The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

• meg
  November 10th, 2007 at 8:35 pm

  I remember having to learn that song in elementary school…I still get parts of it stuck in my head.

• Mike
  November 10th, 2007 at 9:00 pm

  Well done, Mr. Fulton.

  The studio version of Gordon Lightfoot’s hit is an absolutely brilliant piece of folk-pop. The guitar/keyboard riff comes crashing in again and again like the icy lake waves. Lightfoot’s lyrics are taut and are delivered with great respect for all watermen, the waters on which they work and for those 29 souls lost not so many Novembers ago.

  I join Mr. Fulton in tribute, thank Mr. Lightfoot for his compelling and enduring memorial and pray for the wives and the sons and the daughters.

• Lemons
  November 10th, 2007 at 9:16 pm

  How cool. I actually went to the Maritime Sailors’ Cathedral with my father a few years ago, specifically because he wanted to see the bell that rang for the crewmen.

• Chad Cloman
  November 11th, 2007 at 2:26 am

  “This video is no longer available.”

• Chad Cloman
  November 11th, 2007 at 2:27 am

  Hmmm. Now it’s available. Ignore previous post.

• Pol x
  November 11th, 2007 at 8:27 am

  never heard the song before, but it’s good to see folk still commemorates the people’s dead.

  I would point you in the direction of 3 modern folk songs.

  The BAnd Played Waltzing Matilda (Pogues Version is best)

  The Green Fields of France (The Fureys version)

  Both written by Scottish Australian Eric Bogle.

  And “I was only 19″ by Redgum.

• Johnny Cat
  November 11th, 2007 at 1:35 pm

  I must have listened to this song a thousand times, and I still love it. Video wasn’t bad, either.

• natalie
  November 11th, 2007 at 1:59 pm

  Reminds me of that Seinfeld episode when George has to interview for the apartment.

• Chad Cloman
  November 12th, 2007 at 4:17 am

  Never heard the song before?!? Your musical education is sorely lacking. I remember first hearing it in the late 70s on Casey Kasem’s Top 40 countdown. He explained the story behind it and then played the song.

• Sid Morrison
  November 12th, 2007 at 8:46 am

  My wife’s g-g-g-grandfather was a mid-to-late 19th century Great Lakes ship captain. There are writeups of him in shipping directories of that era and he was relatively “famous” within the industry, so it’s not too hard finding information about him. We researched the many ships he captained over his long career and the majority of them eventually sunk (fortunately only 2 whilst he was captain) — He managed to get “lucky” but being wrecked at some point was par for the course.

  Most people don’t realize how treacherous the Great Lakes (essentially inland seas) are, and it was pretty routine for the ships to go down in that era. If the Lakes weren’t so cold, deep, and dark, it would be a wreck diver’s paradise today. The sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald proved that even with fairly modern meterology and radios, a stormy Great Lake is a dangerous place to be. The weather forecasting is a little better today and there are GPSs, but it’s still not someplace you want to be in a bad storm even on a large ship.

• algonkin
  November 13th, 2007 at 8:34 am

  I realy enjoyed this clip. Thanks for sharing!!

• Pat J
  November 13th, 2007 at 12:09 pm

  That song is still haunting. And the addition of the radio transmissions adds a certain je ne sais quoi to it.

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