Day 24 of 365 (Things I Have Loved and Things I Would Miss)

One must reflect at times about what matters. What do I keep? What don’t I need? In thinking about life and its pleasures I am drawn to think about what would it is I would miss if I were to be shunted off to a cosmic waiting room devoid of magazines or piped in Muzak. One thing I would truly miss is the music of Gordon Lightfoot.

Before I came to Michigan in the 1970s all I knew of the man’s work was one album and two additional songs of this Canadian minstrel. The first song was “If You Could Read My Mind” and the second was “Black Day in July”. The album was called “The Summer Side of Life.”

I knew the first song because well it was all over the radio every day each day in June 1971. It had been a spring hit but it just wouldn’t go away that summer. When aired it was often coupled with the Moody Blues “Question”. While “Question” was deep and agitating “If You Could Read My Mind” was the song for the loser, the loner, and the wistful. It worked for my 15 year old self on so many levels. Thinks zits, glasses and no self-confidence and this was a song of love lost for those who had never had a love.

 “Black Day in July” was a topical song about the Detroit Riots in the summer of 1967. I listened to a great deal of protest music at that time but “Black Day in July” seemed to have a connection to an older tradition of folk protest songs. “Black Day in July was much like “Joe Hill” and “Wreck at Los Gatos”. I love the Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” but “Black Day in July” seemed more intent on getting the feeling right as opposed to the facts. I think that sense of feel is often what makes great folk songs.

My brother was drifting in and out of my life as he went to college, as he went to Vietnam, as he drifted between jobs brought a copy of “The Summer Side of Life” home with him. I played it to death. The track listening on the first side is just stellar: 1. 10 Degrees of Getting Colder 2. Miguel 3. Go My Way 4. Summer Side of Life 5. Cotton Jenny 6. Talking In Your Sleep

Nary a weak tune in this batch. I loved all six songs and pretty much had the lyrics memorized in a short time, two weeks maximum. From the heartbroken bar musician to the outlaw to the cuckold every song had a beautiful melody and a strong lyric. While it is not much default tune to hum now “10 Degrees and Getting Colder” held that spot for several years.

 There is a warmth to Gordon Lightfoot’s voice that spreads as you listen to it almost through your entire being. I can remember sitting in dorm room snuggling with a young lass with long black hair her face illuminated by those odd blue lights of Pioneer Stereo receivers. I was smoking something that tasted of oak and we were drinking some cheap red wine. Ah on a night like that Gordon Lightfoot provided the atmosphere that cold room of Mayo Hall where the windows never quite closed. I would never give up Gordon Lightfoot.