Gordon Lightfoot. rest easy 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
Nothing like Gordon Lightfoot to actually put you on that Freighter in that storm. His story telling, creativity, powerful voice and perfection in playing was second to none.
Very well done. I Play this on my 12 string all the time and I have been for the past 30 years. God rest the 29 souls and Godspeed to Gordon Lightfoot for writing the greatest/Truest/ and saddest song ever written on planet earth. RIP Gordon.
My uncle served on that boat in 72, 73, and 74. He decided he wanted to try something else in 75. Luck him. And my grandfather was on the Anderson that was 15 miles away from the Fitzgerald. So this song as some deep family feelings for me.
WOW, it was not your Dad's time.God had other plans for him. You were blessed. And to have another family member on the Anderson is sombre. RIP GORDON and the 29 crew members of the Edmund Fitzgerald. 😢❤
Awesome! Gordon wrote the music to perfection, while listening to the song one can almost feel the effect of the waves on the freighter and the waves slashing in tune with the steel guitar. Gordon had some word class musicians on his team. Beautiful job thanks to you two and all those involved in this video!
RIP one of the greatest songwriters: Gordon Lightfoot And the 29 men who died with the Edmund Fitzgerald on November 10, 1975. 🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔
I was a Yooper for the summer of 76 when the song dropped. I worked as a student engineer for a company that made taconite pellets. None of our product was on the Fitzgerald at the time. I got to go onboard a sister ship of the Fitzgerald’s docked in Marquette, MI and loading taconite from our facility, The Tilden Mine. It was close in size to the Fitzgerald as in HUGE! Had a chance to stop at the Maritime Sailors Cathedral about three decades later while on a business trip to the Detroit area.
I’ve worked at sea all my life. Deep sea, North Sea, Oil and this song hits harder than any other despite never seeing the Great Lakes. The two lines with the cook cuts deep.
I live 20 minutes from lake Superior you should come and visit them I've visited every grate lake but in my opinion Superior is my favorite so beautiful yet so dangerous always cold just don't visit Superior in November. though seeing the lake show it's farocious face has it's own beauty that demands respect.
Fellas, it's to rough to feed ya.... been good to know ya. Damn....damn. Kiss your loved ones, it could be a car all for we know. Make the most, wishing you all well. JP
Mike, I love what you've done here. And other songs as well. I wish you well and thank you, it means so much to me to hear what you make of these songs. Be well.
Beautiful song, until now I hadn’t understood the full significance of it…very powerful …very emotional….. The Edmund Fitzgerald & her crew will never be forgotten!
Posted to my timeline with the following: "This is a great cover of the Gordon Lightfoot song we all know so well, but with this version including clips, vintage photos and newspaper headlines included, you will have a much better appreciation of the song and the actual story of the Edmund Fitzgerald."
This came up again today in my listening queue. As always, outstanding musical craftsmanship by both Mike and Rocky. Nice touch adding the snippet of radio communications in the part where the song gets quieter.
RIP to the 29 sailors/crew that went with her that day as well as Gordon Lightfoot who passed just recently. Noticed the release date on this vid was 3 weeks ago. Coincidence ?
Mike started covering this song 2 years ago and thats where the stream was live (replay is still available) , but the video was edited and new released to honor Gordo.
Edmund Fitzgerald was head of Northwestern Mutual Life back in the 50's. His son also named Edmund was part of the original ownership group (along with Bud Selig) of the Milwaukee Brewers
@@MISSooJOYIt's important because there were men who were responsible for the integrity of those hatches. It was later found out it was not because of the hatches the ship sunk. The ship broke in half.
