# Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 26, 2020, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087 "2020-08-26T18:55:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087/1 "2020-08-26T18:55:27Z")
I tend to put youtube on as live action wallpaper - and not use any of my playlists, using the AI generated playlists. I hit on the for lack of a better term, the Woodstock Vintage playlist. I was pleasantly listening along to the generally mellow/perky CSN and whomever else, Rolling Stones, The Who, Cream and all, and then good old Gordon Lightfoot popped up with Wreck. I think I will need to dig into the storage locker for my brother’s CD collection because I know he has Summertime Dream, the album wreck is on. I have to say, I really enjoy the AI picking stuff out for me, I get interesting new stuff I have never heard before, and old favorites I have forgotten =) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087/2 "2020-08-26T19:05:25Z")
When I worked at a Renaissance Faire in the '90s, a performer friend of mine had an Irish song, “Back Home in Derry,” on his set list. I immediately noticed that the song had the same melody as “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” and I had always assumed that Lightfoot had borrowed the melody from an old Irish folk song. Much later, I learned that it was the other way around: the lyrics to “Back Home in Derry” were written by Irish activist and Provisional IRA member Bobby Sands while he was in prison, in the early '80s. When the song was recorded by Christy Moore in 1984, Moore used the melody of Lightfoot’s song. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087/3 "2020-08-26T19:09:06Z")
Julie Ecklar’s The Ballad of Apollo XIII to the same tune, here: [filk the ballad of apollo xiii - Bing video](https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=filk+the+ballad+of+apollo+xiii&docid=607989922592854001&mid=768366762D8155ADE2A7768366762D8155ADE2A7&view=detail&FORM=VIRE) ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087/4 "2020-08-26T19:27:46Z")
Folk music is frequently written to the same tunes as something else, or differences in wording most noted are the [Child Ballads](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_Child_Ballads), check the wiki page for them, I love the descriptions =) I like noticing modern music stuff like My Heart Belongs To Daddy and My Heart Belongs To Me, or [Inna Gadda Da Vida](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIVe-rZBcm4) has many passages similar to Cream’s [Sunshine of Your Love](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyftaay-pFA), or the Russian ‘[Meadowlands](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoXsxccZi3M)’ and Faun’s ‘[Federkleid](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOvsyamoEDg)’. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087/5 "2020-08-26T19:30:51Z")
URL of the Woodstock Vintage playlist? ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087/6 "2020-08-26T19:35:46Z")
Not entirely certain - I use an LG television wifi, youtube, and on the left side menu scroll down to music, and I get a bunch of selections ranging from a Tom Waits playlist that meanders through all sorts of stuff ending up like 5 hours later with Steve n Seagulls. I think it gets the starting idea of play list from my play history and sort of wings it from there. I know the starting song is Buffalo Springfield’s For What It’s Worth, so when I went into youtube on my laptop and picked out a playlist starting with that I got [this list](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp5JCrSXkJY&list=RDgp5JCrSXkJY&start_radio=1&t=4). It looks like what is currently playing on my TV ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087/7 "2020-08-27T00:47:47Z")
For the better part of a year, I had “Edmund Fitzgerald” stuck in my head, except to the tune of “Stairway to Heaven”. Then one night, I heard a tune in a dream, woke up and still remembered the tune, and said to myself “There’s no way I just composed a tune like that myself; what song is it from?”. Later that day, I finally figured it out, and ended a months-long earworm. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087/8 "2020-08-27T14:08:53Z")
WOTEF is a great tune that still holds up. As a Michigander it holds historical significance for me as well. I’ve visited the old Mariner’s Church in “De-TROY-it” where the church bell rang 29 times, and Whitefish Bay in the U.P., where the ED would have made it if she’d put 15 more miles behind her. I still get all goosebumpy when I hear the line “does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours”. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087/9 "2020-08-27T14:26:40Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > I really enjoy the AI picking stuff out for me, I get interesting new stuff I have never heard before, and old favorites I have forgotten =) I use [Pandora.com](http://Pandora.com) for that. 🙂 Pandora is the reason I have [these tracks](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-dance-music-for-my-wife/917444/) from the iTunes store. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087/10 "2020-08-27T14:27:05Z")
ask a mortician did a you tube video on the the edmond fitzgerald. haunting song and that line does say it all. ---
**Author:** ![2\_More\_Bits](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2_more_bits/32/4148_2.png) [@2\_More\_Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2_More_Bits)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087/11 "2020-08-27T15:35:52Z")
Gord’s most favorite of his own songs (or so I read somewhere recently). ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087/12 "2020-08-27T16:14:26Z")
No doubt his “Black Day in July” is trending these days ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087/13 "2020-08-27T17:34:12Z")
Kenobi -We were in Ireland several years ago and while having a pint or three in a pub in Killybegs, I brought up this little tidbit, None of locals had ever heard of “Wreck…” I was a little surprised but we all sang American Pie and everything was good. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087/14 "2020-08-28T00:06:11Z")
Fellas, it’s been good to know ya! ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087/15 "2020-08-28T00:14:17Z")
Brilliantly spoofed in “The Wreck of the Sequential Files.” ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087/16 "2020-08-28T05:28:17Z")
They have the same meter don’t they? Fit each other’s melody quite well. I’d never noticed. ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087/17 "2020-08-28T05:43:01Z")
> [@Kropotkin](#): > > No doubt his “Black Day in July” is trending these days Thanks for pointing this song out to me - I’d never heard it before. Haunting. [YouTube video](https://youtu.be/DPXL3iEVnCM) 53 years later… On topic: _Wreck_ is a great song, reaching right into your center and grabbing you by the feels. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087/18 "2020-08-28T06:02:23Z")
nm. wrong thread. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087/19 "2020-08-28T07:36:50Z")
Well, I must be the odd one out! 🙂 I’ve listened to a lot of Scottish and Irish folk music for decades, particularly the Child Ballads, and also sea shanties, but I find _The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald_ a bit… bland, both in narrative and tune. I’m not criticising anyone who likes it - taste is unarguable. To me the story, though true and tragic, is too straightforward and flat - ship sails on a routine commercial voyage, storm blows up, ship sinks. There’s nothing about the struggles of the crew to keep her afloat, or to escape in lifeboats, or rescuers trying to reach them. No strong feelings or desperate efforts at all. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087/20 "2020-08-28T08:18:06Z")
It’s a song, not a documentary. It’s a simple tribute to those who lost their lives, and also in its way a tribute to the awesome majesty of the Great Lakes, to which the name “lake” does not do justice – they are really small oceans, and also places of great beauty (which Gordie also celebrates in some of his music) as well as being places that can unleash the terrifying power of nature. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087.md?page=2)