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11-10-2015 03:29 PM
"It was exactly 40 years ago Tuesday when "the winds of November came early" and took the legendary Great Lakes freighter Edmund Fitzgerald and 29 souls to the bottom of Lake Superior, a disaster memorialized in book and song that remains mired in maritime mystery." Oh, dear, now I've got Lightfoot's song going through my head.
Longer article here:
11-10-2015 03:39 PM
I LOVED the song about it...Gordon Lightfoot did an excellent synopsis with his song about the wreck !
11-10-2015 03:44 PM
@maryebrown wrote:I LOVED the song about it...Gordon Lightfoot did an excellent synopsis with his song about the wreck !
I just listened to it on YouTube,LOL.
11-10-2015 03:50 PM
That song is like a lullaby for me, I always doze off before it's over.
11-10-2015 03:56 PM
The song is so sad.
When I hear it, I just think of those poor men, knowing that they were going to die.
They were so close to home, yet so far away.
I wonder how their families are doing today?
11-10-2015 04:02 PM - edited 11-10-2015 04:03 PM
@deepwaterdotter wrote:That song is like a lullaby for me, I always doze off before it's over.
It's one of the few Lightfoot songs I don't care for much. I think because it goes on for two long and only consists of a few notes. It always reminds me of mournful chanting in a synagogue. I think I'd like the song better if it were shorter. Lightfoot did do a good job on it, I will agree to that.
@Plaid Pants2 Somehow I think Lightfoot would be pleased at how you said it makes you think of those men and the rest of your description. Gordon, are you reading this board?
11-10-2015 04:03 PM
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call 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 twenty-six thousand tons more
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
That good ship and true 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
Could it be the north wind they'd been feelin'?
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
'Twas 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 freezing 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 out of sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Does anyone 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 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 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 call Gitche Gumee
Superior, they said, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early
11-10-2015 04:06 PM
Music, song and lyrics to sing along with here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vST6hVRj2A
I've always loved this song.
11-10-2015 04:08 PM
I read the title of this thread and immediately heard the song in my head!
I saw Gordon Lighfoot in concert this February. It was very hard to understand him during the songs, but the band sounded amazing. Yeah, I almost fell asleep during this song. I had a good time though.
11-10-2015 04:19 PM
This is really good - from the History Channel about the EF. Ironically, the ship's captain looked a lot like Gordon Lightfoot! Eeerily so!
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