RIP Gordon Lightfoot

[Mike]

Anyone who knows me well, knows I am a huge Gordon Lightfoot fan. For me personally, this is very sad news. A great Canadian icon dead at 84.

Folk singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot dies at 84 | AP News


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[Mike]

Gordon Lightfoot, Canadian Folk-Rock Troubadour, Dead at 84 – Rolling Stone


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[still-one]

Owned many of his albums back in the day. RIP.

I think it was Netflix that had a good movie about his career maybe a year ago.

[Phil A]

RIP

[rrwmd]

Still listen to him from time to time. Great artist. RIP.

[still-one]

Owned many of his albums back in the day. RIP.

I think it was Netflix that had a good movie about his career maybe a year ago.

I was actually on Amazon Prime Video. "Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind"

[Mikado463]

Sad for sure, my second favorite 'story teller' can now join Harry above in heaven and sing on together forever !

[Alpinist]

RIP Gordon.

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Gordon Lightfoot

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call 'Gitche Gumee'
The lake it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy

With a load of iron ore, twenty six thousand 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
Coming back from some mill in Wisconsin
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
Then later that night when the ship's bell rang
Could it be the north wind they'd been feelin'?

The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound
When the wave broke over the railin'
And every man knew, as the captain did too
'Twas 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 freezing rain
In the face of a hurricane west wind

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 to 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 out of sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Does anyone know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours?
The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay
If they'd put fifteen more miles behind her

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

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

In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed
In the Maritime Sailors' Cathedral
The church bell chimed 'til it rang twenty-nine 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

[brad225]

If you are ever at the Mariners Museum on Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan they have the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald playing constantly.

[Mikado463]

Since I'm pulling for the Leafs to win the Stanley Cup I thought this vid eo is more that apropos given Gordons passing ....

Gordon Lightfoot on Hockey Night in Canada - YouTube

[Odyssey]

Ken, thanks for posting the lyrics here. It is an amazing ballad. It is one of the few songs that I know of that does not have a repeated chorus.

The only repeated lines in this ballad are the first two lines from the first stanza and the first two lines of the last stanza. It is like the guitar riff is the chorus.

I've spent 15 of the last 20 years boating on the great lakes. Primarily on Lake Michigan. Squalls can come up in a hurry. Many of them not forecasted. They can come up out of no where. Your radar is clear one minute and the next minute what is a pinpoint on your radar blows up on your screen and you have to brace.

I was caught in a summer squall in a 44' Tiara motoryacht in July of 2020. Waves were 10-12'. Fortunately it only lasted about 20 minutes. I stayed in one spot and had to heave to into the wind with the waves breaking over the bow and the roof. Two guests also "heave" on board.

During the annual Chicago to Mackinac (northern tip of Lake Michigan) race in which several hundred sailboats compete, every 10 years or so a sailor or group of sailors lose their lives in this three day 24/7 race to sudden unforecasted summer storms.

I've only been boating on Lake Superior once. It is an eerie body of water. It is the world's largest body of fresh water. In fact by volume it contain 50% of all the water in the other four great lakes combined. Lake Superior can go from millpond smooth to walls of water within minutes. The Great Lakes are not like the ocean. We get what is called short chop. Tightly congested wave patterns. The ocean has much more smoothed out wave patterns. 10-15' waves on Lake Superior are slamming your boat every 2-3 seconds compared to longer intervals on the ocean.

I remember trying to swim in Lake Superior as a teen in the 70's. In August the lake temp was only in the 40's! It is a massive body of water. Not a place you want to be afloat in November.

RIP Gordon.

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Gordon Lightfoot

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call 'Gitche Gumee'
The lake it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy

With a load of iron ore, twenty six thousand 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
Coming back from some mill in Wisconsin
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
Then later that night when the ship's bell rang
Could it be the north wind they'd been feelin'?

The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound
When the wave broke over the railin'
And every man knew, as the captain did too
'Twas 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 freezing rain
In the face of a hurricane west wind

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 to 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 out of sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Does anyone know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours?
The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay
If they'd put fifteen more miles behind her

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

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

In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed
In the Maritime Sailors' Cathedral
The church bell chimed 'til it rang twenty-nine 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

[Big B]

He opened the new Massey in the beginning of the year. He said on stage he having trouble doing his songs and it was evident he wasn't 100%.
Fantastic Artist there is only few at this level.

[still-one]

If you want to understand why this man was so popular give this a view. The anatomy of a Great Song.

[Dr Morbius]

Great composer and singer, he will be missed………saw him in concert about 10 years ago, was at his peak I thought.