Lightfoot, Gordon - Sweet Guinevere Lyrics

Best songwriter ever? What a fucking AMAZING song!!!! So refreshing and awesome!!! Gord rules!!

Never knew this song until I saw him in concert, now it is one of my favourites!

Great story put to music.

Gordon is great. Lots of fantastic music

Amazing music!

got kokanee ranger?

i am indian and grew up on two cassettes of gordon...justy love the lyrics and musicality...still do.... magic..

I've been a Gordie fan for over forty years. When I hear one of his songs like this little known gem, it frustrates me that he has never been given his due stateside as a great country artist (he is, however, a member of the Canadian Country Music Association Hall of Fame).

Because the CCMHF will self-justify anything they can get their hands on without actually knowing one genre from another (they're tone deaf dummies), plus they have to grab at anything they can get to make their phony organization look good (now they're not only tone deaf they're greedy). It's all bullshit cause Canada hasn't got enough top names to fill a garden shed let alone a museum. I think Lightfoot should sue them for defamation of character.
Titty-bars for everyone,
Boz.

Ummmm, OK. Thanks!

I've never seen Gordon as a true country artist. Yes, he has made a few forays into country-flavoured songs, but they all have a strong folk/pop vibe to them as well.

You're right in saying that 'country music is not Canadian'. Even though country music is popular (to an extent) in Canada, it almost sits on the fringes of the Canadian mainstream. What little indigenous country music exists in Canada isn't real country because Canada never had a country music tradition to begin with.

Not only that, but a lot of Canadian country music sounds different from what's heard in the US because Canadian culture is different and what appeals to Canadians is different. Canada has always had a very strong folk music tradition and it has had a tremendous influence on Canadian country music as well as other genres.

If you want to know what real Canadian country music sounds like, go to any kitchen party in Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island; you won't find them playing or singing typical country songs. They'll be playing old Scottish and Irish reels on fiddles along with a few tunes that were developed locally and step-dancing to the music.

@SuperTekZone I appreciate your well thought out response. However, I have a few disagreements. First, let's establish the fact that country music is a form of folk music. Second, I don't agree with your contention that (or your implication at least) that the country music in Canada isn't real country because the tradition of American country music was never Canadian to begin with. This is fallacious because the underlying assumption that a genre of music, while it may have origins in a particular country, cannot be given it's own flavor by another country or culture and still belong to that particular genre at the same time. Hank Snow is a perfect example of what I am saying here. Moving it outside the country music realm, nobody doubts that the Beatles played rock and roll with all of the influences of British culture at the time. I forget whether it was John or Paul who said they invented nothing new but just took from American rock and gave it their own spin. The same could be said about orchestral concert music. Copland certainly wrote orchestral concert music with an American flavor; In fact, he is credited with giving concert music a distinctly American sound. Is his music not to be classified as serious orchestral concert music because that musical form (granting it's evolution through the classical, romantic, and modern eras) originated in Europe? I think the same could be said about Lightfoot's songs that I contend fall squarely in the tradition of "country". Sundown, Carefree Highway, If It Should Please You (with unbelievably classic country guitar licks and underlying "highway country" rhythms), Redwood Hill, Second Cup of Coffee, Cotton Jenny, Hi'way Songs, Remember Me, The Old General Store, It's Too Late, Heaven Don't Deserve Me, It's Too Late (He Wins), Steel Rail Blues, Mama Said, Too Much to Loose, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (I don't think this one is country, but he played it on HEE HAW!), Sweet Guinevere, Hangdog Hotel Room, If There's a Reason, Bend in the Water, You Are What I Am, Fading Away, My Pony Won't Go, Old Dan's Records, and scores more have very definitive country sounds, phrasings, chord progressions, rhythms, and instrumentation. Again, I really appreciate your sentiments because they got me to thinking about this. Stay well, and no matter what genre it is, I hope you continue to enjoy his and all other types of music.

@Rationallogo: Well put. We'll agree to disagree. :)

Saw Gord last night in concert, and he is incredible!  He opened the second act with this gem  :)  Such an incredible talent, and he still has it!!!  You go, Gord!  You are a Canadian LEGEND and ICON!!!!  :)

When I hear Gordo's  music I always smile. But I also get a little frustrated case Music today is awful. Music from the 50's 60's and 70's was the best. I'm 44 years old and feel people today are getting ripped off by what they call music today.

Gordon Lightfoot is a friend to all coal miners. He knows that  coal miners have to fight daily for a safe & healthy workplace. To hear how miners who make safety complaints today are treated by outlaw coal operators, check out Raymond Crooke's song "Big Coal Don't Like This Man At All" on YouTube. It tells the true story of Kentucky coal miner Charles Scott Howard, who stood up for safety at an underground mine operated by Arch Coal and was fired as a result. He filed a whistleblower case, won his job back and is working in the mines again!

Oh man, this brings back memories. fantastic song and artist.

Gord opened his show with this song last night in Sandusky, Ohio. It was a great concert by a wonderful talent. He is still singing and playing very very well and is a true living legend. I was blessed to be able to see him and will tell you, if at all possible, go see him while he's still touring. He is by far the greatest singer/songwriter that ever took the stage.

Interesting song--meaning lurking behind the scenes. My question would be, "Who's talking?" Though "an explosion" she remembers that the dad who is "In the mine" was killed, that's not definite. He could simply be working in the mine, but she remembers black rain and a mine explosion--all pointing to Mom not wanting her daughter to take up with a miner's son. Ernie escaped the rut, apparently. Lots of mystery here.

i wish his family the best. theyre in my thoughts :"(

Recently: Goldcorp Porcupine Gold Mines announced Friday it had temporarily shut down operations at the Hoyle Pond Mine, where a worker, 57-year-old David Yuskow Sr. of Timmins, sustained fatal injuries Thursday. Another name from that mine to add to Richard Roy and Denis Cloutier. Thanks for your profound comment. Peace from Canada, Mike

people such as them, are at the top of my thoughts. its because people go down into hell and get the materials we use to power what we need etc. i have the utmost respt for. soldiers and miners. 2 jobs that it takes a special person to do

GL I LOVE YOU

@billybeau83 Thanks for the comment. While I'm at it I want to dedicate the song also to the "lucky" ones who survived the uranium mines of Elliot Lake, Ontario. It isn't just cave-ins that killed many of us. A lot died on the surface and at home never even knowing cancer was eating our guts out.

@tyme4mike Sorry to read about your loss. Yeah this song is quite emotional. Gordon Lightfoot remains one of the most prolific songwriters of our times. My love for his music was handed down to me by my late father. I know I'll hand it down to my children later on. I may like techno & pop but there'll always be a place for Gordon's timeless music.

I grew up in a huge mining area and it was all too often we got news of someone we knew dying in those fucking rock holes. I love the song but I don't think I've ever been able to listen to the whole thing without breaking down in tears. It's for Pete gignac, Fred Larose, Dan, Jerry, Big Jack Garcliff, Leo, Karl "Hammerman" von Heinhorst, all the others I can't think of right now because my eyes are burning and my heart is busting, but especially for my Uncle Bob.

have this album--very good song

i had caught myself singing harmony to this in knoxville. someone recorded it and was listening outside the theatre. i caught up with her ( lady recording it) was singing a baritone harmony to it. but softly

yamahonkawazuki you're like me you do the harmony part along with the lead. I sing baritone as well

i hear a harmony at parts, am i mistaken? i hear this song recently in concert. went from obscure on my list to one of my favourites for some reason

You are not mistaken, and it is Lightfoot himself singing the harmonies on separate tracks.

thank you for doing this song great

Thankyou for posting this wonderful song!