In the long, tangled history of folk and rock music, Bob Dylan and Neil Young stand as two of the most mythic figures ever to put pen to paper. Each forged his own path, Dylan with his surrealist poetry and ragged wit, Young with his raw vulnerability and restless experimentation. Yet for all their differences, both men share a rare, unwavering admiration for one songwriter who shaped them in ways the public rarely sees:
Gordon Lightfoot.
For Dylan and Young, Lightfoot isn’t just a peer.
He’s the songwriter they quietly return to — the one whose work they play, praise, and point to when the conversation turns toward greatness.
The Songwriter Who Stands Shoulder To Shoulder With Legends
Dylan has never been shy about admiration, but his praise for Lightfoot has always carried a special weight. “I can’t think of any Gordon Lightfoot song I don’t like,” he once said. “Every time I hear one of his songs, it’s like I wish it would last forever.” To hear Dylan — a Nobel Prize-winning lyricist idolized across the world, speak this way is to understand Lightfoot’s rare hold on songwriters.
To Dylan, Lightfoot wasn’t just influential;
he was a mentor.
And in many ways, he still is.
Neil Young’s reverence was just as profound. Calling Lightfoot “a songwriter without parallel,” Young championed him throughout his life and continued to honor him after his passing in 2023. Coming from an artist who fiercely protects his own creative universe, the praise reflects something more than respect, it reflects kinship.
Why Dylan And Young Keep Returning To Lightfoot
Lightfoot’s songs do not shout.
They flow, like rivers carrying fragments of memory, heartbreak, and history. His best work merges storytelling with melody in a way that feels effortless, and that effortlessness is what Dylan and Young respond to.
1. His storytelling is cinematic yet human
From the intimate melancholy of If You Could Read My Mind to the sweeping tragedy of The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, Lightfoot mastered the art of narrative songwriting. His stories feel lived-in, weathered, and wise.
2. His melodies transcend genre
Lightfoot could write a haunting folk ballad or a breezy pop tune with equal conviction. That fluidity influenced both Dylan’s mid-’70s reinvention and Young’s acoustic work throughout the decades.
3. He balanced vulnerability with craftsmanship
Where many songwriters lean heavily toward emotion or structure, Lightfoot aligned both in near-perfect symmetry. That balance shaped how Dylan approached his late-career albums and how Young returned to the acoustic form again and again.
In Lightfoot, Dylan and Young hear something familiar, not imitation, but purity.
A Legacy That Outgrew Awards
Despite his enormous influence, Lightfoot never won a Grammy. His impact was measured not by trophies but by something far more enduring: the admiration of the greatest songwriters alive.
Dylan covered him.
Young defended him.
Fans carried his songs across generations.
Lightfoot’s music never chased trends or clung to eras, it simply remained, like a constant northern star guiding the artists who followed.
The Songwriter’s Songwriter
When musicians talk about Gordon Lightfoot, the tone changes. It becomes personal. That’s because Lightfoot wrote the kind of songs fellow artists gravitate toward when the lights are low and the world feels heavy.
And so Dylan returns.
And Young returns.
Again and again, to the same writer whose influence quietly shaped their own masterpieces.
In the end, when two of the greatest songwriters in history choose the same north star, the conclusion is unmistakable:
Gordon Lightfoot wasn’t just good, he was essential.
Leave a Reply