A legendary shipping disaster on Lake Superior (called “Gitche Gumee” by the Chippewa Indian tribe) occurred on this day in 1975.
Named after the insurance company that owned her – and once the largest ship on the Great Lakes – the Edmund Fitzgerald sank during a violent storm. All 29 men aboard perished.
The wreck of the ‘Fitzgerald’, headed for Cleveland, was discovered only four days later by an electronically equipped submarine, but exactly what happened remains a mystery forty years after she submerged.
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Canadian folk balladeer Gordon Lightfoot’s tale of the doomed ship carrying 26,000 tons of iron ore was captured in song one year later with a lengthy ode called The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald.
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[Note] Some audio song files may not play on smartphones, tablets or connected devices. A laptop, desktop PC or Mac may be required for optimal enjoyment.
THE WRECK OF THE EDMUND FITZGERALD
Gordon Lightfoot
(Album Version)
[1976]
A number one song across Canada, it climbed to #2 on the U.S.Billboard Hot 100 on November 20, 1976, just ten days after the one-year anniversary of the tragedy.
[Note] Over the years many radio stations have played the shorter single version that’s 5:57, but this is the full-length 6:25 album track from Summertime Dream.
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Working in Canadian radio for many years, I probably played Ed-Fitz hundreds of times, but it was most meaningful whenever I aired it on station WOMC in Detroit – where is was a particularly big hit – with many of the victims from the sinking being from Michigan, including the Detroit area.
Yesterday’s article in The Detroit News detailed how some of the families of those lost will mark the anniversary today in The Motor City.
Read More HERE
Source: USAToday.com
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EXTRA STUFF!
SHIPWRECK: The Mystery of the Edmund Fitzgerald
(Video)
In June of 1995, a ship supplied by the Royal Canadian Navy embarked from Whitefish Point in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (just 17 miles east of where it sank) to retrieve the bell from the ‘Edmund Fitzgerald’ for the families’ survivors to use as a memorial.
This is an excellent 45-minute video of that excursion, first presented by The Discovery Channel.
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Song Source: The Music Vault of HouseoftheHits, Inc.
Billboard® Chart Data: Joel Whitburn’s Record Research (eBook Editions)
Record Sleeve & Label Graphics: Courtesy of 45cat
