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A review by crankylibrarian
Lightfoot by Nicholas Jennings
2.0
Gordon Lightfoot has been one of my favorite singer/songwriters for years, but this dull as dishwater bio does nothing to convey what a fascinating performer he is. The famously closed mouth Canadian apparently didn't open up much to Jennings; 90 percent of the content was apparently gleaned through reading press accounts, or from interviews in other publications. The handful of comments from Lightfoot himself reveal little of interest; Jennings spends half a page on Lightfoot's description of canoeing logistics:
We plan to start about July 1st and hope we don't run into ice because it's been a cold winter. What you have to do is simply carry everything around the ice if you ever encounter ice. It's usually ice that's drifting out of lakes and into rivers.
Sooo insightful.
My guess is that Jennings tried to get more meat out of his reclusive subject and failed, leaving him with no choice but to pad (did he seriously think we'd want to know that Studio 4 on Yonge street was "a former Pierce -Arrow automobile showroom, now a Staples business supply store"? There are no interviews with Lightfoot's ex wives and girlfriends, and only about 5 quotes from his children, ("He lives to work"..."Dad cherishes his space").
I wasn't looking for a celebrity tell-all or a hack job, but honestly most of this reads like a fan magazine. There's a lot of "He's so great!" commentary, but nothing that gives a sense of why he has remained popular for 4 decades. And while there is reluctant acknowledgement of his string of troubled relationships, child neglect, and alcohol abuse, Jennings neatly wraps this up at the end by stating, with absolutely zero evidence that Lightfoot, "desperately wanted to atone. He was doing a pretty good job".
Disappointing.
We plan to start about July 1st and hope we don't run into ice because it's been a cold winter. What you have to do is simply carry everything around the ice if you ever encounter ice. It's usually ice that's drifting out of lakes and into rivers.
Sooo insightful.
My guess is that Jennings tried to get more meat out of his reclusive subject and failed, leaving him with no choice but to pad (did he seriously think we'd want to know that Studio 4 on Yonge street was "a former Pierce -Arrow automobile showroom, now a Staples business supply store"? There are no interviews with Lightfoot's ex wives and girlfriends, and only about 5 quotes from his children, ("He lives to work"..."Dad cherishes his space").
I wasn't looking for a celebrity tell-all or a hack job, but honestly most of this reads like a fan magazine. There's a lot of "He's so great!" commentary, but nothing that gives a sense of why he has remained popular for 4 decades. And while there is reluctant acknowledgement of his string of troubled relationships, child neglect, and alcohol abuse, Jennings neatly wraps this up at the end by stating, with absolutely zero evidence that Lightfoot, "desperately wanted to atone. He was doing a pretty good job".
Disappointing.