...And now that I think of it, the station playing it was actually WBOQ based on the North Shore of Boston, and they followed it with their jingle: “We play your good time
favorites/North Shore 104.9”! And I thought, yeah, a “good time” song about 29 dying on a ship?
A friend of mine years ago was taking an overnight ferry from Ireland to France. There were rough seas and the cattle down in the hold were bellowing. In the ship’s lounge, they had a singer with a guitar. My friend requested “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” The singer said, “You Americans always ask for that one.” But he did play it.