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Topic spans: 1962 - 2002
Gordon Lightfoot: Canada's Folk Laureate
His melodic, soulful voice is unmistakable. A modern-day troubadour, Gordon Lightfoot has touched the lives of millions of people with his thoughtful, evocative portraits of Canadian life and landscape. He's a musician steeped in the folk tradition, his catalogue of songs, including such classics as Canadian Railroad Trilogy and The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, earning him a place in the pantheon of Canadian icons.
11 television clips
3 radio clips
Birth of a classic
Broadcast Date: Jan. 1, 1967
It's a song that is instantly identifiable by its opening chords, striking a chord in the hearts of millions of Canadians. In this CBC Television clip, Lightfoot performs the stirring Canadian Railroad Trilogy for the very first time. As the building of Canada's railroad is re-enacted behind him, Lightfoot strolls across the stage strumming his guitar while singing: "There was a time in this fair land when the railroad did not run / When the wild majestic mountains stood alone against the sun."With Lightfoot's trademark silky, soulful vocals and the help of an accompanying orchestra, the song builds to a brilliant crescendo as Lightfoot continues to tug on our heartstrings with this unmistakably Canadian narrative. "O'er the mountain tops we stand, all the world at our command / We have opened up the soil with our teardrops and our toil."
Birth of a classic
• The CBC commissioned Lightfoot to write The Canadian Railroad Trilogy for this New Year's Day program celebrating Canada's Centennial in 1967. The song appeared on Lightfoot's The Way I Feel album released later that year. Rank & File and John Mellencamp are just two artists who've recorded the song over the years.• The Canadian Railroad Trilogy celebrated the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway. As a way to entice British Columbia into joining the confederation of Canada, Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald promised to build a railway linking Canada from coast to coast by 1881. Due to a series of delays and scandals, the final spike wasn't driven in until Nov. 7, 1885 in Craigellachie, B.C.
• Other works commemorating the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway include author Pierre Berton's two-volume The National Dream (1970), poet E.J. Pratt's epic poem Towards the Last Spike and R.G. MacBeth's Romance of the Canadian Pacific Railway (1924).
Birth of a classic
Medium: Television
Program: CBC Television Special
Broadcast Date: Jan. 1, 1967
Performer: Gordon Lightfoot
Duration: 0:32
Last updated:
April 3, 2006
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14 clips in this topic . page
Radio
4:21
Jan. 30, 1964
The 13-year-old pop music sensation talks to CBC Radio's Assignment
Television
9:54
In 1977 the McGarrigle sisters chat about music, being on the cusp of fame and washing dishes.
Couldn't you put the whole clip back up like you had some time back? This is one of the best things the CBC has ever done; show it off.
Submitted by: Jim Moore
32 seconds and then what?
Submitted by: Liza