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In 1971, Gordon Lightfoot's career is at the peak of its brilliance, with "If You Could Read My Mind" the troubadour from Toronto has finally achieved definitive commercial success and has developed his unmistakable sound: at thirty-three years old and with six albums behind him, the next step is to renew himself, "modernizing" his style just enough. This is "Summer Side Of Life," the second piece of the golden age of Lightfoot: a mature album, full of colors, atmospheres, new sounds never before experimented by Our Hero, which takes "If You Could Read My Mind" as a base, as a starting point, of which it represents the logical sequel, and pushes further, and in more different directions. The result is perhaps the greatest masterpiece of his vast discography, riding the wave of enthusiasm but illuminated by its own, personal, dazzling grace of inspiration.
One of the most important novelties introduced with "Summer Side Of Life" is undoubtedly the stable use of electric guitars and percussion, giving the album a "rock" imprint that is especially noticeable in the title track, an intense and more produced and musically structured piece compared to the rest of the album, with faint blues undertones that explode in a passionate and evocative chorus, and in a more nuanced and accompanying manner in "10 Degrees And Getting Colder," a classic and epic folk song about the life of a street musician, in the poignant and romantic ballad "Miguel" and in "Go My Way," the most vivid song on the album, which stands out for its determined and assured melody that instantly imprints itself in the mind. The charming "Cotton Jenny" and the fast and engaging bluegrass of "Redwood Hill" instead wink at American country, with fiddle, harmonica, and steel guitars prominently featured, which contrast with the two most Canadian songs on the album, the elegant and shadowy "Love And Maple Syrup," with crooner-like reflections and "Nous Vivons Ensemble," a curious and ecstatic bilingual piano-ballad with a calm and fluid pace, forming a trio of great melodic songwriting along with the sweet and acoustic "Talking In Your Sleep," where Lightfoot's warm, clear, and soothing voice is accompanied by choruses of almost African taste and the intense and orchestral "Same Old Loverman," imbued with gospel atmospheres and piano-rock.
A great album can only close with a special song, and so here comes "Cabaret" as a sweet finale: after a long, slow and meditated instrumental intro, Lightfoot gives voice to a humble singer/cabaret artist performing on a ship, "All I can see are the sea and the sky, and the sky is blue and the sea is green, yesterday's a cabaret, gowns of satin on ladies gay, yesterday's a cabaret, sounds of laughter on faces grey, yesterday's a carousel, catch the ring and all will be well
He was standin' by the highway
He came down through fields of green
There's a house on a hill
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01
10 Degrees & Getting Colder
(02:41)
With a sign that just said "mother"
When he heard a driver comin'
'bout a half a mile away
Then he held the sign up higher
Where no decent soul could miss it
It was ten degrees or colder
Down by bolder dam that day
He was raised up in milwaukee
Though he never was that famous
He was just a road musician
To the taverns he would go
Singin' songs about the ramblin'
The lovin' girls and gamblin'
How the world fell on his shoulders
Back in boulder I don't know
It was out in arizona
That he heard the lady listenin'
To each word that he was sayin'
To each line that he would write
So he sat down by her table and
They talked about the weather
Ninety-eight point six and risin'
Down by boulder dam that day
And she told him she would take him
For a ride in the mornin' sun
Back in boulder he had told her
"i don't know when I had a better friend"
Now he's traded off his martin
But his troubles are not over
For his feet are almost frozen
And the sun is sinkin' low
Won't you listen to me brother
If you ever loved your mother
Please pull off on the shoulder
If you're goin' milwaukee way
It's ten degrees and getting colder
Down by boulder dam today
04
Summer Side of Life
(04:09)
On the summer side of life
His love was right
There were no illusions
On the summer side of life
Only tenderness
And if you saw him now
You'd wonder why he would cry
The whole day long
There was young girls everywhere
On the summer side of life
They talked all night
To the young men that they knew
On the summer side of life
Goin' off to fight
And if you saw them now
You'd wonder why they would cry
The whole day long
He came down through fields of green
On the summer side of life
He prayed all night
Then he walked into a house
Where love had been misplaced
His chance to waste
And if you saw him now
You'd wonder why he would cry
The whole day long
And if you saw him now
You'd wonder why
And if you saw him now
You'd wonder why
And if you saw him now
You'd wonder why
05
Cotton Jenny
(03:27)
By a worn down, weathered old mill
In the valley below where the river winds
There's no such thing as bad times
And a soft southern flame
Oh, Cotton Jenny's her name
She wakes me up when the sun goes down
And the wheel of love goes 'round
Wheels of love go 'round
Love go 'round
Love go 'round
A joyful sound
I ain't got a penny
For Cotton Jenny to spend
But then
Wheels go 'round
When a new day begins
I go down to the cotton gin
And I make my time worthwhile to them
Then I climb back up again
Then she waits by the door
Oh Cotton Jenny, I'm sore
And she rubs my feet while the sun goes down
And the wheel of love goes 'round
Wheels of love go 'round
Love go 'round
Love go 'round
A joyful sound
I ain't got a penny
For Cotton Jenny to spend
But then
Wheels go 'round
In the hot, sickly south
When they say "well shut my mouth"
I can never be free from the cotton grind
But I know I've got what's mine
With a soft southern flame
Oh, Cotton Jenny's her name
she wakes me up when the sun goes down
and the wheel of love goes round
Wheels of love go 'round
Love go 'round
Love go 'round
A joyful sound
I ain't got a penny
For Cotton Jenny to spend
But then
Wheels go 'round
The wheel goes 'round
'Round and 'round
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