In Memoriam 2023: Gordon Lightfoot (1938–2023) Tribute List

Canadian singer-songwriter, Gordon Lightfoot, achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music, and helped define folk-pop music of the 1960s and 1970s. Several of his albums achieved gold and multi-platinum status internationally, and his songs have been recorded by many notable artists. The following Lightfoot hits topped the U.S. Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary (AC) charts: "If You Could Read My Mind" (1970), "Sundown" and "Carefree Highway" (1974), "Rainy Day People" (1975), and "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" (1976). Some of his many awards include 13 JUNO Awards, five Grammy Award nominations, 1986 Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductee, 1997 Governor General's Performing Arts Award (Canada's highest honor in the performing arts), and his 2012 induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. This tribute honors Lightfoot using lyrics and biographical articles.
18 words 93 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. tale
    a story that tells the particulars of an occurrence or event
    If you could read my mind love, what a tale my thoughts could tell
    Just like an old time movie, 'bout a ghost from a wishing well
    In a castle dark or a fortress strong with chains upon my feet
    – If You Could Read My Mind
  2. creep
    go stealthily or furtively
    Sundown you better take care
    If I find you been creeping 'round my back stairs
    – Sundown
  3. legend
    a story about mythical or supernatural beings or events
    The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
    Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
    – The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald
  4. carefree
    without trouble or worry
    Carefree highway, let me slip away, slip away on you
    – Carefree Highway
  5. wanderlust
    very strong or irresistible impulse to travel
    I guess it must be wanderlust or trying to get free
    From the good old faithful feeling we once knew
    – Carefree Highway
  6. sorrow
    an emotion of great sadness associated with loss
    If you get lonely, all you really need is that rainy day love
    Rainy day people all know there's no sorrow they can't rise above
    – Rainy Day People
  7. recall
    bring to mind
    Though I could hardly hear the name you spoke
    It's a name I don't recall
    – Talking In Your Sleep
  8. virtue
    the quality of doing what is right
    Just think about the fool
    Who by his virtue can be found
    – Race Among The Ruins
  9. aching
    a dull persistent pain
    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
  10. cinder
    a fragment of incombustible matter left after a fire
    Motor city madness has touched the countryside
    And through the smoke and cinders, you can hear it far and wide
    – Black Day In July
  11. majestic
    having or displaying great dignity or nobility
    There was a time in this fair land when the railroad did not run
    When the wild majestic mountains
    Stood alone against the sun
    – Canadian Railroad Trilogy
  12. legacy
    anything handed down by someone or something in the past
    "Gordon Lightfoot captured our country’s spirit in his music — and in doing so, he helped shape Canada’s soundscape. May his music continue to inspire future generations, and may his legacy live on forever," Trudeau wrote.
    – CNN
  13. prestigious
    having an excellent reputation; respected
    Inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1986, Lightfoot garnered 13 prestigious JUNO awards — out of a total 29 nominations — presented by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
    – CNN
  14. baritone
    the second lowest adult male singing voice
    His rich baritone voice and songs like "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" and "If You Could Read My Mind" made him one of the most popular artists of the 1970s.
    – The New York Times
  15. self-effacing
    reluctant to draw attention to yourself
    His personal style, reticent and self-effacing — he avoided interviews and flinched when confronted with praise — also went down well.
    – The New York Times
  16. elegy
    a mournful poem; a lament for the dead
    Many of Lightfoot's songs about Canadian wildlife, streets and weather doubled as cultural elegies — like his 1976 hit "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," a dramatic retelling of a real-life maritime disaster.
    – NPR
  17. sterling
    highest in quality
    These songs ["If You Could Read My Mind," "Carefree Highway," and "Early Morning Rain"] earned him a sterling reputation as a songwriter's songwriter, which you can see when you check the list of people who covered them: Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, and countless others.
    – Rolling Stone
  18. timeless
    unaffected by the continuum from the past to the future
    Lightfoot's biographer Nicholas Jennings said, "His name is synonymous with timeless songs about trains and shipwrecks, rivers and highways, lovers and loneliness."
    – Lightfoot
Created on Tue May 02 21:27:59 EDT 2023 (updated Fri May 05 10:23:43 EDT 2023)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.