<Table> <Tr> <Td> "Rainy Day People" (1975) </Td> <Td> "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" (1976) </Td> <Td> "Race Among the Ruins" (1976) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> "Rainy Day People" (1975) </Td> <Td> "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" (1976) </Td> <Td> "Race Among the Ruins" (1976) </Td> </Tr> <P> "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" is a song written, composed, and performed by Canadian singer - songwriter Gordon Lightfoot to commemorate the sinking of the bulk carrier SS Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior on November 10, 1975 . Lightfoot drew his inspiration from Newsweek's article on the event, "The Cruelest Month", which it published in its November 24, 1975, issue . Lightfoot considers this song to be his finest work . </P> <P> Appearing originally on Lightfoot's 1976 album Summertime Dream, the single version hit number 1 in his native Canada (in the RPM national singles survey) on November 20, 1976, barely a year after the disaster . In the United States, it reached number 1 in Cashbox and number 2 for two weeks in the Billboard Hot 100 (behind Rod Stewart's "Tonight's The Night"), making it Lightfoot's second-most - successful single behind "Sundown". Overseas it was at best a minor hit, peaking at number 40 in the UK Singles Chart . </P>

Who wrote the song wreck of the edmund fitzgerald