The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

"The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" is a 1976 song by Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot. It commemorates the sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior on November 10, 1975. It is Lightfoot's second most successful song to date, and the one of which he has said he is most proud.https://www.connectsavannah.com/savannah/if-you-could-read-his-mind/Content?oid=2132451
It is not currently part of the band's official repertoire, but the Johns released a YouTube video cover of the song on 8 Feb 2023.
==Factoids==
Chippewa is an anglicized name for the Ojibwe people, an indigenous group in the northern United States and southern Canada. Gitche Gumee is an older anglicized spelling of their name for Lake Superior, which roughly translates to "Big Sea".https://www.lakesuperior.com/the-lake/lake-superior/281almanac/
The "Maritime Sailors' Cathedral" refers to the Mariners' Church of Detroit, which holds a memorial service every November to honor those who have died on the Great Lakes. On the 10th anniversary of the Edmund Fitzgerald's sinking, Lightfoot himself performed the song at the memorial service; he commented that he had made a mistake in referring to the beautiful church as "musty", and since then has changed the word to "rustic" in live performances.https://www.hourdetroit.com/community/mariners-church-of-detroit/
 JD has commented that he played his guitar for this song in DADGAD but tuned down a step for "extra chonkiness".
==Lyrics==
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy
With a load of iron ore many thousand tons more
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
That good ship and crew was a bone to be chewed
When the gales of November came early
The ship was the pride of the American side
Coming back from some mill in Wisconsin
As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most
With a crew and good captain well seasoned
Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
When they left fully loaded for Cleveland
Then later that night when the ship's bell rang out
Could it be the north wind they'd been feelin'?
Well the wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound
When the wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the captain did too
T'was the witch of November come stealin'
The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
When the gales of November came slashin'
When afternoon came it was freezin' with rain
In the face of a hurricane west wind
When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck
Sayin', "Fellas, it's too rough to feed ya"
At seven PM, a main hatchway caved in
He said, "Fellas, it's been good to know ya"
The captain wired in he had water comin' in
And the good ship and crew was in peril
And later that night when his lights went outta sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Does any one know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours?
The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay
If they'd put fifteen more miles behind her
They might have split up or they might have capsized
They may have broke deep and took water
And all that remains is the faces and names
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters
Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
In the rooms of her ice-water mansion
Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams
The islands and bays are for sportsmen
And farther below Lake Ontario
Takes in what Lake Erie can send her
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
With the gales of November remembered
In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed
In the Maritime Sailors' Cathedral
The church bell chimed 'til it rang twenty-nine times
For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee
Superior, they said, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early
==Recordings==
====YouTube Videos====
*Music Video
====Full Band Streams====
*Stream Girls (27 Apr 2023)
Category:Songs
Category:Robbie Songs