"The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald is a 1976 hit 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. Lightfoot considers this song to be his finest work. Appearing originally on Lightfoot's 1976 album Summertime Dream, the single version hit number 1 in his native Canada (in the RPM national singles survey) on November 20, 1976, barely a year after the disaster. In the United States, it reached number 1 in Cashbox and number 2 for two weeks in the Billboard Hot 100 (behind Rod Stewart's "Tonight's the Night"), making it Lightfoot's second-most-successful single, behind only "Sundown". Overseas it was at best a minor hit, peaking at number 40 in the UK Singles Chart. Lightfoot re-recorded the song in 1988 for the compilation album Gord's Gold, Vol. 2. Lyrics The song contains a few artistic omissions and paraphrases. In a later interview aired on Canadian commercial radio, Lightfoot recounted how he had agonised over possible inaccuracies while trying to pen the lyrics 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". Lightfoot's passion for recreational sailing on the Great Lakes informs his ballad's verses throughout. Deviations from the facts of the incident include: According to the song, Edmund Fitzgerald was bound "fully loaded for Cleveland". In fact, the ship was heading for Zug Island, near Detroit, where it was set to discharge its cargo of taconite iron ore pellets before heading on to Cleveland, her home port, to wait out the winter. The Edmund Fitzgerald was not "coming back from some mill in Wisconsin." Lake freighters that carry bulk iron ore are loaded at ore docks, not mills. Capt. Ernest McSorley had stated in his last radio transmission before the ship sank that he and the crew were "holding our own", not as the lyrics of the song quote that they had "water coming in," although he did communicate the ship was taking on water several hours earlier. The song mentions several of the possible causes of sinking, and while there is still debate about the cause, exploration of the