I'm sitting here late at night
At my old desk in the yellow light
I'm working myself up to write a song
About a guy I've known for so long

This guy taught me how to carry a tune
And that the Sea of Tranquility is on the moon
He also showed me that love can be hard
And to always smile when I cut the cards

He's forgotten more about life than I'll ever learn
He's worked hard for every dollar that he has earned
And he can tell a great story from beginning to end
And he can cheer me up when I'm on the mend

He's spent most of his life out on the road
He's amazed at what's grown from the seeds that he sowed
For fifty years or more he's been sharing his gift
I think deep down he knows that he'll never quit

He made us all a promise when he sang his first song
It's a rare man these days who can keep his word for so long
He's made a lot of money from the records that we've bought
But it was never the money---it was respect that he sought

In all the world he's the finest troubador
But in my mind's eye I see him sitting on Susan's floor
Singing and smiling and playing his guitar
And drinking bad whiskey from an old jelly jar

This amazing guy---his name is Gord
And because of his music I'll never be bored
From "Rich Man's Spiritual" to "Uncle Toad Said"
And all the songs in between that run through my head

I'll always think of him as one of my best friends
And it's the kind of friendship that never ends
Tho' I've only met him twice to shake his hand
By the look in his eyes I know he understands

Just one more verse in this rough draft
You see I'm a novice in this particular craft
Alliteration, cadence, meter and rhyme
How the heck does Gord do it ---every time

So here's a Birthday wish my friend
May you find the road that never ends
May you recieve all of the blessings from the Lord above
And most of all I [and millions of others] wish you Love----
John and Cindy Hooton
Colorado Springs, Colorado

Have a great one Gord - a long way from the days at the Purple Onion and Steeles Tavern! Coffee with Bernie at the 'Boat afterhours always was a treat. Many more to come, chum!

GORD, HAPPY BIRTHDAY When I was "On The High Seas" you gave me a way to Shore. I Feel as though we have been friends since I first heard you in Nam! GOd BLESS! J.W.

------------------
J.W.

christ man, where do I begin? The voice?
The guitar? The words? Add them all up, and
all i've got to say to you good sir is thank
you for a lifetime of avenues and escapades.
Here's to your health, here's to sticking to
your guns, and telling it like it is.
Bless you!

Hi Gordon

Next time you're in England, let off some steam by giving your record company a good kick -- we have to use MI5 to track down your albums here!

Very best wishes

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Wishing you a wonderful birthday Gordon.

I have been a fan for so, so many years. You write the most beautiful songs I have ever heard, with a voice to match. They have seen me through so many years of life's events and happenings.

I only hope that one day you will come back to the England so that at last I will be able to meet my idol.

Love and Best Wishes:
Janice Wolage-Smith

Hi Gordon,
Happy Birthday, I want to add my best wishes to this list of greatful millions who have enjoyed your music over the last 40 years!
Back in the early 80's you were making a movie in my home town Jasper, staying at the Lobstick Hotel. but I was overseas (as now)in Saudi at the time!
The concerts my Wife & I have attended, from your first in Edmonton at NAIT, (loud air conditioning had to be turned off!)to the yearly Calgary/Edmonton visits have always been a wonderful experience!
I did some Lounge work in the past, and as a fellow Scorpio, thank you for the deep, loving feelings that were always there in your words & music.
Happy Birthday old Friend, and many more!
Gerry Jenkins.







[This message has been edited by Gerry Jenkins (edited October 08, 2000).]

Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!

First, let me say.....You Rule. You have been inspiring me since the 70s. I hope the day never comes that you willingly stop recording.
Second, from the list of wellwishes, it's plain as plain can be you are admired near and far. This is as it should be for the body and quality of your music. I thank you for sharing it with us.
Third, I have only seen you in concert twice, so keep touring!!!!!! Give a girl a chance!
Lastly, I hope this day and many more bring you great joy and warmth. Cheers!

Chris Caturani

We're growing old together Gordon. It's 30 years this year since I bought my first album of yours. It's been a long and one sided relationship. Twenty six years ago you came down here to Australia and played at the old Festival Hall in Melbourne (no longer with us thank goodness). It is high time you came back. Have a great birthday mate and keep making your music.
Kindest regards
Peter Bellairs

Hi Gordon!

I've been all around the world and I've always made sure that I have some of your tunes in my walkman...from the streets of Tokyo to the fields of the Black Forest in Germany I've always had a piece of home in your music.

You truly are the greatest songwriter I've ever listened to and I thank you for sharing your gift with me and the world. Have a wonderful birthday and I look forward to seeing you soon!

Kenyon Wallace
Age 19

Happy birthday, Gord. I'm 60, play an old Martin D-18, and when I and friends sing around the campfire, Lightfoot songs are the highlights and always will be for me at least. Happy campin'.

Hi, Gord. I first heard your wonderful music in about 1968, when I heard "The Last Time I Saw Her" on an am radio. I didn't discover who the artist was until 1975, when I saw the title on an album in a record store in Minneapolis. I have been listening to you ever since, and you have provided countless hours of wonder to me, both with friends and alone.

Hope you have a very happy and healthy birthday and many happy returns of the day.

And thank you. Thank you so much.

Dear Gord,
Just wanted to get in on wishing you the brightest and best birthday wishes! I've been a fan since the early 70's when I heard Don Quixote while traveling with a friend. I immediately bought it at the first opportunity (on 8-track). Since that time, I have purchased many of your albums on vinyl, tape, and CD. I'd just like to let you know that your music and voice are timeless. I still listen to the vinyl and old 8-tracks that still work. Someday, I hope to get to see you live. I know you have performed around here in Kentucky, but it seems I always find out about it after the fact. Anyway, have a great birthday and keep the great music going.

Rick Smith

Happy Birthday !!

I have enjoyed your music since I first saw you in Detroit at a shopping mall in 1970. I still enjoy your concerts and hopefully will enjoy them for many more years.

Dear Gordon

I am writing this to wish you a wonderful birthday. My name is Jeff Wilder and I am a 22 year old college student in Florida. I have listened to your music since I was 4 or 5 years old. It has touched me emotionally and helped me get through a troubled period in my life. I hope you enjoy your birthday and may you experience many more. Also best wishes from Gary Wilder, Christina Wilder, Louise Lopushansky and Christine Reardon.

Happy birthday Gordon! We saw you at Wolftrap this year...looking forward to the TV special and North Carolina concerts next year. Great to see how happy you are these days with family and career!

Best of Birthday Wishes Gordon! I shall drink a great Cabernet in your honor. You've seen me through 2 marriages, & darn, I was hoping you would be my 3rd, haaa!
Take care, sorry to have missed your San Diego concert. I'll see you next year!

Birthday Wishes Galore! I play your fabulous music in the operating room. What a soothing way to get through a frazzled day, knowing I can function with you on board! Take care, see you in San Diego in 2001...

Happy Birthday Gordie,

have a great B-day. Thanks for the inspiring music.

- a young fan

Happy Birthday, Gordon!

Dear Mr.Lightfoot,
Happy Birthday!!I can remember as a child at the ripe old age of 11 hearing your song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" it made me feel so sad I cried for the lives lost and became hooked on Folk music for the rest of my life. thank you for opening a young boys eyes to a whole new world of people and places. My the best of the last year be the worst of the new year.
C.Tucker
Orlando,Florida

Dear Gord,
Sending you wishes for a wonderful Birthday from here in Central Pennsylvania. Your music has been part of my life since the the 70's and to see you in concert for the first time in Carlisle, PA in May was the thrill of my life (tickets still pinned by the computer). Your music touches the heart, heals the mind..starts and ends my day. Have a wonderful day with those you love and know that all your fans are there with you.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
Margie Zavacky

You have been an inspiration and a Beacon in my Life for more than 35 years.
You have shaken Me to my Soul,
and I Thank You for that.

Happy Birthday

Bob Perkins

Husband, son and I caught your performance in Denver in August at Paramount Theatre. It was wonderful! Hope your birthday is great. Best wishes

Marilyn Samples
St. John, KS

Gordon ,
Thank you for these wonderful years of music and warmth !!!
As I have said in the past , " You have touched our hearts and souls ".
May God Bless You and have a , "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

------------------
Sincerely,
David & Barbara Peace

Hey Happy birthday and many happy returns, its fom me(dakatah) and icesk8rjan. Your music makes so many of us happy and except for that one song about the boat is good party music.

Whenever the days gets long, and hard to take....when ever I've had enough of the "every day grind" that is life...I go to my room and put on one of Ole Gord's Records" and it always brings me back to my sanity ! Gord....if YOU could read MY mind...you'd know what your music has done for me ! Happy Birthday 'ol chap....you deserve the best ! Bob Schaar, Westphalia, Michigan

Dear Gordon Lightfoot, I'm a scotsman who discovered your music in the sixties and have followed it ever since.The passage of my life since that beginning can be echoed in the majic of your lyrics.In the early seventies I travelled from the east coast of Scotland to Glasgow in the west..for you were appearing in the Apollo Theatre .The crowd that night were not forgiving,the first half of the concert did not go down well...you walked off..people walked out ...I prayed ..you walked back...you sat down on a stool,your guitar in hand,,said something like,,"to show the this guy can still sing",,the theatre hushed ,,you sang,, at the end I remember jumping up slapping palms together until they were numb,,cheering and cheering,,,you showed them all,...You never came back to Scotland ,,but we never forgot you. It is twenty odd years since then ,I made a journey to Canada,,for adventure,,fuelled by the images you created,,from Ontario across country ,,to BC,,Vancouver Island ,,Saw you in Victoria last year,,like me you are a wee bit older,but still ,you have the majick,,god bless and keep you safe ,,a Happy Birthday from your number one Scottish fan.Graham from Dundee.

Dear Gordon Lightfoot, I'm a scotsman who discovered your music in the sixties and have followed it ever since.The passage of my life since that beginning can be echoed in the majic of your lyrics.In the early seventies I travelled from the east coast of Scotland to Glasgow in the west..for you were appearing in the Apollo Theatre .The crowd that night were not forgiving,the first half of the concert did not go down well...you walked off..people walked out ...I prayed ..you walked back...you sat down on a stool,your guitar in hand,,said something like,,"to show the this guy can still sing",,the theatre hushed ,,you sang,, at the end I remember jumping up slapping palms together until they were numb,,cheering and cheering,,,you showed them all,...You never came back to Scotland ,,but we never forgot you. It is twenty odd years since then ,I made a journey to Canada,,for adventure,,fuelled by the images you created,,from Ontario across country ,,to BC,,Vancouver Island ,,Saw you in Victoria last year,,like me you are a wee bit older,but still ,you have the majick,,god bless and keep you safe ,,a Happy Birthday from your number one Scottish fan.Graham from Dundee.

Dear Gordon LIghtfoot, I am a scotsman who first discovered your music way back in the sixties.To say that I was captivated would be an understatment.My chance to see you perform live did not come until the mid seventies when you appeared at the Apollo Theatre in Glasgow.I travelled from Dundee on the east coast to the west for the concert,,.The evening was not the most enjoyable I ever experienced as the audience was very vocal and not at all sympathetic.You walked off....people began leaving...with a lump in my throat I prayed,,,You walked on,,,the crowd hushed...You said something like.."This is to prove this guy can still pull of f a tune "..then you started to sing..no backup,just you and your guitar,,When you finished I thought I would burst for joy,,my palms were sore for the clapping of them,my throat hoarse with the emotion that I felt..I will never forget that night...It is twenty odd years now and in that tyme I came to Canada on a whim seeking and finding adventure..From my travels east from Toronto by bus to the shining sea in the west I was carried overland singing the songs of Gordon Lightfoot..May the good lord bless you and keep you around for many birhdays to come..from your number one Scottish fan..Graham Donachie..

quote:Originally posted by Florian:
Happy Birthday, Gordon Lightfoot!

Gordon Lightfoot's birthday is on November 17th, 2000.

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As suggested, I'd like to collect all birthday wishes under one topic, and I'll then print it out and send it to Gordon Lightfoot.

Please post your birthday greeting by clicking on the "Post Reply" button.

I'm sure he will be most happy to see how much he is appreciated all around the world.

[This message has been edited by Florian (edited September 24, 2000).]

DEar Gordon,
Have been listening to your music since High School back in Detroit, Mich days. Too many years to mention. But we saw you for the first time while living in Los Angeles. When you sang about the Edmund Fitzgerald it made us very home sick. Didn't even know The Maritime Sailors cathedral existed until you sang about it. Now we always go by when we visit the area. We have enjoyed your music all these years. We have played it to our children and now you will be visiting Univ. of Missourri where our daughter goes to school and we will go there to hear you in concert there. Happy Birthday and may you keep on wrinting moe great songs. Please sing Don Quiote when you come.
Paul and Laurel

Thanks for the memories. It's been a great ride. Your music takes me back to a time of innocence. May you stay forever young!

The Best Birthday Wishes to one of my favorite singers. Many of your songs I have listened to frequently and now hold some of my favorite memories. Thanks for the years of great music... from my favorite records as a child, to my CD collection today. Thanks.
Best Wishes in the years to come!

Happy Birthday Gordon
To a Canadian Legend, much loved and admired. Your songs have touched us all and painted a vivid picture in our hearts and minds, of this vast country,Canada. Thank you for being a part of our lives providing us with the treasures of your artistry. Please know that you mean so much to so many and we wish you all the good things that life has to offer.

Happy Birthday Gordon. I just watched your special on Canadian Television and you are as great as ever. I saw you perform at HARRAH'S Reno about 17 years ago and was lucky enough to meet you with a group of people and hear songs from the album you were about to release at that time. The best to you in all you do and may this be your best birthday ever. Celeste CLSMITH528@aol.com

The Happiest of Birthdays to you Gordon Lightfoot

The first time I heard you sing I was 10 years old. Now at forty it seems like a
life time ago. You are one of those singers that we will never forget. Your songs
have so much depth and soul to them. You can be in the lousiest of moods, put
on one of your songs and it takes you away to a special place, and makes you feel like you're on top of the world again.
I watched a live concert on CBC on Oct.15/2000, your voice still has that something special. And boy, did you bring back some memories. I told my 12 year old son that I started to listen to your tunes when I was his age. He was
dumbfounded, and believe it or not, he sat there with me and watched the rest of the concert. Both him and I really enjoyed it.
So, not only do you have the old die hard fans still listening to you, you may also
have peeked interest in the younger generation and hopefully have a new following.
I hope you have the best birthday...and many more to come.
Miss Dale Leadley
Vibank, Saskatchewan

Mr. Lightfoot,

Hoping your birthday is a great one. I'll be seeing you in Kansas City on November 8th. It will be my third (and hopefully not my last) concert. I'd love to meet you and say "Thanks" in person for all of the great music. I've been listening to your songs since I first heard "Cherokee Bend" from the "Cold on the Shoulder" album. It was my older brother's 8-track tape (I can't believe it was that long ago) and I would listen to it when no one else was home. I've been a fan ever since.
Thanks again for all the great music and enjoy your birthday. I'm wishing you many more. Take care.

John Messmer
Olathe, Kansas

Happy Birthday

Please tour the UK soon!!

Emma & Adrian Sargant

We share the same month for a birthday. Mine is on the 27th. My soon-to-be wife and I saw you when you were in Washington, DC in the 1970's. We want to wish you the best. Keep singing those wonderful songs and we'll keep buying them!

Jim & Donna