A son of Orillia, Ont., he held fast to his small-town roots while achieving global stardom
personified Canada. His robust songs about winter nights, morning rain, being bound for Alberta and sailing on Ontario’s Georgian Bay came closest to expressing for many Canadians the essence of life in the Great White North. Historical epics stood alongside romantic ballads.conveyed as much about the building of the national railway as his own best-selling book on the subject. When Mr.
Mr. Dylan and Mr. Lightfoot were members of a mutual admiration club. While Mr. Lightfoot always mentioned Mr. Dylan as an influence, Mr. Dylan often singled out Mr. Lightfoot for his songwriting. “Every time I hear a song of his,” Mr. Dylan once remarked, “it’s like I wish it would last forever.”, an old folk standard Mr. Lightfoot used to perform, to Mr. Lightfoot at the first night’s concert.
Mr. Lightfoot’s talent came through in songs that displayed his deep connection with the Canadian landscape. One of his earliest compositions,, came out of an 18-hour pilgrimage he made by train to Moosonee in Northern Ontario, “absorbing the whistle-stops,” as he put it. Songs likeChristian Island arose from his sailing adventures on the Great Lakes. He brought that personal insight to one of his biggest and most beloved hits,, a moving, factual account of the sinking of an ore carrier.
As early as 1975, Mr. Lightfoot admitted that his highly successful career was having a “devastating effect” on his personal life. Songwriting and touring were all-consuming for the work-obsessed musician. He and Ms. Olaisson, who had two children together, divorced after many affairs and fractious years. She received what was then the largest settlement in Canadian legal history.
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