November 10, 1975

[Obama 2012 1,714]

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Great tribute to those who were lost. A very meaningful song that is one of my favorites.

[Ban Hammer 14,299]

good song

[Pooky 3,878]

[thongd4me 69]

Has to be at the top of the list of songs described as "haunting."

by Gordon Lightfoot

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down

Of the big lake they call 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 - 26,000 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 the 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 ships bell rang

Could it be the North Wind they'd been feeling.

The wind in the wires made a tattletale sound

And a wave broke over the railing

And every man knew, as the Captain did, too,

T'was the witch of November come stealing.

The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait

When the gales of November came slashing

When afternoon came it was freezing rain

In the face of a hurricane West Wind

When supper time came the old cook came on deck

Saying fellows it's too rough to feed ya

At 7PM a main hatchway caved in

He said fellas it's been good to know ya.

The Captain wired in he had water coming in

And the good ship and crew was in peril

And later that night when his lights went out of sight

Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Does anyone 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 ruins 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 29 times

For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down

Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee

Superior, they say, never gives up her dead

When the gales of November come early.

[Nagishkaw 510]

[Ban Hammer 14,299]

[alienlovechild 75]

Has to be at the top of the list of songs described as "haunting."

Sounds even better considering folk music died off a long time ago and most popular music now has nothing to with contemporary events. Can't even think of a single popular anti-war song compared with the Vietnam War era.

[scandal 951]

for those lost on the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The song by Gordon Lightfoot is indeed great.

Sounds even better considering folk music died off a long time ago and most popular music now has nothing to with contemporary events. Can't even think of a single popular anti-war song compared with the Vietnam War era.

Well, there is the Dixie Chicks "Not Ready to Make Nice". That's not an anti-war protest song in the 60s tradition of, say, Country Joe McDonald. But it is a defiant (and popular) song by the Dixie Chick, staking their anti-war stance, and their anti-anti-Dixie-Chicks-protesters during the Bush era.

There's also Bruce Springsteen's "The Rising" album which mournfully recalls 9/11. It's not anti-war per se, but the message is one of longing for peace in our troubled times.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

It disappeared about this time on that fateful night. The song made people across the US aware of the ship and it still keeps it in the memory of those who would have forgotten or never known.

[thongd4me 69]

for those lost on the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The song by Gordon Lightfoot is indeed great.

Well, there is the Dixie Chicks "Not Ready to Make Nice". That's not an anti-war protest song in the 60s tradition of, say, Country Joe McDonald. But it is a defiant (and popular) song by the Dixie Chick, staking their anti-war stance, and their anti-anti-Dixie-Chicks-protesters during the Bush era.

There's also Bruce Springsteen's "The Rising" album which mournfully recalls 9/11. It's not anti-war per se, but the message is one of longing for peace in our troubled times.

Those are favorites of mine too.

I also like "GOODBYE EARL" (Dennis Franz you will recognize from "Hill Street Blues")

Edited November 11, 2010 by thongd4me

[alienlovechild 75]

Well, there is the Dixie Chicks "Not Ready to Make Nice". That's not an anti-war protest song in the 60s tradition of, say, Country Joe McDonald. But it is a defiant (and popular) song by the Dixie Chick, staking their anti-war stance, and their anti-anti-Dixie-Chicks-protesters during the Bush era.

There's also Bruce Springsteen's "The Rising" album which mournfully recalls 9/11. It's not anti-war per se, but the message is one of longing for peace in our troubled times.

Not a country music or Springsteen fan so I probably haven't listened to either song.