Melody for "Wreck"

[loveandmaplesyrup]

Hey, has anyone heard that Gord didn't write the melody for "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald?"

It came as news to me! I was looking up some old articles of Gord and I came across this link to a band called Hip. They were talking about picking up some hitchhikers in their tour bus while they were in Ireland and "Wreck" came over the radio.

The hitchers were shocked to hear it and claimed the music was an old Derry folk tune which had been sung by prisoners on the chain gang there.

Has anyone heard this? I know, it's the first I have. As far as I know, Gord's never said anything about it.

I can copy the article in here if anyone wants to read it. It's just a short clip.

LAMS

[vlmagee]

The band in question is The Rheostatics, who have recorded Wreck. The claim is at a Rheostatics web site, but has supposedly been retracted and said to be "just a joke". Reportedly, someone in the band yells out "Take Me Back To Derry" during a live performance of Wreck. I can't say if that's true, as I can't hear it in the mp3 someone sent me.

Needless-to-say (I hope), the claim is untrue and the joke not very funny. The song was recorded by Christy Moore on his 1984 album Ride On. It is credited to Bobby Sands (lyrics) and Gordon Lightfoot (music). Bobby Sands was the Irish hunger striker. Why the claim is still at the web site is beyond me. Among other things, Back Home In Derry was written and recorded well after Wreck.

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Valerie Magee

[loveandmaplesyrup]

WHEW! Thanks for clearing THAT up. The last thing Gord needs right now is for someone to accuse him of plagiarism!!! I think that band should be made to apologize publicly.

I didn't think it was true because he always seems very careful to give everyone credit who deserves it. He didn't write the music to "Anything For Love" and he gave David Foster full credit. He's very ethical about that. He is so talented and such a beautiful songwriter, he doesn't have to steal anyone else's stuff.

That article is not at the band's website. It's at the Looksmart.com website under Gordon Lightfoot. It's just a little link called "Little Known Bits." Perhaps they should take it away. And you're right. It WASN'T a very funny joke.

LAMS

[Auburn Annie]

I don't know what it is about this group and Wreck but in an article in today's Sudbury Star (9/4) by Lara Bradley on the Rheostatics, she has a line that reads: "On its Melville album, the band did its own version of The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald, a Gordon Lightfoot classic, although not written by him."

Aauugghhh!

Needless to say I dropped the paper a line to assure them that yes, indeed, Gord wrote it - check the copyright. Jeez Louise it's the thing that won't die. Sneaky, insinuous and while WE know who wrote what, very misleading to the less well-informed, the (literally) careless who don't know Arthur Miller from Arthur Murray and don't see why it matters anyway. Grrrr.

P.S. Here's the link - for however long it stays up: http://www.thesudburystar.com/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=42358&catname=Life

[This message has been edited by Auburn Annie (edited September 04, 2003).]