The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald Chords by Gordon Lightfoot

[Start]

[Intro]
B Bsus4 E Bsus4 E B
■ ■     ■ ■     ■ ■


[Verse]
                    F#7                      
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
A                         B           
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
                    F#7                    
The lake it is said never gives up her dead
A                          B          
When the skies of November turn gloomy
                        F#m7                        
With a load of iron ore twentysix thousand tons more
A                          B            
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
                        F#7                    
That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
A                 B                  
When the gales of November came early


[Chorus]
                       F#                  
The ship was the pride of the American side
A                             B        
Coming back from some mill in Wisconsin
                            F#m                 
As the big freighters go it was bigger than most
A                            B            
With a crew and good captain well seasoned
                F#                                
Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
A                           B            
When they left fully loaded for Cleveland
                     F#m                      
And later that night when the ship's bell rang
A                                 B           
Could it be the north wind they'd been feelin'
Bsus4 B E Bsus4 B
■     ■ ■ ■     ■


[Verse]
                F#m                          
The wind in the wires made a tattletale sound
A                B               
And a wave broke over the railing
                   F#                    
And every man knew as the captain did too
A                  B                     
T'was the witch of November come stealin'


[Chorus]
                   F#m                          
The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
     A                     B            
When the gales of November came slashin'
                       F#7              
When afternoon came it was freezin' rain
A                B                  
In the face of a hurricane west wind


[Inst]
E B E B
■ ■ ■ ■


[Verse]
                         F#7                   A     
When suppertime came the old cook came on deck sayin'
                      B         
Fellas it's too rough to feed ya
              F#7                       A   
At seven PM a main hatchway caved in he said
                 B              
Fellas it's been good to know ya


[Chorus]
                        F#m7               
The captain wired in he had water comin' in
A                              B       
And the good ship and crew was in peril
                          F#m7                       
And later that night when his lights went outta sight
A                            B         
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald


[Solo]
E B B7 E B
■ ■ ■  ■ ■


[Verse]
                  F#7                       
Does any one know where the love of God goes
A                               B       
When the waves turn the minutes to hours
                             F#7                    
The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay
   A                       B               
If they'd put fifteen more miles behind her


[Chorus]
                            F#7                     
They might have split up or they might have capsized
A                            B         
They may have broke deep and took water
                     F#                        
And all that remains is the faces and the names
A                         B                
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters


[Inst]
E B E B E B
■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■


[Verse]
                 F#            
Lake Huron rolls Superior sings
A                   B               
In the rooms of her icewater mansion
                    F#7                      
Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams
A                    B                
The islands and bays are for sportsmen


[Chorus]
                  F#7         
And farther below Lake Ontario
A                       B           
Takes in what Lake Erie can send her
                      F#m                     
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
A                          B         
With the gales of November remembered


[Solo]
E B B7 Bsus4 B E B B7
■ ■ ■  ■     ■ ■ ■ ■ 
B E B
■ ■ ■


[Verse]
                       F#m                
In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed
A               B                 
In the maritime sailors' cathedral
                               F#                   
The church bell chimed 'til it rang twentynine times
    A                      B         
For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald


[Chorus]
                    F#                       
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
A                         B           
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
                   F#                     
Superior they said never gives up her dead
     A            F#                 
When the gales of November come early


[Outro]
B E B B7 B E B B7
■ ■ ■ ■  ■ ■ ■ ■ 
B Bsus4 B
■ ■     ■


[End]