Like a lot of people, I’ve always been strangely drawn to The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot.

I knew it was about a boat going under in Lake Superior with many deaths. I never listened closely to the lyrics while enjoying the song.

An anniversary of the sinking has drawn lots of attention to the event and the song.

A book is out, Gales of November, details the horrible storm and some reasons why it might have sunk.

The book also goes into detail about how the Lightfoot song has kept interest alive.

What is fascinating is how much Lightfoot cared about the song doing no harm to family and friends of survivors of the 31 dead. And all the care he put into the lyrics. He even changed some lyrics because of suggestions from the families. He never wanted to capitalize on their deaths, He wanted to honor them.

Aftert he book I went back and listened carefully to the words.

What a song for the ages.