It was the hula hoop that set Gordon Lightfoot’s songwriting career in motion.
Although he had been performing since age 5, Lightfoot, who is regarded as Canada’s greatest songwriter, didn’t write his first song until he was almost out of high school.
“It just came to me to write a topical song about a fad. It was the hula hoop craze,” Lightfoot, who will perform Tuesday night at the Topeka Performing Arts Center, 214 S.E. 8th, said by telephone from his home in Toronto.