First time hearing GORDON LIGHTGOOT The watchman's gone - REACTION - i'm a bit mystified!

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First time hearing THE WATCHMAN'S GONE Gordon Lightfoot - REACTION

#gordonlightfoot
#musicreactions
#rockreaction

[kitkakitteh]

It’s about stealing rides on freight trains and the watchman that finds them, and removes them. A metaphor for an aimless life.

[jimturner]

The singer is singing about his own demise, and this is his end of life philosophizing. The Watchman is an abstract figure that represents authorities during his lifetime who oppress the poor everyday people. At the end, he says it feels so good knowing the watchman's gone. The singer has now passed and no longer has to deal with earthly authority. Watch the video again in that context. Hope this helps.

[kevinfessler]

I just discovered the song, which is unfortunate given the song is almost 50 years old, however in the literal sense it's about an individual who is a drifter who feels freedom by riding the rails. The watchman is the individual who was responsible for keeping the "bums" off the train. So when the watchman's out, it means that people could ride unabated. There is always the non-literal you can take from this song, but I found Gordon to be VERY literal in his lyrics. He was a salt of the Earth type guy, and didn't suffer fools. RIP Gord....you were a treasure and your music will be played forever.

[leahdickinson]

Gord is one of the greatest songwriters ever . When you look at his entire catalog, it’s mind boggling the amount of brilliance in the writing, the arrangements.

[JT_O]

Great review.
Gordon did this song live last year and it was beautiful. Rick Haynes, Gordon’s bass player, is vastly underrated.
Gordon did a lot of songs about wanderers and travelers and trains. A train Watchman clears the train tracks of “loiterers”, and is someone to avoid if one was a wanderer. I always supposed the song is a ghost story: both the wanderer and watchman are gone. Eternally, the wanderer is avoiding the watchman and the watchman is always there looking for him.

[marybaillie]

Beautiful
Sundown
If You Could Read my Mind
Early Morning Rain
Canadian Railroad Trilogy
Thanks for more Gordon. One of Canada's greatest songwriter and performers. Every song, as in this one,
a great story, and a great melody, and an invitation to some beautiful bass guitar work. Great reaction Harri. Thanks Harri and Dump Stump. Cheers from Canada 🇨🇦

[mxbishop]

Gordon Lightfoot's _Sundown_ album is a masterpiece. Fun fact: Two songs on this 1974 album contained the word "shit" - which was unusual for the times, but no one seemed to notice or care. The songs, The Watchman's Gone and Seven Island Suite both contain that word. In 1977, when Steve Miller released his _Book of Dreams_ album, the hit song Jet Airliner also contained that word, but that song had to be modified for radio airplay in the United States. Lightfoot's songs were never modified for radio airplay as far as I know.

[gleesu]

I'm compiling my memorial DVD and including bits of music that shaped me while I was still human and upon this earth. This is one of the most defining tunes of my life.

[sjsartanddesign]

RIP Gordon Lightfoot, a truly beautiful soul and poetic songwriter legend. 😢

[sixbladeknife]

Bob Dylan’s favorite songwriter…that’s saying something.

[atombomb]

riding the rails as a metaphor for life

[jesspaxton]

The watchman is Canadian for yard bull, the guard at railroad yards who kicks hobos off the freight trains. Some watchmen are sympathetic, others can cause physical damage. See "The Vanishing American Hobo" by Jack Kerouac. Lightfoot is a master of the road song, the disaster at sea, the broken heart -- a true painter with words and music.

[stevestruthers]

'The Watchman's Gone' is my all-time favourite Gordon Lightfoot song. I've loved it ever since I first heard it in the summer of 1977, when I was 14. It fits in with the theme of the album as reflected by its title - because there's lots of sunset/early and late evening imagery in the lyrics. It's hard to believe it's almost 50 years old now and it hasn't aged a bit. It's largely referential to the hobo lifestyle, where, during The Great Depression, unemployed, impoverished men would hop on and hop off the roofs of trains, going anywhere and everywhere in search of work or sustenance. Watchmen or security guards were often hired to prevent them from riding the rails and catching them if they got off at, or near, a railway station.

In his own way, Gordon was like a hobo whenever he was on tour, in the sense that he was always going anywhere and everywhere, and thus truly an itinerant. The idea of a watchman in the song is a metaphor for multiple things that he perceived as threats to his career or problems he was faced with. He also makes an indirect reference to the music industry and the garbage it often dumps on musical artists when he sings, "I bin on the town, washin' the bullshit down." And when he sings, "If you find me feedin' daisies, please turn my face to the sky; and leave me be, watchin' the moon roll by... whatever I was, you know it was all because...", it's a reference to his addiction to alcohol and his acute awareness of the reality that it could not just end him, but his music career as well. Not surprisingly, hobos who routinely drank to excess or imbibed a fatal amount of alcohol were sometimes seen lying face down in the grass or the weeds, either dead or dead drunk, and even lying face up, literally watching the moon roll by on moonlit nights.

The lyric that goes, "As I leave you in the sunset, I got one more nothin' I'd like to say: you don't know me, a son of the sea am I", is a direct reference to his fans and others who think they know him, but really don't. It's a short commentary on the pitfalls of fame and the false illusions it can inspire in others. Finally, 'a son of the sea am I' refers to his fascination with things of a maritime nature, particularly sailing, as he once owned two sailboats, rather appropriately named 'Sundown' and 'The Golden Goose'.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[diane-]

Another great Canadian singer with so many great songs.

[melissakhalar]

Mr. Lightfoot has a birthday this month, the 17th of November and will be 84. Mine is ten days after his that's how I remember it. So Happy Birthday Gordon. Love you and am looking forward to seeing you soon. ❤️ 🎂 🎵 🎸

[robertoblin]

i think it is about hobo's jumping on the freight trains and riding for free the watchman job was to throw them off

[williamthompson]

This is my favorite song by my favorite musician.

One of the times that I had the privilege of seeing him live, he introduced this song with these words: "I wrote this song almost forty years ago for the Sundown album...and to this day...I have no idea what the hell it's about."

By his own admission, even he wasn't entirely sure.

[stevenlay]

thank you, gordon, on this day we celebrate your return to the watchman above...something good and something bad. tears of joy and sorrow mix as the train keeps on down the line. all we, hopped this train we know not where. so many layers of meaning like all the greats speak to all listeners without necessarily meaning any one thing though all of what everyone else has suggested sings true- all things connect to the floating metaphor as we sit here washing the bullshit down... blessings to all souls on our return train ride home, ..may we somehow find peace before we arrive...

[pncombies]

Something about great guitar playing and a great voice! First time hearing this gem, Dump Stump. Great selection, and reaction, too, Harri!

[ThePeteFace]

The watchman is booze and the guy singing is sober. The golden sun is living a sober life but the watchman is always around and he'll ruin your dreams. There is more to the song but that is roughly it.