''Sit Down Young Stranger'' is

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

singer

Gordon Lightfoot Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. (November 17, 1938 – May 1, 2023) was a Canadian singer-songwriter who achieved worldwide success and helped define the singer-songwriter era of the 1970s. Widely considered one of Canada's greatest songwriters, ...

's sixth original album and his best-selling original album. Shortly after its 1970 release 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 Green Day, En ...

label, it was renamed ''If You Could Read My Mind'' when the song of that title reached #1 on the ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

'' Top Singles chart in Canada and #5 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the US. The album itself reached #12 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart. In Canada, the album was on the charts from April 18, 1970, to November 27, 1971. It peaked at #8 on March 13, 1971 after an earlier peak at #12 on June 20, 1970. Its last 24 weeks were spent in the 90s, except for two appearances at #88 and one at #100.

History

''Sit Down Young Stranger'' was Lightfoot's first recording for his new label, Reprise Records. He had left

United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...

because he believed they did not adequately promote his albums. On this album, Lightfoot included more orchestration, which is particularly evident on "If You Could Read My Mind". It was also the first studio album to feature long-time Lightfoot

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...

Rick Haynes. The

orchestration Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orch ...

on "Minstrel of the Dawn" and "Approaching Lavender" was arranged by

Randy Newman Randall Stuart Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter, arranger, pianist, composer, conductor and orchestrator. He is known for his non-rhotic Southern American English, Southern-accented singing style, early America ...

. The album contained one of the first recorded versions of

Kris Kristofferson Kristoffer Kristofferson (June 22, 1936 – September 28, 2024) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was a pioneering figure in the outlaw country movement of the 1970s, moving away from the polished Nashville sound and toward a m ...

and Fred Foster's " Me and Bobby McGee" which had previously been a country hit for

Roger Miller Roger Dean Miller Sr. (January 2, 1936 – October 25, 1992) was an American singer-songwriter, widely known for his honky-tonk-influenced novelty songs and his chart-topping country hits " King of the Road", "Dang Me", and " England Swing ...

and would later become a hit for

Janis Joplin Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and songwriter. One of the most iconic and successful Rock music, rock performers of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and her "electric" ...

. A small number of

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

copies of the album contain no title on the front cover. This is because the cover was originally supposed to be just a picture of Lightfoot, but it was then thought that stating the title would increase the album's sales. The untitled copies did have a small sticker on the cellophane wrap bearing the album's title. One rarity of note is "The Pony Man" appears on the Warner Brothers loss leader ''Schlagers!'' without the harmonica overdub.

Reception

In his retrospective

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

review, critic Jim Newsom praised the album, writing "While future albums would begin to drift away from the folky acoustic timbres of this one, the beauty and simplicity of Sit Down Young Stranger make it a timeless recording."

Track listing

All compositions by Gordon Lightfoot, except where indicated

Side 1

#"Minstrel of the Dawn" – 3:26 #" Me and Bobby McGee" – 3:38 (

, Fred Foster) #"Approaching Lavender" – 2:56 #"Saturday Clothes" – 3:20 #"Cobwebs & Dust" – 3:20 #"Poor Little Allison" – 2:30

Side 2

#"Sit Down Young Stranger" – 3:26 #" If You Could Read My Mind" – 3:48 #"Baby It's Alright" – 2:58 #"Your Love's Return (Song for

Stephen Foster Stephen Collins Foster (July 4, 1826January 13, 1864), known as "the father of American music", was an American composer known primarily for his parlour music, parlour and Folk music, folk music during the Romantic music, Romantic period. He wr ...

)" – 3:55 #"The Pony Man" – 3:27

Chart performance

Certifications

Personnel

* Gordon Lightfoot -

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

, vocals *

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 foot ...

- guitar * Rick Haynes -

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

with: *

Ry Cooder Ryland Peter 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, and h ...

- slide guitar on "Me and Bobby McGee",

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

on "Cobwebs and Dust" *

Van Dyke Parks Van Dyke Parks (born January 3, 1943) is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, arranger, record producer, singer, and former Warner Bros. Records executive whose work encompasses orchestral pop, elaborate recording experiments, Ame ...

harmonium The pump organ or reed organ is a type of organ that uses free reeds to generate sound, with air passing over vibrating thin metal strips mounted in a frame. Types include the pressure-based harmonium, the suction reed organ (which employs a va ...

on "Cobwebs and Dust" *

John Sebastian John Benson Sebastian (born March 17, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter and musician who founded the rock band the Lovin' Spoonful in 1964 with Zal Yanovsky. During his time in the Lovin Spoonful, Sebastian wrote and sang some of the ban ...

- electric guitar on "Baby It's Alright", autoharp on "Saturday Clothes", harmonica on "The Pony Man" * Nick DeCaro - string arrangements on "Poor Little Allison", "If You Could Read My Mind" and "Your Love's Return" *

- string arrangement on "Minstrel of the Dawn" and "Approaching Lavender" *

was rumored to have provided harmony vocals on "Me and Bobby McGee" ;Technical *Gary Brandt, Lee Herschberg - engineer * Barry Feinstein,

Tom Wilkes Thomas Edward Wilkes (July 30, 1939 – June 28, 2009) was an American art director, designer, photographer, illustrator, writer and producer-director. Life Wilkes was born in Long Beach, California and raised in southern California. Wilkes atte ...

- design, photography

References

External links

Album lyrics and chords
* {{Authority control Gordon Lightfoot albums 1970 albums Reprise Records albums Albums arranged by Randy Newman Albums produced by Joe Wissert Albums produced by Lenny Waronker Albums conducted by Randy Newman