Principled Man Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 (edited) 40 years ago this week, the heavy Great Lakes freighter, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, sank in a November storm on Lake Superior. http://symonsez.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/fitzgeraldpic.jpg All 29 crewmen went down with the ship. Hurricane-force winds and 35-foot waves sank the fully-loaded ship 17 miles from Whitefish Bay in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. The tragedy has never been forgotten, thanks to Gordon Lightfoot, the celebrated Canadian folk-rock singer and songwriter. http://youtu.be/oalhWi48BpI Edited November 9, 2015 by Principled Man 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue J Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 I was too young to be aware of the tragedy when it happened, but the song is a classic. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost In Xanadu Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 JERRY: Hey. How's the new place?! GEORGE: Gone. The tenant association made me give it to this guy because he was an Andrea Doria survivor.. ELAINE: Andrea Doria? Isn't that the one they did the song about? JERRY: Edmund Fitzgerald. ELIANE: I love Edmund Fitzgerald's voice. JERRY: No, Gordon Lightfoot was the singer. Edmund Fitzgerald was the ship. ELAINE: I think Gordon Lightfoot was the boat. JERRY: Yeah, and it was rammed by the Cat Stevens. KRAMER: The Andrea Doria collided with the Stockholm in dense fog 21 miles off the coast of Nantucket. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goose Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 ^^^ Classic! :laughing guy: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnRogers Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 I love the G. Lightfoot song, did anyone make a decent movie aboot this tragic event? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
librarian Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 Song in head for rest of day...not that there's anything wrong with that - 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
That One Guy Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 Love the song 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILSnwdog Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one that loves that song. Gordon isn't my typical cup of tea, but I do dig that song. One of my friends that I used to hang with had a sports bar by his apartment, and the bar has that song on the juke box. My buddy, being the goofball that he was, would put $5 in the juke box and play "The Wreck" 20 times before he would leave. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorraine Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 Song in head for rest of day...not that there's anything wrong with that - You and me both. In my case, I'm thankful as it knocks out The Immigration Song which has been nonstop in my head since yesterday morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toymaker Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 Wasn't there some controversy about one of the lyric lines? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Principled Man Posted November 9, 2015 Author Share Posted November 9, 2015 Wasn't there some controversy about one of the lyric lines? No "controversy" to speak of. Just some inaccuracies in the lyrics. The ship was headed for Detroit. In the song, it was headed for Cleveland. Minor stuff like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Star Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 I love the G. Lightfoot song, did anyone make a decent movie aboot this tragic event? Not that i know of but The Discovery Channel showed an hour long documentary on it.. also on Youtube, Smithsonian Channel and National Geographic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toymaker Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 (edited) Wasn't there some controversy about one of the lyric lines? No "controversy" to speak of. Just some inaccuracies in the lyrics. The ship was headed for Detroit. In the song, it was headed for Cleveland. Minor stuff like that. Oh. I thought I heard something about the "main hatchway caved in" line - that may have suggested the crew didn't secure it properly - and some of the wives or relatives were upset because it suggested that the boat sank due to human error. Edited November 10, 2015 by toymaker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RUSHHEAD666 Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 40 years ago this week, the heavy Great Lakes freighter, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, sank in a November storm on Lake Superior. http://symonsez.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/fitzgeraldpic.jpg All 29 crewmen went down with the ship. Hurricane-force winds and 35-foot waves sank the fully-loaded ship 17 miles from Whitefish Bay in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. The tragedy has never been forgotten, thanks to Gordon Lightfoot, the celebrated Canadian folk-rock singer and songwriter. http://youtu.be/oalhWi48BpI I rarely enter this subforum but I'm glad I did today! I was lucky enough to see Gordon Lightfoot last month! He was AWESOME! He talked about the 22 men who went down with her and then went right into the song! One of my goals in life was completed. I always wanted to hear that song live. Life is short! Live long rock strong! Gordon rules!!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troutman Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one that loves that song. Gordon isn't my typical cup of tea, but I do dig that song. One of my friends that I used to hang with had a sports bar by his apartment, and the bar has that song on the juke box. My buddy, being the goofball that he was, would put $5 in the juke box and play "The Wreck" 20 times before he would leave. Yeah! I could actually sit through it all. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Principled Man Posted November 12, 2015 Author Share Posted November 12, 2015 Wasn't there some controversy about one of the lyric lines? No "controversy" to speak of. Just some inaccuracies in the lyrics. The ship was headed for Detroit. In the song, it was headed for Cleveland. Minor stuff like that. Oh. I thought I heard something about the "main hatchway caved in" line - that may have suggested the crew didn't secure it properly - and some of the wives or relatives were upset because it suggested that the boat sank due to human error. Yes, that is true. Lightfoot doesn't sing that phrase in concert anymore, but only to satisfy the families of the crewmen. No one knows what sank the ship. There has been no official determination on what exactly caused the ship to go down. It could have been structural failure, or human error, or simply the horrible storm. I don't think we'll ever know for sure. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueschica Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 At the time the song was popular, I was in my late teens and started to get a little tired of it, it was played SO much. Then a friend mentioned her dad lost a relative on that ship and it seemed so real, suddenly. About 10 years after that we ended up living in Cleveland and used to see the huge lake freighters come in and out all the time; I couldn't see them without thinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Such a beautiful, haunting song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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