Sit Down Young StrangerisCanadian singer Gordon Lightfoot's sixth original album and his best-selling original album.[2] Shortly after its 1970 release on the Reprise Records label, it was renamed If You Could Read My Mind when the song of that title reached #1 on the RPM 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[3] after an earlier peak at #12 on June 20, 1970.[4] Its last 24 weeks were spent in the 90s, except for two appearances at #88 and one at #100.
Sit Down Young Stranger was Lightfoot's first recording for his new label, Reprise Records. He had left United Artists 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 Rick Haynes. The orchestration on "Minstrel of the Dawn" and "Approaching Lavender" was arranged by Randy Newman.
A small number of 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.
In his retrospective Allmusic 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."[5]
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