# Songs With Factual Inaccuracies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 25, 2012, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650 "2012-08-25T22:46:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/61 "2012-08-26T19:08:32Z")
Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams”: “Thunder only happens when it’s raining.” This has bugged me about this song for years. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/62 "2012-08-26T19:17:36Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > Why’s South Detroit wrong? Is that saying like East Philadelphia (there is no East Philadelphia, unless you’re cracking a joke about New Jersey)? I’m not from Detroit, but I’ve been told that the song is wrong because the southern part of Detroit/suburbs south of Detroit are referred to by locals as “Downriver”. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/63 "2012-08-26T20:06:34Z")
> [@flodnak](#): > > He still sings about a “six-eight wheeler”, though, whatever **that** was 😛 That would be a train locomotive designation under the [Whyte notation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whyte_notation#Common_wheel_arrangements). It would be a 6-8-0 locomotive with 6 leading wheels, 8 driving wheels, and 0 trailing wheels. But I don’t know of any such configuration ever built. There was a single 6-8-6 prototype built for the Pennsylvania RR. There were [2-6-8-0’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2-6-8-0) built; they were used by Great Northern and Southern RR. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/64 "2012-08-26T20:55:55Z")
When I select _Desiree_ by Neil Diamond at the karaoke bar, I sing “_The twenty-third of June / On that summer’s day_” Because the third of June is still late spring. ---
**Author:** ![tadtooornamental](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@tadtooornamental](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tadtooornamental)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/65 "2012-08-26T21:13:38Z")
This one isn’t technically a factual inaccuracy, but every damn time I hear the line (from Hey Leonardo by Blessed Union of Souls) “She likes me for me, not because I hang with Leonardo, or that guy who played in Fargo, I think his name is Steve.” First of all: yes. Yes it is. Second: if you don’t know his name, I’m pretty sure you don’t “hang” with him. At worst, you’re a name dropping liar. At best, you met him once at a party, where he kind of acknowledged your existence and then promptly forgot it. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/66 "2012-08-26T21:33:58Z")
> [@tadtooornamental](#): > > This one isn’t technically a factual inaccuracy, but every damn time I hear the line (from Hey Leonardo by Blessed Union of Souls) > > “She likes me for me, not because I hang with Leonardo, or that guy who played in Fargo, I think his name is Steve.” > > First of all: yes. Yes it is. Second: if you don’t know his name, I’m pretty sure you don’t “hang” with him. At worst, you’re a name dropping liar. At best, you met him once at a party, where he kind of acknowledged your existence and then promptly forgot it. I thought what the song was saying was that he DIDN’T hang with those famous people and she liked him anyway. Like the line where he was saying that she didn’t like him for his money, which was a good thing because he didn’t have much. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/67 "2012-08-26T21:37:14Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Because the third of June is still late spring. [Sez who?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/161/is-it-true-summer-in-ireland-starts-may-1) [QUOTE=Cecil Adams] meteorologists define summer simply as June, July, and August. “For practical purposes, the meteorological definition is the best one, being very closely to the [weather] statistics,” he says. In fact, it appears that June 1 was accepted as the beginning of summer in the United States until relatively recently. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/68 "2012-08-26T21:39:11Z")
> [@tadtooornamental](#): > > This one isn’t technically a factual inaccuracy, but every damn time I hear the line (from Hey Leonardo by Blessed Union of Souls) > > “She likes me for me, not because I hang with Leonardo, or that guy who played in Fargo, I think his name is Steve.” > > First of all: yes. Yes it is. Second: if you don’t know his name, I’m pretty sure you don’t “hang” with him. At worst, you’re a name dropping liar. At best, you met him once at a party, where he kind of acknowledged your existence and then promptly forgot it. Is the narrator of this song actually claiming to know Leonardo DiCaprio and Steve Buscemi, though? I always thought the opposite, that the singer was saying that while he might not be rich and didn’t hang out with a bunch of celebrities, he had a great girlfriend who he knew genuinely liked his personality and wasn’t just into him for shallow reasons. ---
**Author:** ![tadtooornamental](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@tadtooornamental](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tadtooornamental)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/69 "2012-08-26T21:39:20Z")
But the guy IS actually friends with Leonardo DiCaprio. He also says that if she really wants to go anywhere in the world, all she has to do is say so, and he’ll fly her there. But that’s not why she likes him. You could, of course, be entirely correct, but that song gets my rage up in so many ways, I’m gonna hate on it no matter what 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/70 "2012-08-26T21:43:18Z")
Got to stick this one in here, better to listen- Katie Melua, it’s in theme: [12 or 13.7 billion light years? - YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21iUUe-W8L4) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/71 "2012-08-26T21:46:56Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > Why’s South Detroit wrong? Is that saying like East Philadelphia (there is no East Philadelphia, unless you’re cracking a joke about New Jersey)? Detroit is located on the north side of the strait that connects Lake Erie to Lake Superior and forms the border between the US and Canada. If you go south from downtown Detroit, you’ll end up in Windsor, Ontario. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/72 "2012-08-26T21:49:32Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > People always have fun with “Born and raised in South Detroit” around here. the Song is probably 5 times more popular because of it. > [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > Why’s South Detroit wrong? Is that saying like East Philadelphia (there is no East Philadelphia, unless you’re cracking a joke about New Jersey)? > [@Lamia](#): > > I’m not from Detroit, but I’ve been told that the song is wrong because the southern part of Detroit/suburbs south of Detroit are referred to by locals as “Downriver”. > [@Smapti](#): > > Detroit is located on the north side of the strait that connects Lake Erie to Lake Superior and forms the border between the US and Canada. If you go south from downtown Detroit, you’ll end up in Windsor, Ontario. On the other hand, at the time there was an EAST Detroit, but it’s since been renamed Eastpointe. ---
**Author:** ![Enuma\_Elish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5e9695/32.png) [@Enuma\_Elish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enuma_Elish)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/73 "2012-08-27T01:52:29Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Detroit is located on the north side of the strait that connects Lake Erie to Lake Superior and forms the border between the US and Canada. If you go south from downtown Detroit, you’ll end up in Windsor, Ontario. But if you are in the southernmost part of the city of Detroit couldn’t you refer to it as south Detroit? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/74 "2012-08-27T02:52:21Z")
> [@Enuma\_Elish](#): > > But if you are in the southernmost part of the city of Detroit couldn’t you refer to it as south Detroit? Sort of. But when people say “direction City,” they usually mean “a place in the city that is to be found in this direction of the downtown core.” There is no such place in Detroit, because the downcown core is effectively right on the river. There’s a bit of a southwestern dip to Detroit, known as Mexicantown, but what’s south of the downtown core is, basically, Canada. Some cities have a downtown that is not, geographically, the center of the city. Detroit is one. Similarly, there is no south Toronto. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/75 "2012-08-27T02:54:22Z")
Even never having been in Detroit in my life, I get this: there is no area that is generally referred to as “South Detroit” ---
**Author:** ![Enuma\_Elish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5e9695/32.png) [@Enuma\_Elish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enuma_Elish)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/76 "2012-08-27T03:41:16Z")
Wouldn’t downtown Detroit be south Detroit? Enuma slinks off to avoid the things about to be thrown at him… ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/77 "2012-08-27T04:31:11Z")
I’m a pretty chill dude and I allow musicians plenty of poetic license. But I’ve noted this before: in Sheryl Crow’s “Maybe Angels,” Ms. Crow claims > [@](#): > > I took the I-95 down to Pensacola > All I found was a bunch of holyrollers > They don’t know nothing about saving me She’s about 357 miles off. The closest I-95 comes to Pensacola is Jacksonville, on the eastern edge of the state. Hell, no major interstates go through Pensacola. There’s the I-110 spur off I-10, but that’s it. It’s a pretty cool rhyme though, and I don’t think “highway” or “superhighway” scans as well as “I-95,” so all is forgiven… ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/78 "2012-08-27T04:48:14Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > Reminds me of when the writer of “The Night Chicago Died” was criticized for penning the line “East Side of Chicago”. He responded “they claim there is no East Side of Chicago. There’s an east side of everything!” Technically yes, but Chicago defines itself as primarily Northside and Southside. There is also a Westside, which is usually mentioned in reports on crime unfortunately. When we think East, we think Lake. It’s a cultural violation to speak of the “East side of Chicago”. It sounds too New Yorkish. However, we do have a nearly never mentioned Southeast side. Perhaps the song could be re-written? By the way, Capone never went to war with the Chicago police. He had them bought and paid for. The closest to the “_'Bout a hundred cops are dead_” that ever happened were two policemen who were shot dead while trying to pull over a car being driven by bootlegger Mike Genna and two of his henchmen in 1925. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/79 "2012-08-27T04:52:39Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > Joan Baez - _Diamonds and Rust_ > > > [@](#): > > > > And here I sit > > Hand on the telephone > > Hearing a voice I’d known > > A couple of light years ago > > Heading straight for a fall > > A “light year” is a measure of distance not of time. > I doubt she means that she’s traveled 12 trillion miles since she last heard the voice. I heard J. Baez made the Kessel Run in under 12 parsecs. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/80 "2012-08-27T04:56:29Z")
Then there’s _Wildfire_: “Oh they say she died one winter when there came a killing frost. And the pony she named Wildfire Busted down its stall In a blizzard, he was lost…” I think it was Dave Barry who pointed out that a killing frost only happens on cold clear nights. The only thing that a killing frost kills is vegetables. But then, Wildfire sounds pretty stupid for a horse. Why would he bust out of a nice warm stall on a winter’s night? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650.md?page=5)