Robert, I’ve always thought that, too. It captures both the essence of the story itself and the musical tradition it honors.

The song’s one of Lightfoot’s better productions, which is saying something for a song which is all verses, with neither chorus nor bridge. it shoud be monotonous as, but the orchestration and dynamics are pitch-perfect and shape the movement of story and emotion beautifully.

Robert, I thought of that song while I was writing this post, especially since last year was the 50th anniversary of that shipwreck. There was so much to say and so little space. I’m glad you brought it up.

It took restraint on my part not to write a reply here that resembled a whole other blog post, but you can look up how the Aerial Lift Bridge and ships passing through remember the Edmund Fitzgerald and its lost crew on each annual anniversary of its loss (November 10th).

Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
in the rooms of her ice-water mansion

Kristina, your comment about the wrong side of the river reminded me of waiting out a freight train at a railway stop.

The lakers are so different from what I see in my waterways. They’re unique to your part of the country, and I’m glad I had the opportunity to experience them.

When I worked my last job, the river was deep enough, and the town industrial enough, that the lake freighters could sail right through town. The scale of those freighters against the modest brick buildings of a small Michigan city was wild. Woe upon you if you were caught on the wrong side of the river when a freighter was going through.