WINNIPEG - How much you enjoyed last night's Gordon Lightfoot show -- the first of two being held here in Winnipeg -- may have depended slightly on how much you already love the man's music.

Lightfoot's catalogue, as any self-respecting Canadian knows, is a treasure-trove of sensitive, story-driven singer-songwriter fare, much of it steeped in this country's history, traditions and lore.

In that regard, Lightfoot more than came through last night, touching on most of the hits from his 40-plus years in the business, as well as some lesser-known tracks from more recent recordings.

But if you came to hear The Voice -- the unassuming, unwavering baritone that has in the past helped define Lightfoot's oeuvre, in addition to making him one of the more recognizable entries in the canon of popular Canadian music -- well, let's just say The Voice has seen better days.

We're not being nit-picky here. In addition to having survived a near-fatal abdominal hemorrhage, Lightfoot is, after all, pushing 70. And having spent many a childhood summer listening to Gord's Gold on constant repeat, we're as happy as the next guy to know he's still with us.

But from the opening notes of Cotton Jenny, it was clear this was not the Gordon Lightfoot of our childhood but rather a version to which the ravages of time have not exactly been kind. Forget reedy or raspy -- there were instances where Lightfoot's voice was little more than breath, and the first few times he struggled to hit a high note, we found ourselves wishing one of his backup players would help out with a little bottom.

But then something fairly amazing started to happen. The longer Lightfoot plugged away at his set list -- amending arrangements to better suit his diminished vocal abilities -- the more we found ourselves admiring him.

There's something downright Canadian about Lightfoot's refusal to bow to the inevitability of old age.

Anyway, on numbers with fewer high notes -- Carefree Highway, Canadian Railroad Trilogy, Beautiful and If You Could Read My Mind, in particular -- Lightfoot was in comparatively fine form. On those songs, couched in Lightfoot's characteristic sadness, the business with his voice proved to be beneficial, adding layers of fragility and pain where they had only been hinted at before.

Judging from the reactions of the audience, we're not the only ones for whom Lightfoot is something of an institution. The sold-out crowd of 1,450 loved the electric piano flourishes on Ribbon of Darkness, clapped along in unison for Sundown and provided thunderous applause following the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Lightfoot, for his part, appeared pretty buoyed by the sentiment.

"It's nice to be back again in Winnipeg," he said at one point. "I've been here many times before, and I'm happy to be back in Randy and Burton country. And Lenny country, Lenny Breau country."

"It's Gordon Lightfoot country, too," someone in the balcony yelled back.

No argument there.