“I’m
a child of Lightfoot. His career was born in 1966, I was
born in 1969 – I grew up right along with his career.”
To
drive his point home, Cormier ticks off some of the early
highlights. The first song he recalls recognizing as a youngster
was Lightfoot’s ‘The Long River’. A musical
child prodigy, Cormier knew all the words and guitar work
to ‘Home from the Forest’ by the age of seven.
The
first album bought with his own money as a young teenager?
‘Dream Street Rose’, released in 1980 by the
man Cormier affectionately refers to as “Gordie”.
The
two men have met only once, at a Governor General’s
picnic at Rideau Hall in 2002, but the day remains stamped
in Cormier’s brain. Cormier was playing fiddle for
another legend, Stompin’ Tom Connors, and took a break
in the performer’s tent.
Not
a small man, Cormier squeezed through the crowd and bumped
into “a slight, older man – not very big at
all.”
Seconds
later a friend filled Cormier in on his mistake.
“He
said, ‘Hey, do you realize you just about knocked
over Gordon Lightfoot?” Cormier recalled with a laugh.
“I rushed back and apologized, and we started talking…
it was one of the greatest experiences I’ve had.”
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