The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Gordon Lightfoot

Gordon Lightfoot
Summertime Dream
1976

Many, many people requested this tune over the past
2 years, so I finally bought Gord's Gold II and figured
it out.  It's really easy, as you can see.  The electric
riffs are not included.  Lyrics by Scott Short.

Chords

Capo 2nd

INTRO:

|          |           |          |
A          Em     D/F# G          A
A          D           A          A


    A                        Em
The legend lives on from the Chippewa down
D/F#   G             D          A
Of the big lake they call Gitchegumee
    A                     Em
The lake it is said never gives up her dead
D/F#     G        D             A
When the skies of November turn gloomy
       A                           Em
With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more
D/F#     G          D              A
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
     A                       Em
That big ship and true was a bone to be chewed
D/F#     G          D           A
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
And later that night when the ship's bell rang
Could it be the north wind they'd been feelin'

|          |           |          |
A          Em     D/F# G          A
A          A           


The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound
And a wave broke over the railing
And every man knew as the captain did too
T'was 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 freezin' rain
In the face of a hurricane west wind

|          |           |          |
A          Em     D/F# G          A
D          D           A          A


When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck sayin'
"Fellas it's too rough to feed ya"
At seven PM 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 its lights went outta sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

|          |           |          |
A          Em     D/F# G          A
D          D           A          A


Does any one 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
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

|          |           |          |
A          Em     D/F# G          A
D          D           A          A


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

|          |           |          |
A          Em     D/F# G          A
D          D           A          A
A          Em     D/F# G          A
D          D           A          A


In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed
In the maritime sailors' cathedral
The church bell chimed till it rang twenty-nine times
For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald
The legend lives on from the Chippewa down
Of the big lake they call Gitchegumee
"Superior" they said "never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early"

|          |           |          |
A          Em     D/F# G          A
D          D           A          A
A          Em     D/F# G          A
D          D           A          end on A


CHORDS:

D/F#	200232 (thumb on 6th string)

For other chords, go to my beginner's guide to chords.
To learn why slash chords are named this way, check out Dansm's Guitar Chord Theory.