March 20, 2002     

NOTE FROM JEFF:

Gordon Lightfoot’s “The Wreck of the Edmund
Fitzgerald” is a good, but interminably long and
depressing, folk song about a commercial ship that
sank in Lake Superior during a horrible storm in
1975, killing all 29 crew members.
(The storm, not the song.)
Lightfoot’s original is interesting, but I’ve
always wondered how other lyricists would
have tackled the (unfortunately true) story.

The Top 7 Verses from “The Wreck of the
Edmund Fitzgerald” as Written by Other Lyricists

7> Elton John:
Goodbye, Gitchee Gumee’s rose…
And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a freighter in the wind
Never knowing where to turn to
When that main hatchway caved in…

6> Paul Simon:
Well, I’m accustomed to a smooth ride
I’m a sailor, but I like to fight
Ain’t gonna be eatin’ that gruel no more
And just like ships that pass in the night
Some people say, “The miles, the miles, the miles”
But I say, “Gotta make the last fifteen miles”
“Gotta make the last fifteen miles.”

5> Willie Nelson:
I’m crazy
Crazy for sailing on this ship
Freezing
Freezing and turning so blue
I know we’re sinking straight down to the bottom
We’ll end up all covered with slime and fish poo.

4> Anthrax:
[Eight-bar intro]
IT SANK!
IT SANK!
IT SANK!
[Coda]

3> Lou Reed:
Workin’ for The Man, they were loadin’ up the oa-ah
Steamin’ out for Cleveland, as an economic whoa-ah
The wind blew up, they sank ‘n drowned, almost by-the-book
Man, this rusted freighter ain’t no place to be a cook.

2> Arlo Guthrie:
So I had to go sit in a musty old hall in Detroit, over on
the Group W bench in the Maritime Sailor’s Cathedral. Group
W’s the place where they put you if you may not be moral
enough to pray for the men on the Edmund Fitzgerald after
committing your special crime… The Sergeant came over and
said, “Kids… thisherebellisgonnaring29timesonceforeachmanon
theEdmundFitzgerald” and he talked for forty-five minutes…

and the Number 1 Verse from “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”
as Written by Other Lyricists…

1> Sex Pistols:
God Save the Ship
This will be our last trip
Took too much orrre-on
An epic Lightfoot song!
God Save the Ship
I can’t swim, man
It’s gale force winds out
And Cleveland’s dreaming!
It’s been a lousy day
We can’t make Whitefish Bay
With fifteen miles to gooooo
We’re screeeewed!
Noooo shore leave
Noooo shore leave
Noooo shore leave for yoooouuuu!!

.

Credits:

Selected from 18 submissions from 7 contributors.
Today’s Top 5 List authors are:

Andy Grosser, Boston, MA — 1, 3, 6 (1st #1! Hat trick!)
Joseph Prisco, Ithaca, NY — 2
Jonathan P. Bernick, Conway, SC — 4, 7, RU list name
Fran Fruit, Winnetka, IL — 5
Mark H. Anbinder, Ithaca, NY — Topic
Lil Owens, Lorain OH — Banner Tag
Jeffrey Anbinder, New York, NY — Maestro