Gordon Lightfoot
The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald
Summertime Dream (1976)

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down            Bsus2  F♯m
Of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee                 A  E  Bsus2
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy
With a load of iron ore 26,000 tons more
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
When the Gales of November came early
  The ship was the pride of the American side              Bsus2  F♯m
  Coming back from some mill in Wisconsin                  A  E  Bsus2
  As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most
  With a crew and good captain well-seasoned
  Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
  When they left fully loaded for Cleveland
  And later that night when the ship's bell rang
  Could it be the north wind they'd been feelin'?
                                                         (mélodie  /B)
The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound
And a wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the captain did too
T'was the witch of November come stealin'
  The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
  When the Gales of November came slashin'
  When afternoon came it was freezin' rain
  In the face of a hurricane west wind
                                                         (+  A  E  Bsus2)
When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck sayin'
Fellas, it's too rough to feed ya
At 7 P.M. a main hatchway caved in, he said
Fellas, it's been good t'know ya
  The captain wired in he had water comin' in
  And the good ship and crew was in peril
  And later that night when his lights went outta sight
  Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
                                                         (+  A  E  extra  Bsus2)
Does any one know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours?
The searches all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay
If they'd put 15 more miles behind her
  They might have split up or they might have capsized
  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
                                                         (+  A  E  Bsus2)
  Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
  In the rooms of her ice-water mansion
Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams
The islands and bays are for sportsmen
  And farther below Lake Ontario
  Takes in what Lake Erie can send her
  And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
  With the Gales of November remembered
                                                         (x 2  w/ extra)
In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed
In the Maritime Sailors' Cathedral
The church bell chimed till it rang 29 times
For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
Superior, they said, never gives up her dead
When the Gales of November come early                    (x 2  w/ extra)