# 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:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/21 "2011-06-16T20:55:28Z")
> [@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?) This gets hashed out every time we do this thread, but there is indeed an [East Side of Chicago](http://www.neiu.edu/~reseller/esstwelcome.html), hard against the Indiana border. It’s neither as well known, nor as large, as the other three directional sides, but it’s there. When phone books existed, the Chicago phone book had whole columns full of businesses with “East Side” in their name. Now Al Capone, it’s true, never called his gang to war with the forces of the law, because he _was_ the law. His calls to war were restricted to rival gangs. But remember, the part about “a hundred cops are dead” was just some guy on the street running his mouth; even within the song, it didn’t necessarily happen. ---
**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, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/22 "2011-06-16T20:56:29Z")
> [@Reeses\_Monkey](#): > > It’s 4000 holes. Written by Lennon. And Paul’s surname is McCartney. Otherwise, yeah. 😉 Dam.. er.. I mean, you must have missed my subtle commentary on factual inaccuracy, there. Yeah, that’s it. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/23 "2011-06-16T20:58:50Z")
I think they got part of [this](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2339283960203831616#) right, but I’m not sure Snoopy was there. ---
**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, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/24 "2011-06-16T21:18:15Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > This gets hashed out every time we do this thread, but there is indeed an [East Side of Chicago](http://www.neiu.edu/~reseller/esstwelcome.html), hard against the Indiana border. It’s neither as well known, nor as large, as the other three directional sides, but it’s there. When phone books existed, the Chicago phone book had whole columns full of businesses with “East Side” in their name. > > Now Al Capone, it’s true, never called his gang to war with the forces of the law, because he _was_ the law. His calls to war were restricted to rival gangs. But remember, the part about “a hundred cops are dead” was just some guy on the street running his mouth; even within the song, it didn’t necessarily happen. “The Night I listened to too many damn rumors -Na-na-na na-na-na na-na-na na-na-na na-na-naaaaa” ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/25 "2011-06-16T21:50:02Z")
The traditional [Ballad of Jesse James](http://www.ezfolk.com/lyrics/ijkl/j/jesse-james/jesse-james.html) says: _Poor Jesse had a wife to mourn for his life, Three children, they were brave;_ In fact, he had two children. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/26 "2011-06-16T22:39:06Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > U2 - “Pride (In the Name of Love)” > > MLK was shot in the evening, not in the early morning of April 4. Well, it would have been early morning in Ireland. Just April 5th. ---
**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, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/27 "2011-06-16T23:22:38Z")
Well Davy Crockett wasn’t actually the king of anything 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/28 "2011-06-17T01:09:01Z")
If she was rising by the time he got to Phoenix, then it would be eight more hours by the time he made Albuquerque, way too late for her to stop at lunch and give him a call. Also, MacArthur Park wasn’t really melting. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/29 "2011-06-17T01:53:27Z")
Please! Change the thread topic to “Historically Accurate Songs” or it will never be finished! ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/30 "2011-06-17T02:43:48Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > 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. I’m pretty sure that ‘the good ship’ is a damned dirty lie; it sank because it was poorly maintained. But in general I agree that a few facts should never get in the wasy of a good story, or even a good rhyme. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/31 "2011-06-17T03:44:06Z")
The first line of the Sublime song “April 29, 1992 (Miami)” is “April 26, 1992…” The singer just plain got the date wrong. They were signing about the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles on April 29, 1992. I guess the recording take was so good they just kept it. Funny thing is that April 26, 1992 is my cousin’s birthday. I remember sitting around watching the news while we waited for news about my cousin. I guess we weren’t watching riots on TV like I had thought. Or he was in the hospital for 3 days. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/32 "2011-06-17T14:34:14Z")
> [@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.” > > 🙂 Chicago’s east side is kinda wet. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/33 "2011-06-17T15:29:55Z")
[QUOTE=ABBA] My my, at Waterloo, Napoleon did surrender [/QUOTE] No, he didn’t. He spent a month after his defeat at Waterloo travelling around trying to rally support for yet another attempt to recapture his former glory before finally conceding defeat. ---
**Author:** ![charmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/53a042/32.png) [@charmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/charmstr)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/34 "2011-06-17T18:05:47Z")
I’m pretty sure [Kenesaw Mountain Landis](http://www.jonathancoulton.com/wiki/index.php/Kenesaw_Mountain_Landis/Lyrics) didn’t save baseball by shooting Shoeless Joe Jackson’s finger off from his blimp above the stadium. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/35 "2011-06-17T19:24:04Z")
> [@Reeses\_Monkey](#): > > It’s 4000 holes. Written by Lennon. And Paul’s surname is McCartney. Otherwise, yeah. 😉 And the 4000 holes line was inspired by a newspaper story about the police drilling thousands of holes in the ground looking for the body of a murder victim. So I think so, **blindboyard.** (Ain’t tryin’ to start nothin’, though.) ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/36 "2011-06-17T19:28:57Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Please! Change the thread topic to “Historically Accurate Songs” or it will never be finished! Okay. Al Stewart’s “Roads to Moscow.” Give it a listen, it’s good. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/37 "2011-06-17T19:36:53Z")
> [@MikeF](#): > > Ballad of Billy the Kid - Billy Joel - Billy the Kid wasn’t hanged but shot by Pat Garrett. Billy Joel has said in interviews that he intentionally wrote the song with complete disregard for history. Even his own, as neither Billy Joel himself nor any “legend in his time” ever came out of Oyster Bay, Long Island with a six-pack in his hand. And geography, too: the Rio Grande is not a divide between “east and west”, it is the border between the US and Mexico. I still love it. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709/38 "2011-06-17T19:44:22Z")
I didn’t realize it for years, but the **Ballad of Casey Jones** , as often sung, has lines at the end that weren’t only inaccurate, they were offensive. Jones was a real-life engineer who did give up his life for his crew and passengers on another train, and the Ballad was originally written by someone who knew and idolized him. But: > [@](#): > > Finally, with vaudeville performers T. Lawrence Seibert credited with the lyrics and Eddie Newton the music it was published and offered for sale in 1909 with the title “Casey Jones, The Brave Engineer”. As their intent was to entertain, it was hailed on the cover of the sheet music as the “Greatest Comedy Hit In Years” and “The Only Comedy Railroad Song.” This version was the one that was strenuously objected to by Casey’s wife for making her appear to have been unfaithful to Casey. The offending lines read: “Mrs. Jones sat on her bed a sighing/Just received a message that Casey was dying/ Said go to bed children and hush your crying/Cause you got another papa on the Salt Lake line.” This is similar to a line in the song “Duncan and Brady”. She spent her remaining years refuting those lines, once saying “That devil hasn’t shown up in 58 years!” The first I learned about these verses was when I heard Allen Sherman’s parody, _J.C. Cohen_, about a subway conductor, and whose widow tells her children they’re going to Disneyland because “you’ve got another poppa on the Monorail,” > **[The Ballad of Casey Jones](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ballad_of_Casey_Jones)** > > "The Ballad of Casey Jones", also known as "Casey Jones, the Brave Engineer" or simply "Casey Jones", is a traditional American folk song about railroad engineer Casey Jones and his death at the controls of the train he was driving. It tells of how Jones and his fireman Sim Webb raced their locomotive to make up for lost time, but discovered another train ahead of them on the line, and how Jones remained on board to try to stop the train as Webb jumped to safety. It is song number 3247 in the R... > **[Casey Jones](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casey_Jones)** > > John Luther "Casey" Jones (March 14, 1864 – April 30, 1900) was an American railroader who was killed when his passenger train collided with a stalled freight train in Vaughan, Mississippi. > Jones was a locomotive engineer for the Illinois Central Railroad, based in Memphis, Tennessee, and Jackson, Mississippi. He was noted for his exceptionally punctual schedules, which sometimes required a degree of risk, though this was not a factor on his fatal last journey. However, there is some disagreemen... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-inaccurate-songs/585709.md?page=1)