Song of the Day: 'Circle of Steel' by Gordon Lightfoot

Day 3 of my holiday gems you may not know: While "Song for a Winter Night" is nearly as good, no holiday playlist is complete without this so-real-it-hurts anthem. 

P.S. 

This parody commercial is spot-on!

Song of the Day: 'Song for a Winter's Night' by Gordon Lightfoot

This gem by the Canadian Bob Dylan turned up on a friend's 2021 Christmas playlist, which got me thinking of other songs that maybe aren't technically about the holiday but still fit the season: Merle Haggard's "If We Make It Through December" comes to mind first. Can you recommend any for my playlist? 

Sarah McLachlan covered the song for the soundtrack to the 1994 remake of "Miracle on 34th Street." Listen HERE.

Song of the Day: 'Race Among the Ruins' by Gordon Lightfoot

Watched a couple more "James at 15" episodes over the weekend, including the one where his best friend from Oregon visits Boston, having been diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer. (Yes, I cried and cried and cried.) I'd forgotten how generous the show was with popular music from the era, a time when popular music was very good. In addition to some nice ones by James Taylor, the Steve Miller Band, Foreigner and Simon & Garfunkel, I was especially moved by the inclusion of "Summertime Dream" and "Race Among the Ruins" by the great Gordon Lightfoot.

From the album "Summertime Dream," which also included the epic hit "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."

Song of the Day: 'Carefree Highway' (live) by Gordon Lightfoot

Heading out to Las Vegas tomorrow to meet up with four childhood friends to celebrate all of us turning 50 this summer. I actually despise Sin City, but you can bet on my having a good time with this bunch!

Song of the Day: 'Black Day in July' by Gordon Lightfoot

Gordon Lightfoot shined a light on "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" when he wrote a chart-topping single about the sinking of the massive bulk carrier in Lake Superior in 1975. I only wish his 1968 song about the Detroit riots lived on as sharply in people's minds -- another tragedy from which the Motor City has still not recovered. The photo-filled video will stay with you long after the song ends. 

Song of the Day: 'Canadian Railroad Trilogy' by Canadian Idol Contestants

Costume change for second set

My brothers came up from Washington to see Gordon Lightfoot with me at B.B. King recently, marking the 36th anniversary of the first time we saw the Canadian folk legend together in concert. (The first time was at Gammage Memorial Hall, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for Arizona State University in the early 1960s, which is technically my first concert.) The night had a lot of sentimental value, but Gord is nearly 77 and says he's "living on borrowed time" and it showed, with his pretty much whisper-talking his way through the "songs." Impressively, though, he performed -- peppering the music with stories from his life and career -- for nearly two hours, yet still managed to do entirely too many post-Golden Era songs, which means that even at death's door he remains an "artist." One favorite from our first time seeing him is "Canadian Railroad Trilogy." He didn't do it, but my brother Bill found these kids Up North performing it with Gord in the audience, which sounds a lot better anyway and is about as cute as it gets!

Song of the Day: 'Circle of Steel' by Gordon Lightfoot

If I could request one song at his upcoming concert, it would be this rarely played gem -- which never fails to make me tear up. (It's a "mom" thing.) Point me to one other songwriter who could write lyrics like THIS?

Read what music critic Stephen Holden had to say about the "Sundown" album when it came out in 1974 HERE.

Song of the Day: 'Carefree Highway' by Gordon Lightfoot

With Bob Dylan calling Gordon Lightfoot one of his "favorite" songwriters of all time, and the likes of Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Glenn Campbell, Eric Clapton, John Mellencamp, Barbra Streisand and even Paul Weller covering his songs, I just roll my eyes at people who dismiss the Canadian folk hero. "If You Could Read My Mind," "Sundown," "Rainy Day People," "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" and "Carefree Highway" -- inspired by my home state -- were all smash hits, and I can hardly wait to see him in concert (yet again) this summer.

Rockin' in the USA

I've discussed this before, but it's always fun to hear from new readers or people who were too shy to comment last time.

Depending how you calculate it, my first concert was either Gordon Lightfoot -- my big brothers were huge fans so I totally tagged along to two late-'70s shows -- or the Go-Go's, which my friend Greg and I picked and paid for. (And boy was it fun!)

So ... what was YOUR first concert?

Song of the Day: 'The Circle Is Small' by Gordon Lightfoot

After a string of hits in the 1970s, Gordon Lightfoot's career slowed down measurably in the '80s. But his final Top 40 single -- "The Circle Is Small" from his 1978 LP, "Endless Wire" -- was certainly one of his best. Although the Go-Go's were my first "real" concert -- followed by Missing Persons, both in 1982  -- I actually saw Gordon Lightfoot two times prior to those. And the older I get, the less embarrassed I am to admit it. "The Circle Is Small" was actually a newly recorded version of a song that appeared his "Back Here on Earth" album in 1968, but the new slower arrangement changed it from a folk song to an anthem for jolted lovers everywhere. Enjoy!