Locking It In (On the Greatest Folk Music Album Ever Made)

This is a purely personal choice.

It's not from Bob. It's not by Joni. And it's not The Weavers, either.

Worse yet, it's not even PP&M ...

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When I was growing up a record-lovin' teen, folks out here in the sticks could not get their hands anywhere near an LP by the Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot.

The mags would make oblique references to him, as if he were a mysterious bardic spirit only the elite could hear. HIs early recordings were printed on pure Unobtainium vinyl, and the masses could just forget about hearing ol' Gordo till after Judgment Day.

If then ... .

But then, there was If You Could Read My Mind* -- Lightfoot's major label debut, featuring the title track, which covered the radio airwaves like a soft woolen blanket on a wintry Alberta night.

The best thing about the LP was its production value -- not heavy with overdubs or hard-rock backing, it used a simple guitar and bass duo behind Lightfoot, with support from the-then little known Ry Cooder on key tracks.

The real selling point is that the major tracks also featured string ensemble arrangements -- an unheard-of thing for a folk-music mystery man on his first big record.

Arrangements by Nick DeCaro and other aces of the genre made the music soar into family living rooms then split between teenaged rock'n'roll fans and their Perry-Como-and-Lawrence-Welk-loving parents.

Still more unique was the LP's listing credits for arrangers like DeCaro in bold type and to session artists like Cooder at all.

I was I think 14 or so when I bought it for my late Dad for (I think) his birthday, who actually listened to it with me. Crazy, I know. But nice.

I realize hard-core folk aficianados may well quarrel with this choice over seminal LPs from those I mentioned before the LJ cut.

But Lightfoot's album was true to the name: a selection and ordering of songs all made for their total effect on the listener, with the album's money-making title track almost as a bonus. Not that other famous folk LPs didn't do that, but I wonder if any others brought this level of songwriting talent into so many homes with such quiet grace.

Yes, as far as I'm concerned, Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne" is the Greatest Folk Song Ever Recorded (Judy and Suzanne in my archive), and Gordon Lightfoot's If You Could Read My Mind is the Greatest Folk-Music Album Ever Made, and that's that.

(crosses arms and awaits rebuttal)

Originally posted to LiveJournal on April 10, 2009

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*The original title of the album was Sit Down, Young Stranger -- but the success of the hit single prompted the label to change the title in later shippings to boost sales of the LP. The song referenced by the original title grounds this recording and Lightfoot's legacy squarely in roots folk music.