Q·Q with Tom Power

Gordon Lightfoot has plans of his own as he embraces 77

Gordon Lightfoot welcomes Tom Power into his Toronto home to discuss songwriting, exercise and Leonard Cohen.

The Canadian singer-songwriter welcomes Q's Tom Power into his Toronto home for an interview

Gordon Lightfoot and Tom Power in Lightfoot's Toronto home. (Stuart Berman)

Originally published on Nov. 23, 2016

It's no surprise Gordon Lightfoot has an entire wall dedicated to photos of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald. "There's more than that. It's everywhere," says Lightfoot as he welcomes Q's Tom Power into his Toronto home.

Lightfoot is still busy releasing music and gigging. He says, "I knocked off for one year in 1985 and then I knocked off another two-and-a-half years when I got sick, so that's the only time I actually stopped touring." Lightfoot credits his exercise routine with keeping him going and prepared to perform.

But it's not all about the exercise. Lightfoot recalls Leonard Cohen saying Cohen's music "really made you think and it really was uplifting." Lightfoot says it was "a deep poetic experience that occurred with Cohen."

Canada's most famous folkie isn't ready to make another album saying that songwriting can be very isolating. For now, he stays busy spending time with his children and grandchildren.

The full interview with Gordon Lightfoot is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.