[Verse 1] The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down Of the big lake they called 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, twentysix 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 arly [Verse 2] The ship was the pride of th 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 And later that night when the ships bell rang Could it be the north wind theyd been feelin? [Verse 3] The wind in the wires made a tattletale sound And a wave broke over the railing And every man knew, as the captain did too It was the witch of November come stealing The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait When the Gales of November came slashin When afternoon came it was freezin rain In the face of a hurricane west wind When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck sayin Fellas, its too rough to feed ya At 7 PM, a main hatchway caved in, he said Fellas, its been good tknow 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 outta sight Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald [Verse 4] Does anyone know where the love of god goes When the waves turn the minutes to hours? The searches all say theyd have made Whitefish Bay If theyd 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 icewater mansion Old Michigan steams like a young mans dreams The islands and bays are for sportsmen [Verse 5] 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 twentynine 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
november, lake, gale, edmund, fitzgerald