Earlier this week, I snarked on facebook that I discovered the worst workout song ever while circling the track at the Y, that being Gordon Lightfoot's "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."
The song is as much a Michigan birthright as an appetite for coney dogs and Mackinac Island fudge. It's as much a part of our Great Lakes culture as a Detroit Tigers baseball hat and as common as a Ted Nugent story (everyone has one). And while pregnant, I can admit to some high hormones as I bawled my way through listening to the song on the radio, contemplating the 29 lost souls.
The facts are the Edmund Fitzgerald was a freighter ship that sank in Lake Superior November 10, 1975. Lightfoot, a Canadian folk artist, penned the song based on a Newsweek article on the disaster titled "The Cruelest Month." By his admission, he had writer's block until a friend told him to "just tell the story." The song reached #2 on the US singles chart in November 1976, a year after the accident.
But why has it endured? For one, it's a great piece of storytelling. Also, Lightfoot was popular act in the 70s and still is a staple on light rock stations. I also think it is a story that binds people together, a modern day disaster they remembered with wistful sadness. Finally, it's a great song.
The Great Ship inspires more than just song...
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