Special - Gordon Lightfoot (1938-2023)

Famous Lost Words

In this special tribute edition, we remember the life and career of Gordon Lightfoot. In this episode, we have interview clips from over the years. It's a rich treasure trove of highlights in which you'll get to know Lightfoot very well. His thoughtfulness, his love of songwriting, his regrets, his ambition and his sense of humour.

We'll feature a 2006 interview with musician Robbie Lane, in which Gord recalls his early years playing small clubs in Toronto - and how other artists would mine his catalogue for themselves.

How early covers of his songs put him in the rarefied company of the likes of Bob Dylan.

The stories behind massive hits like "Sundown". "If You Could Read My Mind" and "The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald".

We feature Tom's 2019 chat with Gordon, in which Gordon reacts to some of the old audio we have of him talking about his earliest club gigs. Christopher also talks about his first encounter with Gordon backstage in Peterborough.

We chat with Lightfoot biographer Nicholas Jennings about Gordon's great gift as a songwriter and dedication to the craft. We also reveal some of the singers regrets.

Plus, we talk about the time that Gordon almost sued the writer of Whitney Houston's hit "The Greatest Love Of All".