Superior, they said, never gives up her dead
They might have split up or they might have capsized
They may have broke deep and took water
Does any one know where the love of God goes
And every man knew, as the captain did too
Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams
The islands and bays are for sportsmen
And farther below lake Ontario
In the rooms of her ice-water mansion
When supper time came, the old cook came on deck sayin'
Concluding some terms with a couple steel firms
The church bell chimed till it rang twenty-nine times
The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound
That good ship and crew was a bone to be chewed
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
When the gales of November came early
With a crew and good captain well seasoned
And later that night when the ship's bell rang
For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald
Coming back from some mill in Wisconsin
At seven pm a main hatchway caved in, he said
Lake Huron rolls, superior sings
And later that night when his lights went outta sight
And the good ship and crew was in peril
The ship was the pride of the American side
With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more
The iron boats go as the mariners all know
T'was the witch of November come stealin'
When the waves turn the minutes to hours?
Could it be the north wind they'd been feelin'?
If they'd put fifteen more miles behind her
When afternoon came it was freezin' rain
Fellas, it's too rough to feed ya
With the gales of November remembered
And all that remains is the faces and the names
The searches all say they'd have made whitefish bay
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
In the maritime sailors' cathedral
As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November came slashin'
Of the big lake they call 'Gitche Gumee'
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
The captain wired in he had water comin' in
When the skies of November turn gloomy
When a wave broke over the railing
Fellas, it's been good t'know ya
Takes in what lake Erie can send her
In the face of a hurricane west wind
When they left fully loaded for Cleveland
In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters
