“Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald” by Gordon Lightfoot

“Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald” was inspired by a real-life tragedy. On the date of 10 November 1975 a freighter dubbed the SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank well off the shore of Lake Superior. Resultantly all 29 crew members onboard lost their lives. And even over several decades later, this incident remains one of the greatest shipwrecks in Great Lakes’ history.

But that being noted if you want a hardcore history lesson on what actually transpired on that fateful day, you’d be better off consulting an encyclopedia or magazine as opposed to this song. Being a lengthy piece indeed, the “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” is not 100% accurate in its presentation. Moreover, being that this is indeed a song, at some junctures Gordon Lightfoot was logically more committed to audio aesthetics than he was presenting certain facts accurately.

But such is understandable considering that at the end of the day his goal wasn’t so much to present a news report as it was to drop a genuine “folk song”. Indeed Mr. Lightfoot is from the Great Lakes’ area himself. Owing to this, he heard a lot of local chitchat concerning the disaster which did not make it onto mainstream media outlets. And accordingly many of the lyrics have sort of a spiritual feel to them.

But more to the point, his goal was to commemorate the lives of the sailors who had passed away. And in that regard he definitely succeeded, as due to the notoriety of this song, the incident in and of itself has long outlived its regular news cycle.

“Does any one know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours?”

Facts about “Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald”

Gordon Lightfoot wrote and co-produced this iconic track. And the other co-producer is Lenny Waronker.

Lightfoot was inspired to compose the tune by the actual sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald. But more specifically it was a Newsweek article about the event, dated 24 November 1975 and entitled The Cruelest Month, which spurred him. And even more specifically, it was a misspelling of the word “Edmund” in that article which upset him to the point of writing this track. He actually felt that mistake dishonored the memory of the dead sailors.

And Lightfoot has taken this song very seriously. For instance, during the recording of its vocals, the singer dimmed the lights in the studio. Also he has made modifications to the lyrics over time as he became more aware of the facts surrounding the incident.

The song itself was officially released on 1 June 1976 as part of Gordon Lightfoot’s “Summertime Dream” album. And the track went on to become one of the biggest hits of his lengthy career.  For instance, the tune topped three charts in Canada. And on the Billboard Hot 100, it managed to reach as high as number 2. 

This classic was used on the 4th episode of 19th Season of Family Guy.

Did “Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald” win a Grammy?

It received a nomination for one of the most-distinguished Grammys, the Song of the Year award, in 1977. Additionally, it received another nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance that same year.

The real Sinking

SS Edmund Fitzgerald had been carrying taconite iron ore from Minnesota to Toledo for at least 17 years, before it sank on November 10, 1975 in a storm on Lake Superior. Launched on June 7, 1958, this American Great Lakes freighter was considered the largest in North America. It was also the largest to have sunk in the area at the time.

Captain Ernest M. McSorley was in command as the ship took a voyage from Superior, Wisconsin on November 9, 1975, specifically on its way to a steel mill in Detroit. Another taconite freighter named SS Arthur M. Anderson joined while a severe storm caught both ships with strong waves at least 35 feet high and hurricane-force winds. By 7: 10 pm, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald had sunk about 530 feet deep in Canadian waters.

Although the actual cause of the sinking is yet to be known, there have been several examinations which suggest that the ship may have suffered any of the following:

• a structural failure
• was rushed off its feet
• went through wave shoaling
• experienced a topside damage

All 29 crew members, including the captain, engineers, deck hands, porters, cooks, maintenance workers on board died during the sinking.

Following the sinking, certain changes were effected in shipping regulations. Some of these vital changes included possessing mandatory survival suits, positioning systems, depth finders as well as an increased freeboard.