39 Years Ago Today, ‘Gales Of November Came Early’

On November 10th, 1975, The Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior. For most Michiganders, this was a pretty big deal. Not many boats sink anymore, certainly not on the Great Lakes, and not many have romanticized in song like the Fitzgerald.

When Gordon Lightfoot read about the wreck in Newsweek, he was moved to write the famous song. "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" a six minute and 29 second account of the shipwreck, was a typical Lightfoot masterpiece. With it's jangly guitar and deep rich baritone, it reached number 1 in Canada and number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Lightfoot considers it his best work.

Lightfoot has changed the lyrics slightly when he sings the song now, but the original is still as touching and haunting today as it was nearly 40 years ago. The event is marked by public Television every year in Northern Michigan and the U.P. I remember when I moved up north and saw the show about the wreck for the first time.

There was an NBC Nightly News report with Harry Reasoner at the anchor desk. It just shows how far we have come technology wise in the past 40 years. Black and white TV film footage with no interviews with anyone at the scene. Little was known about the wreck or the crew. Nowdays with GPS and computers, they probably would have been saved.

And they don't write songs about this kind of stuff anymore either. Other than 9/11, when was the last time you heard a song about an historical event? Never.

"Here's Gordon Lightfoot's 'The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald' Number 2 on American Top 40 this week. I'm Casey Kasem, now on with the countdown"