40 Years Ago — The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald

I'll never forget the first time I heard "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot. Now, I have to confess that, when I first heard the song, I had no idea that it was based on a true incident. When I found out that it was a true story, the song took on a whole new meaning.

When you take a great story like that and combine it with Lightfoot's amazing talent as a songwriter, you get quite a record. I think most people would agree that the overall mood of the song is quite haunting and mysterious. Every time I heard the song, I pictured a ghost ship roaming the open sea.

The picture at the top of this article is not a shot of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the only picture I could find of that ill-fated ship was under copyrighted so I opted for a picture of another tanker that really looks a lot like the Fitzgerald.

The actual sinking of the ship took place on November 10, 1975 and the record came out the following September and got up to #2 on the charts. Here's Gordon Lightfoot and "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."