The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald Chords by Gordon Lightfoot

[Start]

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


[Verse]
                    F#m                      
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
A                           B           
Of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee
                    F#m                    
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                          Bsus4   B    
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
                        F#m                    
That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
A                          B         
When the gales of November came early


[Chorus]
                       F#m                 
The ship was the pride of the American side
A                             B        
Coming back from some mill in Wisconsin
                            F#m7                
As the big freighters go it was bigger than most
A                            B            
With a crew and good captain well seasoned
                      F#m                         
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            Bsus4 E
Could it be the north wind they'd been feelin' ■     ■


[Verse]
B                       F#m                    
■ The wind in the wires made a tattletale sound
A                B               
And a wave broke over the railing
                   F#m                   
And every man knew as the captain did too
A                           B            
T'was the witch of November come stealin'
                   F#m                          
The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
A                          B            
When the gales of November came slashin'
                       F#m              
When afternoon came it was freezin' rain
A                B                  
In the face of a hurricane west wind


[Inst]
Bsus4 B Bsus4 E Bsus4 B
■     ■ ■     ■ ■     ■


[Verse]
                         F#m                   A     
When suppertime came the old cook came on deck sayin'
                      B         
Fellas it's too rough to feed ya
              F#m                       A   
At seven PM a main hatchway caved in he said
                 B            F#sus4 B
Fellas it's been good to know ya     ■
                        F#m                
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
F#m            A             B         
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald


[Solo]
Bsus4 E B Bsus4 E B F#sus4 B
■     ■ ■ ■     ■ ■ ■      ■


[Verse]
                  F#m                       
Does any one know where the love of God goes
A                               B       
When the waves turn the minutes to hours
                             F#m7                   
The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay
   F#m        A            B               
If they'd put fifteen more miles behind her


[Chorus]
                            F#m7                    
They might have split up or they might have capsized
A                            B         
They may have broke deep and took water
                     F#m                       
And all that remains is the faces and the names
A                             B            
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters


[Inst]
Bsus4 E B Bsus4 B
■     ■ ■ ■     ■


[Verse]
                 F#m           
Lake Huron rolls Superior sings
A                   B               
In the rooms of her icewater mansion
                    F#m                      
Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams
A                        B            
The islands and bays are for sportsmen
                  F#m         
And farther below Lake Ontario
A                       B           
Takes in what Lake Erie can send her
                      F#sus4          F#m     
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
A                          B         
With the gales of November remembered


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


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


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


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