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Music matters

One week ago, today, Nov. 10, was the 30th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. At the Mariners' Church of Detroit 29 names were read, each echoed by the tolling of a bell to memorialize the crew members who were lost in a vicious storm on Lake Superior.

Of course, the reason many of us know about the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald is because of the six-and-a-half minute Gordon Lightfoot song of the same name. The single reached No. 2 on the charts in November 1976.

Why am I writing this in the NBC Nightly News blog? Because it's an opportunity to remind folks that journalists are people, too.

No, really.

This newsroom buzzed about "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" all day. We considered running an item in our broadcast about the memorial service in Detroit. (It was deleted for time.) But mostly we spoke of Gordon Lightfoot and his greatest hits collections (called "Gord's Gold, vol. I & II"), and we tried to name his other beloved hits (including "If You Could Read My Mind" and "Sundown"), and we discussed whether he was Canadian (he is), and someone thought he might have died (indeed, he recently survived a near terminal illness described as an "abdominal aneurysm").

So while this is a serious business -- now, more than ever -- pop culture enters our editorial meetings just as it would in the water cooler conversations taking place in offices of all kinds across America.

Remember, our Anchor/Managing Editor is a dad and has an iPod and a brother who makes him mix CDs. He has terrific and varied tastes with a weakness for Mark Knopfler guitar solos. Our Executive Producer has a Beatles screen saver. Both our News President and our Senior Producer (in charge of serious matters like "The Fleecing of America") could talk endlessly about the liner notes from their favorite Frank Zappa CDs. (Yes, I have discussed "Hot Rats" with both of them.)

Another of our Senior Producers -- this one in charge of all things foreign -- spends much of her time these days supervising stories out of the Middle East. But she has strong Texas roots, leading her to listen to lots of America's best music from the southwest, great bands like the Flatlanders. (If you've never heard their first album, "More a Legend Than a Band,"you're missing out on an extraordinary collection of truly American songs.)

It was a busy news day late last year when "Rolling Stone" released their issue listing the "500 Greatest Songs Of All Time." But, boy, did we find the time to debate their findings. The newsroom was filled with vigorous votes for "Johnny B. Goode" and "Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay." Serious music fan Tom Brokaw was floored that "American Pie" was nowhere to be found. By the way, "Rolling Stone" chose Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" as number one -- and as far as THIS music snob is concerned: they got it right.

In a world at war, a year when Mother Nature continues to remind us of her awesome power, when gas prices are too high and polls show confidence in our government is too low -- thank goodness for the welcome presence and distraction of pop music and pop culture in general.

By the way, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" did NOT make The "Rolling Stone" top 500. That is all wrong.

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