50 Years Ago

These days I tend to spend a bit of time scrolling through Facebook videos.  Most of them I pass by very quickly, occasionally I watch one to the end, at times I learn something new, and quite often the video brings up an old memory.  That happened today.

Most of us probably don’t remember 50 years ago, on November 10, 1975, the sinking of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald.  The event didn’t get much news coverage, even though it was a significant event for the 29 men who lost their lives during a fierce storm on Lake Superior. 

A year later Gordon Lightfoot released his hit song, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”  With this week being the 50^th anniversary of the event a bunch of reels are showing up on Facebook, and instantly my memory of Gordon Lightfoot came back full force.

I’m sitting, cross-legged on the basketball court at the University of Alaska’s Fairbanks campus gym.  I’m surrounded by about 20 other people my age, watching with awe, Gordon Lightfoot, strumming his guitar and singing song, after song.

It was an impromptu, small gathering, free concert.  I don’t remember how I and a couple of friends learned of the event, but somehow, we ended up there.  The story I remember was Lightfoot was flying from Japan to the US and he had a couple of hours layover in Fairbanks.  I guess he was bored and needed something to do.

The concert lasted about 45 minutes.  It was up close and very personal.  He was like a good friend enjoying playing for his buddies.  The group was passing around ‘joints’ and bottles of wine.  It was a very relaxed concert.

This event took place before the sinking of the Fitzgerald, so we didn’t hear that song, but after that evening I was forever a Lightfoot fan.  I remember hearing of his passing on May 1, 2023 and thinking, “Thanks for the memories.”

And the one song of his that I always go to is "The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald."