The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they called 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
And 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
And a wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the captain did too
T'was 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 freezin' 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 outta sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Does any one 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 called Gitche Gumee
Superior, they said, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early
Of the big lake they called 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
And 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
And a wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the captain did too
T'was 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 freezin' 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 outta sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Does any one 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 called Gitche Gumee
Superior, they said, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early
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In the head of a kid on the shores of Lake Erie... "wait, there's a legend of these Great Lakes?, from the INDIANS?" "and there's history, you mean stuff HAPPENED here? Even RECENTLY?" Which it was, the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald occuring when I was eight.
I think this amazing ballad not only forever commemorates the grim reality for the 29 victims of the wreck (and their families), but catches the imagination in so many ways of those not personally affected by the loss.
It has a timelessness to it - like others have said here, this could've been about a famous wreck 100 years ago - or, drop a few of the technicalities - and it could be about a famous wreck of 500 years ago. It picks up a single thread of dark reality (one recent deadly shipwreck) and we add it to the constant - man's historic fight against "the sea" - or in this case, the Lake.
He sings "At 7pm, it grew dark, it was then", replacing "At 7pmm a main hatchway caved in.."
Mr Lightfoot explains that this particular line was based on conjecture.
A recent History Channel documentary concluded that improperly secured hatches played no role in the sinking.
The lyrics were modified to clearly remove deck-crew negligence as a causal factor.
In modern performances, Gordon Lightfoot changes two parts of the lyrics. The line "At 7 p.m. a main hatchway caved in, he said" is now sung as "At 7 p.m. it grew dark, it was then he said". This was after evidence was unearthed that found that there was no human error involved in the sinking of the ship. In addition, the "musty old hall" of the church is now described as being a "rustic old hall".
It's not fully agreed as to what caused the sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, but the most likely theory was rogue waves. The ship was crossing Lake Superior in very stormy weather, and the lake has been known to produce exceptionally tall 'rogue' waves in these conditions.
The legend that Lake Superior "never gives up her dead" has a basis in fact. Normally, when someone drowns, the body will float to the surface after a few days, due to the decomposition bacteria producing bubbles. But Superior is too cold to allow these bacteria to thrive.