(Toronto) Gordon Lightfoot leaves a lasting mark on music lovers, and some Canadian musicians believe his influence on the nation’s collective identity is immeasurable.
Rock singer Tom Cochrane described Lightfoot, who died Monday at the age of 84, as a personal friend and inspiration, who became one of Canada’s “flagship cultural artists” while remaining “one hell of a good guy “.
Cochrane has twice honored the singer-songwriter for his musical contributions to the songs If You Could Read My Mind and Sundown. The first time was when he inducted Lightfoot into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003.
At the ceremony, he compared Lightfoot to a Group of Seven painter, a compliment he said resonated with the folk musician, who “truly saw himself as the cultural embodiment of who we are as a nation.”
A representative for Lightfoot’s family announced Monday that he died of natural causes at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto. He had suffered from many health problems over the past decades.
Many musicians and politicians have taken to social media to express their sadness, including Bryan Adams.
“I consider myself lucky enough to be able to say Gordon was a friend and I’m devastated to know he’s gone. The world is less without him,” he wrote.
Jann Arden claimed that Lightfoot’s songs are “woven into the fiber of our daily lives”.
“We all know the words, even if we don’t think we know them,” she continued.
Other artists outside of Canada have paid tribute to him. Writer Stephen King called Lightfoot a “wonderful performer”, while actor and director Ben Stiller called him a “genius”, whose “music is such a big part of [his] life”.
Steven Page, a former member of the Barenaked Ladies, referred to Lightfoot as “the archetypal Canadian singer-songwriter” who enjoyed resounding success in the United States.
In a phone interview, Page noted that despite his success in the United States, Lightfoot had rarely been uprooted from his homeland for long. “Even though he spent time in the United States and made records there, he was always deeply connected to the country, landscape and personality of Canada. »
Tom Cochrane adds that Lightfoot’s unbreakable ties to Canada were mentioned during a conversation with the singer. “He said to me, ‘You know, trees grow in certain soils, and that soil was very powerful for my growth,'” he recalls. “Why should I leave this country?” This is where I bear fruit. »
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also underlined the strong bond that united Lightfoot to his country. “Through his music he told stories that immortalized the Canadian spirit,” he wrote. This is especially the case with his iconic Canadian Railroad Trilogy, which will always be part of our country’s musical heritage. »
The city of Orillia, Ont., where he was born, mourned its famous son on Tuesday, who has had an immense impact on this community and far beyond. The City of Orillia set up condolence books at the Opera House and City Hall on Tuesday, with an online version also available.
Born in Orillia in 1938, Gordon Lightfoot sang in his church choir as a child while dreaming of becoming a jazz musician. In his twenties, he then emerged from the folk club scene in Yorkville, Toronto in the 1960s.
