada - #27)
1962 - Negotiations (US - xx / Canada - #27)
[first three chart hits released as Gord Lightfoot]
1965 - I'm Not Sayin' (US - xx / Canada - #17)
1965 - Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues (US - xx / Canada - #8)
1966 - Spin Spin (US - xx / Canada - #6)
1967 - Go Go Round (US - xx / Canada - #6)
1967 - The Way I Feel (US - xx / Canada - #21)
1968 - Black Day In July (US - xx / Canada - #17)
1971 - If You Could Read My Mind (US - #3 / Canada - #6)
1972 - Beautiful (US - #58 / Canada - #17)
1974 - Sundown (US - #1 / Canada - #4)
1974 - Carefree Highway (US - #10 / Canada - #21)
1975 - Rainy Day People (US - #26 / Canada - #19)
1976 - The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald (US - #1 / Canada - #6)
1978 - The Circle Is Small (US - #31 / Canada -xx)
1982 - Baby Step Back (US - #50 / Canada - xx)
