On paper, it should never have been a hit record. But despite the odds stacked against it — the 6-minute length, the somber subject matter, the last-minute recording session — “The Wreck of the Edmund ...

So often it’s a girl — in this case, one named Beth, who Eric Elison was sweet on in high school and introduced him to Gordon Lightfoot before the 1974 “Sundown” album came out. “We went to her house ...