# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**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, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087/21 "2020-08-28T08:22:12Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > It’s a song, not a documentary. Yes, and it’s precisely as a song that it doesn’t work for me. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087/22 "2020-08-28T09:43:04Z")
I just started watching her vids a few days ago, and that was one I saw. “Superior they said, never gives up her dead, when the gales of November come early” was the theme of that one - why the bodies aren’t easily found and recovered. ---
**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 28, 2020, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087/23 "2020-08-28T10:53:55Z")
There are, in fact, quite a lot of songs with that meter, and any of them can be sung to the tune of any other. Other notable entries in the category include “Amazing Grace”, “House of the Rising Sun”, “The Yellow Rose of Texas”, everything Emily Dickenson ever wrote, and the Gilligan’s Island theme. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087/24 "2020-08-28T13:55:18Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > > [@wolfpup](#): > > > > It’s a song, not a documentary. > > Yes, and it’s precisely as a song that it doesn’t work for me. Yeah, I love Gordon Lightfoot, except for that song. _(Hey, folks, try his other stuff. It has choruses and tempo changes and even a beat!)_ By the way, Edmund himself ended up in a nursing home where my mom worked. The line the nurses used was “Poor guy, sort of went down with his ship.” ---
**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 28, 2020, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087/25 "2020-08-28T13:59:23Z")
> [@rocking\_chair](#): > > ask a mortician did a you tube video on the the edmond fitzgerald I just watched this. Interesting stuff, thanks! I’ll have to watch some more of her videos. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087/26 "2020-08-28T18:08:11Z")
I was an AM Top 40 jock in the 1970s, and a big Lightfoot fan. Imagine playing that song every couple of hours, day after day, week after week, until it finally dropped off the charts. After the first week, we were all ready for that ship to sink. It was an epic album track that should never have been released as a single. Story-songs have a common problem: Once you’ve heard the story two or three times, you don’t want to hear it again. As such, ol’ Eddy was an audience-chaser, a ratings killer, just as “El Paso” and “Big Bad John” probably were in their day. I saw Lightfoot two times in concert during his hot period, and he was great. I have lots of his albums and many of his songs are dear to me. But I never, ever want to heard “Edmund” again. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087/27 "2020-08-28T18:30:27Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > There are, in fact, quite a lot of songs with that meter, and any of them can be sung to the tune of any other. Other notable entries in the category include “Amazing Grace”, “House of the Rising Sun”, “The Yellow Rose of Texas”, everything Emily Dickenson ever wrote, and the Gilligan’s Island theme. Not to drag this thread too far off topic, but I just had to share this: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/F8oGz0mxwks/hqdefault.jpg "Stairway to Gilligan's Island") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8oGz0mxwks) ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087/28 "2020-08-28T19:34:14Z")
Continuing the hijack - years ago, we were in Las Vegas and caught a minor comic with a guitar (no idea who after all this time). Thanks him, I default the lyrics of “Pinball Wizard” to the melody for “Folsom Prison Blues”. Not sure if the whole song fits, but it is awesome right through “sure plays a mean pinball”. ---
**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 28, 2020, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087/29 "2020-08-28T19:38:01Z")
Did it sound anything like Puddles? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/6bfPwtUTP4k/maxresdefault.jpg "Puddles Pity Party - Folsom Prison Blues / Pinball Wizard Mash Up (Official Music Video)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bfPwtUTP4k) ---
**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 30, 2020, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087/30 "2020-08-30T08:30:46Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > 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. I find it to be a catchy tune, one that’s likely to be an ear worm if I’ve listened to it recently, but like you, I don’t find it hugely compelling. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087/31 "2020-08-30T11:58:11Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > Continuing the hijack - years ago, we were in Las Vegas and caught a minor comic with a guitar (no idea who after all this time). Thanks him, I default the lyrics of “Pinball Wizard” to the melody for “Folsom Prison Blues”. Not sure if the whole song fits, but it is awesome right through “sure plays a mean pinball”. “Imagine” also works well to the tune of Folsom Prison. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald/919087.md?page=1)