Lightfoot (narration) - Jimmy Buffett

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