Bitter Green
title: "Bitter Green" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["gordon-lightfoot-songs", "1968-songs", "1960s-ballads", "songs-written-by-gordon-lightfoot", "1968-singles", "united-artists-records-singles", "song-recordings-produced-by-elliot-mazer", "folk-ballads"] topic_path: "arts/music" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitter_Green" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::data[format=table title="Infobox song"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Bitter Green |
| cover | Gordon lightfootbitter.jpg |
| type | single |
| artist | Gordon Lightfoot |
| album | Back Here on Earth |
| B-side | Does Your Mother Know |
| released | September 1968 |
| genre | Folk |
| length | 2:42 |
| label | United Artists |
| writer | Gordon Lightfoot |
| producer | Elliot Mazer |
| prev_title | Black Day in July |
| prev_year | 1968 |
| next_title | Me and Bobby McGee |
| next_year | 1970 |
| :: |
| name = Bitter Green | cover = Gordon lightfootbitter.jpg | alt = | type = single | artist = Gordon Lightfoot | album = Back Here on Earth | B-side = Does Your Mother Know | released = September 1968 | recorded = | studio = | venue = | genre = Folk | length = 2:42 | label = United Artists | writer = Gordon Lightfoot | producer = Elliot Mazer | prev_title = Black Day in July | prev_year = 1968 | next_title = Me and Bobby McGee | next_year = 1970
"Bitter Green" is a song by Gordon Lightfoot, first released in 1968 on his album Back Here on Earth. The single reached #44 in Canada.
Lightfoot also included the song on his 1969 live album Sunday Concert, and recorded a second studio version for his 1975 compilation album Gord's Gold. A cover version by Ronnie Hawkins reached #36 in 1970. The Idle Race recorded a version of the song on their 1971 album Time Is.
Content
The song is a ballad about a woman who roams the hillsides above the town for years waiting for her lover to come home:
::quote
"Waiting for her master to kiss away her tears" ::
No one knows the identity or fate of her lover, but the woman is well known and loved. Years later, on one cold autumn day, a stranger walks into town and weeps at the churchyard where his beloved lies buried.
Townspeople speculate as to who the mystery man is:
::quote "Some say he was a sailor who died away at sea
Some say he was a prisoner who never was set free
Lost upon the ocean, he died there in the mist
Dreaming of her kiss"
::
Her lover finally returns, too late, as the woman has died:
::quote
"But now the bitter green is gone, the hills have turned to rust
There comes a weary stranger, his tears fall in the dust
Kneeling by the churchyard in the autumn mist
Dreaming of her kiss"
::
Chart performance
::data[format=table] | Chart (1968) | Peak position | |---|---| | Canadian RPM Top Singles | 44 | ::
References
|url = http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.5830&type=1&interval=20&PHPSESSID=bb0e7somh8osmahbvuk8ubb1u5 |title = Top Singles - Volume 10, No. 14, December 02 1968 |author = RPM (magazine) |author-link = RPM (magazine) |date = 31 March 2004 |publisher = (Ottawa: Library and Archives Canada) |oclc = 352936026 |language = |format = |accessdate = 15 April 2011 |quote = |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121022075130/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.5830&type=1&interval=20&PHPSESSID=bb0e7somh8osmahbvuk8ubb1u5 |archive-date = 22 October 2012 |url-status = dead
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::