A few years ago Mitch Albom (author of _Tuesdays With Morrie_)
interviewed Lightfoot for his local (Detroit) radio program.
Prior to Lightfoot phoning in, Albom, who is an amateur musician,
expressed admiration for Lightfoot's work, especially "The Wreck of
the Edmund Fitzgerald". They initially discussed that song and
Lightfoot's work in general. Then Albom did the "I gotta ask you . .
." question and quoted lyrics from "Sundown" -- "When I find you been
creepin' 'round my back stair" and asked Lightfoot what he meant.
It turned into a classic stand-off between a literalist and a poet.
Lightfoot made a small attempt to explain, but Albom, with his life
entrenched in journalism, apparently could not comprehend Lightfoot's
imagery. It almost got ugly and I think Lightfoot came close to
hanging up on Albom but settled for cutting the interview short.
I suspect some of the flame wars and dust-ups that occur in Web forums
are between people who simply see the world from radically different
perspectives and forget that another POV can be as valid as their own.
Of course I have no personal experience with that. ;o)
ScottGee1
On 1/18/07, Walt Wayman <hiwayman@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> I think the Edmund Fitzgerald sunk -- or should I say "sank" -- in the Great
> Lakes many years ago. At least, that's how Gordon Lightfoot sang it. Plus, I
> saw an hour-long show on the History Channel about it just a couple of weeks
> ago. Bottom line: don't sail out in really bad weather.
>
> Damn shame some of Lightfoot's original tapes got destroyed by accident. I've
> always kinda liked him.
>
> Walt
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