Top 10 Gordon Lightfoot Lyrics

(in no particular order)

Lightfoot's lyrics have been described as narrative and hauntingly lyrical. My favourite lines of his tend toward the confessional, dark, sad and longing.

1. I can see her lying back in her satin dress/ In a room where you do what you don't confess.

- Sundown

2. The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound/ And a wave broke over the railing/

And every man knew, as the captain did too/ T'was the witch of November come stealin'.

- The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

3. But stories always end/ And if you read between the lines/

You'll know that I'm just trying to understand/ The feelings that you lack.

- If You Could Read My Mind 

4. And I must say it means so much to me/ To be the one who's telling you/

I'm telling you/ That you're beautiful.

- Beautiful 

5. Rainy day lovers don't lie when they tell you, they've been down there too/

Rainy day people don't mind if you're cryin' a tear or two.

- Rainy Day People

6. In the early morning rain with a dollar in my hand/ 

With an aching in my heart and my pockets full of sand/

I'm a long way from home, Lord, I miss my loved ones so/ 

In the early morning rain with no place to go.

- Early Morning Rain

7. Turning back the pages to the times I love best/ 

I wonder if she'll ever do the same?/ Now the thing that I call living/ 

Is just being satisfied/ With knowing I got no one left to blame.

- Carefree Highway

8. Oh, there was a time in this fair land when the railroad did not run/ 

When the wild majestic mountains stood alone against the sun/

Long before the white man and long before the wheel/ 

When the green dark forest was too silent to be real.

- Canadian Railroad Trilogy

9. And if you saw him now/ You'd wonder why he would cry/ The whole day long.

- The Summer Side of Life

10. See the jailor with his key/ Who locks away all trace of sin/

See the judge upon the bench/ Who tries the case as best he can/

See the wise and wicked ones/ Who feed upon life's sacred fire/ 

See the soldier with his gun/ Who must be dead to be admired.

- Don Quixote