Editing Gordon Lightfoot (section)

===1980s and 1990s===
During the 1980s and the 1990s, Lightfoot recorded six more original albums and a compilation for Warner Bros./Reprise: ''[[Dream Street Rose]]'' (1980), ''[[Shadows (Gordon Lightfoot album)|Shadows]]'' (1982), ''[[Salute (Gordon Lightfoot album)|Salute]]'' (1983), ''[[East of Midnight]]'' (1986), another compilation ''[[Gord's Gold Volume II]]'' (1988), ''[[Waiting for You (Gordon Lightfoot album)|Waiting for You]]'' (1993), and ''[[A Painter Passing Through]]'' (1998).

With the title cut a middling hit on the AC chart, ''Dream Street Rose'' continues the folk-pop sound Lightfoot established during the previous decade. It also includes "Ghosts of Cape Horn" and the [[Leroy Van Dyke]] standard "The Auctioneer" that was a concert staple for Lightfoot from the mid-1960s to the 1980s. ''[[Shadows (Gordon Lightfoot album)|Shadows]]'' represents a departure from the acoustic sound of his guitar playing in the 1970s and emphasizes an adult-contemporary sound. The title track, "Heaven Help the Devil", "Thank You for the Promises", "She's Not The Same", and "I'll Do Anything" suggest an underlying sadness and resignation. The 1982 single "Baby Step Back" marked his last time in the US top 50.

After overcoming a long-standing problem with alcohol, he released the mostly electric ''[[Salute (Gordon Lightfoot album)|Salute]]'' in 1983. It yielded no hit songs and unlike his previous efforts, sold poorly.  The 1986 follow-up, ''East of Midnight'', emphasized [[adult contemporary]] songs, and the lead single, "Anything for Love", was a hit on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart and also made the Pop and Country charts.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sSQEAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22Anything+for+Love%22+billboard+country+and+western+chart&pg=PA35|title=Anything for Love; Billboard|date=October 18, 1986|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.|language=en}}</ref>

In April 1987, Lightfoot filed a lawsuit against composer [[Michael Masser]], claiming that Masser's melody for the song "The Greatest Love of All", versions of which were recorded and released by [[George Benson]] in 1977 and [[Whitney Houston]] in 1985, had stolen 24 bars from Lightfoot's 1971 hit song "If You Could Read My Mind". The transitional section that begins "I decided long ago never to walk in anyone's shadow" of the Masser song has the same melody as "I never thought I could feel this way and I got to say that I just don't get it; I don't know where we went wrong but the feeling's gone and I just can't get it back" of Lightfoot's song. Lightfoot later stated that he did not want people thinking that he had stolen his melody from Masser.<ref>{{cite web|author=Florian Bodenseher |url=http://www.corfid.com/gl/biography.htm |title=Gordon Lightfoot – Biography |website=Corfid.com |access-date=April 19, 2014}}</ref> The case was settled out of court and Masser issued a public apology.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://storyofsongs.blogspot.com/2009/08/greatest-love.html |title=Greatest Love |date=August 29, 2009 |access-date=May 5, 2019}}</ref> 

He rounded out the decade with the ''[[Gord's Gold Volume II]],'' made up mostly of new versions of songs that were not part of the first Gord's Gold project. Though commercially successful, the contrast between his vocals on the re-recorded tracks and the originals dramatically underscored just how much thinner his voice had become in the years since his radio peak. Lightfoot performed with [[Ian Tyson]] at the opening ceremonies of the [[1988 Winter Olympics]] at [[McMahon Stadium]] in [[Calgary]] that same year.

During the 1990s, Lightfoot returned to his acoustic roots and recorded two albums. ''[[Waiting for You (Gordon Lightfoot album)|Waiting for You]]'' (1993) includes songs such as "Restless", "I'd Rather Press On", and a cover of Bob Dylan's "Ring Them Bells".  1998's ''A Painter Passing Through'' continued in a style more reminiscent of his early recordings,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Chrispell|first=James|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1-pH4i3jXvAC&q=With+the+release+of+A+Painter+Passing+Through%2C+Lightfoot+appears+to+have+found+home+and+has+turned+in+his+best+work+in+years.+Gone+are+the+uncertain+arrangements+of+the+past%3B+in+their+place%2C+there+is+a+welcome+return+to+the+essence+of+the+%22Sundown%22+musical+era.&pg=PA654|title=All Music Guide to Rock: The Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul|publisher=Backbeat Books|year=2002|isbn=9780879306533|editor-last=Bogdanov|editor-first=Vladimir|location=San Francisco, CA|pages=654|chapter=A Painter Passing Through / May 12, 1998 / Reprise|editor-last2=Woodstra|editor-first2=Chris|editor-last3=Erlewine|editor-first3=Stephen Thomas}}</ref> although his voice was not strong and he relied more on outside material (Ian Tyson's "Red Velvet" and a new song written for him, "I Used to Be a Country Singer"). Throughout the decade, Lightfoot played 50-75 concerts each year.<ref>{{cite web |author=William R. Weiss |url=http://www.lightfoot.ca/tourschd.htm |title=Gordon Lightfoot Tour Schedules |website=Lightfoot.ca |access-date=June 14, 2010 |archive-date=June 5, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100605103303/http://www.lightfoot.ca/tourschd.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1999 [[Rhino Records]] released ''[[Songbook (Gordon Lightfoot album)|Songbook]]'', a four-CD boxed set of Lightfoot recordings with rare and unreleased tracks from the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s plus a small hardback booklet describing how he wrote his songs and gave facts about his career.