Sunday, February 13, 2005

"The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"

As any proper folk music fan knows, the first ingredient of a good song is a good story. Usually you need star-crossed lovers, insurmountable obstacles, death and sacrifice. And a highwayman or two comes in useful too. But in the absence of those, a plain old shipwreck will do just fine. "When suppertime came the old cook came on deck, saying "Fellahs, it's too rough to feed ya/At seven p.m. a main hatchway gave in, he said "Fellahs, it's been good to know ya." But, as someone who's always loved the sea, the line that gets to me is "Does anyone know where the love of God goes/When the waves turn the minutes to hours?"

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The wreck of the Edmund Fitgerald happened in comparatively modern times. It was an ore carrier on one of the Great Lakes and there is a video documentary about it. Watching the happy people going onboard to their deaths is even more chilling than the weather.