Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Dave Hodge Remembers His Friend Gordon Lightfoot Toronto Mike'd #1248

Episode Date: May 2, 2023

In this 1248th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Dave Hodge about the loss of his friend Gordon Lightfoot. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, the Yes We Are Open podcast from Moneris, The Moment Lab, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.

I can see her lying back in her satin dress In a room where you do what you don't confess Thank you. care if I find you've been creeping round my back stairs She's been looking like a queen in a sailor's dream and she don't always say what she really means Sometimes I think it's

a shame when I get feeling better when I'm feeling no pain I can picture every move that a man could make Getting lost in her lovin' is your first mistake Sundown, you'd better take care If I find you've been creepin' round my back stairs Sometimes I think it's a sin When I feel like I'm winning when I'm losing again

Gordon Lightfoot was a singer-songwriter best known for For Loving Me, Early Morning Rain, Steel Rail Blues, Ribbon of Darkness, Black Day in July, Remember Me, I'm the One, If You Could Read My Mind, Sundown, Carefree Highway, Rainy Day People, and The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, and so many other hits. He was, without a doubt, one of Canada's all-time greatest songwriters. When I learned of his passing at the age of 84,

I thought of FOTM Dave Hodge, and I called him to chat about his friend, Gordon Lightfoot. Dave, I'm so sorry on the loss of your friend Gordon Lightfoot. Well, those of us who knew Gordon, those of us who loved his music, really anybody that has written a song or has strummed a guitar,

has written a song or has strummed a guitar, knew that Gordon was not in good health and at his age might not live a lot longer, but there were earlier times in his life where that assumption was proved incorrect. So you can say that you were prepared, and yet no amount of preparation would limit the feeling that indulged a Gordon Lightfoot fan or friend when the news reached us last night.

You know, his music and his friendship were, you know, were lifelong for me. I was a kid, I was a teenager whose second home was Yorkville, those infamous or famous clubs called the Purple Onion and the Riverboat, among others, in the Yorkville scene in the 60s that, for a music fan, were like no other, really, since then. And, you know, it wasn't only Gordon Lightfoot and Ian Sylvia and Joni Mitchell, but, you know, some of the most famous folk singers

from John Prine to Steve Goodman to Chris Christopherson that would play those clubs regularly. And you could sit from here to my window and believe me that's not very far as i speak uh and um see greatness and and and i should have mentioned phil oaks because um as i'm talking to you now mike you might recall that a list of my 100 favorite songs, which we talked about a few years ago and was posted on my website, thanks to you, hodge100.com, listed Phil Oakes' song called Changes as my favorite song of all time. as my favorite song of all time.

And in fact, Phil Oakes wrote Changes virtually sitting next to Gordon Lightfoot at the riverboat in 1960, well, let's say 64 or 65. And Gordon told me this story when I had to admit to him that my favorite song wasn't one of his, but was Changes by Phil Oakes. Yet Gordon covered that song

and so somewhat laughingly, somewhat seriously, I said to Gordon, but I prefer your version and listen to it more often than the original of Phil Oakes. And Gordon then told me the story of Phil Oakes writing changes, playing it for Gordon, teaching it to Gordon, in fact, and encouraging Gordon to record his own version, which he did. So I have listened to that song all my life, as anybody would, his or her favorite song.

I've listened to it nonstop today, both versions, Phil Oak's version and Gordon Lightfoot's version. today, both versions, Phil Oak's version and Gordon Lightfoot's version. So that's the sort of history that goes with me as a young Gordon Lightfoot fan. And then the friendship started in a rather strange way because we happened to frequent the same barber shop. In those days, I had lots of hair and Gordon didn't have as much as he had later in life because later in life, he didn't have his hair cut really ever. It was snipped, let's say, at the end, but would still go in regularly. And so that's kind of how the friendship started.

But anyway, it ended. The friendship didn't end, but sort of the full circle of this story occurred following a lunch that included myself and Gordon and others. Gordon Lightfoot, my boyhood hero, called me back and said words that have been in my head ever since and can't leave my head now. Called me back and said, thanks for being my friend. back and said, thanks for being my friend. And I hope anybody listening to this doesn't think that that's meant to say something about me. It's meant to say everything about Gordon. I thought of that when I heard of the news, and I thought I had lost a friend much more than I had lost a musical hero. So that's a long, long way of describing Gordon Lightfoot

and Dave Hodge from 1965 to this very day. And Dave, share with me the story of that day you organized where great Canadian musicians would cover Gordon Lightfoot songs in his presence. Share that story with us. Yes, I have a very good friend named Maury Taws, who is the owner of two prominent wineries in Niagara, Taws Winery and Redstone Winery. And Maury is a huge Gordon Lightfoot fan. And I happened to mention that I was having lunch with Gordon the following day and Maury in his I'm having a social lunch.

I don't want to turn it into a business lunch, but we'll see if there's a way of throwing that out and getting a response. And I decided to do just that, and Gordon said, and I decided to do just that. And Gordon said, maybe, maybe, maybe, check with his manager. His manager said he's playing Royal Albert Hall in London next week. I doubt he's going to be playing at a winery in Niagara anytime soon. But our mutual friend, the barber named Sandy Bozo,

who should get full credit for this, said Gordon will do just about anything short of a full performance at a winery if there's charity involved. if there's charity involved. So can we make any kind of a charitable event and have Gordon attend without performing? So I presented that to Maury Taws, and he said he would put up a very generous amount of money donated to Gordon's favorite charities if Gordon would attend the winery and then it was up to me to provide the music. So I first approached Tyler Kite from

the band Dwayne Gretzky. This is six years ago mind, so it was easier then to ask the members of Dwayne Gretzky to come and play for no compensation, but be really the house band for a Gordon Lightfoot tribute concert and they immediately said if Gordon Lightfoot is is in attendance and is listening to us play his songs we will be there for sure and they learned 15 songs they knew some of them already because Dwayne Gretzky if you know Dwayne Gretzky knows more songs than we can name if we're on here for two hours. And they can't only name them. They can play them. And I followed that up with a Terralife footnote relation, Justin Rutledge, Ron Sexsmith.

Others were in attendance. Andy Kim was there. Carl Dixon, Barry Keene, who was Gordon Lightfoot's drummer for 40-some years, said could he come and sit in on the finale, which was Sundown, which found me on stage prominently placed next to Gordon, just so I could say that I pulled rank. And we had hundreds, 700, 800 people in the audience and this included some interviewing that I did with Gordon

and it also included a song by Gordon which wasn't scheduled, wasn't supposed to happen, but to know Gordon, if there's a guitar in the trunk of a car, it's coming out, and he's going to play. So a surprise or not, there was one song by Gordon Lightfoot in this event. Unfortunately, we thought of everything but videotaping the entire proceeding. But there followed a dinner that Maury Taws generously included. generously included.

And it was a marvelous event that had the proper weather and Gordon the smile never left Gordon's face. One other little story I'll tell you. Yes, please. Justin Rutledge

sang his two or three songs. Gordon was very impressed and went to Justin and said, how many recordings have you made? Because I would like to get my hands on as many of them as possible. And Justin said, I have a copy of every record I've ever made in my car for good luck or simply because I like to keep them close or whatever. And he said, if you wait here, Gordon, I'm running back to my car, and I'm getting my records, and I'll bring them to you

and hand them to you right now. And five minutes later, Gordon said, thank you, Justin. I will listen to each and every one of these. And a week later, there was a handwritten letter that arrived at Justin's house from Gordon Lightfoot saying, thank you, I've listened to all your songs, I think you're terrific. And Justin called me immediately and said, you told me I wasn't going to get paid for this event.

I just did get paid more than I could have imagined. So, Maury Todd's got Gordon to sign every one of his guitars and Maury's guitar collection is just about as good as his wine collection. It was

unforgettable. We haven't even mentioned the Massey Hall concerts and all of the elsewhere that Gordon has played with the same band all these years, pretty much the same band all these years. And we haven't even, you know, mentioned Edmund Fitzgerald or the Railroad Trilogy or Early Morning Rain

or all of those songs. We haven't mentioned Bob Dylan in Gordon Lightfoot's living room here in Toronto, the two of them just jamming for each other. I mean, the stories are endless, what this guy meant to music, meant to Canada, and meant to the people who knew him. It was the thrill of a lifetime to hear him and to meet him. And I know I'm talking too much, and Mike, you've got more questions,

And I know I'm talking too much, and Mike, you've got more questions, but you tempted me with the opportunity to talk about Gordon Lightfoot. And unfortunately, his death provides that opportunity like nothing else did during his life, but it's all built up and it might as well come out. No, I don't think anybody needs to hear my voice right now, Dave. I really appreciate this. A couple of quotes I just want to share with you before we do turn it back to the music.

You mentioned Bob Dylan, so one of the many great quotes Bob Dylan has about Gordon Lightfoot goes like this. I can't think of any Gordon Lightfoot song I don't like. Every time I hear a song of his, it's like I wish it would last forever. Well, and they all do. Not to try to top Bob Dylan, but yes.

And I would say they run together, but they don't. Each is its own hit, if you will, for many different reasons. for many different reasons. You know, the beauty of the Edmund Fitzgerald song is to know how it came about. I'm also told, and if anyone who knows the record of the Edmund Fitzgerald knows that it is not an easy song to sing. And I couldn't imagine that it would be an easy song to record. I'm told that the version that you and I and everybody else has listened to

for all these years of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald was the one and only take that was ever recorded. Wow. Straight off the floor, and somebody decided that it couldn't be improved. And I would agree. That tale has circulated, and I don't know that it's untrue. I've heard it too often to think that it's not true.

And, you know, it's as complicated a song as can be in one sense and must have been as simple a song to record because of its greatness, as that story indicated. But all of the songs, and I go back to some of the songs that he recorded that he didn't write, and obviously Changes for me is at the top of that. So there wasn't much he could put his talent, his voice to that wasn't terrific and brilliant.

And his effect on everyone in the music business. I mean, these tributes that we have seen on social media from just here, there, and everywhere in the music business. You know, name your five or ten other favorites, and they probably all weighed in in one form or another on the effect that Gordon had on them. the effect that Gordon had on them.

So not to get into the rating business, if you will, but I can't think of Bob Dylan and maybe one or two others whose death is going to affect us the way this one has. And he's ours. And we, from the prime minister on down, to that kid who's sitting in a bar somewhere now listening to someone on a microphone a few feet away, you know, it would come full circle. And it's, yeah, I wish I had longer to live to hear more of his songs.

I wish I had longer to live to hear more of his songs. But for all the people who do, they are there to be heard. You just said, Dave, he's ours. On that note, another name you mentioned recently, another Canadian singer-songwriter who we lost recently, Ian Tyson had this to say about Gordon. I'm going to read his quote here. He said, I don't think anybody before or since has had the impact on Canadian culture

through popular music or folk music that Gordon Lightfoot has had. Yes, there's no disagreement at all. And this comes from, you know, my second favorite act, if you will, in Yorkville was Ian and Sylvia. And so it could be Gordon Lightfoot one night and Ian and Sylvia the next in the same club. Or if it wasn't uh the riverboat it was the purple onion around the corner and um uh you know I in one sense

I didn't know what I was what I was witnessing or what what what would come of, of these artists and, and the Canadian music scene and their effect on it. And yet, um, I, I, I must've known because I couldn't, I couldn't stop watching and applauding and realizing that it was something

special. I wasn't, I wasn't spending my time, to artists who weren't going anywhere. I must have known that they were going to rise as high as they did. And I'll pat myself on the back and say I would have made a pretty good talent scout because if you'd asked me then who the stars of the Canadian music scene would be 10 and 20 and 30 years and on, those two would have been my answers, Gordon Lightfoot and Ian Sylvia. And the one other thing I will say is that when people hear the words Canadian content,

sometimes they say, you know, don't force Canadian content on us. It has to be great on its own. It has to be great on its own. And yet, a culture minister named Pierre Junot, for whom, though the spelling is different, the Junot Awards have been named, determined that Canadian radio stations had to play a certain percentage of music by Canadian artists.

And think of the Canadian music scene today and spread it far and wider than Gordon Lightfoot and Ian and Sylvia and include, you know, the list is endless. I'm not sure that we could say, as I have said many times, that if there were Music Olympics, Canada could win the gold medal. I'm not sure that would be the case if Canadian musicians weren't given the opportunity that the Honorable Minister Pierre Junot provided, unpopular as it might have been

with many people at the time. Yes, Gordon Lightfoot was going to be great no matter what, Gordon Lightfoot was going to be great no matter what, but he paved the way for a lot of others. A lot of the other Justin Rutledge's, shall we say, who have gained an audience because people had the opportunity to hear them. So, yeah, let's, in a much wider sense, celebrate Canadian music today and realize that Gordon Lightfoot is the biggest reason we're doing it. Dave, outside of the Phil Oakes cover,

what's your all-time favorite Gordon Lightfoot song that he actually wrote? It is Sundown. When I told you that I planned this event in 2017, I had a little selfishness in mind by saying that we would end with Sundown, and that was so that I had the opportunity to be beside Gordon while we all sang that song. We could have ended with anything else, but I thought I want to end with my favorite so I can say I sang it with Gordon.

I take great liberty in making that a serious comment, but sundown is my answer. Dave, thanks for sharing your memories of your friend Gordon Lightfoot. Well, Mike, I've been thinking about him ever since the news came last night. And believe me, in my house, his music is played all day long. I've had lots of time to think. And this is really my first opportunity to put all those thoughts into words. So I thank you for giving me that chance because it helps to get through this day and to let your listeners know that Gordon was somebody to be celebrated

and really to be loved by millions of those of us who call ourselves Canadian music fans. Thanks, Mike. Sit by my side Come as close as the air Share in a memory of grey And wander in my words And dream about the pictures that I play

of changes green leaves of summer turn red in the fall to brown and to yellow they fade then they have to die trapped within the circle time parade

Of changes Moments of magic will glow in the night All fears of the forest are gone And when the morning breaks They're swept away by golden drops of dawn Of changes Passions will part To a warm melody As fires will sometimes

Turn cold Like petals in the wind We're puppets To the silver strings Of souls Of changes Your tears will be trembling Now we're somewhere else One last cup of wine

We will pour I'll kiss you one more time and leave you on the rolling river shore of changes. Thank you.