It’s quite possibly the most vulnerable song about a broken relationship of the Rock Era. The late Gordon Lightfoot wrote an absolutely gut-wrenching ballad where a man, who was once a hero, calls himself out as the culprit for a failed marriage, and pleads with his wife not for forgiveness, but for empathy. It’s the story of the 70s classic If You Could Read My Mind. Years later Gordon’s daughter pled with him to change the lyrics to this heart-wrenching ballad. We also tell the story of Gordon’s rise to fame and pay our respects to the singer/ songwriter who was on Bob Dylan’s Favorites. An institution. Mr. Gordon Lightfoot. …NEXT…on Professor of Rock.
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Hey music junkies, Professor of Rock, always here to celebrate the greatest artists and the greatest songs of all time. Today I want to get to right to it and remember one of our greatest singers songwriters….
Ya know I remember, as a young boy, hearing “If You Could Read My Mind” by the late Gordon Lightfoot for the first time. I hadn’t lived long enough to understand the song or had enough experience to relate to it, but it grabbed me in a way that was hard to comprehend. I suppose, like every other kid, I was instantly attracted to bubble gum pop, or the ear candy of a catchy chorus & melody, but there was something about Gordon Lightfoot’s tune that struck me as if it were important for me to hear it, even if I couldn’t truly feel its significance until many years later…. It just made my heart ache…
Listening to Gordon’s riveting baritone vibrato, and being stung by references to “ghosts in a wishing well,” “dark castles,” “chains” and fallen heroes” was very powerful to my innocent ears… a foreshadowing…if you will…of emotions to come…. They say “a picture paints a thousand words, and I do believe the adage. But Gordon Lightfoot’s heartbreaking ballad “If You Could Read My Mind” evokes a thousand different FEELINGS.
Gordon Meredith Lightfoot was born in Orillia, Ontario, Canada- about 150 kilometers north of Toronto. Over 84 years, Gordon had a wealth of experience in many aspects of life. He was a choir boy, a square dancer, a banker, a singer/ songwriter, and a grandfather. And although he was often self-deprecating about his performances on camera, Lightfoot was also an actor- portraying roles on film and television.
Gordon was but a wee lad when his parents recognized his gifted singing voice, and put him in the St. Paul’s United Church choir. As an 8-year-old, he learned to place the piano and performed on local radio programs. During his teens, Gordon taught himself to play the drums and the guitar. He spent two years at Westlake College of Music in LA- studying composition and orchestration. Then he got a part singing and square-dancing in a troupe that performed on the CBC- TV show, Country Hoedown. Following his days as a regular on Country Hoedown, Gordon played in folk clubs in the Toronto area, where artists like Joni Mitchell, Ian & Sylvia, and Leonard Cohen got their start.
Gordon’s first hit in his native Canada was “Remember Me (I’m the One)” that climbed to #3 in 1962: He had another Top 10 hit on the Canadian Singles chart in ’66 when “Spin Spin” peaked at #7. Between ’62 and ’68, Gordon’s career was flourishing.
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