The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald - wikipedia The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald `` The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald '' Single by Gordon Lightfoot from the album Summertime Dream B - side `` The House You Live In '' Released August 1976 Format 7 - inch 45 rpm record Recorded December 1975 Studio Eastern Sound Studios, Toronto Genre Folk rock soft rock Length 6 : 32 ( album version ) 5 : 57 ( single edit ) Label Reprise Songwriter ( s ) Gordon Lightfoot Producer ( s ) Lenny Waronker Gordon Lightfoot Gordon Lightfoot singles chronology `` Rainy Day People '' ( 1975 ) `` The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald '' ( 1976 ) `` Race Among the Ruins '' ( 1976 ) `` The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald '' is a song written, composed, and performed by Canadian singer - songwriter Gordon Lightfoot to commemorate the sinking of the bulk carrier SS Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior on November 10, 1975. Lightfoot drew his inspiration from Newsweek 's article on the event, `` The Cruelest Month '', which it published in its November 24, 1975, issue. Lightfoot considers this song to be his finest work. Appearing originally on Lightfoot 's 1976 album Summertime Dream, the single version hit number 1 in his native Canada ( in the RPM national singles survey ) on November 20, 1976, barely a year after the disaster. In the United States, it reached number 1 in Cashbox and number 2 for two weeks in the Billboard Hot 100 ( behind Rod Stewart 's `` Tonight 's The Night '' ), making it Lightfoot 's second-most - successful single behind `` Sundown ''. Overseas it was at best a minor hit, peaking at number 40 in the UK Singles Chart. The song is written in Dorian mode. Contents 1 Artistic license 2 Chart performance 2.1 Weekly charts 2.2 Year - end charts 3 Production 4 Derivative works 5 See also 6 References 7 External links Artistic license This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( November 2011 ) The song contains a few artistic omissions and paraphrases. In a later interview aired on Canadian commercial radio, Lightfoot recounted how he had agonised while trying to pen the lyrics over possible inaccuracies until Lenny Waronker, his long - time producer and friend, finally removed his writer 's block simply by advising him to play to his artistic strengths and `` just tell a story ''. On the other hand, Lightfoot 's personal passion for recreational sailing on the Great Lakes informs his ballad 's verses throughout. According to the song, the Edmund Fitzgerald was bound `` fully loaded for Cleveland ''. In fact, the ship was heading for Detroit, where it was set to discharge its cargo of taconite iron ore pellets before docking in Cleveland for the winter. Capt. Ernest McSorley had stated in his last radio transmission before the ship sank that he and the crew were `` holding our own. '' What the cook or any other crew member said or did not say will never be known. The `` old cook '' in the song was actually a replacement for this particular voyage, as the normal cook was too ill to make the trip. Lightfoot refers to Mariners ' Church of Detroit as `` The Maritime Sailors ' Cathedral '' in the lyrics. Lightfoot says that the bell was rung 29 times, once for each crew member aboard the ship. Internet sources often incorrectly claim that the bell was also rung once more in honour of all people who had lost their lives at sea, for a total of 30 times. Reverend Richard W. Ingalls, Sr., rector of Mariners ' Church, tolled the bell 29 times, not 30. The practice of tolling a bell an additional time for all lives lost at sea began in memorial services following 1975. In a later live recording, Lightfoot recounts that a parishioner of the church informed him that the church is not `` musty. '' From that time, instead of singing `` In a musty old hall... '', he now sings `` In a rustic old hall... '' In March 2010, Lightfoot changed a line during live performances to reflect new findings that there was no crew error involved in the sinking. The line originally read, `` At 7 p.m. a main hatchway caved in ; he said... '' ; it is now sung as `` At 7 p.m. it grew dark, it was then he said... ''. Lightfoot learned about the new research when contacted for permission to use his song for a History Channel documentary that aired on March 31, 2010. Lightfoot has stated that he has no intention of changing the original copyrighted lyrics ; instead from now on, he will simply sing the new ones during live performances. Chart performance Weekly charts Chart ( 1976 ) Peak position Australian KMR 46 Canadian RPM Top Singles Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks Canadian RPM Country Tracks US Billboard Hot 100 US Billboard Easy Listening 9 US Billboard Hot Country Singles 50 US Cash Box Top 100 Year - end charts Chart ( 1976 ) Rank Canada RPM Top Singles 12 US ( Joel Whitburn 's Pop Annual ) 36 US Cash Box 22 Production The song was recorded in December 1975 at Eastern Sound, a recording studio made out of two Victorian houses at 48 Yorkville Avenue in a then - beatnik district of downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The famous studio, which also recorded Rush, Cat Stevens, Bruce Springsteen and Jimi Hendrix, was later torn down and replaced by a parking lot. The song was the first commercial early digital multi-track recording tracked on the prototype 3M 32 - track digital recorder, a novel technology for the time. Pee Wee Charles and Terry Clements came up with `` the haunting guitar and steel riffs '' on a `` second take '' during the evening session. `` Lightfoot cleared the studio and killed all the lights save the one illuminating his parchment of scribbled words '' when recording his vocal part. Derivative works The Canadian art - rock group The Rheostatics recorded a version of the song for their 1991 album Melville. In 1995, two decades after Lightfoot 's original song was written, singer - songwriter Camille West recorded a parody song with a similar rhythm titled `` The Nervous Wreck of Edna Fitzgerald, '' about a well - to - do family 's disastrous day at sea. She recorded and released it on her album Mother Tongue ( subtitled `` Maternal Madness, Month by Month '' ) that year. Ten years later, after she had joined the band Four Bitchin ' Babes, she and the band performed the song live, prefacing it with the comment, `` With apologies to Gordon Lightfoot. '' It was included on their album of that year, Gabby Road. Executive producer Paul Gross wanted to use the song for the Due South episode `` Mountie on the Bounty. '' Lightfoot agreed, but only if Gross gained approval from the families of all the men who lost their lives in the wreck. Gross and Jay Semko instead created a song about a fictional shipwreck on the Great Lakes - `` 32 Down on the Robert McKenzie '' NRBQ frequently performed `` The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald '' live, though in a less than serious manner. Video shows vocalist Terry Adams, reading from a lyrics sheet, chuckling as his voice cracks, while audience members throw debris at the stage. They did this to mock the song, not as a serious cover version. See also Music of Canada portal 1970s portal Canadian rock Music of Canada References Jump up ^ `` Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald : Song Lyrics ''. Gordon Lightfoot. Jump up ^ DeYoung, Bill ( March 2, 2010 ). `` If You Could Read His Mind : A Conversation with Folk Music Legend Gordon Lightfoot ''. Connect Savannah. Jump up ^ `` Item Display. RPM ''. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved August 18, 2010. Jump up ^ `` Official Singles Chart Top 50 : 23 January 1977 - 29 January 1977 ''. Official Charts Company. Retrieved November 26, 2016. Jump up ^ Perone, James E. ( 2012 ). The Album : A Guide to Pop Music 's Most Provocative, Influential, and Important Creations. Santa Barbara, California, 2012 : Praeger. ISBN 9780313379062. Jump up ^ Weiss, William R. `` This Goose Is Golden ''. Lightfoot.ca. Retrieved December 9, 2017. Jump up ^ Wert, Ray ( November 10, 2011 ). `` Remembering the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, 36 Years Later ''. Jalopnik. Jump up ^ McInnis, Joseph ( 1998 ). Fitzgerald 's Storm : The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald ``. Thunder Bay Press. p. 62. ISBN 1 - 882376 - 53 - 6. Jump up ^ Schumacher, Michael ( 2005 ). Mighty Fitz. New York : Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 94. ISBN 1 - 58234 - 647 - X. Jump up ^ Balunda, George ( November 2010 ). `` Mariners ' Church of Detroit ''. Hour Detroit. Retrieved December 10, 2011. Jump up ^ Stevenson, Jane ( March 26, 2010 ). `` Lightfoot Changes ' Edmund Fitzgerald ' Lyric ''. Toronto Sun. Jump up ^ Kent, David ( 1993 ). Australian Chart Book 1970 -- 1992. Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0 - 646 - 11917 - 6. Jump up ^ Joel Whitburn 's Top Pop Singles 1955 - 1990 - ISBN 0 - 89820 - 089 - X Jump up ^ `` Cash Box Top Singles - 1976 ''. Tropicalglen.com. 1963 - 12 - 20. Retrieved 2017 - 02 - 23. Jump up ^ `` Top Singles -- Volume 26, No. 14 & 15, January 08 1977 ''. RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Archived from the original on March 19, 2016. Retrieved June 13, 2016. Jump up ^ Whitburn, Joel ( 1999 ). Pop Annual. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin : Record Research Inc. ISBN 0 - 89820 - 142 - X. Jump up ^ `` Archived copy ''. Archived from the original on October 21, 2014. Retrieved June 5, 2016. Jump up ^ `` Album Recording Notes ''. Lighfoot !. October 23, 2016. Jump up ^ `` Recording Studios used in Toronto : Eastern Sound ''. Bruce Cockburn + Toronto - A Historical Tour. October 23, 2016. Jump up ^ Charles, Peewee ( October 23, 2016 ). `` Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald... 37 years ago today ! ! ''. The Steel Guitar Forum. Jump up ^ Treece, Tom ( October 23, 2016 ). `` Me and ' The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald ' ''. But What Do I Know ? Vol. 1 Page 403. Jump up ^ `` Rheostatics ''. Thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved November 10, 2015. Jump up ^ `` Mother Tongue ( Maternal Madness Month By Month ) ''. Amazon.com. Retrieved October 26, 2014. Jump up ^ `` Gabby Road ''. Amazon.com. Retrieved October 26, 2014. Jump up ^ Pressland, Angela. `` Paul 's Music ''. PaulGross.org. Retrieved 13 June 2016. Jump up ^ `` NRBQ - Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald ''. Youtube.com. Retrieved 17 December 2016. Jump up ^ `` The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald ''. Cbslocal.com. Retrieved September 9, 2016. External links Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics Preceded by `` Rock'n Me '' by Steve Miller Band RPM Top Singles number - one single November 20, 1976 Succeeded by `` Tonight 's The Night ( Gonna Be Alright ) '' by Rod Stewart Preceded by `` The Games That Daddies Play '' by Conway Twitty RPM Country Tracks number - one single November 6, 1976 Succeeded by `` Why I Had to Pass This Way '' by Carroll Baker Gordon Lightfoot Band musicians Rick Haynes Barry Keane Mike Heffernan Carter Lancaster Former members Red Shea John Stockfish Terry Clements Pee Wee Charles Albums Lightfoot ! ( 1966 ) The Way I Feel ( 1967 ) Did She Mention My Name ? ( 1968 ) Back Here on Earth ( 1968 ) Sunday Concert ( live ) ( 1969 ) Sit Down Young Stranger ( 1970 ) Summer Side of Life ( 1971 ) Don Quixote ( 1972 ) Old Dan 's Records ( 1972 ) Sundown ( 1974 ) Cold on the Shoulder ( 1975 ) Summertime Dream ( 1976 ) Endless Wire ( 1978 ) Dream Street Rose ( 1980 ) Shadows ( 1982 ) Salute ( 1983 ) East of Midnight ( 1986 ) Waiting for You ( 1993 ) A Painter Passing Through ( 1998 ) Harmony ( 2004 ) All Live ( live ) ( 2012 ) Compilations Early Lightfoot ( 1969 ) The Best of Gordon Lightfoot ( 1970 ) Classic Lightfoot ( 1971 ) The Very Best of Gordon Lightfoot ( 1974 ) The Very Best of Gordon Lightfoot, Vol. 2 ( 1975 ) Gord 's Gold ( 1975 ) Early Morning Rain ( 1976 ) Songbook ( 1985 ) Gord 's Gold Volume 2 ( 1988 ) The Best of Gordon Lightfoot ( 1989 ) The Original Lightfoot ( 1992 ) The United Artists Collection ( 1993 ) Songbook ( 1999 ) Complete Greatest Hits ( 2002 ) Singles `` ( Remember Me ) I 'm the One '' ( 1961 ) `` It 's Too Late, He Wins / Negotiations '' ( 1962 ) `` Adios, Adios '' ( 1962 ) `` Day Before Yesterday '' ( 1963 ) `` I 'm Not Sayin ' '' ( 1965 ) `` Ribbon of Darkness '' ( 1965 ) `` Spin Spin '' ( 1966 ) `` Go Go Round '' ( 1966 ) `` The Way I Feel '' ( 1967 ) `` Canadian Railroad Trilogy '' ( 1967 ) `` Black Day in July '' ( 1968 ) `` Bitter Green '' ( 1968 ) `` Me and Bobby McGee '' ( 1970 ) `` If You Could Read My Mind '' ( 1970 ) `` If I Could '' ( 1971 ) `` Talking in Your Sleep '' ( 1971 ) `` Summer Side of Life '' ( 1971 ) `` Beautiful '' ( 1972 ) `` Alberta Bound '' ( 1972 ) `` You Are What I Am '' ( 1972 ) `` The Same Old Obsession '' ( 1972 ) `` Ca n't Depend on Love '' ( 1973 ) `` It 's Worth Believin ' '' ( 1973 ) `` Sundown '' ( 1974 ) `` Carefree Highway '' ( 1974 ) `` Rainy Day People '' ( 1975 ) `` The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald '' ( 1976 ) `` Race Among the Ruins '' ( 1976 ) `` The Circle Is Small ( I Can See It in Your Eyes ) '' ( 1977 ) `` Daylight Katy '' ( 1978 ) `` Dreamland '' ( 1978 ) `` Dream Street Rose '' ( 1980 ) `` If You Need Me '' ( 1980 ) `` Baby Step Back '' ( 1981 ) `` Blackberry Wine '' ( 1982 ) `` In My Fashion '' ( 1982 ) `` Salute ( A Lot More Livin ' to Do ) '' ( 1983 ) `` Without You '' ( 1983 ) `` Anything for Love '' ( 1986 ) `` Stay Loose '' ( 1986 ) `` East of Midnight '' ( 1987 ) `` Ecstasy Made Easy '' ( 1987 ) `` I 'll Prove My Love '' ( 1993 ) `` Waiting for You '' ( 1993 ) `` A Painter Passing Through '' ( 1998 ) `` Inspiration Lady '' ( 2004 ) Related articles Discography Beautiful : A Tribute to Gordon Lightfoot Jump up ^ `` RPM Magazine ''. RPM Magazine. Retrieved November 5, 2017. Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Wreck_of_the_Edmund_Fitzgerald&oldid=825272238 '' Categories : 1976 singles Gordon Lightfoot songs Reprise Records singles RPM Country Tracks number - one singles Songs written by Gordon Lightfoot Song recordings produced by Lenny Waronker Rock ballads Vehicle wreck ballads Songs based on actual events RPM Adult Contemporary number - one singles Maritime music Songs inspired by deaths 1976 songs Songs in memory of deceased persons Hidden categories : Use mdy dates from November 2014 Articles with hAudio microformats Articles needing additional references from November 2011 All articles needing additional references Talk Contents About Wikipedia Русский Simple English Suomi Edit links This page was last edited on 12 February 2018, at 13 : 10. About Wikipedia

Question: who wrote the song wreck of the edmund fitzgerald
Answer: Gordon Lightfoot