# Just saw Gordon Lightfoot on Tv..His looks sure don't fit his voice.. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 9, 2001, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-gordon-lightfoot-on-tv-his-looks-sure-dont-fit-his-voice/53762 "2001-02-09T07:01:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2001, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-gordon-lightfoot-on-tv-his-looks-sure-dont-fit-his-voice/53762/1 "2001-02-09T07:01:01Z")
Are there any other singers that make you think the same thing? ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2001, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-gordon-lightfoot-on-tv-his-looks-sure-dont-fit-his-voice/53762/2 "2001-02-09T07:16:35Z")
I duuno, Reeder. I always thought Lightfoot looked exactly like his voice. Especially back in the seventies when he had the prerequisite shaggy head of curls and heavy beard. Haven’t seen any photos more recent than the mid-80s cover shot of his Greatest Hits II. Christopher Cross is the one I always think of whose physical appearance (tall, stocky, balding) didn’t fit his higher-pitched singing voice. “The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down…” Sir ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2001, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-gordon-lightfoot-on-tv-his-looks-sure-dont-fit-his-voice/53762/3 "2001-02-09T07:51:00Z")
Yes, I know what you mean, Reeder. I liked Gord’s music for years before I ever saw a picture of him. I’d always thought of him as looking more like Jim Croce–maybe because of the similarity in their voices? “All that remains are the faces and the names / Of the wives and the sons and the daughters.” I try to sing along, but I always choke up at that line. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2001, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-gordon-lightfoot-on-tv-his-looks-sure-dont-fit-his-voice/53762/4 "2001-02-09T08:01:09Z")
I mean how he looks today. His voice is the same but he looks like a little old man. Don’t get me wrong…I’m old. Perhaps I’m just living in the past. ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2001, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-gordon-lightfoot-on-tv-his-looks-sure-dont-fit-his-voice/53762/5 "2001-02-09T08:26:58Z")
Alanis Morisette. When I first heard ‘You Oughta Know’ on the radio, I pictured her as short, shortish hair, maybe a little plump. I was surprised when I finally saw the video. ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2001, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-gordon-lightfoot-on-tv-his-looks-sure-dont-fit-his-voice/53762/6 "2001-02-09T09:06:10Z")
I always thought that Jim Morrison’s voice didn’t match his looks… ---
**Author:** ![dave99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/45deac/32.png) [@dave99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dave99)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2001, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-gordon-lightfoot-on-tv-his-looks-sure-dont-fit-his-voice/53762/7 "2001-02-09T09:55:37Z")
I saw him live Oct. '99; I guess he looked more or less like I’d imagined. Not to be too rude, but although I’m a big fan I really don’t care for “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”. Now “Did She Mention My Name” or “Carefree Highway”, those’ll get me going. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2001, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-gordon-lightfoot-on-tv-his-looks-sure-dont-fit-his-voice/53762/8 "2001-02-09T14:13:55Z")
“She’s a hard-lovin’ woman, got me feelin’ mean.” … The biggest mis-match I experienced was when k.t. lang first started singing. As you know, she started off in Country music. What a voice! What a beautiful, feminine singing voice! The closest thing to Patsy Cline the world of music has seen since Cline’s death. The first time I saw lang on a music video (I don’t remember the song, but it was from her _Angel with a Lariat_ albulm, I think), I stammered, “but, but, she’s a _man_!” ---
**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2001, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-gordon-lightfoot-on-tv-his-looks-sure-dont-fit-his-voice/53762/9 "2001-02-09T19:17:55Z")
Lightfoot fans of the world, unite! Wow, I’m not totally weird. Divemaster, I’m with you. First time I saw k.d. lang was on some awards show (Grammy’s, whatever), and the shot of her was from kind of far away. My first thought was, ooh, who’s THAT cute guy? Imagine my horror when I realized…it was a woman! You gotta love the music, though. ---
**Author:** ![Yankee\_Blue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/7ea924/32.png) [@Yankee\_Blue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yankee_Blue)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2001, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-gordon-lightfoot-on-tv-his-looks-sure-dont-fit-his-voice/53762/10 "2001-02-09T19:20:44Z")
Try matching up Cat Stevens with his new incarnation. Lightfoot’ll be easy after that. ---
**Author:** ![Blondie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a4c791/32.png) [@Blondie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blondie)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2001, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-gordon-lightfoot-on-tv-his-looks-sure-dont-fit-his-voice/53762/11 "2001-02-09T20:17:09Z")
I always thought Robin Trower and Van Morrison were black. I think because Trower sounds so much like Jimi Hendrix, but I don’t know what made me think Van the Man is black. Once I worked with a woman whose husband called every night (I was the switchboard operator). He sounded like Ricardo Mantleban and I was gaa-gaa over his voice. One night he came into the store to pick her up, and he looked like Wally Cox. I was in “interpretation shock” for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Blondie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a4c791/32.png) [@Blondie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blondie)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2001, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-gordon-lightfoot-on-tv-his-looks-sure-dont-fit-his-voice/53762/12 "2001-02-09T20:20:24Z")
By the way, I think K.D. Lang looks just slightly masculine (in the face, anyway). I find her startlingly pretty. Maybe her voice just comes through in her face? I dunno. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2001, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-gordon-lightfoot-on-tv-his-looks-sure-dont-fit-his-voice/53762/13 "2001-02-10T03:13:11Z")
**James Taylor** (the current incarnation): that guy looks like he ought to be teaching Paleontology somewhere, not singing about Sweet Baby James. _sigh_ ---
**Author:** ![MysterEcks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@MysterEcks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysterEcks)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2001, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-gordon-lightfoot-on-tv-his-looks-sure-dont-fit-his-voice/53762/14 "2001-02-10T06:43:54Z")
“Is the ice still in the river, are the old folks still the same…” That’s one I HAVE to sing along with. Aaron Nevile (sp?)–voice like an angel, but he looks like a dock worker (which I believe he actually was). Also Joe Jackson–the first time I saw him, I thought he looked like a CPA. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2001, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-gordon-lightfoot-on-tv-his-looks-sure-dont-fit-his-voice/53762/15 "2001-02-10T13:00:05Z")
I know he doesn’t sing but Casey Kasem doesn’t look a thing like I expected. I had him him do America’s Top 20 for years on the radio and expected someone tall, dark and handsome. And for NPR fans, Terri Gross doesn’t look like her voice either. She was quoted in the paper as saying something to the effect of, “A fan came up to me once and said, ‘Your voice is so pretty. It doesn’t really match your face.’” ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2001, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-gordon-lightfoot-on-tv-his-looks-sure-dont-fit-his-voice/53762/16 "2001-02-10T13:25:07Z")
[topic diversion] Yeah, I noticed that about Terry Gross, too. When I checked the [pictures of most of the on-air people at NPR](http://www.npr.org/inside/people.html) site, few matched up to how I pictured them. [/topic diversion] Back to singers: How about singers whose speaking voices are comPLETEly different from their singing. I’m thinking specifically Johnny Mathis and Neil Diamond. First time I heard them interviewed (separately), I thought someone else was speaking or it was an overdub. The speaking voice certainly didn’t match the body. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2001, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-gordon-lightfoot-on-tv-his-looks-sure-dont-fit-his-voice/53762/17 "2001-02-10T22:51:12Z")
Anyone remember Rick Astley from the eighties? He had the biggest, blackest voice ever, and he turned out to be this scrawny, pasty redhead. Maybe he and Aaron Neville swapped voices… ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2001, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-gordon-lightfoot-on-tv-his-looks-sure-dont-fit-his-voice/53762/18 "2001-02-10T23:24:08Z")
I’m a 22 year old female college student who has to admit that she owns _Gordon Lightfoot’s Greatest Hits_. I like Read My Mind. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![tsunamisurfer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@tsunamisurfer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tsunamisurfer)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2001, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-gordon-lightfoot-on-tv-his-looks-sure-dont-fit-his-voice/53762/19 "2001-02-10T23:35:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by screech-owl \* > \*\*[topic diversion] > Yeah, I noticed that about Terry Gross, too. When I checked the [pictures of most of the on-air people at NPR](http://www.npr.org/inside/people.html) site, few matched up to how I pictured them. > [/topic diversion] > > Back to singers: > > How about singers whose speaking voices are comPLETEly different from their singing. I’m thinking specifically Johnny Mathis and Neil Diamond. First time I heard them interviewed (separately), I thought someone else was speaking or it was an overdub. The speaking voice certainly didn’t match the body. > \*\* Egads! You just ruined my infatuation for Terri Gross. I always imagined her with seductive long brunette hair, seductive eyes, seductive smile. The woman I just saw looks like a complete dweeb! ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2001, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-gordon-lightfoot-on-tv-his-looks-sure-dont-fit-his-voice/53762/20 "2001-02-11T11:15:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tsunamisurfer \* > \*\*Egads! You just ruined my infatuation for Terri Gross. I always imagined her with seductive long brunette hair, seductive eyes, seductive smile. The woman I just saw looks like a complete dweeb! \*\* I think she looks very chic. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-gordon-lightfoot-on-tv-his-looks-sure-dont-fit-his-voice/53762.md?page=2)