Don Quixote is Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 singer Gordon Lightfoot

Gordon Lightfoot

Gordon Meredith Lightfoot, Jr. is a Canadian singer-songwriter who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music, and has been credited for helping define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s...

's 8th original album, released in 1972 on the Reprise Records

Reprise Records

Reprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...

 Label. The album reached #42 on the Billboard album chart

Billboard 200

The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

.

The album contains little innovation on Lightfoot's trademark folk

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 sound although it is notable as it contains Lightfoot's second seafaring song (his first being "Marie Christine" from Back Here on Earth

Back Here on Earth

Back Here On Earth is Canadian singer Gordon Lightfoot's fourth studio album, released in 1968 on the United Artists label.Apart from his eponymous debut album, it is Lightfoot's only studio album not to derive its title from a song on the album...

, a genre that Lightfoot would continually revisit over the next 10 years. It also contains a rare Lightfoot foray into the protest song

Protest song

A protest song is a song which is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of topical songs . It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre...

 genre, in the form of the longest track on the album, "The Patriot's Dream," a ballad

Ballad

A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...

 describing the enthusiasm of soldiers on a troop train "riding off to glory in the spring of their years," followed by the pathos of a woman receiving news that her husband's aircraft had been shot down in combat.

"Beautiful" was released as a single and peaked at #58 on the Billboard singles chart

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

.

Track listing

1. "Don Quixote" – 3:41
2. "Christian Island" – 4:02
3. "Alberta Bound" – 3:07
4. "Looking at the Rain" – 3:40
5. "Ordinary Man" – 3:19
6. "Brave Mountaineers" – 3:36
7. "Ode to Big Blue" – 4:48
8. "Second Cup of Coffee" – 3:03
9. "Beautiful" – 3:23
10. "On Susan's Floor" (Shel Silverstein
    Shel Silverstein
    Sheldon Allan "Shel" Silverstein , was an American poet, singer-songwriter, musician, composer, cartoonist, screenwriter and author of children's books. He styled himself as Uncle Shelby in his children's books...
    
    /Vince Matthews) – 2:58
11. "The Patriot's Dream" – 6:04

All compositions by Lightfoot except as indicated.

Personnel

• Gordon Lighfoot - 6- & 12-string guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  
• Red Shea - hi-string guitar, classical guitar
  Classical guitar
  The classical guitar is a 6-stringed plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones...
  
  , dobro
  Dobro
  Dobro is a registered trademark, now owned by Gibson Guitar Corporation and used for a particular design of resonator guitar.The name has a long and involved history, interwoven with that of the resonator guitar...
  
  
• Terry Clements - lead acoustic guitar
  Lead guitar
  Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
  
  
• Rick Haynes - bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  
• Ry Cooder
  Ry Cooder
  Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder is an American guitarist, singer and composer. He is known for his slide guitar work, his interest in roots music from the United States, and, more recently, his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.His solo work has been eclectic, encompassing...
  
  - mandolin
• Bob Thompson - string arrangements "Don Quixote" and "The Patriot's Dream"
• Nick DeCaro - all other string arrangements