As I’m sure you know, Gordon Lightfoot died a week ago today. I was a little surprised by the impact his death seemed to have on people, especially here in the UP.
But you know what? I shouldn’t have been.
Gordon Lightfoot was a friend of the UP, performing here many times, starting with his first show in Marquette in the early ’70s to his final appearance in Ishpeming, just a couple of years ago.
Part of that was because of his talent and his approachability, and the other part was because of one song– “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”
Gordon Lightfoot took a Lake Superior tragedy–the last deadly shipwreck that occurred on the big lake–and turned it into art. Because of where the tragedy occurred and because people may have known or have been related to someone who died on the Fitz–it’s not a surprise that it touched many UP residents.
In fact, the listeners of the radio station where I work named it Upper Michigan’s favorite song of the past 50 years.
But what is surprising is how the rest of the world took to it.
“The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” should not have been a hit. During an era when three minute disco songs ruled the roost, it was a six minute folk song–a six minute historically accurate folk song–that tapped into something and ended up at number two on Billboard’s Hot 100.
He took an event that happened in our little part of the world, and shared it with the rest of the planet.
Because of that song, everyone is familiar with our big lake and how it can turn deadly in a second.
Because of that song, anyone who’s ever heard it now knows at least one word derived from the Ojibwe language.
And because of that song, the memories of the 29 crew members who died, memories that may only have been of interest to those of us who live near Lake Superior, have been kept alive for the entire world to honor.
So it’s probably not surprising just how Gordon Lightfoot’s passing affected the people of the UP. After all, it’s not every artist who can take a local tragedy, and turn it into art.
