In Memorium:

[hedgehog]

looking back, this was the Rust Belt's eulogy.

[Brickbat]

1. The Fitz left on Nov. 9 and sank on the 10th.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Gordon Lightfoot fan here

That was one of those ballads that really gets to you. Those Great Lakes are nothing to play with in bad weather.

[hlthe2b]

3. Absolutely... that ballad was wrenchingly vivid and poetic. Big Lightfoot fan as well.

There could scarcely be a better musical memorial to those lost.

[gopiscrap]

4. yup

[JNelson6563]

5. Still gives me chills.

I remember this from when I was a kid! What a tragedy! Of course the Great Lakes have always been a big part of my life here in MI so such things hit home. Much of my family worked the boats back in the day. We went to the Maritime church in Detroit that's mentioned in the song. It was incredibly somber, to say the least.

I thought it was getting to be about that time of year, thanks for the reminder. A safe return for all those working the boats in the coming months & years!

Julie

[freshwest]

6. The song gave me the chills all the way down to the Gulf Coast. A boat of strong sailors, good ship,

all the knowledge and power of steel and workers; all for naught in the cold wind and waters of the Great Lakes. A fearsome story, always. This area loses some to the waters off Alaska fishing, not so much shipping.

[freshwest]

7. Thought for a moment this would be another video I saw as the Rust Belt's eulogy:

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
"Youngstown"

Here in northeast Ohio
Back in eighteen-o-three
James and Dan Heaton
Found the ore that was linin' Yellow Creek
They built a blast furnace
Here along the shore
And they made the cannonballs
That helped the Union win the war

Here in Youngstown
Here in Youngstown
My sweet Jenny I'm sinkin' down
Here darlin' in Youngstown

Well my daddy worked the furnaces
Kept 'em hotter than hell
I come home from 'Nam worked my way to scarfer
A job that'd suit the devil as well
Taconite coke and limestone
Fed my children and make my pay
Them smokestacks reachin' like the arms of God
Into a beautiful sky of soot and clay

Here in Youngstown
Here in Youngstown
Sweet Jenny I'm sinkin' down
Here darlin' in Youngstown

Well my daddy come on the Ohio works
When he come home from World War Two
Now the yard's just scrap and rubble
He said "Them big boys did what Hitler couldn't do."
These mills they built the tanks and bombs
That won this country's wars
We sent our sons to Korea and Vietnam
Now we're wondering what they were dyin' for

Here in Youngstown
Here in Youngstown
My sweet Jenny I'm sinkin' down
Here darlin' in Youngstown

From the Monongahela valley
To the Mesabi iron range
To the coal mines of Appalachia
The story's always the same
Seven hundred tons of metal a day
Now sir you tell me the world's changed
Once I made you rich enough
Rich enough to forget my name

And Youngstown
And Youngstown
My sweet Jenny I'm sinkin' down
Here darlin' in Youngstown

When I die I don't want no part of heaven
I would not do heaven's work well
I pray the devil comes and takes me
To stand in the fiery furnaces of hell


Not sure which song makes me cry more, probably Springsteen's. Thanks for memorializing the men who lost their lives doing their job to take care of their families. A lot history is written around the Great Lakes.