Gordon Lightfoot in Toronto in 1975. Jeff Goode/Toronto Star via Getty Images.

Gordon Lightfoot, legendary Canadian folk singer behind hits like “Sundown” and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” died Monday of natural causes at age 84.

“I was deeply saddened to hear of the passing yesterday of Gordon Lightfoot, one of Canada’s greatest singer-songwriters,” said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a statement. “With a career that spanned over half a century, Mr. Lightfoot’s music told stories that captured the Canadian spirit, none more so than his iconic Canadian Railroad Trilogy, which will forever be a part of our country’s musical heritage.”

One of the all-time great lyricists, Lightfoot covered subjects in his songs that branched far outside the usual fare. They included modern shipwrecks, 17th Spanish character Don Quixote and the history of the Canadian railroads for the centennial of the completion of the Canadian transcontinental railroad. He was inspired by things as diverse as State Route 74 in Phoenix, Ariz. and a teen girl named Grace he met on a bus. Despite—or perhaps because of—the eclectic subject matter, every one of those songs made the Top 40.

Lightfoot got his start in the early ’60s, his songwriting immediately launching him into rarefied air and his songs covered by the likes of Peter, Paul and Mary, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan. Dylan considered himself a fan; the oft-quoted review of Lightfoot’s work being, “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.”

Gordon Lightfoot performs at Ottawa Folkfest at Hogs Back Park in Ottawa, Canada on Sept. 8, 2013 Photo by Mark Horton/WireImage.

Despite the praise from fellow artists and numerous covers, as well as his regular appearances on the Canadian charts, Lightfoot’s early work didn’t break through in the United States. Lightfoot blamed this on a lack of promotion by his then-label United Artists and defected to Warner Brothers. This turned out to be the right call. While the folk wave of the early ’60s eventually gave way to the British Invasion, Lightfoot broke through and was at the forefront of the folk revival of the early ’70s.

His 1970 classic “If You Could Read My Mind” led a string of hits that lasted through the first half of the decade. That resurgence peaked in 1975 with Gord’s Gold, on which he rerecorded many of his United-Artists-era hits, and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” a modern folk tale uncommon for the modern era and an epitome of his storytelling prowess.

His string of hits in the early ’70s was especially impressive considering that he contracted Bell’s palsy in 1972, temporarily paralyzing half his face and limiting his touring schedule. But he continued to record music; it was during his recovery he recorded and released “Sundown,” his only single to hit No. 1 in the United States.

Lightfoot continued to record new music and tour extensively in the decades since despite more health issues. In 2002, he suffered an aortic aneurysm that resulted in a tracheotomy and left him in a six-week coma, but he made his comeback performance in 2004 and returned to touring.

In 2006 he had a minor stroke during a show that temporarily paralyzed two fingers on his hand, but he returned nine days later with an additional band member to fill in on guitar while he recovered. He was erroneously declared dead in 2010 when Canadian political reporter David Akin posted on social media that he had died. Lightfoot heard of his supposed death on the radio driving home from a dental appointment and called the station to clear the record. He continued touring until the end; Lightfoot played shows through late 2022, and the cancelation of his 2023 tour was one of the first indications of his declining health.