Gordon Lightfoot’s Songwriting Secrets: “Location, Location, Location”

Updated:

July 21, 2020 3:11 pm

American Songwriter participates in affiliate programs with various companies. Links originating on American Songwriter’s website that lead to purchases or reservations on affiliate sites generate revenue for American Songwriter . This means that American Songwriter may earn a commission if/when you click on or make purchases via affiliate links.

Videos by American Songwriter

Gordon Lightfoot recently revealed how he wrote celebrated songs like “If You Could Read My Mind” in the late 60s. The 71-year-old Canadian singer-songwriter, who will tour the Southern states in March, used to like to compose his tunes in empty houses.

“I knew a couple of real-estate agents. My sister was running the business at that time, she found out who to contact and I said, ‘I’d like to use the house to write some songs while you’re trying to sell it.’

It was a method I had of writing when I was feeling like I wasn’t coming up with the goods, coming up with the material. I would go in there with a chair and a table. I have a Quebec table here that fits in the trunk of my car that I take with me – just the chair and the table and the pad and the manuscript.”