A shopper in a store struck up a conversation with me last night and mentioned the half-time show at the Grey Cup (Canada’s Superbowl) on Sunday which featured Justin Bieber, among others.
I didn’t watch the show, I told her.
She said that Gordon Lightfoot also performed.
“Gordon Lightfoot,” I replied. “What funeral home did they drag him out of for that?”
I have no idea why I said that except to be a smart ass by referring to his age, perhaps, and the fact that he almost did die a few years ago, but as it happens, I said it to the second biggest Gordon Lightfoot fan in the world.
The biggest Gordon Lightfoot fan in the world is me.
He is the reason I learned to play guitar 43 years ago and the reason I started writing songs shortly after that. I have seen him in concert four times and wish it was 44 times.
I used to wear a leather jacket like Gordon Lightfoot wore and grew a wispy beard like his.
For a while, I’m pretty sure I thought I was Gordon Lightfoot.
Anyway, the words had escaped the mouth before the brain could inspect them for approval and it was too late: I was a Gordon Lightfoot hater.
The rest of our conversation consisted of her telling me how great he is and me trying to outdo her descriptions of how great he is.
But I could have ripped off my shirt and shown her a two-foot-square tattoo of Gordon Lightfoot’s face on my back and she still would not have believed me that I was a fan.
Funny thing. When I went into that store, I wasn’t thinking about Gordon Lightfoot.
When I left the store, all I could think about was – Gordon Lightfoot!
©2012 Jim Hagarty
