Friday, February 19, 2010

Gordon Lightfoot Isn't Dead Yet

On Wednesday night, during a break at poetry night at the Cantab Lounge in Cambridge, I took a walk around the block and was listening to "Summer Side of Life" by Gordon Lightfoot.

The thought occurred to me that he could just suddenly pass away. He is in his early 70s and did come close to death a few years ago. You never know when your time is up. If that were to happen I would probably jettison my own poems and read the lyrics to "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" in tribute.

Well, yesterday there were multiple news reports that Lightfoot had died after it had been "reported" on Twitter. This news came as quite a surprise to Lightfoot who says that he feels fine.

In fact, Lightfoot will begin a tour of the southeastern United States next month beginning with a performance in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on March 3rd.

I think there's a poem in all this somewhere.

In the meantime, check out this Lightfoot performance on the CBC nearly forty years ago. The song is called "Saturday Clothes."

You might also enjoy this interview he did on Bill Bennett's radio show back in August 2006.

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