50 years ago, the Edmund Fitzgerald, a 'rock star' ship, sank in Lake Superior

50 years ago, the Edmund Fitzgerald, a 'rock star' ship, sank in Lake Superior

Neda Ulaby

November 06, 2025 / 10:59 am

No one was more surprised than Gordon Lightfoot when his ballad "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" became one of the biggest hits of 1976, less than a year after the disaster it commemorates. The Canadian musician had agonized over writing the song in the first place.

"He feared being inaccurate, corny or worse, appearing to exploit a tragedy for profit," writes John U. Bacon in his new bestseller, The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald . "But more than that, as a fellow sailor and a child of the Great Lakes … this song — whatever it was — was deeply personal."

The success of Lightfoot's song elevated the Edmund Fitzgerald's place in