''Don Quixote'' is

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

singer

Gordon Lightfoot Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. (born November 17, 1938) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music. He is credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1960 ...

's 8th original album, released in 1972 on the

Reprise Records Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels. Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Enya, Michael ...

Label. The album reached #42 on the ''Billboard'' album chart. The album contains little innovation on Lightfoot's trademark

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

sound, although it is notable for containing Lightfoot's third and fourth seafaring songs, "Christian Island (Georgian Bay)" and Ode to Big Blue (his first two being "Marie Christine" from '' Back Here on Earth'' and "Ballad of Yarmouth Castle" from ''

Sunday Concert ''Sunday Concert'' is Canadian singer Gordon Lightfoot's first solo live album, released in 1969 on the United Artists label. Lightfoot's last recording for United Artists, it was also his first live album and until the release of a live DVD in 2 ...

''). Lightfoot would continually revisit nautical themes over the next ten years. ''Don Quixote'' also contains a rare Lightfoot foray into the

protest song A protest song is a song that is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of ''topical'' songs (or songs connected to current events). It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre. Among social mov ...

genre in the form of the longest track on the album, "The Patriot's Dream", a

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

describing the enthusiasm of soldiers on a troop train "riding off to glory in the spring of their years", followed by the pathos of a woman receiving news that her husband's aircraft had been shot down in combat. The title track is a lyrical paean to

Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 Old Style and New Style dates, NS) was an Early Modern Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-emin ...

’ half-mad hero. "

Beautiful Beautiful, an adjective used to describe things as possessing beauty, may refer to: Film and theater * ''Beautiful'' (2000 film), an American film directed by Sally Field * ''Beautiful'' (2008 film), a South Korean film directed by Juhn Jai-h ...

" was released as a single and peaked at #58 on the ''Billboard'' singles chart. On February 13, 1988, Lightfoot performed "Alberta Bound" in

McMahon Stadium McMahon Stadium is a Canadian football stadium in Calgary, Alberta. The stadium is owned by the University of Calgary and operated by the McMahon Stadium Society. The stadium is between the downtown core and the University of Calgary, north of ...

during the Opening Ceremonies for the

1988 Winter Olympics The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games (french: XVes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Calgary 1988 ( bla, Mohkínsstsisi 1988; sto, Wîchîspa Oyade 1988 or ; cr, Otôskwanihk 1998/; srs, Guts� ...

held in

Calgary, Alberta Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Canadian Prairies, Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,30 ...

Track listing

All compositions by Gordon except as indicated. Gordon was 34 at the time of the release

Side 1

#"Don Quixote" – 3:41 #"Christian Island (Georgian Bay)" – 4:02 #"Alberta Bound" – 3:07 #"Looking at the Rain" – 3:40 #"Ordinary Man" – 3:19 #"Brave Mountaineers" – 3:36

Side 2

#"Ode to Big Blue" – 4:48 #"Second Cup of Coffee" – 3:03 #"

" – 3:23 #"On Susan's Floor" (

Shel Silverstein Sheldon Allan Silverstein (; September 25, 1930 – May 10, 1999) was an American writer, poet, cartoonist, singer / songwriter, musician, and playwright. Born and raised in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, Silverstein briefly attended universit ...

, Vince Matthews) – 2:58 #"The Patriot's Dream" – 6:04

Personnel

* Gordon Lightfoot - 6- & 12-string

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

Red Shea Patrick Henry "Red" Shea (November 29, 1898 – November 17, 1981) was a Major League Baseball pitcher who played in with the Philadelphia Athletics, and and with the New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American footb ...

- hi-string guitar,

classical guitar The classical guitar (also known as the nylon-string guitar or Spanish guitar) is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string instrument with strings made of gut or nylon, it is a precursor o ...

dobro Dobro is an American brand of resonator guitars, currently owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally ...

* Terry Clements - lead acoustic guitar * Rick Haynes - bass *

Ry Cooder Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder (born March 15, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter, film score composer, record producer, and writer. He is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known for his slide guitar work, his interest in traditional music, an ...

- mandolin * Bob Thompson - string arrangements "Don Quixote" and "The Patriot's Dream" * Nick DeCaro - all other string arrangements

Chart positions

References

External links

Album lyrics and chords
{{Authority control Gordon Lightfoot albums 1972 albums Albums produced by Lenny Waronker Reprise Records albums