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"The Wreck of the ''Edmund Fitzgerald''" is a song written, composed, and performed by Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot to commemorate the sinking of the bulk carrier SS ''Edmund Fitzgerald'' on Lake Superior on November 10, 1975. Lightfoot drew his inspiration from ''Newsweek'' article on the event, "The Cruelest Month," which it published in its November 24, 1975, issue.〔(【引用サイトリンク】publisher= Gordon Lightfoot )〕 Lightfoot considers this song to be his finest work. The ballad originally appeared on Lightfoot's 1976 album ''Summertime Dream,'' and he later released it as a single. The release hit #1 in his native Canada (on the ''RPM'' national singles survey) on November 20, 1976, almost exactly one year after the appearance of the article that inspired it. In the United States, the single hit #1 in ''Cashbox'' and #2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, making it Lightfoot's second-most-successful single behind "Sundown". "Edmund Fitzgerald" peaked at #40 in the UK Singles Chart. The song is written in Mixolydian mode. ==Artistic license== The song contains a few artistic omissions and paraphrases. In a later interview aired on Canadian commercial radio, Lightfoot recounted how he had agonised while trying to pen the lyrics over possible inaccuracies until Lenny Waronker, his long-time producer and friend, finally removed his writer's block simply by advising him to play to his artistic strengths and "just tell a story". On the other hand, Lightfoot's personal passion for recreational sailing on the Great Lakes〔(【引用サイトリンク】title= Excerpt from ''Yachting'' magazine, 1979, 'This Goose is Golden' )〕 informs his ballad's verses throughout. * According to the song, the ''Fitzgerald'' was bound "fully loaded for Cleveland". In fact she was heading for Detroit, there to discharge her cargo of taconite iron ore pellets before docking in Cleveland for the winter. * Capt. Ernest McSorley had stated in his last radio transmission before the boat sank that they were "holding our own." What the cook or any other crew member did or did not say will never be known. * The "old cook" in the song was actually a replacement for this particular voyage, as the normal cook was too ill to make this trip. * Lightfoot refers to Mariners' Church of Detroit as "The Maritime Sailors' Cathedral" in the lyrics. * Lightfoot says that the bell was rung 29 times, once for each crew member aboard the ship. Internet sources often incorrectly claim that the bell was also rung once more in honour of all people who had lost their lives at sea, for a total of 30 times. Reverend Richard W. Ingalls, Sr., rector of Mariners' Church, tolled the bell 29 times, not 30. The practice of tolling a bell an additional time for all lives lost at sea began in November 10 memorial services following 1975. * In a later live recording, Lightfoot recounts that a parishioner of the church informed him that the church is ''not'' "musty." From that time, instead of singing "In a musty old hall...", he now sings "In a rustic old hall..." * In March 2010, Lightfoot changed a line during live performances to reflect new findings that there was no crew error involved in the sinking. The line originally read, "At 7 p.m. a main hatchway caved in; he said..."; it is now sung as "At 7 p.m. it grew dark, it was then he said...". Lightfoot learned of the new research when contacted for permission to use his song for a History Channel documentary that aired on March 31, 2010. Lightfoot has stated that he has no intention of changing the copyrighted lyrics; he will instead, from now on, simply sing the new ones in live performances. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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