# Daddy was a cop...on the East Side... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 27, 2000, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-was-a-cop-on-the-east-side/14186 "2000-02-27T03:56:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2000, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-was-a-cop-on-the-east-side/14186/1 "2000-02-27T03:56:00Z")
…of Chicago. Someone tell me, what exactly happened “The Night Chicago Died”. Details! Details! (not really details about the song, but about the actual night) Zette (trying to expand my knowledge) * * * Love is like popsicles…you get too much you get too high. Not enough and you’re gonna die… [Zettecity](http://www.angelfire.com/ny3/zettecity/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2000, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-was-a-cop-on-the-east-side/14186/2 "2000-02-27T04:29:00Z")
> [@](#): > > (trying to expand my knowledge) Not answering your question, but my mother (from near Chicago) always complained that there was _no_ **East** side of Chicago. It would be in Lake Michigan. In the movie “The Untouchables”, Capone got sent away for tax evation, not after some gun battle. Who you gonna believe, some 3 minute Top 40 song, or a Major Hollywood Motion Picture? With Sean Connery, no less! 🙂 * * * _It is too clear, and so it is hard to see._ ---
**Author:** ![Bluepony](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Bluepony](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bluepony)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2000, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-was-a-cop-on-the-east-side/14186/3 "2000-02-27T04:30:00Z")
Thanks, Zette, now I have another “One-Shot Hit From Hell” running through my head. \*…the night Chicago died… …na…na…na…NA…NA…NA…na…na…na…Chicago died…\* Oh God, please shoot me now. * * * _…send lawyers, guns, and money…_ ``` Warren Zevon ``` ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2000, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-was-a-cop-on-the-east-side/14186/4 "2000-02-27T04:36:00Z")
Sorry Blue…how about this one?? “Oh, We got a great big convoy- truckin’ thru the night” “We got a great big convoy, ain’t she a beautiful sight? Come on, join our convoy, ain’t nothin’ gonna stand in our way! We’re gonna roll this truckin’ convoy- 'cross the USA… Convoooooooooooy” Your welcome Zette * * * Love is like popsicles…you get too much you get too high. Not enough and you’re gonna die… [Zettecity](http://www.angelfire.com/ny3/zettecity/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2000, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-was-a-cop-on-the-east-side/14186/5 "2000-02-27T04:47:00Z")
Zette, expanding on your Chicago theme, you are now dead meat, canned meat based by-products and assorted insect parts. I had completely forgotten that song, and now I’m idiotically humming the refrain (“nyuahnna-nadda-dadda!”) I don’t _know_ what the song referred to because I can’t get beyond that &@$%^@# refrain. I can, however, sing you all the endless stanzas of “The wreck of the ‘Edmund Fitzgerald’” and discuss the most likely ways the ship was lost. Of course my singing sounds like a scalded cat, but at least the song relates to one of the Great Lakes. (Get that song _out of my head_) Veb ---
**Author:** ![tbea925](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@tbea925](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tbea925)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2000, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-was-a-cop-on-the-east-side/14186/6 "2000-02-27T05:16:00Z")
“Juuuuust sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, A tale of a fateful trip…” “In aiteen fawrteen we took a little trip…” “Oh Mandy, you came and you gave without taking, But I sent you away, Oh Mandy” Hey, all together now… “All of them had hair of gold, like their mother, The youngest one in curls…” * * * This sig not Y2K compliant. Happy 1900. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2000, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-was-a-cop-on-the-east-side/14186/7 "2000-02-27T06:33:00Z")
And I-yi-yi-yi-yi will al-ways love you-oo-oo-ooooooooooooo It was an itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polka dot bikini, that she wore for the first time that day, an itsy bitsy yech now I gotta puke ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2000, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-was-a-cop-on-the-east-side/14186/8 "2000-02-27T06:38:00Z")
Damn you hijackers! Damn you all! Zette (still hoping for an answer to her OP) * * * Love is like popsicles…you get too much you get too high. Not enough and you’re gonna die… [Zettecity](http://www.angelfire.com/ny3/zettecity/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Bluepony](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Bluepony](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bluepony)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2000, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-was-a-cop-on-the-east-side/14186/9 "2000-02-27T07:24:00Z")
Zees thread, ees now hijacked! We go anywhere, anywhere but Shee-cago!! Also, por favor, drop the chalupas!! ``` The Taco Bell Threadjacking Dog, *Living Mi Vida Loca* ``` * * * _…send lawyers, guns, and money…_ ``` Warren Zevon ``` ---
**Author:** ![Milossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Milossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milossarian)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2000, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-was-a-cop-on-the-east-side/14186/10 "2000-02-27T16:38:00Z")
I’m blue rabba-dee-da dee-dah, dee-dah-dah dee-di-dee-dah, rabba-dee-da dee-dah. * * * “You should tell the truth, expose the lies and live in the moment.” - Bill Hicks ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2000, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-was-a-cop-on-the-east-side/14186/11 "2000-02-27T16:58:00Z")
As others have noted, “The Night Chicago Died” is completely fictional, written by a couple of British lads who had watched one too many gangster movies. In 1974, at the time the song was making its way to #1 on the U.S. charts, the group (Paper Lace) contacted mayor Daley, and in all innocence asked if he was interested in promoting some sort of tie-in. His Honor’s scathing reply included the phrase “Are you nuts?” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2000, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-was-a-cop-on-the-east-side/14186/12 "2000-02-27T17:11:00Z")
Mayor Daley’s reply also invited the group to “jump in the Chicago River, placing your head under water three times and surfacing twice.” Admittedly, Hizzoner was a harsh music critic but we are talking about the band that wrote both _The Night Chicago Died_ and _Billy, Don’t Be a Hero_, so you have to see his point. ---
**Author:** ![NickyLarson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b2d939/32.png) [@NickyLarson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NickyLarson)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2000, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-was-a-cop-on-the-east-side/14186/13 "2000-02-27T17:19:00Z")
‘Convoy’!!! I L-o-o-o-o-o-o-ove Bill Shatners new version! Is it available in stores? * * * “I drive way too fast to worry about my cholesterol.” ---
**Author:** ![Gilligan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Gilligan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gilligan)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2000, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-was-a-cop-on-the-east-side/14186/14 "2000-02-27T17:22:00Z")
Heeeeeeeey Macarena! ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2000, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-was-a-cop-on-the-east-side/14186/15 "2000-02-27T20:55:00Z")
“It’s a small word after all…” ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2000, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-was-a-cop-on-the-east-side/14186/16 "2000-02-27T21:30:00Z")
Ah, good ol’ crusty Hizzoner Daley! Well at least Paper Lace (don’t hear much from 'em anymore, do we?) were lucky they didn’t choose a fictional “The Day Cleveland Died”. The poor Brits could have been invited to hold their heads under a burning river. Bad case of brain velcro you commited here, Zette. Now we’re all reduced to zombies humming inane pop tunes and visualizing Bluepony as a renegade Chihuahua. But hey, wonder if any desperate grad student ever considered a thesis about “Pop history as reflected in pop music”. Snoopy and the Red Baron, the donkey/miner Timothy suffering paradigm shift into food source… Zette, you’re onto something here. Dissertation topic and expert ::splort:: advice for sale. Veb ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2000, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-was-a-cop-on-the-east-side/14186/17 "2000-03-01T13:21:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Little Nemo: > **Mayor Daley’s reply also invited the group to “jump in the Chicago River, placing your head under water three times and surfacing twice.” Admittedly, Hizzoner was a harsh music critic but we are talking about the band that wrote both _The Night Chicago Died_ and _Billy, Don’t Be a Hero_, so you have to see his point.** Credit where credit is due: Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods did a cover version of _Billy, Don’t Be a Hero_ which was, shall we say, slightly more successful than Paper Lace’s try. Paper Lace barely charted with theirs, while Bo’s went all the way to #1 in the spring of 1974, when I was ten years old. You may remember Bo’s band as being regulars on Dick Clark’s TV show Action 73. - Rick ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2000, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daddy-was-a-cop-on-the-east-side/14186/18 "2000-03-01T13:54:00Z")
Timothy was a donkey? I always thought the song was about cannibalism? Everybody was kung-fu fighting… We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun… Whyyyyyy - Em - Cee - AY! I’m… too sexy for this…