Gordon Lightfoot Quotes

How the ambulance didn’t come and didn’t come and you thought of that Gordon Lightfoot song, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” the one that asks if anyone knows where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours?

Does any one know where the love of God goes When the waves turn the minuted to hours

How the ambulance didn’t come and didn’t come and you thought of that Gordon Lightfoot song, ‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’, the one that asks if anyone knows where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours? The waves rolling over Momo were waves of pain, and she was foundering, and they just kept coming.

To all good men of reason, may they never thirst. (From "Heaven Help The Devil").

The Way I Feel" The way I feel is like a robin whose babes have flown to come no more like a tall oak tree alone and cryin' when the birds have flown and the nest is bare Now a woman Lord is like a young bird and the tall oak tree is a young man's heart among his boughs you'll find her nesting when the nights are cool she's warm and dry Your coat of green it will protect her her wings will grow your love will too But all too soon your mighty branches will cease to hold her and she'll fly from you Now the way I feel is like a robin whose babes have flown to come no more like a tall oak tree alone and cryin' when the birds have flown and the nest is bare when the birds have flown and the nest is bare Gordon Lightfoot, Lightfoot (1966)

Gordon Lightfoot left his handprints on the lyre of time through energetic song-writing. He was a maven of music —certainly one of the greatest songwriters of our time. I love to listen to his song IF I COULD READ YOUR MIND mostly at sunset, when the lyrics haunt me pleasantly

If You Could Read My Mind" If you could read my mind, love What a tale my thoughts could tell Just like an old-time movie 'Bout a ghost from a wishin' well In a castle dark or a fortress strong With chains upon my feet You know that ghost is me And I will never be set free As long as I'm a ghost that you can't see If I could read your mind, love What a tale your thoughts could tell Just like a paperback novel The kind the drugstores sell When you reach the part where the heartaches come The hero would be me But heroes often fail And you won't read that book again Because the ending's just too hard to take I'd walk away like a movie star Who gets burned in a three-way script Enter number two A movie queen to play the scene Of bringing all the good things out in me But for now love, let's be real I never thought I could act this way And I've got to say that I just don't get it I don't know where we went wrong But the feeling's gone and I just can't get it back If you could read my mind, love What a tale my thoughts could tell Just like an old-time movie 'Bout a ghost from a wishin' well In a castle dark or a fortress strong With chains upon my feet But stories always end And if you read between the lines You'll know that I'm just tryin' to understand The feelings that you lack I never thought I could feel this way And I've got to say that I just don't get it I don't know where we went wrong But the feeling's gone and I just can't get it back Gordon Lightfoot, Sit Down Young Stranger / If You Could Read My Mind (1970)

I have always had a soft spot for Canadian writers. There is something expansive and yet intimate about their songs, broad as the northwestern plains and as comfortable as having a cup of coffee out on a pinewood porch with a friend. From Ed McCurdy to Gordon Lightfoot and Leonard Cohen, from Joni Mitchell to Ian and Sylvia Tyson, hearing their songs is hearing the truth. And, as the man says, “when you’ve heard the truth, the rest is just cheap whiskey.

Just like a paperback novel The kind the drugstore sells When you reach the part where the heartaches come The hero would be me But heroes often fail And you won't read that book again Because the ending's just too hard to take