the legend lives on from the chippewa on down

[michelle]

here is a acoustic cover of the wreck of the edmund fitzgerald  by the irish singer seth staton watkins 
he even changed a set of lyrics to honor lightfoot as this was recorded right after his death 

 

[michelle]

new information came out from a deathbead conversion with a lady who worked for michigan bell telephone company she was recording ship to shore phone calls the night of the 10th of november 1975 and she listened to capt mcsorley mayday call to the company that operated the fitz telling them the ship was going down  and they needed help and what this lady heard haunted her till she died as well as seeing in the news later that the fitz went down with all hands and the company was placing blame on the crew of the fitz for it's loss  so they could get the full amount from the insurance company for the loss of the ship well they would not allow anyone to testify if it would hurt the companies case this lady also listened in on the capt cooper's call to the company that owned his ship the anderson 
both the michigan bell had a copy of that call from mcsorley as well as the company that owned the fitz 
so that final message we all know that came from the fitz and the long held belief they did not have a chance to make a mayday has just been blown out of the water with a smoking gun as they say so in truth while the last ship to ship radio message from the fitz we know which is we're holding our going along like a old shoe  was not the last transmission from the fitz and they did get a mayday off it was just ignored by the company that owned the ship 
when you add this new info to the previous revealed knowlege the company kept deferring maintenance of the fitz year after year and knew it was in bad shape they did not care about the storms or the crews lives that they would order the ship overloaded for the time of year when there are massive storms on the lakes and they did not like it when capts would sit anchored to ride out storms cause that costs the company money 
and the fact the company passed blame for the ships loss onto the crew and controlled the narrative in the investigation and inquiry by not allowing people's testimonies  or reports that went against their narrative to be heard or seen 
put it all together and it is the company that caused the death of all 29 men on the fitz as well as had a hand in the ships loss 
sadly the company that operated the fitz is no longer around so even with this new evidence there is no way for the remaining family members of the crew to get justice but at least when they find out about this they will be able to take comfort to know that their lost family members that died on the fitz were not truely not to blame and that means the crew after 50 years have been exonerated  
 

[NYLIBUD]

Gotta be one of the best songs ever written.

[Volzfan59]

1 hour ago, NYLIBUD said:

Gotta be one of the best songs ever written.

Gets my vote

[martsky]

I grew up in northern North Dakota near the Canadian border thus heard a LOT of Gordon LIghtfoot and became a big fan. When the Ed Fitz song came out I sang along but soon tired of the droning background.

Fast forward to last year -- we visited the shipwreck museum in Michigan and they had the song on a loop. Very fitting in the context but by the tenth time it became tiring. Maybe some day I will resurrect it again at home. Until then, you cannot beat the "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" (now on monthly rotation on my 55 year old AR turntable).

[iamsuperdan]

How Gordon Lightfoot Wrote 'The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald'

Interesting article.

[Volzfan59]

My goodness, you’re so right @iamsuperdan. That was a great read. Earlier in this conversation I posted that I had read that Gordon Lightfoot didn’t want this song released as a single. Read that he had even gotten mad at one of the record co executives. This article, while not directly addressing what I had read, seems to blow what o read out of the water. Thank you for posting this.

[ChrisBcritter]

The song may have been popular but not everybody listened closely. When I was working the periodical desk in my high school library, one of my classmates came up and asked for articles about the "Evans Fritzgerald" (this was in '76-'77). 

[peteski]

18 hours ago, ChrisBcritter said:

The song may have been popular but not everybody listened closely. When I was working the periodical desk in my high school library, one of my classmates came up and asked for articles about the "Evans Fritzgerald" (this was in '76-'77). 

Not surprised. Misunderstood or misheard song lyrics are a "thing".  See https://www.kissthisguy.com/

[NYLIBUD]

Sad story,but great song.And everybody has to agree that song is incredible And I’m pretty sure he wrote it too

Edited Sunday at 10:14 PM by NYLIBUD