LOUDSPEAKERS: Does the Totem Mani-2 still rate as one of the ...
LOUDSPEAKERS: Does the Totem Mani-2 still rate as one of the ...
LOUDSPEAKERS: Does the Totem Mani-2 still rate as one of the ...
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S<strong>of</strong>tware<br />
Feedback<br />
major American concert halls (Carnegie<br />
Hall and <strong>the</strong> Lincoln Center), across<br />
Canada, and to <strong>the</strong> various summer festivals.<br />
He is by now a virtuoso guitarist on<br />
both <strong>the</strong> six and twelve string guitar. His<br />
record collection grows to prodigious<br />
proportions, and many <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se recordings<br />
score phenomenal successes.<br />
A few favorites come to mind, songs<br />
that became hits and remain young.<br />
There’s Summertime Dream, at once<br />
poetic and, yes, dreamy. There’s Sundown,<br />
a 1974 song about infidelity, which<br />
hits top spot on US pop charts. There’s<br />
Did She Mention My Name from 1968.<br />
And <strong>the</strong>re’s Don Quixote, for <strong>the</strong> hero<br />
who symbolizes a search for absolutes,<br />
for whom our troubadour h<strong>as</strong> an admiration<br />
bordering on affection.<br />
To add to his heavy calendar, Gordon<br />
Lightfoot is also a humanist, who<br />
answers present to solicitations for<br />
numerous social or environmental<br />
causes. An example: his famous song on<br />
<strong>the</strong> Detroit race riots <strong>of</strong> 1967.<br />
It had begun before dawn on <strong>the</strong> 23 rd<br />
<strong>of</strong> July, a confrontation between Blacks<br />
and whites that turned into a full-scale<br />
riot, ending only five days later, and<br />
leaving a heavy toll. There were numerous<br />
dead, many wounded, thousands<br />
arrested, and more than 2000 buildings<br />
burned down. The infamous uprising<br />
resulted in a Lightfoot song, which can<br />
be found on <strong>the</strong> album Did She Mention<br />
My Name?<br />
Black day in July<br />
And <strong>the</strong> soul <strong>of</strong> motor city<br />
is bared across <strong>the</strong> land<br />
As <strong>the</strong> book <strong>of</strong> law and order<br />
is taken in <strong>the</strong> hands<br />
Of <strong>the</strong> sons <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> fa<strong>the</strong>rs<br />
who were carried to this land<br />
Black day in July<br />
In <strong>the</strong> streets <strong>of</strong> motor city<br />
is a deadly silent sound<br />
And <strong>the</strong> body <strong>of</strong> a dead youth<br />
lies stretched upon <strong>the</strong> ground<br />
Upon <strong>the</strong> filthy pavement<br />
No re<strong>as</strong>on can be found<br />
The song Black Day in July is rele<strong>as</strong>ed<br />
in April <strong>of</strong> 1968…not long after <strong>the</strong><br />
<strong>as</strong>s<strong>as</strong>sination <strong>of</strong> Matin Lu<strong>the</strong>r King.<br />
Black day in July<br />
In <strong>the</strong> mansion <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> governor<br />
There’s nothing that is known for sure<br />
The teleph<strong>one</strong> is ringing<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine<br />
And <strong>the</strong> pendulum is swinging<br />
And <strong>the</strong>y wonder how it happened<br />
And <strong>the</strong>y really know <strong>the</strong> re<strong>as</strong>on<br />
And it w<strong>as</strong>n’t just <strong>the</strong> temperature<br />
And it w<strong>as</strong>n’t just <strong>the</strong> se<strong>as</strong>on<br />
In Top 40 stations across <strong>the</strong> US<br />
<strong>the</strong>re is a wind <strong>of</strong> panic, and <strong>the</strong> song is<br />
quickly boycotted, lest it stir up p<strong>as</strong>sions<br />
that are already overheated. As you can<br />
imagine, Lightfoot flies into a fury. “A<br />
lot <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m don’t want to upset <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
listeners,” he says on <strong>the</strong> CBC. “It’s <strong>the</strong><br />
housewife in <strong>the</strong> morning, let’s give her<br />
something that’ll make her happy, why<br />
give her something that’ll make her<br />
think?”<br />
A romantic?<br />
How do you categorize an artist like<br />
this? Is he country? Folk? Pop, poprock?<br />
Why pigeonhole him at all? Is he<br />
not beyond all styles?<br />
What is certain is that he ce<strong>as</strong>elessly<br />
searches for <strong>the</strong> perfect song. He will<br />
take hours, days, months to perfect a<br />
song. He cares for his musicians, making<br />
<strong>the</strong>ir work e<strong>as</strong>ier by giving <strong>the</strong>m scores<br />
<strong>as</strong> faultless <strong>as</strong> he can make <strong>the</strong>m.<br />
Let us not mince words, <strong>the</strong>n, Gordon<br />
Lightfoot is a romantic. He harnesses<br />
his poetic prose to exorcise his hypersensitivity<br />
to suffering, that <strong>of</strong> o<strong>the</strong>rs or<br />
his own, and his very vulnerability is a<br />
source <strong>of</strong> pain. It is, on <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r hand,<br />
his sensitivity that allows him to respond<br />
to all solicitations, to react to joy and<br />
beauty in all its forms. Stories <strong>of</strong> love,<br />
barely disguised personal experiences,<br />
anecdotes…each text provides, inside a<br />
meaningful melody, a story or a mood.<br />
The aura about him is due in large<br />
part, I believe, to his genius for sharing<br />
with his audiences his emotions, his<br />
propensity for dreaming, his love <strong>of</strong> love<br />
itself, his intimate connection with <strong>the</strong><br />
elements <strong>of</strong> nature. Water, for example,<br />
plays a major role in his songs, <strong>as</strong> do <strong>the</strong><br />
forest and <strong>the</strong> wind…a waterfall deep in<br />
<strong>the</strong> forest, <strong>the</strong> gurgling <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> water…<br />
Now if only you could see<br />
The closin’ <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> day<br />
If only you could be<br />
Where <strong>the</strong> dawn breaks away<br />
By <strong>the</strong> white c<strong>as</strong>cade<br />
Oh down in <strong>the</strong> glade<br />
Where <strong>the</strong> long river flows<br />
By my window<br />
He dreams <strong>of</strong> leaving…<strong>the</strong> whistle <strong>of</strong><br />
a p<strong>as</strong>sing train, <strong>the</strong> roar <strong>of</strong> a jet tearing<br />
<strong>the</strong> fabric <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> sky. This song is <strong>one</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />
his most famous:<br />
In <strong>the</strong> early mornin’ rain<br />
With a dollar in my hand<br />
And an achin’ in my heart<br />
And my pockets full <strong>of</strong> sand<br />
I’m a long way from home<br />
And I miss my loved <strong>one</strong> so<br />
In <strong>the</strong> early mornin’ rain<br />
With no place to go<br />
Out on runway number nine