In 1969, an all Canadian musical was produced, based on and titled after the Lightfoot song, Love And Maple Syrup. The show garnered good reviews and played in Ottawa, Washington DC, off-Broadway in New York and Toronto - and most likely a number of other places as well.

There were five Lightfoot songs in the show, including the title song; Bossman and The Gypsy.  Songs by Joni Mitchell and Ian & Sylvia were also in the production.

The musical appeared on CBC television around that time, and I was pleasantly surprised when Love And Maple Syrup finally turned up on Summer Side Of Life a couple of years later.

Great song!  If you ever experienced a northern spring when the maple syrup is running and the snow is melting - the song encompasses all of the hope and passion that time of year can stir within us.

A prequel to Summertime Dream, perhaps?
 

A cabaret-style show written and conceived by the Charlottetown Festival artistic director Duncan McIntosh and Michael Lewis MacLennan as a joyous tribute to Lightfoot, Canada's most respected and prolific singer-songwriter troubadour.

Running from June 24-Sept. 7, 2002 at the MacKenzie Theatre in Charlottetown PEI, Canada, the show will feature 5 singers from the festival ensemble performing Early Morning Rain; Ten Degrees And Getting Colder; Alberta Bound; Make Way For The Lady; Cotton Jenny; Beautiful; Song For A Winter's Night; I'm Not Saying/Ribbon Of Darkness; Sundown; Baby Step Back; If You Could Read My Mind; For Loving Me/Did She Mention My Name; Rainy Day People; The Way I Feel; The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face; Pussywillows Cat-Tails; The Last Time I Saw Her; A Minor Ballad; Affair On Eighth Avenue; Bitter Green; Anything For Love; Home From The Forest; Canadian Railroad Trilogy; The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald;  Christian Island; Black Day In July; Summer Side Of Life; Carefree Highway; Old Dan's Records; Nous Vivons Ensemble

"Lightfoot has composed more beautiful and significant love songs than any Canadian who ever lived," says director McIntosh.