I love every song of his that I've ever heard.
Many years ago, when I was an airline ticket agent at National Airport in Washington DC, he showed up in front of me, checking in for our flight to Toronto. He was with a young woman, whose name he couldn't quite remember. She cheerfully told me her name, and we both got what was going on. I think the world of Mr. Lightfoot, and I have zero memory of the name of his travelling companion (and if I actually remembered it I wouldn't post it here) but I remember that encounter quite fondly.
Another time I checked in a young man who had about six guitars with him. I told him he couldn't possibly carry all of them on board, made him check several of them and charged him excess baggage rates. When the encounter ended, a fellow agent came over, and said, "Let me look at that," meaning the paperwork on the excess baggage. Oh. Turned out it was Arlo Guthrie. Who was VERY nice and unassuming and paid the excess baggage rates without complaint, but honestly, had I recognized him, I would have admonished him but not charged anything.
Just to indicate you don't have to be famous to get out of excess baggage, one time I checked in a young couple to Philadelphia who had an inordinate amount of luggage. Probably nine or ten suitcases of some kind. I was writing up the excess baggage ticket when one of them mentioned that the reason they had so much stuff was that they had just joined the Peace Corps and had all that stuff because they needed to bring a lot of household goods with them to their assignment somewhere in Africa. My very best friend, whom I worked with at that airline, had been a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malaysia, several years earlier. I immediately voided the excess baggage charges, explained to them why, and suggested that when they checked in for their next flight, they start by talking about their Peace Corps status. I said I couldn't guarantee the next agent would also forgive their excess baggage, but they could at leas try.
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