The Edmond Fitzgerald wreck

[buster poser]

They have one of its 'sister' ships on display as a sort of living memorial or did, I took a tour of it in '79 or '80 on a family roadtrip/vacay up to that region. I wasn't quite ten, but remember the tour very well and that song playing on what seemed like a loop. Didn't dawn on me until years later that we'd only been there five years after the ship's sinking or that the song was recorded about a year after the tragedy. Something about both that seemed cut from another time.

 

[notmyusualuserid]

In the shipping industry the wants and needs of the company's owners often take precedence over the safety of the ship, cargo and crew. That's what insurance is for.
The pressures on ship's captains often produce unhappy results.

 

[rand z]

Lightfoot is one of my heroes.

He is old and a "shell" of what he was years ago.

His voice has never recovered from the emergency procedure back around '02-'03.

But, the songs stand as a Tower to his abilities as a great songwriter.

To me, some of the very best ones are album cuts that never made the US radio.

Ten Degrees and Getting Colder, Affair on 8th Avenue, Knotty Pine, Somewhere USA, Beautiful, Tatoo, If Children Had Wings are just a few of these wonderful songs.

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald is a fine song, too.

He is revered by his fellow Canadians (including Neil Young) as their finest songwriter.

He never left Canada for the States like most of the others of his era.

He still stands behind a number of causes; mostly related to environmental, but also political.

When he transcends this life, he will be remembered as a Great Canadian!

imo.

 

[Spox]

A book which I own and have read a couple of times is Ocean Crossing Wayfarer and would very much recommend it to anyone with an interest in this kind of stuff. It is a factual account of a couple of guys getting into some serious bother at sea.

 

[Blues Power]

now i cant get the dang song out of my head
im trying to change the strumming so i can at least hear No Woman no Cry

 

[Killing Floor]

I hope I never hear that song again.

100%.

 

[BigDaddyLH]

I hope I never hear that song again.

Fella, it's been good to know ya

 

[wabashslim]

Side note: a few years ago I joined into an informal casual Bluegrass group ( folks that wanted to get away from 100% traditional), and Gordon Lightfoot's songs are a great 'resource to mine' for material-he is practically worshipped by Bluegrass folks, and I never knew...

One of my faves...

 

[tery]

The Aurther M. Anderson gives the Edmund Fitzgerld a Master Salute as it enters the harbor in Duluth, Minnesota.

 

[wabashslim]

Affair on 8th Avenue

Absolutely THE BEST SONG ever written...same for the guitar arrangement.

I'm convinced this song alone inspired half of Jim Croce's recorded material...the non-silly stuff.

 

[imwjl]

The Aurther M. Anderson gives the Edmund Fitzgerld a Master Salute as it enters the harbor in Duluth, Minnesota.

It is fun to go down to the bridge/canal where this is but a favorite is being on the 60+ ridge above the city and hearing the James R Barker horn. I suggest finding that on YouTube to not distract from the core topic here.

If we can get to Boho early enough this year - before the shipping stops - I will consider looking at the traffic map and trying to listen to one of the ships near tip of the Keweenaw.

 

[PhoenixBill]

There’s a number of theories about the demise of the EF. I think the ship “broke deep” perhaps not completely breaking her keel in two, but fracturing the welded hull open enough for water to enter (causing the list that Captain McSorley reported). The ship had begun loading more ore than originally designed for (4000 tons more) which decreased her freeboard and stressed the hull more. When the loading was increased, the ship’s handling in rough seas became not good, with McSorley himself commenting how the ship behaved badly in rough seas after the loading was increased. He described it as a “wiggling thing” (or something like that) and the bow even groaned in rough seas. McSorley was himself known to take his ships into heavy weather and meeting schedules even if that was hard on the ship. So I think some of the welds came loose, water entered the hold which stressed the ship even further, and then a large wave or two (as reported by the Arthur M. Anderson immediately prior to the EF disappearance) was enough to “hog” the ship and she began to open up and sink.

 

[SnidelyWhiplash]

I hope I never hear that song again.

I love GLs songwriting, but hate TWOTED.

 

[Dostradamas]

Just a few months ago 53 souls lost and I haven't heard a word about it.

On a Texas road called 'the mouth of the wolf,' a semitruck packed with migrants was abandoned in the sweltering heat | CNN

A distant cry led a worker Monday evening to a tractor-trailer abandoned on a desolate country road under the blazing Texas sun on the outskirts of the city.

www.cnn.com

No catchy name of that truck trailer I guess.

Tragedy is as common as comedy in this production called life.

 

[Flip G]

" I looooove Edmund Fitzgerald's voice!"
( Elaine, on Seinfeld)

Side note: a few years ago I joined into an informal casual Bluegrass group ( folks that wanted to get away from 100% traditional), and Gordon Lightfoot's songs are a great 'resource to mine' for material-he is practically worshipped by Bluegrass folks, and I never knew...

GORD IS GOLD!!!

 

[Mike Eskimo]

10 or 12 years ago they did a big great Lakes section of learning at my son’s school since we live in the Great Lakes state .

So a buddy and I who I was in a band with for years and years volunteered to play the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald for about 17 or 18 student groups that would file through at all these different learning centers throughout the school.

So it was 10 student groups one after another- then lunch - then seven or eight more after lunch.

We played it four or five times before we started dropping versus left and right.

And then we played it again and I would cross out a line or two and then play it again and then he would cross out a line or two.

The kids attention spans, and the time they were allotted ?

It was just not working to do the whole song.

By the end of it , the poor old Edmund Fitzgerald left its home port and immediately sank !

 

[thunderbyrd]

I love GLs songwriting, but hate TWOTED.

i liked Gorden Lightfoot a lot until that song was on the radio every time you turned it on. it got old really fast and it seemed to go on forever.

sorry if my opinion doesn't suit everybody, but i hate it.

 

[String Tree]

Thinking technology is above Mother Nature, is unwise.

I say this as one who retired, after a lot of maritime work, with an international masters license. and full stcw, cert. and a few other things.

in my youth and in the service, we busted a destroyer, cracked the superstructure in an Alaska storm. One of the few times at sea, I was truly scared, it would not be my last, anyway, At that point we got to leave the battle group, and head in for repairs.

even today with excellent comms, and tech, sometimes even the coast guard can not help, the seas get that bad, no need for even more casualties.

Things can go south in a hurry, and people still die at sea, it happens more than You think, any large body of water is a force to be reckoned with, preparation and maintenance is key.

They say Never turn your Back on the Ocean.
Good advice if you are on the Beach.

Out on the Ocean, that's another story.
YEP!!!

 

[rand z]

Absolutely THE BEST SONG ever written...same for the guitar arrangement.

I'm convinced this song alone inspired half of Jim Croce's recorded material...the non-silly stuff.

Yes, it is my favorite GL song (along with Tattoo).

He has said that he doesn't perform it anymore, as it upsets his children.

It is about his "infidelity", during a time when he was with their mother.

He is very sensitive to his children, and their opinions of him.

He has said that he has "a lot of regrets."

A lot of singer/songwriters have been influenced by Lightfoot.

imo.

 

[rand z]

GORD IS GOLD!!!

Everybody should own a copy of this wonderful album!!!!!!!!

Light the fire, turn out the lights, get a glass of your favorite beverage... and put on this album.

You'll experience something very, very special!!

imo.