A Disaster in Song, 1912

Singers and songwriters found different meanings in the loss of the Titanic. At first, many songs mourned the loss of the passengers and applauded the bravery of the crew. But as time went by, songs began to focus on a reckless captain, an arrogant shipping line, and cowardly passengers and crew. The wreck was a moral lesson, according to some, that pride ends in disaster and that the poor always suffer at the hands of the rich. These songs express some of the grief, pride, and outrage that the disaster inspired.