Video Clip
Lyrics
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
– Legenda vivit A Chippewa deorsum
Of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee
– De lacu magno Gitche Gumee appellaverunt
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
– Lacus, dicitur, numquam mortuum suum dat
When the skies of November turn gloomy
– Cum caelum novembris conversus tristis
With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more
– Ferro verniciato polvere viginti sex milia talentorum plus
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
– Quam Edmundus Fitzgerald vacuam appendit
That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
– Quod bonum et verum navis erat os ut rememorando secum
When the gales of November came early
– Idus novembres est quando hora fatalis advenit
The ship was the pride of the American side
– Navis erat superbia lateris Americani
Coming back from some mill in Wisconsin
– Regressus ab Aliquo Molendino In Wisconsin
As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most
– Ut magna suspendisse ut, erat maior quam plurimum
With a crew and good captain well seasoned
– Cum cantavit et bonum ducem bene conditum
Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
– Conclusio quaedam vocabula cum duobus firmis ferreis
When they left fully loaded for Cleveland
– Et quando aliquid defit mures Incursim fugat
And later that night when the ship’s bell rang
– Aquel porfiado que en toda aquesta noche
Could it be the north wind they’d been feelin’?
– Potest esse ventus septentrionalis quod youd ‘been sentiin’?
The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound
– Ventus in filis sonum tatle-tale fecit
And a wave broke over the railin’
– Unda autem super railin fregit’
And every man knew, as the captain did too
– Et omnis homo sciebat, sicut et princeps erat
‘Twas the witch of November come stealin’
– ‘Twas veni novembris pythonissam stealin’
The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
– Aurora sero venit et ientaculum exspectare debebat
When the gales of November came slashin’
– Idus novembres est slashin’
When afternoon came it was freezin’ rain
– Cum post meridiem venisset pluvia freezin erat
In the face of a hurricane west wind
– In faciem procellae occidentem ventus
When suppertime came the old cook came on deck sayin’
– Cum centurio venit vetus coquus in navi venit sayin’
“Fellas, it’s too rough to feed ya”
– “Fellas, suus’ quoque aspera ad vescendum ya”
At seven P.M. a main hatchway caved in, he said
– Egestate ad quaerendam sedem alpes transgressos, dixit
“Fellas, it’s been good to know ya”
– “Fellas, suus’ been scire bonum ya”
The captain wired in he had water comin’ in
– Dux wired in aquam comin habuit’ in
And the good ship and crew was in peril
– Et bona navis et nautae in periculo erant
And later that night when his lights went outta sight
– In secundo nocturno an apparuit luminaria eius
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
– Edmundi Fitzgeraldi naufragium venit
Does anyone know where the love of God goes
– Quis scit ubi amor Dei vadit
When the waves turn the minutes to hours?
– Cum fluctus minutas ad horas vertunt?
The searchers all say they’d have made Whitefish Bay
– Scrutatores omnes dicunt Se Sinus Albidos fecisse
If they’d put fifteen more miles behind her
– Si quindecim milia passuum post eam posuissent
They might have split up or they might have capsized
– Possent scindi vel subsedit
They may have broke deep and took water
– Altam fregerunt et aquam tulerunt
And all that remains is the faces and the names
– Et omne quod reliquum est facies et nomina
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters
– De uxoribus et filiis et filiabus
Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
– Lacus Huron rotulis, Superior cantat
In the rooms of her ice-water mansion
– In cubiculis eius mansionis glaciei aquae
Old Michigan steams like a young man’s dreams
– Vetus michigan vaporibus quasi iuvenis somnia
The islands and bays are for sportsmen
– Insulae et sinus sportsmen sunt
And farther below Lake Ontario
– Et longius infra Lacus Ontario
Takes in what Lake Erie can send her
– Suscipit In Quo Lacus Erie eam mittere potest
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
– Et naves ferreae ut nautae omnes sciunt
With the gales of November remembered
– Cum autem recordatus gales novembris
In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed
– In praetorium vetus putridum In Detroit oraverunt
In the Maritime Sailors’ Cathedral
– In Cathedrali Maritima Nautae
The church bell chimed till it rang twenty-nine times
– Ecclesia campana chimed donec viginti novem vicibus insonuit
For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald
– Unusquisque Enim In Edmundo Fitzgerald
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
– Legenda vivit A Chippewa deorsum
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
– De lacu magno Gitche Gumee vocant
Superior, they said, never gives up her dead
– Superius, dixerunt, numquam dederit ei mortuus est
When the gales of November come early
– A presto lo staff di unitek
