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OT: RIP Gordon Lightfoot

Hungry Jack

Hungry Jack

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Nov 17, 2008
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Canadian folk singer and national icon Gordon Lightfoot has exited the earthly realm.

He is probably best known for his "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", a haunting tale of an iron ore freighter that sank in a violent fall storm on Lake Superior. The song refers to the Lake Superior fall storm season as the "Witch of November", something I experienced firsthand (in early October) one year on a backpacking trip along the coast of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. I will never forget the sound of the wind and ice squalls that battered my tent one night as we camped behind some low dunes just off the shore.
 
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Hungry Jack said:
Canadian folk singer and national icon Gordon Lightfoot has exited the earthly realm.

He is probably best known for his "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", a haunting tale of an iron ore freighter that sank in a violent fall storm on Lake Superior. The song refers to the Lake Superior fall storm season as the "Witch of November", something I experienced firsthand (in early October) one year on a backpacking trip along the coast of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. I will never forget the sound of the wind and ice squalls that battered my tent one night as we camped behind some low dunes just off the shore.
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This song is played quite consistently in my area, as you might imagine. It truly is haunting as we'll never truly know the thoughts going through the minds of the individuals on the freighter that night.
 
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BCryderman said:
This song is played quite consistently in my area, as you might imagine. It truly is haunting as we'll never truly know the thoughts going through the minds of the individuals on the freighter that night.
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I'm currently reading an account of the fitzgerald sinking, by the Captain of the SS Wilifred Sykes out there that night. It was a storm like no other. 30+' waves, on an inland lake. The Fitzgerald had apparent keel problems which weren't addressed (no, this is not ment to be a metaphor), as well as a Captain who was hell bent on delivering the load, and retiring at the end of the year.
 
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BCryderman said:
This song is played quite consistently in my area, as you might imagine. It truly is haunting as we'll never truly know the thoughts going through the minds of the individuals on the freighter that night.
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Those poor guys never had a chance, if the reports about the ship breaking in two are true.

In Charlevoix (my old summer stomping grounds when I worked on Torch Lake), there is a McDonalds that has a framed photo of the Charlevoix lighthouse on the harbor entrance. The photo allegedly was taken on the day of the sinking of the EF. The light station is 44 ft tall, and in the photo the waves are nearly up to the balcony of the structure.

CharlevoixLight.jpg
 
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stpaulcat said:
I'm currently reading an account of the fitzgerald sinking, by the Captain of another ship out there that night. It was a storm like no other. 30+' waves, on an inland lake. The Fitzgerald had apparent keel problems which weren't addressed (no, this is not ment to be a metaphor), as well as a Captain who was hell bent on delivering the load, and retiring at the end of the year.
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I worked with a woman who claimed that the captain piloting the Arthur Andersen that night was her uncle. He was the last person to have radio contact with the ship.
 
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Hungry Jack said:
Canadian folk singer and national icon Gordon Lightfoot has exited the earthly realm.

He is probably best known for his "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", a haunting tale of an iron ore freighter that sank in a violent fall storm on Lake Superior. The song refers to the Lake Superior fall storm season as the "Witch of November", something I experienced firsthand (in early October) one year on a backpacking trip along the coast of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. I will never forget the sound of the wind and ice squalls that battered my tent one night as we camped behind some low dunes just off the shore.
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My wife and I went to a Lightfoot concert in 1976 in Chicago (we were in graduate school), and my recollection is that before playing that song he said it was the world premiere and would be on his next album. (The fact that Lightfoot spoke at all was impressive because he said very little during his concerts in the early days - he let his songs stand on their own.)
 
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JoeWildcat said:
My wife and I went to a Lightfoot concert in 1976 in Chicago (we were in graduate school), and my recollection is that before playing that song he said it was the world premiere and would be on his next album. (The fact that Lightfoot spoke at all was impressive because he said very little during his concerts in the early days - he let his songs stand on their own.)
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The songs he wrote for Ian and Sylvia were classics that have been recorded in every genre of music.
 
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Oh no! I turned down a chance to see him in Melbourne Florida a few weeks ago because of tickets to Blackhawks-Florida Panthers. Bad decision in retrospect.
 
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Hungry Jack said:
Those poor guys never had a chance, if the reports about the ship breaking in two are true.

In Charlevoix (my old summer stomping grounds when I worked on Torch Lake), there is a McDonalds that has a framed photo of the Charlevoix lighthouse on the harbor entrance. The photo allegedly was taken on the day of the sinking of the EF. The light station is 44 ft tall, and in the photo the waves are nearly up to the balcony of the structure.

CharlevoixLight.jpg
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Small world HJ. Our family has been spending summers in the Charlevoix, Petoskey and Harbor Springs area for nearly 50 years. Originally on Pickerel Lake, but now we have a family home on Main St. in Harbor Springs - with it's original widow's walk - overlooking the Harbor and the Point.

It's our favorite summer time place in the world. Four generations of GOUNUs strong.

GOUNUII
 
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GOUNUII said:
Small world HJ. Our family has been spending summers in the Charlevoix, Petoskey and Harbor Springs area for nearly 50 years. Originally on Pickerel Lake, but now we have a family home on Main St. in Harbor Springs - with it's original widow's walk - overlooking the Harbor and the Point.

It's our favorite summer time place in the world. Four generations of GOUNUs strong.

GOUNUII
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Dang. We’ve rented at Bay Harbor the past two summers. Did a lot of cycling in those hills behind HS. I wish I had known you were there. We are headed to Park City this summer.
 
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Hungry Jack said:
Dang. We’ve rented at Bay Harbor the past two summers. Did a lot of cycling in those hills behind HS. I wish I had known you were there. We are headed to Park City this summer.
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If you ever want to rent in HS, let me know. I can probably help you. Demand outstrips supply. By a wide margin. So rentals can be pricey. And arrangements often need to be made 6-8 months in advance.

Lots to like about Bay Harbor too.

Enjoy Park City. Our East Coast crew just got back from there. All avid skiers. Loved it.

GOUNUII
 
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Hungry Jack said:
Canadian folk singer and national icon Gordon Lightfoot has exited the earthly realm.

He is probably best known for his "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", a haunting tale of an iron ore freighter that sank in a violent fall storm on Lake Superior. The song refers to the Lake Superior fall storm season as the "Witch of November", something I experienced firsthand (in early October) one year on a backpacking trip along the coast of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. I will never forget the sound of the wind and ice squalls that battered my tent one night as we camped behind some low dunes just off the shore.
Click to expand...
I saw Gordon live in 1974 with my first love. A year later I took my new and improved second love to see Dan Fogelberg. But that too didn't last long.. Lucky me. I met my 3rd and final love not long after. The best of the bunch by a wide margin. We've been an item ever since. But I have to admit I've never taken her to a concert.

GOUNUII
 
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GOUNUII said:
I saw Gordon live in 1974 with my first love. A year later I took my new and improved second love to see Dan Fogelberg. But that too didn't last long.. Lucky me. I met my 3rd and final love not long after. The best of the bunch by a wide margin. We've been an item ever since. But I have to admit I've never taken her to a concert.

GOUNUII
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"New and improved?" "Best of the bunch?" I'll forego the "m(is...)" word. Lucky you. It is totally clear why I'm on your ignore. Thank you!
 
PurpleWhiteBoy said:
This lyric makes the song...

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
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The Fitzgerald broke on the surface or shortly after from huge waves and wind coming from the northwest. Too heavy, not a stable keel and a determined captain who didn't take shelter as the two other ships out that night did. It wasn't the hatches, a crack opened in the hull. Hard to imagine the horror of living, and dying, in such an ordeal. Even on small lakes north of Superior, with that northwest wind which can generate three foot waves--I've been on them in my kayak, and you have two choices-- go with the wind or against it. The Fitzgerald was getting extremely high waves from the stern on the starboard side as she was heading southeast. That's what did her in. Lightfoot captures this event, indescribably.
 
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GOUNUII said:
I saw Gordon live in 1974 with my first love. A year later I took my new and improved second love to see Dan Fogelberg. But that too didn't last long.. Lucky me. I met my 3rd and final love not long after. The best of the bunch by a wide margin. We've been an item ever since. But I have to admit I've never taken her to a concert.

GOUNUII
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We seem to have similar musical tastes. I saw Dan Fogelberg and Tim Weinberg a Couple times (both together and separately), but with the same woman (my wife). We still hit several concerts a year when we can see some old groups in recent years we have seen Judy Collins, John Mayall, John Sebastian, and many more. I keep trying to get to the Chicago area when Jim Peterack has one of his oldies shows, but haven’t made it yet.
 
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stpaulcat said:
The Fitzgerald broke on the surface or shortly after from huge waves and wind coming from the northwest. Too heavy, not a stable keel and a determined captain who didn't take shelter as the other two ships out that night did. It wasn't the hatches. Hard to imagine the horror of living, and dying, in such an ordeal. Even on small lakes north of Superior, with that northwest wind which can generate three foot waves--I've been on them in my kayak, and you have two choices-- go with the wind or against it. The Fitzgerald was getting extremely high waves from the stern on the port side. That's what did her in. Lightfoot captures this event, indescribably.
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You have clearly looked into the whole tragic event... so are you saying it went like this? from an engineering perspective, if the ship was 700 feet long and overloaded, it seems like one potential breaking scenario would be a tall wave, say 200 feet wide, breaking over the middle of the ship. The two ends of the ship would be pushing up and the middle pushing down and laterally (with torque). I could see that causing a rupture.
 
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PurpleWhiteBoy said:
You have clearly looked into the whole tragic event... so are you saying it went like this? from an engineering perspective, if the ship was 700 feet long and overloaded, it seems like one potential breaking scenario would be a tall wave, say 200 feet wide, breaking over the middle of the ship. The two ends of the ship would be pushing up and the middle pushing down and laterally (with torque). I could see that causing a rupture.
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This is worth a read. Talks about a hypothesis of 3 rogue waves (3 sisters) hitting the EF just after the Arthur Andersen reported being hit by 2 very large (30ft+) waves.
 
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phatcat said:
I still get choked up whenever I hear the Edmund Fitzgerald
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I get choked up thinking about how HJ suffered at Pictured Rocks.

(***Now that I think of it, I've also suffered reaching Singleton on "Seney stretch" from Naubinway, in 1979. I could make a movie about those 5 crazy days dealing with crazy weather and crazy people crossing the UP.)
 
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JoeWildcat said:
We seem to have similar musical tastes. I saw Dan Fogelberg and Tim Weinberg a Couple times (both together and separately), but with the same woman (my wife). We still hit several concerts a year when we can see some old groups in recent years we have seen Judy Collins, John Mayall, John Sebastian, and many more. I keep trying to get to the Chicago area when Jim Peterack has one of his oldies shows, but haven’t made it yet.
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You better make it pretty soon, all of these folks are either dead or on their last leg as performers!
 
Purple Pile Driver said:
You better make it pretty soon, all of these folks are either dead or on their last leg as performers!
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I know. we try to see whomever we can. I am always amazed when some of the oldies still have decent voices and really rock. Mayall was 80 when I saw him a couple years ago, and he was fantastic. Collins and Sebastian were quite good, as was Roger McGuin. Going to see Kansas and possibly Grand Funk and Vanilla Fudge soon. Unfortunately many of the groups only have one or two original members left, but some are pretty much intact.
 
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I was lucky enough to see the Rolling Stones in November 1981 at the Horizon.
They were touring on "Tattoo You."
Great concert. Only time I've seen them.
As a Northwestern student, I was thinking "this may be the last time the Stones go on tour and that album is pretty good."

I'm not much for the aging icons, but Neil Young put on some great shows as an "Old Man."
 
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The OP is RIP, and it sounds as though many of us are getting closer to that time. Enjoy the music while we're here, we didn't go down on the Edmond Fitzgerald. And hope our own Fitzgerald gives us a few more years.
 
So now that we have some folkies on board who remembers AMZAING GRACE not the song but the place in Evanston? I want to say Main and Chicago but could have been Dempster and Chicago....Or Biddy Mulligans on Sheridan just before the turn into Evanston ? Jim Post, David Brumberg, Howlin Wolf, Siegal-Schwall, Stevie Goodman...and then further into Lincoln Park,,,,Quiet Knight, Holsteins. Im taking a trip to see Tom Rush b4 its too late, fingers crossed. But on the topic I still have 3 Gordon Lightfoot lps and a songbook......
 
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loyolacat said:
So now that we have some folkies on board who remembers AMZAING GRACE not the song but the place in Evanston? I want to say Main and Chicago but could have been Dempster and Chicago....Or Biddy Mulligans on Sheridan just before the turn into Evanston ? Jim Post, David Brumberg, Howlin Wolf, Siegal-Schwall, Stevie Goodman...and then further into Lincoln Park,,,,Quiet Knight, Holsteins. Im taking a trip to see Tom Rush b4 its too late, fingers crossed. But on the topic I still have 3 Gordon Lightfoot lps and a songbook......
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Biddy Mulligans definitely got some quality performers... it helped to have a car because walking to/from Howard "el" station could be dicey and taxis weren't too common in the wee hours...
 
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Here is the most plausible explanation about the Wreck of the Fitzgerald:

"When the report was completed in July 1977, Gordon Lightfoot "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" had become not only a national hit recording, but had also introduced the power and fury of Lake Superior's legendary storms to the rest of the world and, undoubtedly, the words he used in describing the wreck have influenced the way that most people think about that disaster. It is worth noting rhat Lightfoot's lyrics have stood up well through nearly a quarter of a century - as moving and as germane today as when they were first performed.

"'We just kept sailing along, not really knowing for sure what happened," Captain Paquette (Wilifred Sykes) says of that period of fragmentary information. "But I kept going back to the first night of the storm and hearing McSorley tell Cooper (Arthur Anderson) that the Fitz was working so much that he had checked down and was going to try for lee off Isle Royale. I couldn't get that out of my head. Even a slam-bang captain that pushed his boat all the time would be able to tell if something felt different from past storms and it seemed to me that's what I heard in his comment."

In his Marine Board testimony and almost as an afterthought to his commentary about the possible shoaling, Captain Cooper did say that the Fitz might have developed a stress fracture that opened a leak and allowed in more water than the pumps could handle.

Captain Paquette states. "To my way of thinking, this ship was a perfect candidate for a stress fracture because she had been subjected for five or six seasons to the strain of hauling cargos that were thousands of tons heavier than she was designed for and had been pounded through all kinds of seas for years. In that same time, she required repairs to reattach the hull plating to the keel, There was damage sustained in a grounding and a collision with another ship, as well as three instances when she struck lock walls at the Soo and had to lay-up for repair. Put all of that together with McSorley's reputation for running in all weather and full speed ahead and it seems to me a stress fracture would be the first thing that would come to mind.

And remember, McSorley was running full ahead right up to the time he reported to Cooper that his boat had developed a list after he passed Caribou. Only then did he check down his speed so the Anderson would be able to close up a little. A half hour or so after that, he reported that his radars weren't working and asked the
Anderson to provide navigational assistance to make his way to Whitefish Bay through the storm and snow squalls. That seems to show that he had radar when he navigated the Six-Fathom Shoal area and would have missed it easily." Shortly thereafter the Fitz went under.
 
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