"Does anyone know where the love of God goes, when the waves turn the minutes to hours?", has to be the most powerful lyric ever written...Gordon Lightfoot is a master!
I read a story a couple years ago that the bell from the ship was brought up, but that most of the families wanted the bell to remain below with the ship.
@@ElenaAshe yup its on display in the greatlakes shipwreck museum up by whitefish point. I saw it in person when i was a kid, probably 15-20 years ago. Seeing that and the old mariners graveyards in that area is a spooky sight.
My family thanks you Gordon Lightfoot for keeping the memory of the Edmond Fitzgerald, my uncle and all 29 men alive in our hearts. I hope all 29 greeted you at the pearly gates.
I'm sure they will as I wouldn't have never know about this tragedy if it weren't this song. Rest in peace sailers. I also learned the chords on the guitar so this song has been played many times in my head. It never looses its meaning.
Indeed. I imagine that when Mr. Lightfoot arrived, all of them stood next to St. Peter and said, "Um, yeah, you don't need to check him, he's the reason folks still remember us on Earth."
I'm a 66 year old irish man I've never been to the usa or canada but when i hear this song i feel like i knew the crew on the edmund fitzgerald Gordon you were a genius
@@triciac1019 me too! 🇮🇪 I did switch planes at the airport in Ireland, but that's as close as I got. I can tell you flying over Ireland was astounding! Easy to see why it's called the emerald Isle. ☘️
Bob Dylan was once asked what it was like being the greatest songwriter of all time. His response? "I don't know. Ask Gordon Lightfoot". RIP Legend. 5/1//2023
You are absolutely right!! I hear this song as a story rather than a song every time I hear it. I picture the "Images" unfolding and the faces of the ill-fated crew.
This has to be one of the greatest songs ever written. Who tells stories nowadays? The music is as haunting.That guitar riff. Oh my God. And this song was nominated for a song of the year Grammy and didn't win. What a travesty! The Academy defintetly got this one wrong.
I love that little lick after “Superior sings, in the rooms of her ice water mansion” As a guy who is blessed to lives pretty near the Big Lake, this is easily my favorite song ever.
@PinchTheBarb I grew up in Chicago, sailing on Lake Michigan first with a friends family, then with the Sea Scouts. When the wreck happened, I was in high school. We, the Sea Scouts, did a whole research project on the wreck. Our conclusions were different than the official one, but I think we were on to something.
If you grew up in the Great Lakes region, especially Michigan, this song is engrained into as much as apple pie is to America. RIP, Gordon…you gave dignity and homage to the crew of the Fitzgerald
My stepdad had a cabin right off of Lake Michigan. And I remember as kids most nights when we visited in the summer huge storms off in the distance all night long. Monster lightning bolts none stop. Not the same lake but makes those memories very haunting.
For those of us from Michigan, we remember the day it happened and this song with reverence. A musician with class and intelligence. A great one is gone.
@@jimwilliams5788 Let's just say they both are/were tremendous storytellers and not try to rank them. (I know you didn't, just looking to forestall an argument developing!)
gabrielle dormuth "He is unquestionably one of the best story tellers of all time" --- I agree. I had a friend at work who loved his upbeat songs but if you really listen to them, even songs that sound uplifting, aren't. Great stories but the lyrics, in my opinion, always tend to be depressing. Still, I absolutely love his songs.
He sang out this story and he had to consider it one of his finest songwriting achievements. A lot of songs can't quite do it, but Lightfoot crafted a crystal-clear image of the Fitzgerald Tragedy in all our minds.
I joined the US Navy the year after the wreck, my first ship was an oiler. This song haunted me for a couple of years into my sea time. I did 30 years, different business than the crew of this ship, but we are all sailors and I identify with the song intensely even now. I always say, if you think you are in charge of things, go to sea during a storm. RIP the 29 shipmates.
Holy, holy. It was 29 dead. 29 brave souls facing their gruesome fate on a stormy night in frigid waters, no help anywhere. This song affected me so strongly, it still feels like 200 lost their lives that November night.
I got to talk to a ex navy and current maritime sailor. He told me ,, F the great lakes he'd rather be on the high seas! I'm just repeating what he said!
@davidholton9667 everytime I listen to this song, A Tear nearly escapes my eye. He was a true Master Craftsman as a singer-songwriter. He honoured the Dead.
😢❤ I lived in the area that the Fitzgerald sank. I was at a friends house, we were right across the road from the beach. We were scared (young..5th grade) because the waves were big and the wind just pushing up those waves right up over the Freeway! We actually saw them as they were passing. The next morning we girls found out what had happened. We didn’t believe the adults at first. I later found out that two of my friends had lost a family member. One lost her father and the other her oldest brother. I will never forget that storm and what it took with it. This song always makes me cry. Thank you for keeping their memories alive! Rest in Peace Sir ❤😢
Bullsh*t. Freeway? Only one man from Michigan was lost on the Fitz. Most of the rest were from Ohio (14) and Wisconsin (8). And the ship went down in Canadian waters far from Michigan shores.
@@user-lf4ux7dm7gI don't think you understood what she wrote. She said the waves were high near her. That they saw the ship go by near them. In fact the Edmund Fitzgerald did sink 17 miles from the Michigan shore. Look it up An uncle can live in a different state. You were not there.
A finer musical tribute to tragedy has never been penned. If this doesn't touch deep in your heart & soul, then you don't have any. RIP Mr. Troubadour, RIP.
I was a high school senior living in Duluth when the storm that sunk the Fitz went through. We knew it was bad. We learned about the ship's fate a little later. I remember thinking of the crew and their loved ones. Mr. Lightfoot appeared in Duluth at a concert after the song was released and I remember how I felt at the event when he announced that all the proceeds of the single were to be donated to the families of crew. RIP, brave men!
Was in Duluth in the early 80s for the Grandmas Marathon.I wenton a lake cruise and we went passed a lake freighter which I think was called a thousand footer.Huge and i believe the Edmund Fitz was the same side.Whenever I hear this song I crank it up.
Very sad to hear of Gordon’s death today. He was a Canadian icon and a wonderful story teller. This song and the Canadian Railroad Trilogy are amongst my favourites.
Every time I hear this song, I feel like Lightfoot's taken on the character of a scruffy old sailor in some seedy port tavern, telling the tale of a doomed ship and it's crew. Facts be damned, it's a near- perfect, cinematic tale, with big drums banging with the awful cadence of a giant steam engine, relentlessly driving a ship of brave men toward their terrible fate. The stabbing electric guitar is the lightning, and the steel guitar dips, soars and wails like a banshee wind. The incredible lyrics...each line a poem...can easily stand shoulder to shoulder with any of the great nautical storytellers, from Hemmingway to Melville. At over six minutes, it's a very long song, but in the end, like any masterpiece, it leaves you wanting even more. Godspeed Mr. Lightfoot. You'll be missed.
So well said! And it is the exact picture I got. Leaves you wanting more is exactly true! My husband fishes the great lakes and I've more than once been worried for his safety when an unexpected storm blew up. My heart goes out to the wives and families of those who lost their lives, I can't imagine the suffering both the sailors and families went through!
Well now I must know the other 9 songs as I agree this is nearly a perfect song. Its so beautiful and haunting and serves as an absolutely perfect tribute to the poor souls who lost their lives that evening.
@@gravitywaves2796 Fire and Rain, The Chain, Stairway to Heaven, Roundabout, Neal's Fandango, Five o'Clock World, Shambala, Blackbird, Dreams I'll Never See
Such an epic and iconic song . The line " the wind in the wires made a tattletale sound" conjured up so much to me, there wasn't a better songwriter than Gordon Lightfoot.
It gives you images of the wind ripping at the ship and the rain beating against the hull as the sailors hunkered down inside and waited for the end, of the storm or of them.
How do you pen this, then have the ability to sing this song and not cry whilst doing such? Gordon Lightfoot is and will always be a global treasure. Long live the Edmund Fitzgerald, the lost crew, and Gordon Lightfoot 💪💪💪💪💪🍻🍻🍻🍻🍻
I can't believe this song has only 529K views. I remember the day this hit the radio, The DJ's couldn't keep up too many requests I know because I was one of them. They use to say I can't play that right now it's too Long! I get goose bumps every time. Gordon is the best!!!
Possibly the soul-fullest song of the 1970s. Comprehensively epic, heartfelt, and the best sea shanty ever written. RIP to the lost crew of a ship made legend full circle in song.
@@rodsnyder7585 God, I hope so.... The stuff that is out on the radio and on RU-vid? Is absolute no talent ass clown garbage. The 70s 80s and 90s where the last good periods of music in my opinion.
I love when he says at 1:59 "gales of November came slashing" and the hi-hats open up and close real quick. He's not only a great songwriter but his band was amazing as well. R. I. P. To the 29 men on the Big Fitz. "Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms", my God, excellent songwriting....
I feel so incredibly lucky to have seen Gordon perform a few years back. Even in his 80s, his voice was still clear and mesmerizing. Whenever I'm up at Gitchee Gumee I can hear his dirge on the crash of the waves against the shore.
You were so darn lucky, wish I’d seen him too! Bet it’s a surreal feeling to see~experience the ambience there, what a sad tale. Felt the same way about seeing Kris Kristofferson when he was 80, the singing poet sent 30 songs that landed straight into my ♥️ & the audience disappeared…
I remember hearing this song for the first time in a Boston pub in the late 1980s. I might have been exposed to it before, but if so I don't remember. The crowd went wild when the singer started! I loved the song and sought it out after that. Only years later did I learn that the wreck happened in the 1970s and I was alive, though way too young to be watching the news, at the time. For some reason it gave the air of being about a wreck from the 19th century, maybe early 20th. Anyway, it remains one of my favorites. RIP to a great singer-songwriter and icon.
I found this song haunting when I first heard it but had no idea it was a story of an actual shipwreck. The song gives me the chills as I think of the plight of the men as the ship went down in that cold cold water.
Same with me. I first heard it around 1990 when I went to a bar in Boston with some friends. Everyone there seemed to know it, except, me. I had lived all my life one the East Coast of the US. I was mesmerized, and thought was about a 19th century shipwreck. I was so stunned to hear it had happened less than 20 years earlier! A haunting, memorable, exceptional song. It has remained one of my favorites.
I saw him live in '95 at the Starlight Theater in Kansas City. He had a stiff case of laryngitis, and could barely speak in between the songs, but you couldn't even tell while he was singing. Hearing him sing all my favorite songs when he was in obvious distress, let us all know what a trooper he was. It was one of my favorite concerts I ever attended. The man was AMAZING!
Remembering my Mom listening on the ham radio to the search 43 years ago tonight. This song always brings me to tears. I've lived in northern Wisconsin within minutes of Lake Superior since I was 4 (1967) so this is even more special to me.
I’ve lived around the Great Lakes for a good portion of my life. My cousins had a cottage on Huron that we used to visit and it was really pleasant swimming and sailing in the summertime. There are 5 Great Lakes, all different from each other, however, I don’t believe any of them are the size of England, although I’ve never checked. Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world and it’s extremely deep and very cold. Cold enough to kill you in minutes. My understanding is that there were ships near the Fitzgerald, by near I mean 10-15 minutes away, but that was too far and the crew of the Fitzgerald had probably died from exposure or drowning before the ships could reach them. There were survival suits made that might have saved them, but most ship owners didn’t have them because of the cost. I lived in Cleveland, Ohio, for 2 yrs, right after this song was released, so it’s particularly poignant for me. Cleveland is on Lake Erie (the shallowest of the 5, at no more than 200 feet deep, and probably the most polluted) and is one of the other ends of the shipping lanes. The ships would go to Superior and pick up iron ore and then bring it back to the steel mills. I lived for awhile with a couple of sailors who worked the ore boats. I remember one of them saying that he put his arm in Superior one time to see how long he could keep it there and he lasted only a few minutes before he had to pull it out it was so cold. My understanding is the hold of the ships contain the iron ore, and if it becomes very windy, the ore will start to shift and then to slide back-and-forth and can tip the ship over eventually. I can’t imagine what it must be like in a storm on one of those ships. They are incredible lakes. I grew up in eastern Indiana Indiana has a small portion of Lake Michigan. And every year people die in Lake Michigan because they don’t understand the power of the water in that lake. They are not affected by your not. I don’t lakes pet the way Michigan can turn up and suck you down. It’s just I think it’s almost like 50. I’ve never lived on the street but it seems like it would be.
I was fortunate enough to see this genius in concert several years ago in Michigan. If one were to look up the definition of troubadour in a dictionary, I believe there would be a picture of Gordon... RIP
I spent a lot of time as a teen living in northern Michigan. This song gets played on a almost daily basis up there. It's a timeless classic and never gets old. Everyone who lives up there knows the story. Thank you.
Such heartbreaking news. Rest in peace kind Sir. Your music and legacy will live on forever. A deep thinker, a poet, a masterful storyteller, a phenomenal singer that touched your soul, and a warm beacon of shining light in a rough world. Thank you. 🥀🕊💔😢🙏
This came out while I was a preteen and my father took my brothers and I to see Gordon. Few songs have the mystical, sacredness of Edmund Fitzgerald: Unchained Melody by Righteous Brothers, Elanor Rigby and Yesterday by the Beatles. There is just something about these songs that touch my soul. God Speed Gordon Lightfoot.
Such an amazing song - pulls you in like a classic novel when he sings it, like you are actually there. You will be missed Gordon - thanks for your contribution to the music world.
This song is the shortest six minutes in recording history! Gordon Lightfoot and his folk songs have a way to enter your soul where time just does not exist.💕🇨🇦
This song is for all that lost loved ones not only on the lakes but ours that disappeared on the Ocean. ❤❤❤❤❤ this song is a comfort to us !!! Thank you Mr.lightfoot
grew up in Milwaukee Wi. Folks would take us for sunday car rides often to Jones Island Port of Milwaukee. Saw this ship moored there. Always in awe as to how big this ship was. Fond memories.
Not long after this song came out, I visited the mariners' church in Detroit and read the plaques listing the dead from shipwrecks. I lingered over the plaque for the Edmund Fitzgerald, Mr. Lightfoot's song resonating in my head.
Total respect from a Canadian to our American neighbours, A true tribute and the proceeds of the song when to the families of the 29 sailors. Amazing. huge loss today with his passing. One song of many great ballads
I lived in the open sea as a young man on a commercial fishing boat with my father for three summer years and I can tell you this song runs a chill up my spine every time I see Gordon perform it. The sea is the most unforgiving thing than space maybe. Those sailors left a lot behind with little to no explanation
In my teens my girlfriends mother played him constantly (70's so vinyl of course) and I learned most of his music and it stuck with me since. I was a rock and roller at the time but his style sucked me in. I was also taking guitar lessons, learning to strum and I learned a lot from listening to his ballads. I've lived in New England my whole life and I don't know if he toured but never got a chance to see him, To me he was the greatest storyteller with a guitar and a voice ever. RIP old friend. JM Vernont
"Arguably one the greatest topical ballads of all time" (unquote). The majority of songs have a main chorus which is repeated four, five maybe even six times. Not so with "The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald". This song is pure genius. Rest in peace, Gordon.
The passing of Gordon Lightfoot is a great loss, it is not often that the sailorman who is lost gets such a tribute as has been paid to those of the Edmund Fitzgerald. May you rest in peace Sir, and have brought peace and honour to those you sang about. I salute you, and those you sung about.
My heart is hurting. RIP to the songwriter whose songs take up the most space in my heart. I was blessed to see him twice but would have loved one more listen 🙏💔
Rest in heaven sir, we always play this song for the Edmondfitzgerald anniversary. I'm an hour north of where it sank. This song has ALWAYS made my hair stand up and given me goosebumps. Thank you for the tribute to those brave men lost in waves.
