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 Tom Cochrane |
One of the profound honours of my life and career was doing the presenting speech for Gordon Lightfoot's induction into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame. I also had the honour and pleasure of being asked by Barry Harvey (Gordon's right hand man, God rest his soul, a great guy... he passed away tragically last year) and Frank Davies to sing "Early Morning Rain" in front of the man himself.
Gordon had been very sick with a life threatening stomach illness and we were not even sure if he was going to show up or what condition he would be in.
In the induction speech I compared him to a Group of Seven painter and said something to the effect that his work and indeed the man were every bit a part of our collective Canadian identity, consciousness and culture as the rocky mountains, a big train winding its way west through prairie fields, a wind swept jack pine out on Georgian Bay and so on. I added that there was rarely a time I went out on his beloved Georgian Bay that one of his songs wouldn't run through my head... and that he would be so embarrassed by these kind of accolades, he'd probably head for the nearest exit.
Well he did show up and he was in great shape and spirits all things considered ... a little gaunt perhaps but looking like one of our founding fathers reincarnate.
Later, backstage I congratulated him, he turned and said in his gruff, under-the-breath frontier voice, "Good job on the tune Tom, and nice words, thanks". Sometime later, a year or so, Barry Harvey pulled me aside at a function and said that Gordon takes the speech out and reads it often.
Happy 70th birthday Gordon, don't stop touring, and I think I can echo the sentiments of all Canadians, not just singer songwriters by saying thanks for the inspiration, you've helped make us very proud of who we are and the Canadian cultural landscape would have been greatly diminished without your work.
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