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.

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".

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.

 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

#### Full Band Streams

* Stream Girls (27 Apr 2023)

1. ↑ https://www.connectsavannah.com/savannah/if-you-could-read-his-mind/Content?oid=2132451
2. ↑ https://www.lakesuperior.com/the-lake/lake-superior/281almanac/
3. ↑ https://www.hourdetroit.com/community/mariners-church-of-detroit/