# Songs based on real-life shipwrecks/trainwrecks/etc. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 15, 2007, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-real-life-shipwrecks-trainwrecks-etc/426510 "2007-11-15T07:58:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-real-life-shipwrecks-trainwrecks-etc/426510/1 "2007-11-15T07:58:20Z")
So, I’m a huge fan of the TV show Due South, and one episode featured the rather cool Paul Gross song “32 Down on the Robert MacKenzie”, a song inspired by the real-life loss of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, a Great Lakes freighter that sank during a storm in 1975. Any other songs based on real life losses of ships, trains, planes, big trucks, airships, largeish cargo-carrying avians, etc.? ---
**Author:** ![3acresandatruck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/e79b87/32.png) [@3acresandatruck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3acresandatruck)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-real-life-shipwrecks-trainwrecks-etc/426510/2 "2007-11-15T09:20:04Z")
There’s Gordon Lightfoot’s song, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”, and Harry Chapin’s “30,0000 Pounds of Bananas” (a truck accident). James Taylor did “Fire and Rain” in reference to a woman who’d died in a plane wreck. Those are the only ones that come to me at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-real-life-shipwrecks-trainwrecks-etc/426510/3 "2007-11-15T09:41:58Z")
Of course there is _Blood On The Coal_ about how 'Ole 97 went in the wrong hole at 7:25 on April 27 in the year of 91. ---
**Author:** ![Ellef](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8dc957/32.png) [@Ellef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellef)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-real-life-shipwrecks-trainwrecks-etc/426510/4 "2007-11-15T10:30:24Z")
A poem rather than a song, but there’s William McGonagall’s notorious ode on the Tay Bridge Disaster: > **[The Tay Bridge Disaster](http://www.mcgonagall-online.org.uk/gems/the-tay-bridge-disaster)** > > Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silv’ry Tay! Alas! I am very sorry to say That ninety lives have been taken away On the last Sabbath day of 1879, Which will be remember’d for a very lon… (sorry) ---
**Author:** ![TripleTee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac8455/32.png) [@TripleTee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TripleTee)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-real-life-shipwrecks-trainwrecks-etc/426510/5 "2007-11-15T10:34:40Z")
“My Heart Will Go On” - Celine Dion. Its about the Titanic sinking and stuff. And she’s really sad about it because she knew someone who was on the ship and she was really sad when he didn’t make it. But she’s gonna keep living anyway. Or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Surok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@Surok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surok)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-real-life-shipwrecks-trainwrecks-etc/426510/6 "2007-11-15T11:00:24Z")
[The Ellen Vannin Tragedy](http://www.molwert.de/Lieder/Ellen_Vannin_Tragedy.htm), a cheerful little ditty which includes the line ‘This little ship was bound for hell’. For some reason we used to sing at summer camp. Maybe the counsellors liked songs about shipwrecks. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-real-life-shipwrecks-trainwrecks-etc/426510/7 "2007-11-15T11:33:55Z")
[QUOTE=3acresandatruck] James Taylor did “Fire and Rain” in reference to a woman who’d died in a plane wreck. Those are the only ones that come to me at the moment. [/QUOTE] Not [exactly](http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/firerain.asp). ---
**Author:** ![Idlewild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8491ac/32.png) [@Idlewild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idlewild)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-real-life-shipwrecks-trainwrecks-etc/426510/8 "2007-11-15T11:47:37Z")
[QUOTE=Raguleader] So, I’m a huge fan of the TV show Due South, and one episode featured the rather cool Paul Gross song “32 Down on the Robert MacKenzie”, a song inspired by the real-life loss of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, a Great Lakes freighter that sank during a storm in 1975. Any other songs based on real life losses of ships, trains, planes, big trucks, airships, largeish cargo-carrying avians, etc.? [/QUOTE] That song is currently featuring heavily on my ipod playlist. It’s great! ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-real-life-shipwrecks-trainwrecks-etc/426510/9 "2007-11-15T12:03:23Z")
Well, there is always this collection: [People take warning!](http://www.amazon.com/People-Warning-Ballads-Disaster-1913-1938/dp/B000ULQV20) ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-real-life-shipwrecks-trainwrecks-etc/426510/10 "2007-11-15T12:40:30Z")
_The Wreck of Old No 97_ He was rolling down that grade Doing ninety miles an hour When the whistle broke into a scream. They found him in the wreck With his hand on the throttle And scalded to death by the steam Nobody did this one better than Tex Ritter. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-real-life-shipwrecks-trainwrecks-etc/426510/11 "2007-11-15T13:20:08Z")
[The Ballad of Casey Jones](http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/b/balladofcaseyjones.shtml). [Casey Jones was an engineer killed in a train wreck in Vaughn, Mississippi, in the year 1900.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casey_Jones) ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-real-life-shipwrecks-trainwrecks-etc/426510/12 "2007-11-15T13:26:17Z")
[QUOTE=Ellef] A poem rather than a song, but there’s William McGonagall’s notorious ode on the Tay Bridge Disaster: [http://www.mcgonagall-online.org.uk/poems/pgdisaster.htm](http://www.mcgonagall-online.org.uk/poems/pgdisaster.htm) (sorry) [/QUOTE] Curse you! I only came in here to post that (I’m sorry to say). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-real-life-shipwrecks-trainwrecks-etc/426510/13 "2007-11-15T13:41:17Z")
It’s hard to listen to “Ride Sally Ride” and not think about the Challenger disaster. It’s hard to listen to “Try to Remember” & “My City of Ruins” and not think about 9/11. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-real-life-shipwrecks-trainwrecks-etc/426510/14 "2007-11-15T13:49:29Z")
"Driving that train . . . " 🙂 There a many on the Titanic. One I like is “God Moved On the Waters” by Woodchuck’s Revenge. There’s also Jaime Brockett’s “Ballad of the USS Titanic,” but that’s somewhat less historically accurate. “Smoke on the Water” is about a real hotel fire. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-real-life-shipwrecks-trainwrecks-etc/426510/15 "2007-11-15T13:55:24Z")
Woody Guthrie: Sinking of the Rueben James Woody Guthrie: When that Great Ship Went Down Well I think they are real life shipwrecks. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-real-life-shipwrecks-trainwrecks-etc/426510/16 "2007-11-15T14:02:59Z")
I guess thats _Reuben_ James ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-real-life-shipwrecks-trainwrecks-etc/426510/17 "2007-11-15T14:11:02Z")
The Pogues and [The Wake of The Medusa](http://www.lyricstime.com/pogues-the-wake-of-the-medusa-lyrics.html). ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-real-life-shipwrecks-trainwrecks-etc/426510/18 "2007-11-15T14:15:14Z")
Another great one by Woody Guthrie: [Plane Wreck At Los Gatos (Deportee)](http://www.woodyguthrie.org/Lyrics/Plane_Wreck_At_Los_Gatos.htm) ---
**Author:** ![3acresandatruck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/e79b87/32.png) [@3acresandatruck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3acresandatruck)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-real-life-shipwrecks-trainwrecks-etc/426510/19 "2007-11-15T14:17:38Z")
[QUOTE=Rick] Not [exactly](http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/firerain.asp). [/QUOTE] Alas, that link goes to Snopes. I don’t go to that website, as it opens a popup advertising window, which I find supremely annoying. But this motivated me to check Wikipedia, where I found this: > [@](#): > > Taylor said that the song was, indeed, about Suzanne Schnerr, a friend of his who died suddenly while he was away from home. According to that account, he had been in a deep depression after the failure of his new band “Flying Machine” to coalesce (the lyric includes a reference to “sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground”; the reference is to the name of the band rather than a fatal plane crash, as was long rumored). (see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire\_and\_Rain](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_and_Rain)) Is that the same thing Snopes says? So much for my long-held belief that it referred to a fan of Taylor’s. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-real-life-shipwrecks-trainwrecks-etc/426510/20 "2007-11-15T14:24:15Z")
[Alice’s Restaurant Massacre](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice's_Restaurant)? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-real-life-shipwrecks-trainwrecks-etc/426510.md?page=2)