S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald
Superior, they said, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early!
Just a few minutes left to note this anniversary, but today is the 30th anniversary of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior. The Gordon Lightfoot single came out the next year, but at the time, I'd assumed that it was about some sort of legend and had no idea it was chronicling a contemporary event. But it was that ballad that put the name Edmund Fitzgerald into our collective memory and ensures that this anniversary is noted beyond the shipping communities of the Great Lakes.
The Internet being what it is, you can read Lightfoot's page about the ship itself and its tragic end (along with links to midi versions of the song and its lyrics). You can also get a lot of information at S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald Online or the Fitzgerald page at the Shipwreck Museum.
posted by Doug @ 11:57 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Thanks for the links! I love the song, although--and I'm not the first to say this--there's something a little weird about that "fellas, it's been good to know ya" line...
I agree, Stu. That line throws me out of the song every single time, but I'm not sure why. Is it an attempt at understatement that is so understated that it becomes incongruous? I guess it's one possible reaction to the knowledge of certain death, but it's never seemed to fit.
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