Throwing back to the week of June 29, 1974, we find Canadian folk rocker Gordon Lightfoot atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Sundown.’ This was Lightfoot’s only #1 hit in the U.S., though he reached #2 with ‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’ and #5 with ‘If You Could Read My Mind.’
I like Lightfoot’s sound and I’m only familiar with those hits, so maybe I’ll add him to the potential deep dive list. He released 20 studio albums, however, so perhaps a shallow dive is a better idea.
Here’s more evidence that I’m not primarily a lyrics guy: I’ve heard ‘Sundown’ a hundred times but until today I had no idea what it was about.
Lightfoot wrote this song when he was home alone while his girlfriend was out at a bar with friends. He imagined the trouble she could get up to and wrote ‘Sundown’ from that jealous perspective.
I can see her lyin’ back in her satin dress
In a room where you do what you don’t confess
[Chorus]
Sundown, you’d better take care
If I find you been creepin’ ’round my back stairs
Sundown, you’d better take care
If I find you been creepin’ ’round my back stairs
[Verse 2]
She’s been lookin’ like a queen in a sailor’s dream
And she don’t always say what she really means
[Chorus]
Sometimes I think it’s a shame
When I get feelin’ better when I’m feelin’ no pain
Sometimes I think it’s a shame
When I get feelin’ better when I’m feelin’ no pain
[Verse 3]
I can picture every move that a man could make
Getting lost in her lovin’ is your first mistake
[Chorus]
Sundown, you’d better take care
If I find you been creepin’ ’round my back stairs
Sometimes I think it’s a sin
When I feel like I’m winnin’ when I’m losin’ again
[Guitar Solo]
[Verse 4]
I can see her lookin’ fast in her faded jeans
She’s a hard lovin’ woman, got me feelin’ mean
[Chorus]
Sometimes I think it’s a shame
When I get feelin’ better when I’m feelin’ no pain
Sundown, you’d better take care
If I find you been creepin’ ’round my back stairs
Sundown, you’d better take care
If I find you been creepin’ ’round my back stairs
Sometimes I think it’s a sin
When I feel like I’m winnin’ when I’m losin’ again
Meet Me In Montauk 
I also never really thought too deeply about the lyrics of this song. I kinda always assumed Sundown was a Native American woman, and the song had something to do with that.🤪