Peter Paul & Mary – Early Morning Rain (1966)

This is a 1966 video of a performance by Peter, Paul and Mary on the “Tonight In Person” show. Below the video, you’ll see the lyrics for this beautiful song. Their recording of this song (which was written by Gordon Lightfoot) gave a big boost to Gordon’s career.

Peter Paul & Mary – Early Morning Rain (1966)

Hear Gordon Lightfoot singing Early Morning Rain.

Early Morning Rain Lyrics:

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, and I miss my loved one so
In the early morning rain with no place to go

Out on runway number nine, big 707 set to go
But I’m stuck here on the ground where the cold winds blow
Well the liquor tasted good and the women were all fast
There she goes my friend, o she’s rolling now at last

Here the mighty engines roar, see the silver bird on high
She’s away and westward bound, high above the clouds she’ll fly
Where the early rain don’t fall and the sun always shines
She’ll be flying o’er my home in about three hours time

This old airport’s got me down, it’s no earthly use to me
Cause I’m stuck here on the ground, cold and drunk as I might be
You can’t jump a jet plane like you can a freight train
So I’d best be on my way in the early morning rain

Technorati Tags: Early Morning Rain, favorites, fingerpicking, fingerstyle guitar, folk, Gordon Lightfoot, lyrics, Peter Paul & Mary, songs, video

Gordon Lightfoot – Early Morning Rain

Gordon Lightfoot wrote some of the most beautiful songs which were recorded by many other artists. I was more familiar with the Peter, Paul and Mary version of this. But since Lightfoot wrote this, I wanted to add a video with him playing and singing it (live from Chicago in 1979) with many thanks to Youtube!

When you watch this, check out the guy over on the right (to Gordon’s left) that is doing some great fingerpicking.

More about Gordon Lightfoot (and his song, If I Could Read Your Mind).

Technorati Tags: Early Morning Rain, favorite songs, fingerpicking, Gordon Lightfoot, guitar

Gordon Lightfoot – If You Could Read My Mind

Here is a video and the lyrics to If You Could Read My Mind  (one of my all time favorite guitarists and song writers is Gordon Lightfoot).

Gordon Lightfoot is a legend with his beautiful guitar playing and baritone singing voice. Many people are familiar with his song The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, but that is not my favorite song he’s written. His over 40-year music career has earned him a place in music history, as well as many awards. He has inspired many other musicians with his music and songs – in fact, he helped influence the entire folk-pop genre and these artists: Jim Croce, Jimmy Buffett, Bob Dylan and Dan Fogelberg. This is one of the better sounding versions I could find at Youtube (most sound awful for some reason!)

This is a sad song about the breakup of his first marriage. I just think it is a great song that I can listen to over and over again. I wanted to post it here because he uses some nice fingerpicking on this tune.

Gordon Lightfoot — If You Could Read My Mind lyrics

©1969 by Gordon Lightfoot

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.
You know that ghost is me.
And I will never be set free
As long as I’m a ghost that you can’t see.
                                       
If I could read your mind, love,
What a tale your thoughts could tell.
Just like a paperback novel,
The kind the drugstores sell.
Then you reached the part where the heartaches come,
The hero would be me.
But heroes often fail,
And you won’t read that book again
Because the ending’s just too hard to take!
                                       
I’d walk away like a movie star
Who gets burned in a three way script.
Enter number two:
A movie queen to play the scene
Of bringing all the good things out in me.
But for now, love, let’s be real;
I never thought I could  feel this way
And I’ve got to say that I just don’t get it.
I don’t know where we went wrong,
But the feeling’s gone
And I just can’t get it back.
                                       
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.
But stories always end,
And if you read between the lines,
You’d know that I’m just tryin’ to understand
The feelin’s that you lack.
I never thought I could feel this way
And I’ve got to say that I just don’t get it.
I don’t know where we went wrong,
But the feelin’s gone
And I just can’t get it back!

This sounds even better if you want an audio only version:
If You Could Read My Mind

Also see Early Morning Rain by Gordon Lightfoot.

Technorati Tags: favorites, fingerpicking, Gordon Lightfoot, guitar, If You Could Read My Mind, lyrics, music, song