1966 Top Ten: Early Morning Rain (#3)

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Ah-HA, you say. NOW you see right through me. No, not really. It’s not my fault that this gem is now 60 years old. It is my fault, though, that I’ll stick this guy in a countdown anytime I can. And, since we’re celebrating 1966, I can! Don’t be surprised that this is here. #3: Early Morning Rain - Gordon Lightfoot See you tomorrow. Heck, I’ve told you how much I love Gordon Lightfoot. I’ve told you that I originally was introduced to this song by country singer George Hamilton IV’s hit version. Oh, have I told y’all how much I love Gordon Lightfoot?! Lightfoot said he wrote this when he was living in Los Angeles and homesick for Canada. Interestingly enough, he was NOT the first person to release this. That distinction went to his fellow Canadians Ian and Sylvia, who recorded it a year before Lightfoot had a record deal. By the time Lightfoot’s version came out on his first album, there were recordings by Peter, Paul, and Mary, Judy Collins, Bobby Bare, and the aforementioned George Hamilton IV country hit that I fell in love with (unaware of the fact that it would lead to a lifelong Lightfoot addiction ). The pain of being “cold and drunk as I can be” while being “a long way from home” and no way to get there is depicted brilliantly in this very early Lightfoot classic, proof that he always had it. Early Morning Rain Written by Gordon Lightfoot Recorded by Gordon Lightfoot From Lightfoot!, 1966 And the sun always shines: