# Ride Captain Ride = USS Pueblo? **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ride-captain-ride-uss-pueblo/505603 **Category:** Cafe Society **Created:** [August 7, 2009, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ride-captain-ride-uss-pueblo/505603 "2009-08-07T05:29:00Z") **Posts on this page:** 8 **Page:** 1
### Author: ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe) #### Post date: [August 7, 2009, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ride-captain-ride-uss-pueblo/505603/1 "2009-08-07T05:29:00Z")
OK, I’m a political junkie - I see politics in places rational folk don’t. However, this one is so blatant… 1/23/68 - the US spy ship, the USS Pueblo was seized by the North Koreans, and the crew held. There was controversy as to why the US, with all its firepower in the area (remember Vietnam?) did not chase off the rather puny force the Koreans fielded. She had a crew of 73, and home-ported in San Fransico 1970: 73 men sailed her (as I remeber the lyrics) from the San Francisco bay \ No one heard them calling, no one came at all \ mystery ship \ w can laugh our lives away and be free once more (there was a group photo released to show that they were being well treated etc. In it every one of the 73 had his right middle finger extended. A little joke that did not go over well with their “hosts” This is a two-parter: 1. Did you make the connection in 1970? 2. If you review the lyrics (legally, of course) - can you fit a spy ship operating in hostile waters claimed by a closed society (you think they’re wierd now - they have mellowed over the last 40 years (damn, I’m old) with the Pueblo and its experience with the N. Koreans? ---
### Author: ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth) #### Post date: [August 7, 2009, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ride-captain-ride-uss-pueblo/505603/2 "2009-08-07T05:43:57Z")
Sorry, no. > **[Ride Captain Ride](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ride_Captain_Ride)** > > "Ride Captain Ride" is a song recorded by the American rock band Blues Image. It was co-written by the band's singer-guitarist Mike Pinera and keyboardist Frank "Skip" Konte, and was included on the group's 1970 album, Open. Released as a slightly shortened single in the spring of 1970, it shot up the charts, eventually reaching No. 4 in the US and Canadian charts, making it Blues Image's only Top 40 chart hit. It reached No. 23 in Australia. > The longer version repeats the chorus a couple of ... \*The song was inspired by the number of keys on Pinera’s Rhodes piano: ``` So I say, "Okay, I need a first word." And what came into my head was 73. I liked the rhythm, and I went, "73 men sailed in, from the San Francisco Bay." ... The song sort of just wrote itself from there.[1]* ``` Great song, however. 🆒 ---
### Author: ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor) #### Post date: [August 7, 2009, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ride-captain-ride-uss-pueblo/505603/3 "2009-08-07T10:03:04Z")
Note–in the 1970s, the UHF TV stations in Milwaukee used to show old movie serials from the 40s. They dragged out the old _Captain America_ series, & used _Ride Captain Ride_ samples to advertise it. ---
### Author: ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne) #### Post date: [August 7, 2009, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ride-captain-ride-uss-pueblo/505603/4 "2009-08-07T16:35:27Z")
The Pueblo’s homeport was Yokosuka, Japan, and had a crew of 81 sailors and two civilians when she was captured. ---
### 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: [August 7, 2009, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ride-captain-ride-uss-pueblo/505603/5 "2009-08-07T22:52:19Z")
I’ve heard this theory before, but never found it at all convincing. ---
### Author: ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker) #### Post date: [August 9, 2009, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ride-captain-ride-uss-pueblo/505603/6 "2009-08-09T18:51:22Z")
Yup. I heard this (theory) back in the early '80s. Now, just because the song lyrics don’t jibe with the facts of the Pueblo doesn’t mean that it wasn’t inspired by it. I personally don’t buy it. . . but I also don’t know that I buy the “number of keys” story, either. Or that Mama Cass’s voice suddenly got better when she was hit on the head with a pipe, which she herself said. ---
### Author: ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm) #### Post date: [August 10, 2009, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ride-captain-ride-uss-pueblo/505603/7 "2009-08-10T03:17:45Z")
Moving thread from IMHO to Cafe Society. ---
### Author: ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher) #### Post date: [August 10, 2009, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ride-captain-ride-uss-pueblo/505603/8 "2009-08-10T15:28:02Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > I also don’t know that I buy … that Mama Cass’s voice suddenly got better when she was hit on the head with a pipe, which she herself said. Could be an offshoot of Foreign Accent Syndrome.