I Listen To Gordon Lightfoot The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald For The First Time!

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[@debbieplato5107]

This song is based on a true story. I remember when it happened. The Edmund Fitzgerald was an iron ore ship and it got caught in an early storm. Gordon Lightfoot donated all the proceeds from this song to the families of the crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald. This past time when they rang the bells they rang them 30 times. The last one for Gordon Lightfoot

[@stretmediq]

The Mariners Cathedral mentioned in the song rang their bell 30 times after he died. One each for the men of the Edmund Fitzgerald and once for Gordon Lightfoot

[@martinsmusic1724]

"Does anyone know where the love of God knows when the waves turn the minutes to hours' - most poignant line in music ever. In the song it says the church bell rang 29 times for each man on the ship. After Gordo passed, they rang it again - 30 times.

[@lisarainbow9703]

Notice how the rhythmic groove mimics the motion and feel of a boat traveling on waves? What a beautiful tribute Gordon wrote.

[@forresthouser5807]

"Leave it up to songs to teach history" is a great thought, Brother.......As that was the whole purpose of folk music at it's very origin!

[@donovanwaters9403]

If you like learning history from songs you have to listen to Sabaton. I recommend starting with Christmas Truce

[@TryMyMartini]

Just a few weeks ago, Gordon Lightfoot went up to heaven to meet the crew. At the Mariners Church, they rang the bell 30 times as a tribute, and I firmly believe the crew welcomed him aboard.

[@coyotej4895]

In the late afternoon early evening of November 10th, 1975, the Edmund Fitzgerald's Captain told the Captain of the Aurther M Anderson, another big iron ore carrier that had been sailing with the Fitz that Fitz had lost radar, sometime later he reported his pumps were having to work overtime and they had taken some damage . For safety the Fitz slowed down to let the Arther M Anderson close the distance a bit. By 630 PM the Anderson had the Fitz on radar and was near enough that they could occasionally see her lights on the horizon. at about 650 the Arther was hit by a freakishly large swell from behind but with the sea topping out at 30-40 feet every swell was a toe curler. However, the event shook the Captain of the trailing ship enough to make him worry about the Fitz. So, within a moment of recovering the captain of the Arther M Anderson called and made a point of asking the Fits; "How are you holding up", The captain of the Fitz replied, "We are holding our own, going along like an old shoe". After that the Captain of the Anderson went below and they did a shift change. At 705 the captain of the Anderson came back up and was thinking of calling the Fitz again because he was worried about the way the other captain had sounded and the reference to plodding along got him thinking what if he bottomed out on a shole they passed earlier, and the Fitz was taking on more than they knew. Thats when another big swell swung the Aurther hard, and he was takin up with maneuvering and checking on his ship for a bit. At 708 he looked up and watched the Fitz disappear into a snow squall. Her lights blinked out, possibly hidden in the snow. He walks to the Radar to double check her position, but she was not showing up on his radar. It was 710 PM and the Fitz was off radar, yet he knew it was working, and he had literally had just visually seen her a few miles ahead. He called numerous times and had all able crew up scanning with lights and looking for her. When the wreck was found the ship was in two parts and there was some bow damage. Some years later after the final inquiries he was Recalling the big swell that rocked them just before he lost sight of her in the snow that night and looking at the damage, he surmised that Fitz being overloaded and taking on water was overcome by the swell from her stern. Her bow shot under and hit the lake bottom, (Fitz was 728 feet long and rests now in 530 feet but the shole she passed over was 310 feet), the stern sheared off instantly and both halves would have been completely submerged in a matter of moments. To him this was the only way to explain her disappearing so fast. I grew up in a commercial fishing Family from Alaska and that story fascinated me. I have lost family and friends to the sea and even spent many scarry nights out in bad weather while I listened to others calling out for help on the radio. The radio calls from that night are surreal to listen to. Professional yet heart breaking. Its here on Utube at; kzbin.info/www/bejne/jWLJgIqfZdmYn7s

[@detroitpolak9904]

I went downtown for the mass in ‘92. I KNEW the 29 chimes were coming, and it STILL TORE ME UP.

[@johnbordach4195]

The "Fitz" was built about 3 miles from my home, south of Detroit. I was about 5 when she launched in 1958.

[@cheryla7480]

Bob Dylan named Gordon Lightfoot as one of his favourite songwriters. His songs have been covered by dozens of artists from Johnny Cash to Barbra Streisand. He has a huge deep rabbit hole, not a bad song in the batch.

[@rubbersole79]

My folks owned a beer tavern back when this song came out, and I swear, whenever this song came on the jukebox, the banter in the bar would hush......almost like a funeral.

[@bostonwhofan]

This song still gets played quite often on FM radio stations, especially during the fall time. I always think of this song on Halloween as October morphs into November, when you realize the previous summer is long gone and now we are facing another winter.

[@jefferytheis4157]

Thanks John! I listened to your reaction yesterday (" Sundown")and had suggested you try one of his epics! Gordon had seen some small article at the time (1975), mentioning this wreck, brief, with misspellings, and he wrote this as a more proper tribute to those 29 lost lives. Thanks again Bro, and RIP Gord.

[@patrickarts9091]

"The lake it is said never gives up her dead" Lake Superior stays so cold that dead bodies don't float, they sink to the bottom. Strange fact.

[@blanewilliams5960]

Nicely done, John. Gordon Lightfoot(RIP) is a national treasure here in Canada. A singer songwriter and guitar player who also writes and arranges the music for his songs. The line "The lake it is said never gives up her dead" has to do with the water being so cold, no bodies were ever recovered. I believe he also donated some of the proceeds to "the wives and the sons and the daughters". Some other great songs from GL are "Canadian Railway Trilogy" "If You Could Read My Mind" 'Early Morning Rain" and "Carefree Highway" to name a few. Thank You!

[@massboy11]

As I mentioned on another page, there is an extended version where they slowy name all 29 men lost.....very eery, yet powerful. Great reaction with taking the time to research the history!

[@josephoneil3093]

Captain McSorley was my dad’s company commander in WW2. My mother went to his funeral in Toledo, OH. My Dad died in 71 and sadly Ernest McSorley followed soon after.

[@joannerichards1750]

These ships are ore freighters. Iron ore, copper ore, etc. Gitchee-Gumee was the Ojibwe name for Lake Superior as presented in the 1855 epic poem Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

[@rushdiehard8784]

Now that's a voice of an angel

[@rubbersole79]

Gordon wrote this soon after the incident after reading the account in "Newsweek" magazine. And every syllable is pure poetry. A testament to this man's gift.

[@artbagley1406]

I understand every penny Mr. Lightfoot ever made from this song, to this day, went to the families of the 29 dead crew members.

[@KevinRCarr]

The Fitz left the harbor at Superior Wisconsin and headed across the big lake for the last run of the season loaded with iron ore, late in the fall of 1975. I was a senior in high school at the time, living about 90 miles from that harbor, and was following her progress across the lake through radio reports while reading in my bedroom. When I went to bed that night she had lost ship to shore communications and was communicating through ship to ship contact with the Arthur M. Anderson, another iron ore freighter that was running about 15 miles ahead of her. When I got up the next morning, the radio report was that she'd disappeared from radars overnight and that searchers were out. The song was released about 9 months later, in the summer of '76.

[@Matt-fv2qb]

The coast guard requested that the Arthur Anderson turn around and look for survivors of the Fitzgerald. The Anderson's captain reluctantly agreed knowing that he was putting his ship at grave risk. They unfortunately didn't find any survivors. The Anderson is still sailing the great lakes.

[@ericnordstrom4335]

This song brings a bit of sadness to me because I live in Canada and one of my classmates was gone for 2 weeks and this was in 1975. I asked the teacher what happened to him but she didn't know either so we waited and he came back and I didn't know this but his cousin was on that freighter and then he went over to the US when they could get everybody together and have a remembrance of them. In 1976 this is when Gordon Lightfoot first sang this song. It became a big hit in Canada.

[@pubuapubua]

I'm from Detroit. Gets me every time.

[@jeffjones6221]

Every penny of that this song made...and continues to make, goes to the surviving family of those crew members that died.

[@Hayseo]

You said you thought you heard some synth. I believe what you are thinking is synthesizer is actually a pedal steel guitar.

[@brucefelger4015]

Once more they are remembered!

[@TryMyMartini]

I was a deckhand on several large yachts, but nothing as giant as The Fitz, of course, When I lived in Florida, I worked on a casino yacht that left twice daily through Government Cut. We will head speed quickly out to International waters we are gambling was legal, 12 nautical miles from shore. She was 200 feet long, and three decks tall, plus a sundeck. I will admit that from most angles, she wasn't very pretty,. My dad always said that she looked very much like a shoebox bobbing around in the water. If the winds picked up just enough, the ocean would rock us like a cradle. On one of the very first cruises, one of the two rudders snapped off. Not long after, the strain on the remaining one was too much, and it disappeared as well. The captain had us try to drop an anchor, but it only caught for a few moments before the line snapped, and the anchor joined the rudders on the ocean floor. The only means of steering that we had left were the bow thrusters. They were nowhere near precise enough to bring us home and through Government cut, they could barely keep us headed into the waves enough so that we were not violently rolling from side to side. A tugboat came out to see if they could bring us in, but the waves were just too rough and dangerous, so they wished us luck and headed home. The Coast Guard cutter pulled up alongside of us, to collect any passengers who were medical emergencies. We were able to pass four passengers to the Coast Guard, but it was unbelievably risky. I can't even imagine what kind of footage would be floating around out there, if any of this had happened when camera phones were in everyone's pocket. Eventually when the waves calmed a bit, a tugboat did come out to meet us and bring us home. Nearly two decades later, I still have strange dreams about being on a rocking boat. Sometimes I close my eyes when I'm standing in the shower, and I feel like my equilibrium is off. Although my story is nothing compared to what the men on The Fitz experienced, I think about it when I hear some of the lyrics.

[@fluterify]

Gordon wrote this song in response to how the news was reporting on the wreck. He disagreed with it so he did it his way. The Mariners sailor Cathedral rang its bell 30 times last year. 29 for the Edmund Fitzgerald crew and once for Gordon after his death.

[@melissakhalar1842]

Superior never gives up her dead because the water is too cold for bacteria to live so the bodies don't bloat and float to the surface.

[@annr8923]

The bodies are still there, the cold water doesn't allow bacteria to survive, so they don't deteriorate. When it was discovered, all the families chose to leave their loved ones down there rather than have them recovered. The wreckage is a protected site, not allowing divers. Every November, the crew members of the Edmond Fitzgerald are remembered along with all the mariners that have ever lost their lives at sea.

[@hunterharrell7491]

The ship that was following them the Aurthur M Anderson was the last in contact with them and they turned around and went back to search for them, that ship is still in use to this day.

[@strategicplanetxmuzik4384]

....the reason the Edmund Fitzgerald existed was to haul iron ore from the mines up in Minnesota and Wisconsin to steel plants in places like Cleveland and Detroit. This is a booming industrial trade and ships such as the Fitzgerald are a common sight in the Great Lakes and they run most of the year until the Great Lakes ice up in the winter.......😶‍🌫

[@fantasia0kent]

If I remember correctly, the Arthur Anderson, another ore freighter, was only 15 min. ahead of the Edmond Fitzgerald. The Arthur Anderson made port and the Edmund Fitzgerald Didn't. So close, so very close, a perfect example of how dangerous the life of sailors is. Minutes can actually be the difference between being safe and having your ship go down. And side note: we citizens of the Great Lakes, don't have to go to the sea to see big ships; for our lakes are so big, we have ships up to 800 feet long sailing on the big lakes. It is a wonderful sight to see one of these big ships 10 miles out near the horizon. Yes, like the ocean, you can't see the other side of the lake. If you have never been to the Great Lakes. It is a sight to behold. Now, I am prejudice, as a Michigander, I think Michigan is the best state to visit to really see the Great Lakes. But please visit Michigan if you really want to see the really big Great Lakes.

[@rachellesommerfeld6575]

To really, truly feel this song you have to be familiar with Lake Superior. Sea captains have said that they would rather sail the North Atlantic than to sail the Great Lakes. One of the reasons it never gives up its dead, is because the lake action literally grinds up the bodies. Another fact is that even in summer if you fall in to Superior you have thirty minutes to get out before hypothermia sets in. I've sailed Superior and during a storm watched it completely tear apart a dock.

[@greggwilliamson]

I also remember the news reports of the search. As a US Navy Veteran, I can tell you, "heavy weather" is never fun. You could not (at that time) forecast the intensity of a storm and you still had your deadline to meet. Check out "Halsey's Hurricane". In WW2 Adm "Bull" Halsey's task force lost 3 Destroyers to a Typhoon.

[@timgasper8748]

I was a POW when this song came out. I grew up in Wisconsin and know very well the history of this. It became my favorite song for long time. The gails on the Great Lakes are some of the worst storms in the world. Lake Michigan is very hard in the late fall and winter. Glad you found this. Keep listening to the great music we all grew up with in the 60's and 70's

[@russgilbertson8689]

True Story , Gordon Lightfoot give the Brave Captain and Crew Honor.

[@simonesmit6708]

Lightfoot wrote this song because he felt the wreck was being forgotten too quickly.

[@Roddy1965]

We go about our lives that use raw materials moved by various means and never give any of that a single thought. But people put their lives at risk to do this. It usually works out, but not always. We owe more respect to those mariners that move materials for our lives.

[@user-re4pr6um6u]

Listen to it on November 10.

[@markdrechsler5660]

There were once major iron mines in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and the adjacent areas of Wisconsin and Minnesota. Iron ore was processed into a product called taconite, which was then shipped from the processing plants to the steel mills that supported the auto industry. Some still exist. The taconite went by both ship and train. I was eight and living in Wisconsin when the EF wreck happened. I remember it being on the news. As a side note, there were some train tracks near my childhood house, and I could easily fill my pockets with taconite pellets that had fallen out of the hoppers. As to why they built the ships so big, efficiency and profit.

[@MisterWondrous]

What Debbie said. The legends are leaving us. :( RIP Gordon and Tina.

[@RLKmedic0315]

And now you can add Jimmy Buffet to that list. The Pirate Poet and "God's own drunk" will be sorely missed.

[@bobowrathsovine.]

When the Edmund Fitzgerald sank I was only 11 months old but learned of the tragedy 10 years later when I was in the 4'th grade. I think a year or so later in 5'th grade as a Michigander born and raised in Saginaw Michigan we all got to actually hear this song in the classroom.

[@patrickkujawa9083]

the bell rings 30 times for added to the death of Gordon Lightfoot .. every year..

[@audreyjohnson4599]

Actually, the Edmund Fitzgerald wasn't all that old. The Arthur M Anderson, who was sailing with the Fitz, running from the storm was built in 1952, and is still hauling cargo on the lakes. The Alpena, the last steam-powered freighter, was built in 1942, still active. There are several boats built in the 1950s, 60s and early 70s still working on the lakes, considered the classics. Their designs are different than newer models, which enables people to know which are the old timers. All the lakers are huge, running 500 feet or longer. The big beasts, 1000 ft long, were first built in the late 1970s and later - there are13 of them to be exact. The freighters last a long time because they are on fresh water lakes, not the oceans where salt can eat the metal of ships' hulls.

[@gergsar]

true story

[@stevensprunger3422]

There’s a great short KZbin documentary on the actual wreck I remember when this song came out I just recently was talking to my dad about it he passed away 6 pounds ago he was 98 because he lived up near that area where it happened the documentary is incredible because the details of the ship leaving Port I’m going out to see in the actual weather conditions

[@Shadow.est93]

Great song

[@stpnwlf9]

I wouldn't call him Canada's greatest singer-songwriter, but only because Canada has produced so many fantastic singer-songwriters, But Gordon Lightfoot definitely belongs up at the top of the list alongside such greats as Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Cockburn, and Leonard Cohen among others.

[@davidmaholchic6146]

Interesting choice wonderful so hard love you

[@r0kus]

Now that you recognize the context of the song, take another listen to probably the greatest dirge in the English language.

[@randieandjodistrom854]

I know it's challenging when reactors are reacting for videos for the first time, but it hurts me when they don't adjust to what it is they're hearing. This song is a true story, sung by a great songwriter and performer, and it's a tragic story. For a reactor to not pick up on this and stop "grooving" to the tune is very painful for me. I've become accustomed to simply stopping the video or closing my eyes and listening to the rest of the song.

[@r0kus]

I felt he did adjust appropriately. When the song ended, he looked up the details and verified the song was relating a true story. I can't really blame anyone for not realizing this song is a dirge. How many of those are there in the English language?

[@user-sw9ee7tr6s]

A tragedy that was "fun?/' TRY A LITTLE SIGNIFICANT NARRATION !! firat and Last time listening...