Website design By BotEap.comCanadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot is best known for penning hits like “Sundown,” “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” “Carefree Highway,” “Early Morning Rain,” and “If You Could Read My Mind.” In a career spanning five decades, twenty studio albums, and various “best of,” “greatest hits,” or “Gord’s Gold” compilations, there’s a bottomless well of lesser-known Gordon Lightfoot songs that meet the high standards of composition established by its well known. known hits. In this first of a series of articles dedicated to the not-so-great hits of this brilliant composer, we’ll take a look at “Circle of Steel” and examine what makes this piece so timeless and important.

Website design By BotEap.comRecorded for Gordon Lightfoot’s hit album “Sundown” in 1974, the song “Circle of Steel” represents another side of Lightfoot’s songwriting. While Gordon’s theme often involves love, lost love, nature, travel, self-fulfillment, etc., “Circle of Steel” takes us downtown at Christmas. And what we find is not exactly what one expects to hear during the holiday season. Yes, there are some “sounds of the season” and there is snowfall and there are even references to Christmas morning and family heirlooms. But this particular “Christmas song” paints a more realistic picture of what some Christmases are like in certain places.

Website design By BotEap.comThe song’s beautiful opening features Lightfoot’s recognizable fingerpicking on acoustic guitar with the sound of a tape recorder blowing out the melody of the song’s impending verses. The lyrics provide the perfect mood for a Christmas song as Lightfoot sings “Tall windows flicker down through the snow. One moment you know. The sights and sounds of people milling around, everyone’s up to date.” with the season.” However, it’s not long before the mood changes, as Lightfoot deftly leads us to one particular apartment. The home of a “welfare case” where Gordon notes that “the rats run around like they own the place…”

Website design By BotEap.comSo we find ourselves in the apartment of a family fighting for welfare at Christmas. But apparently the next-door neighbors aren’t having a good time either. Lightfoot paints the picture from the song “Deck the Halls” breaking through the walls of the “next door flat where they scream all day. She dumps her bottle of gin until it’s gone. The boy is strong. One week, one day they will “. take her away because they know about all her bad clothes.

Website design By BotEap.comThe final verse of the song finds the mother explaining to her son why his father is in jail: “Your father’s pride was his means of providing and he is serving three years for that reason…” before the song resolve by repeating the opening verse. As listeners, we are a little stunned (for lack of a better term) as we have just heard a very catchy tune, an almost “happy” mood, sounds of the recorder (courtesy of wind musician Jack Zaza) and a vacation “vibe”. However, these musical “goodies” are balanced by lyrics that paint a very real (and somber) picture. In essence, Lightfoot has musically “tricked” us into thinking about something real during the holidays.

Website design By BotEap.comBy honestly taking a real theme and juxtaposing it against an upbeat, happy or “positive” melody, Gordon Lightfoot is able to deliver Circle of Steel’s serious and intense message and make the listener really enjoy receiving it. The next time he considers recording a Christmas “mix” CD, he might consider adding “Circle of Steel.” The message of this song is important, real, universal and would certainly make anyone (with soul) take a break. The key to a great composition…