Regional thing for sure. Michigan is first and foremost a water state - we're a pair of peninsulas after all (Trivia!: Michigan has more coastline than California, Florida & Hawaii combined), so that song really embedded itself into the consciousness. If you weren't raised on the water like I was, you were at least within a short drive to one of the 'Big Lakes'. We've all been out fishing a few miles from shore and the lake has turned quickly enough to get that primal fear welling up in you. We've all been swimming and realized that we're 'too far out', or caught in a riptide, or undertow. We all had to partake in 'the chain', where the adults join hands in a row and walk out as far as they can into the water. Shit is scary. You develop a deep respect for the water and how things can change in an instant.
So lines like Superior never giving up her dead, the witch of November, and "Does any one know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours?" really do resonate with the natives. With reverence even. It's pretty much Michigan's unofficial state song.
So it goes.
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