Remembering Gordon Lightfoot, Canada’s Authentic Post-War Troubadour

Gordon Lightfoot performs during the evening ceremonies of Canada's 150th anniversary of Confederation, in Ottawa on July 1, 2017. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

Commentary

Singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot passed away on May 1, 2023. He was 84 years old. He will be remembered as the foremost Canadian singer-songwriter of his age as his songs expressed the longings, fears, hopes, joy, and pain of a generation of Canadians who came of age after World War II.

Lightfoot was raised in a middle-class family in Orillia with his sister and two parents in a fine two-story house in town. He was a good student, a gifted athlete, and a boy soprano who sang in church and at local singing festivals like the Kiwanis.