November 10, 1975

Ah, that would be why my wife mentioned this morning that her dad remembers the dimensions of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
 
This song carries special weight for the people of Ontario where I spent a part of my youth. It's a sad, but great song. It is also pretty accurate in its telling of the events
 
Lived on Lake Huron east shore a few years, saw some ferocious storms.....and those in Gichigami were far worse. We drove past Whitefish bay last summer (2023) and had the song on our playlist so..we sang along as we drove past.
 
My boss at Boeing had earned his tuition by working ore freighters over the summer. He had a ship painting on the wall behind his desk. Took me quite a while to realize it said "Edmund Fitzgerald" on the bow. Wasn't just a song, to him.

Ron Wanttaja
 
50 years.

Here's the best video I've found on the subject:


I'm feeling a Soo Locks trip next summer.
 
Jim K said:
50 years.

Here's the best video I've found on the subject:


I'm feeling a Soo Locks trip next summer.
Click to expand...

This was actually very interesting... Those lakers have always fascinated me for some reason. Someday we'll spend a week or so doing a GA trip around The Great Lakes.
 
Bill said:
Last time I was there I stayed here.

maps.app.goo.gl

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Nice mon n pop type place right across the street from the lock viewing stand.
Click to expand...

I bet you can see Canada from there.
 
I read somewhere recently that he was concerned that his song wouldn't convey the story accurately enough, or that people might think he was trying to capitalize on the disaster. On the year of his death, they added another bell ring at the church.


www.cfpublic.org

50 years ago, the Edmund Fitzgerald, a 'rock star' ship, sank in Lake Superior

Twenty-nine sailors drowned when the Edmund Fitzgerald went down in the Great Lakes' icy waters on Nov. 10, 1975. The ship was immortalized in a surprise hit 1976 folk ballad by Gordon Lightfoot.
www.cfpublic.org www.cfpublic.org
 
Albany Tom said:
On the year of his death, they added another bell ring at the church.
Click to expand...
I know next to nothing about the accident or the song except is seems to be comprised of nothing other than a chorus but when I read that last year, it made me tear up.
That song is catchy but it would benefit from a bridge or a guitar solo or more use of the phrase "Gitche Gumee" :) When they added the additional church bell, I got a lump in my throat.
 
Lightfoot adapted an old Irish folk song for Edmund Fitzgerald
 
I just learned that Lightfoot's hit song was recorded almost by accident. They were doing something else in the studio and were taking a break. Lightfoot wanted to try out the material he was working on for the song, but none of it was really down on paper and the other band members didn't have any music. He just told them what to do, and they started in on it.

Luckily, the engineer was still rolling the tapes. Once the record company decided it was a good song, they gave the band another two weeks to work on it and record it, but they never got it to come out as well as it did on that first take, which was not just the first take but the first time the band had ever played the song.

 
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