The Fifths and the Octaves

It’s Alec’s turn to pick one of his most beloved episodes in the summer archive series. This week, we feature one of his favorite musicians, Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot, from their 2013 conversation. Over the course of a career that has lasted more than half a century, Lightfoot has achieved global stardom and exceptional influence. Bob Dylan’s a fan—he's said, “I can’t think of any [Lightfoot songs] I don’t like.” These songs—“Beautiful,” “Sundown,” “If You Could Read My Mind,” and many others—have been treasured by generations of popular musicians and listeners around the world. But Gordon Lightfoot was just one of many aspirants who moved to Toronto in the early 1960s to try their hand in the burgeoning folk music scene there. Lightfoot tells Alec about fitting a feeling to a melody, why he owes his first hit record to an exec's girlfriend, and how he wrote "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by pulling lines straight from the newspaper. 

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