Monroe musician Tom Treece watched Gordon Lightfoot record ‘Edmund Fitzgerald’

After returning from the Vietnam War, Tom Treece joined a band named Brussel Sprout.

One winter night in 1976, the Brussel Sprout band members were in Canada to record their first album when they met a music legend.

Gordon Lightfoot and his band also were recording at Toronto’s Eastern Sound Studio. Thanks to a game room with a back entrance, Treece got to watch the famed Canadian folk singer/songwriter record his hit song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” Lightfoot died earlier this month at age 84. His famous song recounts the November 1975 sinking of the freighter the SS Edmund Fitzgerald during a storm on Lake Superior. All 29 men aboard died.

“Gordon Lightfoot was in the studio, just finishing the ‘Summertime Dream’ LP,” Treece, of Monroe, recalled. “He didn’t have enough time to finish the last song and asked us if we would consider letting him buy one day of our reserved time in the studio. Instead of letting him buy it, we asked if he could play on one of our songs as a guest artist.”

Lightfoot never sang on the Brussel Sprout’s album, but Treece witnessed music history that night.

“The rest of my band left. I stuck around and snuck into a side room. There was a game room all the artists waited in to record. I hung out there. It was dark, and nobody was around at all. I sat there silently. It was late in the evening,” Treece said.

Then, Lightfoot entered the recording room.

“I was 10 or 12 feet away from him. He didn’t know I was there. He would have kicked me right out of there. He was adamant, nobody in the studio. He turned out all the lights in the studio and got as far away from the glass as he could be. Just the overhead light was shining down on his paper, where the lyrics were scribbled on. You couldn’t have scripted it better,” Treece recalled. “I was silently watching through the window as he recorded the song.”

Lightfoot sang the final version of the nearly six-minute “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” in just one take. Then, he noticed Treece.

“He showed me the ‘Time’ magazine and told me how he had written the song based on reading about the sinking of the ship. We had a half-hour discussion on that song. It was a wide-eyed young kid’s and songwriter’s dream to be able to sit there and just enjoy talking with one of the great songwriters of history,” Treece said.

Lightfoot even asked Treece to come to the band’s after-album party.

“He invited me to his house to hang out with him and his band,” Treece said. “There were gold records all over the walls and three grand pianos on the main floor. It was in downtown Toronto and was a mansion. It was just a magical time for me.”

The next day, back in the studio, Lightfoot played “Summertime Dream” for the Brussel Sprout band members and asked them which single he should release first to radio stations.

“The others said, ‘Summertime Dream,’ the title cut,” Treece said. “I was just enamored with ‘Edmund Fitzgerald.’ It was so haunting and so perfect. I said, ‘I think that’s the one.’ But it was long. Hit songs then were 3 minutes to 3 minutes, 20 seconds,” Treece said. “’Edmund Fitzgerald’ shouldn’t have been a hit."

Treece still enjoys hearing and singing Lightfoot's song.

“It was just a beautifully recorded and produced song. It certainly was one of his great songs and a real classic. It’s stood the test of time. It still gets played. I still get requests to play it,” Treece said.

Three weeks after the Lightfoot encounter, Brussel Sprout recorded its first and only self-titled album. The seven-man band also included fellow Monroe residents Roger Manning, who sang and played harp, and John Vass, who sang and played drums. Treece sang and played rhythm guitar.

“We toured coast to coast and in Canada. It was a great experience. We wrote all our own music. I just loved it. We got a recording contract with MCA Records. Our labelmates were Lynyrd Skynyrd, Elton John, Conway Twitty,” Treece said. “But our music never caught on. It was ahead of its time.”

Treece and his wife, Renee, went to several Lightfoot concerts through the years. Their last one was about six years ago in Toledo. Treece said Lightfoot didn’t seem well then.

“He was not in good shape. That he was able to continue playing at an advanced age and condition kind of shocked me. But he got up on that stage and cranked them out. We were able to go backstage and connect with him. I tried to remind him of our time together. He didn’t even remember it. He just wasn’t in a condition to remember it. He signed Renee’s shirt; she was all excited,” Treece said. “He sure loved singing and performing his songs. I think he couldn’t quit. It was in his blood, in his soul. I could almost see him doing what I want, having a heart attack and dying on stage doing what I love doing.”

About a year ago, Treece got a book in mail. It was a biography on Lightfoot. The author found Treece’s 2006 Monroe News column about meeting the music legend.

“He found my column online and used an excerpt in the book. He sent me an autographed copy. It said, ‘Tom, in appreciation for our shared stories about this amazing man,’” Treece said. “I was honored that he used some of my writing to describe Lightfoot in his book.”

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Tom Treece watched Gordon Lightfoot record ‘Edmund Fitzgerald’