Complete Greatest Hits

Gordon Lightfoot is deservedly famous for his hit song about the 1975 sinking of the ore carrier Edmund Fitzgerald, but his musical legacy goes far beyond being the performer of a popular disaster ballad.  As this album demonstrates, Lightfoot's career took off during the folk revival movement of the 1960s with songs like Early Morning Rain, continued through the 70s with such pop-oriented hits as Sundown and Carefree Highway, and moved into the 90s and beyond in a more personal and reflective style found in Stay Loose and Restless.

 

And for listeners seeking another Lightfoot historical ballad, this album has one of his best: the Canadian Railroad Trilogy, a majestic composition about the building of the transcontinental railroad, a song whose only serious competitor for the title of Canada's second national anthem is Stan Rogers' Northwest Passage. 

 

Give a listen and see why performers ranging from Bob Dylan to Sarah McLachlan to Johnny Cash have been inspired by Gordon Lightfoot.