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Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. CC OOnt (November 17, 1938 – May 1, 2023) was a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music. Credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s,[1] he has been referred to as Canada's greatest songwriter,[2] having several gold and multi-platinum albums[3] and songs covered by some of the world's most renowned musical artists.[4] Lightfoot's biographer Nicholas Jennings said, "His name is synonymous with timeless songs about trains and shipwrecks, rivers and highways, lovers and loneliness."[5]

Lightfoot's songs, including "For Lovin' Me", "Early Morning Rain", "Steel Rail Blues", "Ribbon of Darkness"—a number one hit on the U.S. country chart[6] with Marty Robbins's cover in 1965—and "Black Day in July", about the 1967 Detroit riot, brought him wide recognition in the 1960s. Canadian chart success with his own recordings began in 1962 with the No. 3 hit "(Remember Me) I'm the One", followed by recognition and charting abroad in the 1970s. He topped the US Hot 100 or Adult Contemporary (AC) chart with the hits "If You Could Read My Mind" (1970), "Sundown" (1974); "Carefree Highway" (1974), "Rainy Day People" (1975), and "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" (1976), and had many other hits that appeared in the top 40.[7]

Robbie Robertson of the Band described Lightfoot as "a national treasure".[8] Bob Dylan, who would sometimes perform Lightfoot's songs, said "I can't think of any Gordon Lightfoot song I don't like. Every time I hear a song of his, it's like I wish it would last forever."[9] Lightfoot was a featured musical performer at the opening ceremonies of the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary, Alberta and received numerous honours and awards.

Gord's Gold is a compilation album released by Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot in 1975. Originally a vinyl double album, it was reissued on CD in 1987 (with one track, "Affair on 8th Avenue", omitted to allow the collection to fit onto a single disc). However, the track is included for digital downloads.

The first Lightfoot compilation to feature music from his 1970s Reprise Records albums, Gord's Gold also includes re-recorded versions of several songs from his 1960s United Artists output (Sides 1 and 2). Lightfoot's reasons for re-recording the United Artists tracks were explained in the liner notes as being because "he doesn't like listening to his early work".

Despite covering only the first decade of his career (and lacking one of his biggest hit singles, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", which was recorded at the end of the year), Gord's Gold has remained the most commercially popular Lightfoot compilation. Of note, a stereo mix of the mono DJ 45 of “If You Could Read My Mind” appears here. In 1988 Lightfoot released a second volume, Gord's Gold, Vol. 2, which also featured re-recordings of earlier hits.