# Historically inaccurate songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 16, 2011, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709 "2011-06-16T16:49:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/1 "2011-06-16T16:49:32Z")
Ballad of Billy the Kid - Billy Joel - Billy the Kid wasn’t hanged but shot by Pat Garrett. Indian Sunset - Eton John/Bernie Taupin - Geronimo died of pnumonia after a fall from a horse, not full of lead as he was laying down his weapons. What’s the matter with these writers? Couldn’t find words that rhymed? Any (many?) others? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/2 "2011-06-16T16:54:38Z")
I’m pretty sure Marlon Brando and Pocahontas didn’t sit around the camp fire with Neil Young. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/3 "2011-06-16T17:01:25Z")
“The Night Chicago Died” - Paper Lace, There really isn’t an ‘East Side’ of Chicago and the cops and Capone’s gang never really came to such blows (100 cops dead?) ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/4 "2011-06-16T17:28:17Z")
U2 - “Pride (In the Name of Love)” MLK was shot in the evening, not in the early morning of April 4. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/5 "2011-06-16T17:41:09Z")
From where I sit, I would flip the question: Find any song that is historically accurate. Facts take a back seat to rhyme, meter, other poetic devices, and whatever political fervor is sweeping the land at the time it’s written (or passed on word-of-mouth to the next generation). Seriously, I can’t think of a single one that owns the facts. I would hope that most of the Edmund Fitzgerald is accurate, but I doubt it is. ---
**Author:** ![TheBoltEater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TheBoltEater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBoltEater)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/6 "2011-06-16T17:54:10Z")
[Historical and or factual inaccuracies in song lyrics](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=465072) is a thread from back in 2008, which includes my personal favorite, from the song “What Are We Gonna Do” by Dramarama- “It’s April 21st, and everybody knows today is Earth Day”. No. No it isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/7 "2011-06-16T17:59:53Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I’m pretty sure Marlon Brando and Pocahontas didn’t sit around the camp fire with Neil Young. Likewise, I’m quite sure that James Earl Jones wasn’t on a plane with Ben Folds and his uncle, Richard, as was documented is the Ben Folds Five song, “Lullaby.” ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/8 "2011-06-16T18:31:11Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > “The Night Chicago Died” - Paper Lace, There really isn’t an ‘East Side’ of Chicago and the cops and Capone’s gang never really came to such blows (100 cops dead?) Supposedly this song really pissed off the city of Chicago. Also, despite what Johnny Horton told us, during the Battle of New Orleans the Americans did not powder the behinds of alligators and use them to fire cannon balls at the British. Although it’s quite true that there wasn’t quite so many of them as there was before. ---
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/9 "2011-06-16T19:44:04Z")
When I drove my Chevy to the Levy the Levy was wet. Also, 5,000 holes in Blackburn Lancashire? I think not, Mr Macartney. Not with a LibDem council in office. ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/10 "2011-06-16T19:46:30Z")
It’s 4000 holes. Written by Lennon. And Paul’s surname is McCartney. Otherwise, yeah. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/11 "2011-06-16T19:50:26Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > “The Night Chicago Died” - Paper Lace, There really isn’t an ‘East Side’ of Chicago… I recall in an interview this was pointed this out to Phil Wright, the drummer and lead singer and he said, “What do you mean? There is an east side to everything.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/12 "2011-06-16T19:54:04Z")
**Ras Kass** - “[The Nature of the Threat](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdJgVf4l1A0)” [Critical deconstruction of the historical errors in the song](http://www.epinions.com/content_4784496772), which also contains numerous errors and dubious assumptions and assertions itself. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/13 "2011-06-16T20:08:47Z")
[They all laughed at Christopher Columbus When he said the world was round;](http://www.theguitarguy.com/theyalll.htm) ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/14 "2011-06-16T20:10:14Z")
What about [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East\_Side,\_Chicago](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Side,_Chicago)? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/15 "2011-06-16T20:10:54Z")
> [@Reeses\_Monkey](#): > > It’s 4000 holes. Written by Lennon. And Paul’s surname is McCartney. Otherwise, yeah. 😉 I’ll have to check my copy of Anthology, but I think all the stuff Lennon wrote was from newspaper stories that were lying around, and I think they showed the hole story. The guy who blew his mind out in the car was a Guiness heir, and the film was “How I Won the War,” which Lennon was in, and which people did turn away from. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/16 "2011-06-16T20:15:04Z")
Jaime Brockett’s [Legend of the USS Titanic](http://www.radioparadise.com/content.php?name=songinfo&song_id=33065) had a few historical mistakes. [ul] [li]The name of the ship[/li][li]That it was built of good Italian iron[/li][li]That it was sailing from New York[/li][li]That Jack Johnson was banned from it[/li][/ul] and that is off the top of my head. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/17 "2011-06-16T20:15:42Z")
Yes, but the point **Nother** was trying to make was that 1. 4,000 holes, not 5,000 2. Written by John Lennon, not Paul McCartney 3. And it’s spelled “McCartney”. Other than that, completely correct on all counts. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![samjones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@samjones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samjones)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/18 "2011-06-16T20:28:58Z")
It is a well know historical fact that George Stoneman commanded his cavalry to destroy the tracks of the R&D in the Winter of 1865 rendering the Confederate Army unable to fight. Look it up. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/19 "2011-06-16T20:34:22Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > I recall in an interview this was pointed this out to Phil Wright, the drummer and lead singer and he said, “What do you mean? There is an east side to everything.” > > 🙂 Daddy was one of those Lake Cops. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/20 "2011-06-16T20:38:59Z")
> [@samjones](#): > > It is a well know historical fact that George Stoneman commanded his cavalry to destroy the tracks of the R&D in the Winter of 1865 rendering the Confederate Army unable to fight. > > Look it up. Joan Baez sang it as “so much cavalry came” which made me want to go all Al Capp on her ass. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709.md?page=2)