Billy Joel talks about LIGHTFOOT - radio..
AUDIO - Billy Joel talks about Lightfoot:
https://twitter.com/brinkIeys/status...WHoBEL3017hOVg
imported_Next_Saturday
Re: Billy Joel talks about LIGHTFOOT - radio..
"I'll see you all next Saturday..."
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paskatefan
Location: Philadelphia., PA
How wonderful! Billy, go see Gordon in concert!
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Off Yonge Street
Originally Posted by charlene
Thanks, Char, for sharing! What a wonderful tribute to Lightfoot by Billy Joel!
For the record (and in case the audio associated with the link becomes unavailable), I have included below the text of what Billy Joel said.
In or about October 2019, Billy Joel said the following about Gordon Lightfoot during a segment of "BJ the DJ" on the Billy Joel Channel on Sirius XM radio (https://twitter.com/brinkIeys/status...WHoBEL3017hOVg):
"And I played the same places he played, Massey Hall in Toronto which is a famous venue for artists like Gordon Lightfoot, but I never got to see him. To this day, it's one of my goals in life. It's on my bucket list is see Gordon Lightfoot. I love him. [Joel then sang the first four lines of Lightfoot's song "Don Quixote", but changed some of the words to the following: "Through the woodlands, through the valleys Comes a horseman wild and free Tilting at the windmills passing Who can the brave young bugger be".] I would just like to go and meet him backstage and say: "Thank you. You've given many, many hours of joy in my life. And you've been an inspiration to me" and just to let him know how much I care for what he did and you know how much it meant to me. Whether I, you know, actually saw him perform or not, I'd just like to go backstage and meet the guy."
Over the years, Billy Joel has said some other great things about Lightfoot.
At a concert in Toronto on March 9, 2014 at the Air Canada Centre (now known as Scotiabank Arena), Billy Joel said the following (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nimaA91nkys, from 0:00 to 0:11): "I played at a place called Massey Hall. I was thrilled to be there because one of my idols played there many times: Gordon Lightfoot."
In 2016, Billy Joel talked about some of the musicians who had influenced him and said the following about Gordon Lightfoot (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrocXvCyFlo, from 2:15 to 2:50): "I was always a big fan of Gordon Lightfoot. He was a Canadian folk singer, and he had what I considered a typical folk singing voice, but it was very powerful. It was very strong. To me, Gordon Lightfoot kind of represented Canada for many, many years and I'm still a fan of his. The song most people would know by Gordon Lightfoot is "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"."
Also in 2016, Billy Joel said that when he wrote the song "She's Always a Woman", he was influenced by Gordon Lightfoot (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhzwQ93KsYM (from 14:24 to 15:15)): "I liked his style of singing very much and I wanted to write a song that I thought a guy like Gordon Lightfoot would sing which is: [Joel then sang part of "She's Always a Woman" in the style of Lightfoot]. I am trying to sing it like Gordon Lightfoot because I liked his voice. He had a particular kind of vibrato. I don't know . . just a big fan [of Gordon Lightfoot]."
In 2014, when listing his favorite songwriters of his generation, Billy Joel said, "I love Gordon Lightfoot". (The quote is from an article by Nick Paumgarten titled "Thirty-Three-Hit Wonder - Billy Joel still lives on Long Island, still rules the Garden." that was dated October 20, 2014 and published in the October 27, 2014 issue of The New Yorker (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2...ree-hit-wonder). For reference, I have reproduced below the relevant paragraph from the article:
"After a while, he [Billy Joel] led me [Nick Paumgarten] into the living room, at the west end of the house. On the wall facing the fireplace was a giant triptych of the Last Supper ("It's a roast!" Joel said) and beneath it a table spread with silver grails. Another table was cluttered with silver jugs and bowls, like trophies. Joel had decorated the place himself. The aesthetic, he said, was "Catholic martyrs and saints, grotesqueries." There was a bust of Beethoven near the piano, and Joel put his baseball cap on its head and sat down on the bench. He was listing favorite songwriters of his generation but grasping for names. Now and then, one came to him. "Warren Zevon"—he played snippets of "Werewolves of London" and "Lawyers, Guns and Money." I threw a few names out, dead guys (Nick Drake, Townes Van Zandt) and newer bands, too (Radiohead? Wilco?), and he really had no idea what I was talking about. He listened only to classical music these days. Dennis Arfa, Joel's longtime booking agent, likes to say of a performer who is big enough to sell out an arena, "He's in the box." Joel's box might be bigger than Arfa's, but inclusion still requires hits of a certain calibre and vintage. "I love Gordon Lightfoot," he said.")
In 2018, Billy Joel said in an interview that Gordon Lightfoot is "underrated". (The quote is from an article by David Marchese titled "In Conversation: Billy Joel - The superstar on his songwriting silence, the country today, and his ideal farewell."(https://www.vulture.com/2018/07/bill...versation.html) that was published in July 2018 on the website of Vulture (New York magazine's website for entertainment news). For reference, I have reproduced below the relevant section from the interview: "Which of your peers are underrated?
Randy Newman was underrated. Jeez, who else? Gordon Lightfoot.")
According to an article by Jane Stevenson that was published in the Toronto Sun on May 27, 2009, at a concert in Toronto on May 26, 2009 at the Air Canada Centre (now known as Scotiabank Arena), Billy Joel said that Gordon Lightfoot is "one of his heroes". For reference, I have reproduced below the relevant paragraph from the article: "Joel scored further points by remembering gigs at both Massey Hall and Maple Leaf Gardens and seeing Gordon Lightfoot at Massey, calling him one of his heroes, before performing a snippet of Alberta Bound, causing the audience to clap along."
Earlier today, I e-mailed Wayne Francis and asked him to consider adding one or more of the quotes by Billy Joel to the "Influenced by Gordon Lightfoot" page on his "Lightfoot!" website (https://www.lightfoot.ca/influcby.htm). Currently, the "Influenced by Gordon Lightfoot" page does not include any quotes by Billy Joel.
Last edited by Off Yonge Street; 08-10-2020 at 12:13 PM.
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Wow! I DO remember one Billy Joel interview on TV many years ago (don't remember what year) in which he spoke glowingly of Gordon. These quotes are fantastic. another reason to admire Billy Joel (as if there weren't enough already).
Message to Billy - go see Gordon in concert once this pandemic is over!
The following article on Howard Stern's website indicates that, during an interview with Stern that took place on October 28, 2021, Billy Joel told Stern that Joel loves Gordon Lightfoot and that Lightfoot is one of Joel's favourite singers:https://www.howardstern.com/news/202...llion-dollars/. The article also indicates that Joel told Stern that Joel's 1973 love song "You're My Home" as purposely written in the style of Lightfoot.
Here is the relevant paragraph from the article:
"[Billy Joel] shocked Howard when he told him his 1973 love song "You're My Home" was purposefully written in the style of Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot. "I love Gordon Lightfoot. He's one of my favorite singers," Billy said of the ballad, which he went on to perform at Howard and Beth's wedding.
He has also said that his song for his daughter, Down Eastern Alexa was written in a Lightfoot style as well..