'The legend lives on': Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald still resonates 50 years later

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

MARQUETTE, Mich. (AP) — Spend enough time along the shores of Lake Superior and it won’t be long before there’s some reminder of what happened “when the gales of November came early.”

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the largest and most famous of the estimated 6,500 ships that have gone down in the Great Lakes. But the Fitzgerald is remembered while the others are forgotten, thanks in large part to Gordon Lightfoot’s haunting 1976 folk ballad that became a surprise hit.

The Fitzgerald, a 730-foot long freighter named after a Milwaukee insurance company executive, went down in Lake Superior on Nov. 10, 1975. All 29 men on board died.

A crew and good captain well-seasoned’

The Fitz, as it’s still affectionately called, was the largest ship on the Great Lakes when it launched in 1958 and kept that title until 1971.

https://apnews.com/article/edmund-fitzgerald-50-anniversary-gordon-lightfoot-bbe5d3e04024354482ca5ac60f4fa790

[Eko]

1. Ive been to the musem at whitefish bay.

Now 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 the dead"
When the skies of November turn gloomy
With a load of iron ore twenty-six 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 the 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
And later that night when the ship's bell rang
Could it be the north wind they'd been feelin'?
The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound
And a 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 come slashin'
When afternoon came it was freezin' rain
In the face of a hurricane west wind
When suppertime came, the old cook come on deck sayin'
"Fellas, it's too rough to feed ya"
At 7 p.m. a main hatchway caved in, he said
"Fellas, it's been good t'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 out of 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 15 more miles behind her
They might have split up or they might have capsized
They might have broke deep and took water
And all that remains is the faces and the 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, it chimed, it rang 29 times
For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call 'Gitche Gumee'
Superior, they said, "Never gives up the dead"
When the skies of November come early

[yorkster]

3. Gives a chill every time...

Thanks for the lyrics.

[MorbidButterflyTat]

11. Yes, it does.

[BaronChocula]

10. So wild Lightfoot recorded the song just weeks after the wreck

Meanwhile I'm still trying to lose 5 lbs of winter weight from 1998.

And Lightfoot's song "Sundown" is about Cathy Smith who later delivered the deadly dose to John Belushi.

[end rabbit hole}

[biophile]

2. One of my all time favorite songs of my youth- and still

Now that I’m old!

[Walleye]

4. Same here

[hlthe2b]

5. The song was always intensely poignant, but so much so with the loss of Lightfoot.

Gordon, you are sorely missed. A to you and all who are lost or who have left us.

[Disaffected]

6. His first LP was the first LP I bought as a kid.

I still have it even though I discarded my turntable many years ago. He was the best.....

[Linda ladeewolf]

8. I can still his voice sing it, and the way he sang it. I still have my old record albums, tapes

And the cds of it.

[Martin Eden]

7. The ship's bell of the Edmund Fitzgerald is on display

At the Whitefish Point Lighthouse & Shipwreck Museum. If you're ever in Michigan's Upper Peninsula east of Pictured Rocks, I highly recommend visiting this excellent little museum.

[TrollBuster9090]

9. (Name dropping) I Went To School with Gordon Lightfoot's Cousin in the Early 70s. Definitely a great ballad.

Great song, horrible subject.

Here's the original, Lightfoot version of the song. (I suppose because Lightfoot was Canadian, there'll be a 45% tariff charged for buying it now?)