Lyr Add: Corrected words for Edmund Fitzgerald

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Corrected words for Edmund Fitzgerald
From: leeneia
Date: 14 Nov 22 - 12:39 PM

It wasn't just waves that sank the ship. First, the ship scraped over a ridge of submerged rock that cracked or weakened the hull. The crew as unaware of the damage. Later, when in really high waves of an unlucky wave-length, one wave lifted the bow and another lifted the stern, and the ship broke all the way in two.

I forget where I read this, but it was from a reputable source and it's all in the previous thread on this ship.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Corrected words for Edmund Fitzgerald
From: Joe Offer
Date: 11 Nov 22 - 10:23 PM

And here's what it says in the Washington Post:

Edmund Fitzgerald tribute song lyrics changed by Gordon Lightfoot


By Melissa Bell
November 10, 2011

It’s remembered in part thanks to the evocative song “The Wreck of Edmund Fitzgerald,” by singer Gordon Lightfoot. Lightfoot once said it was his most important work.

Last month, though, 35 years after penning the tune, Lightfoot announced he would be changing the lyrics. Before performing the song at the Michigan theater, he told AnnArbor.com he tweaked a section he had taken poetic license with and altered it to honor the mother and the daughter of two of the deckhands who went down with the ship. The women, he said, “have always cringed every time they’ve heard the line. ... And they know about it and they’re very happy about it.”

The offending line went from “At 7 p.m. a main hatchway caved in, he said, ‘Fellas, it’s been good to know ya’” to “At 7 p.m., it grew dark, it was then he said, ‘Fellas it’s been good to know ya.””

The men would have been responsible for the hatchway and he did not want it to sound as if they had been to blame for the disaster.

Here’s a tribute video of the song. Although it has the original lyrics intact, it does have footage of the original Edmund Fitzgerald, well as radio transmissions made the night of the rescue effort:

but then the article stops.



So, let's try thestar.com



Gordon Lightfoot changes Edmund Fitzgerald lyrics

A new documentary on the Edmund Fitzgerald has convinced Gordon Lightfoot to alter his legendary folk song.


GQ
By GREG QUILLENTERTAINMENT COLUMNIST (Toronto Star)
Thu., March 25, 2010

Convinced by the evidence presented in an episode of the new Canadian made-for-TV documentary series Dive Detectives, airing on History Television Mar. 31, Gordon Lightfoot has changed the lyric of his 1976 hit, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”, to remove the implication that human error played a part in the 1975 Lake Superior shipping tragedy in which 29 lives were lost.

“He’s not re-recording the song, but he has already changed a line for live performances,” a spokesperson for Lightfoot said Thursday. “He was pretty impressed by what he saw in the film, new evidence that unsecured hatch covers didn’t cause the ship to sink.”

The traditional verse goes: “When supper time came the old cook came on deck /Saying ‘Fellows 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.”

Lightfoot’s lyrics have now been changed to: “When supper time came the old cook came on deck /Saying ‘Fellows it’s too rough to feed ya’ /At 7 p.m. it grew dark, it was then/He said, ‘Fellas it's been good to know ya’,” Lightfoot’s spokesperson said.

“He may change it again, but this is the version that he’s doing in his concerts right now,” she said.

Lightfoot, currently on the road, was unavailable for comment.

A long-disputed marine casualty report conducted after the tragedy by the U.S. Coast Guard concluded that “improperly serviced” cargo hatches caused the giant ore carrier’s holds to flood.

In the Dive Detectives documentary, Mike and Warren Fletcher, a father-and-son diving team from Port Dover, Ont., present evidence that a 50-foot rogue wave was the real cause of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Subject: DT Correction: Edmund Fitzgerald(Gordon Lightfoot)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 10 Nov 22 - 10:55 PM

Here are the Digital Tradition lyrics for Gordon Lightfoot's song. On the right side, I'll post them again with corrections I hear from the original Lightfoot recording.

THE EDMUND FITZGERALD (DT Lyrics) (Gordon Lightfoot) The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down Of the big lake they call Gitchigumi The lady, it's 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 crew 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 Wisconson As the big freighters go it was bigger than most With a crew and the 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 ships bell rang Could it be the North Wind they'd been feeling. The wind in the wires made a tattletale sound When the wave broke over the whaling And every man knew, as the Captain did, too, T'was the witch of November come stealing. The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait When the gales of November came slashing When afternoon came it was freezing rain In the face of a hurricane West Wind When supper time came the old cook came on deck Saying fellows it's too rough to feed ya At 7PM the main hatchway gave in He said fellas it's been good to know ya. The Captain wired in he had water coming 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 words turn the minutes to hours The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay If they'd fifteen more miles behind her. They might have split up or they might have capsized They may have gulfed 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 ruins of her ice water mansion Ole 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 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, 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 Gitchigumi Superior, they say, never gives up her dead When the gales of November come early.

THE WRECK OF THE EDMUND FITZGERALD (corrections in italics) (Gordon Lightfoot) The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down Of the big lake they call Gitchigumi 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 crew 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 the 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 feeling? The wind in the wires made a tattletale sound When the wave broke over the railing. And every man knew, as the Captain did, too, T'was the witch of November come stealing. The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait When the gales of November came slashing When afternoon came it was freezing rain In the face of a hurricane west wind When suppertime came the old cook came on deck Saying fellows, it's too rough to feed ya At 7PM the main hatchway gave in* He said fellas it's been good to know ya. The Captain wired in, he had water coming 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 words 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 gulfed 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 ruins of her ice water mansion Ole 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 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, 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 Gitchigumi Superior, they said, never gives up her dead When the gales of November come early. *later, Lightfoot changed it to "At 7 p.m. it grew dark, it was then"

Copyright Warner Brothers, Inc.
@sailor @wreck
filename[ EDMFITZ
DC

Popup Midi Player

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Original Lightfoot recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgphyofnzTQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuzTkGyxkYI

Live performance, April 2000: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3x2vcergP0

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: New words for Edmund Fitzgerald
From: GUEST,999
Date: 02 Feb 13 - 01:24 PM

It was mentioned two years ago on Mudcat that GL intended to change the line soon as he found out about the 'mistake'. He did. Thanks for posting it.

Subject: Lyr Add: New words for Edmund Fitzgerald
From: SaltyWalt
Date: 02 Feb 13 - 01:09 PM

From Gordon Lightfoot's Website:
RE: The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald

In 2010, Lightfoot changed one line in the lyrics of the song as a result of recent findings that it was waves and not crew error that lead to the shipwreck. See the lyric change below:

When suppertime came the old cook came on deck sayin'.

"Fellas, it's too rough t'feed ya."
At seven P.M. a main hatchway caved in; he said,

(*2010 lyric change: At 7 p.m., it grew dark, it was then he said,)

"Fellas, it's bin 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 'is lights went outta sight
came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
__________________

I was looking for the changed Lyric to send to a friend who performs the song regularly, and went to Mudcat first.
I was surprised that I found it nowhere here.
Usually EVERYONE here has on opinion about ED Fitz!

There are a lot of different opinions about authorship and the folk process.Whether or not writers can go back and tinker and interfere with nature's flow (which version of "The Derelict" -Dead Man's Chest- do YOU favor?) vs our right as performers to choose the words commin' outta our mouths.

He made this change over 2 years ago, yet there is no comment here.

I must say I think the original line has much more powerful imagery, and certainly doesn't scream "crew error", but he feels it does, and that should be considered. Remember the crew's families still get to hear the song, and he does try to be respectful to them.

Shall we write our own new line?
One sprang to my mind instantly that scanned well and evaporated by the time I had written this far.

Thoughts?
Comments?

I just figured this info needed to be on the 'Cat.

-SW