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Summer Side of Life

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Bostart (talk | contribs) at 13:43, 18 May 2023 (Do we really need the sad details of Taylor Mitchell's death here? They are available on the linked page. All that matters here is that she covered a song from this album.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Summer Side of Life
Studio album by
ReleasedMay 1971
RecordedDecember 1970 – April 1971
StudioWoodland Sound Studios (Nashville, Tennessee)
GenreFolk
Length38:21
LabelReprise
ProducerJoseph Wissert
Gordon Lightfoot chronology
Sit Down Young Stranger
(1970)
Summer Side of Life
(1971)
Don Quixote
(1972)
Singles from Summer Side Of Life
  1. "Talking In Your Sleep"
    Released: June 1971
  2. "Summer Side Of Life"
    Released: September 1971

Summer Side of Life is Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot's sixth studio album. It was released in 1971 on the Reprise Records Label. The album marked a departure from the sound Lightfoot had established on Sit Down Young Stranger in its use of drums and electric instrumentation, to which he would later return in the second half of the decade. “Redwood Hill” contains elements of bluegrass music.

The album reached #38 on the pop chart. "Summer Side of Life" peaked at #98 on the pop singles chart while "Talking in Your Sleep" peaked at #64. The singles reached #21 and #19 respectively in Canada.

The track "Cotton Jenny" would later be covered by Anne Murray, for whom it would provide a top-twenty single on the U.S. country singles chart. The song "Love and Maple Syrup" was covered by Taylor Mitchell in 2009. Nanci Griffith covered "10 Degrees and Getting Colder" on her 1993 album, Other Voices, Other Rooms. The song had previously been recorded by J. D. Crowe & The New South on their eponymous album in 1975.

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Rolling Stone(not rated)[2]

Track listing

All compositions by Gordon Lightfoot.[3]

Side 1

  1. "10 Degrees and Getting Colder" – 2:43
  2. "Miguel" – 4:12
  3. "Go My Way" – 2:13
  4. "Summer Side of Life" – 4:05
  5. "Cotton Jenny" – 3:26
  6. "Talking in Your Sleep" – 2:56

Side 2

  1. "Nous Vivons Ensemble" – 3:45
  2. "Same Old Loverman" – 3:21
  3. "Redwood Hill" – 2:48
  4. "Love and Maple Syrup" – 3:13
  5. "Cabaret" – 5:49

Chart performance

Chart (1971) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[4] 40
Canadian RPM Top Albums 3
U.S. Billboard 200 38

Personnel

Technical
  • Rick Horton - engineer, remixing
  • Harry Kemball - cover photography

References

  1. ^ https://www.allmusic.com/album/r96605
  2. ^ Rollingstone
  3. ^ "Release "Summer Side of Life" by Gordon Lightfoot". MusicBrainz. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  4. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 177. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.