Lightfoot (narration)

Listening to that track now,
there are two words that immediately come to mind
Gordan Lightfoot
As Mark Twain said, all ideas are second hand
either conciously or unconciously
Oscar Wilde put it this way,
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
that mediocrity can pay to greatness

Whatever you call it, there's no other way to learn your craft
than by imitating others
Ask Bob Dylan about Woody Guthrie or Beyonce about Tina Turner
That is just the way the process works
You admire somebody then you try to emulate them but only
for a time

The trick is to find your own style, sound or voice
And that comes from your natural talent, your work ethic
and still good luck

So if you think you hear a little, let me correct that,
a lot of Gordan Lightfoot in these songs, congratulations
You're correct, he was the greatness my mediocrity tried to emulate

It wasn't until four years ago that I really got to thinking
I was lucky enough to be in Toronto when Gordan played Massey Hall
the place I always heard you had to see Lightfoot
Where we spent a delightful visit backstage after the show
When I got around to awkwardly thanking him for his inspiration
His response was what you might think it would be
He said; you seem to be doing pretty well Jimmy, just pass that on
That's a classy act

So if you're lucky and work hard enough, you will eventually
find a style of your own
Then if you're really lucky and work really hard your own style will
become something others follow
Gordan was my guide though the musical woods
It's one of the unique and pretty cool parts about being successful
Inspiring others, which is exactly what Gordan did for me
Now I'm certainly not blind to the fact that there are singers and
songwriters out there who pattern their work after mine
I'm perfectly fine with that
So here's a lightfoot song that was a
big hit in the Animal's Corner in those
Mobile days
Thank You Gordan and I will pass it on

This is called; The circle is small