Pussywillows, Cat-tails, Soft Winds and Roses

The Wreck of the Edmund FitzGerald was mine. Its Asus-Em-G-D chord progression was easy to play, and its words ahoy’d my inner pirate. I knew where the Mariner’s Church in DE-troy-AT was, and I knew the song before I knew the singer.

It was Madeleine, my uncle’s girlfriend, who introduced me to his music. Since then, there’s a weird anomic sadness when I think of Madeleine and Gordon Lightfoot. She led a charmed life in The Time Before Ed: cocktails, good furniture, youth, beauty, Sundown on the HiFi. Something must have happened to make her shack up with a Leclair.

Inspired by Madeleine (1942-2008) and GL (1937-2023). Image of Madeline‘s fancy chest, as I remember it, by Quality is Key.