# 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:** 9
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/161 "2012-09-01T14:54:40Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > Obviously, not every instance of multiple negatives in the same sentence intensify the negation. It only works in certain cases, in sentences that are constructed in very specific ways, and it does so very consistently. Which is to say that [double negation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_negative) ([negative concord](http://www.glottopedia.de/index.php/Negative_concord)) follows rules, i.e., it’s part of English grammar. Portugese, Spanish and French all have it too. German doesn’t and Latin didn’t, but Old English and Middle English both did, and the notion that modern English doesn’t and using it is _wrong, dammit_, is a purely imaginary one. > > (Edit: Think about it: Isn’t it strange that a usage that is supposed to be “wrong” seems to show up repeatedly in just about every bleedin’ so-called non-standard dialect of English as soon as you step away from the “standard”, as well as in lots of people’s everyday speech as soon as the Language Police isn’t looking?) While I agree with the above, it is also true that using a double negative as an intensifier is going to sound uneducated to a lot of people, and that saying things like “We don’t need no education” may cause them to think that one does in fact need more education. Schools are generally expected to teach children how to write/speak a standard dialect. However, I think this choice of phrasing was a deliberate rejection of “proper” English on Roger Waters’ part. The point of “Another Brick in the Wall Part II” isn’t that the kids “don’t need no education” because they already know everything, but rather that the education system is unnecessarily controlling and brutal. While “don’t need no” may not be standard English, that doesn’t mean it’s appropriate for a teacher to beat or mock a student for using double negatives or that it’s wrong to use double negatives in informal speech/writing. So I’m coming down on the side of “We don’t need no education” being somewhat ironic but not factually inaccurate. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/162 "2012-09-02T05:24:33Z")
> [@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. Thus the classic bar-bet question \*"If you’re standing in downtown Detroit, and start walking due south, what’s the first foreign country you reach? \* Of course, I’d bet that you’re more likely to reach the undiscovered country, first. > [@lost4life](#): > > Steve Perry finally weighs in on this troublesome [topic](http://www.vulture.com/2012/01/journey-dont-stop-believin-south-detroit.html). > > **Steve Perry** > _I ran the phonetics of east, west, and north, but nothing sounded as good or emotionally true to me as South Detroit, he says. The syntax just sounded right. I fell in love with the line. It’s only been in the last few years that I’ve learned that there is no South Detroit. But it doesn’t matter._ And he’s absolutely correct. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/163 "2012-09-03T08:29:53Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > You’re making me labour this point more than I wanted – I am not suggesting that Jack White needs to rewrite the lyrics of Seven Nation Army or anything – but the crowns of England and Scotland were merged in the Act of Union in 1707. Since then there have been kings and queens of the United Kingdom, but not of England or Scotland per se. There is no political entity “England” for her to be queen of. No English government, no England-only jurisdiction. > > I don’t want to give the impression that this is something British people actually get upset about. It’s just a little factual nitpick. This thread is full of them. England is a nation that makes up per of the UK, thus England still exists, and ERII is Queen of that area, and in fact the entire island. Like I said, she’s also Queen of London. Or Shropshire. True, she does not _style herself_ Queen of Shropshire since that is included in England which is included in the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/164 "2012-09-17T18:30:23Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > …Anyhow you forgot to mention that doghouses don’t fly. I beg to differ. You certainly can fly a doghouse… after you’ve [quaffed enough](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication) [root beers](http://peanuts.wikia.com/wiki/index.php?search=root+beer&fulltext=Search)! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/165 "2012-09-17T20:53:01Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > [Tom Petty:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_fallin%27) > _It’s a long day, living in Reseda > There’s a freeway runnin’ through the yard_ > > There is no freeway in Reseda. To be fair, the 405 Freeway runs along the eastern border of Reseda [http://maps.google.com/maps?q=zent&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-aznet&safe=active&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&sa=N&tab=wl](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=zent&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-aznet&safe=active&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&sa=N&tab=wl) ---
**Author:** ![hermann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b487fb/32.png) [@hermann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hermann)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/166 "2012-09-17T23:18:54Z")
No East Side in Chicago? Funny, my sister’s address is something something East Chestnut. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/167 "2012-09-18T01:27:29Z")
I have to join in the quibbles. _The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald_ is a ballad; ballads are never inaccurate. They are romantic legends. In _The Night the Lights Went out in Georgia,_ just because the guy fired his gun to flag down the Staties doesn’t mean they would be the first ones to show up. Nothing else went right for the poor guy that night. (I have always wondered why a recently married man would have stopped for a beer after being gone for two weeks; if I’d been his ‘young bride’, I would have been checking out Seth Ames, too.) ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/168 "2012-09-18T01:43:39Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > (Edit: Think about it: Isn’t it strange that a usage that is supposed to be “wrong” seems to show up repeatedly in just about every bleedin’ so-called non-standard dialect of English as soon as you step away from the “standard”, as well as in lots of people’s everyday speech as soon as the Language Police isn’t looking?) No, because the entire concept of “proper grammar” is that is that it’s how you speak in formal English. The fact that people often do it differently in another style has jack all to do with it. This isn’t one of those constructions that was accepted in formal English until someone made up a rule that it shouldn’t. It’s always been considered wrong because it’s confusing, and formal English is, among other things, about removing ambiguities like that. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/169 "2012-09-18T01:58:37Z")
In the Monty Python “Universe/Galaxy Song,” it says our planet is \*revolving \*at 900 mph. The Earth _rotates_ on its axis at roughly 900 mph (more like 1,000 mph); it _revolves_ around the Sun at 66,000 mph. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/170 "2012-09-18T02:15:16Z")
The song Lowlife by Theory Of a Dead Man has the line “I’ve got an '82 Fiero with a car seat in the middle broken down on the interstate”. Not possible- Fieros were built '84-'88. In Ridin’ the Storm Out by REO Speedwagon, how can the singer see the full moon crossing the range when he’s riding out a storm? ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/171 "2012-09-18T18:36:35Z")
He says he’s waiting for the thaw out, so it seems that the snow has fallen and now they’re snowed in, riding out the storm’s effects. On a full moon night, watching the moon go by, because they are snowed in. ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/172 "2012-09-18T23:55:01Z")
A somewhat geeky one: _1952 Vincent Black Lightning_: “He reached for her hand and slipped her the keys.” The Vincent Black Lightning didn’t _have_ keys. It kick started. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/173 "2012-09-19T06:30:21Z")
> [@hermann](#): > > No East Side in Chicago? Funny, my sister’s address is something something East Chestnut. Addresses east of State Street are named thus. Doesn’t mean there’s any neighborhood or other entity known as “East Side”. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/174 "2012-09-19T06:33:31Z")
Has anyone yet mentioned how Stephen Foster changed “Suwanee River” to “Swanee River” because it fit the song’s meter? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/175 "2012-09-19T06:50:08Z")
There’s East Chicago (Indiana). ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/176 "2012-09-19T07:45:19Z")
Starship did not, in fact, build that city on Rock and Roll. It was built on gold mining a good 130+ years earlier. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/177 "2012-09-19T07:53:09Z")
Actually, San Francisco was founded in 1776 by Spanish colonists maintaining a fort and a mission, but it only had around a thousand people in it until the Gold Rush; that’s when it really took off. Starship/Jefferson Airplane got into the game pretty late, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/178 "2012-09-19T11:16:21Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Has anyone yet mentioned how Stephen Foster changed “Suwanee River” to “Swanee River” because it fit the song’s meter? The first time I saw the river in person, I thought he sign was misspelled! ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/179 "2012-09-20T01:35:22Z")
_Emotional Rescue_ Rolling Stones “I will be your knight in shining armour Riding across the desert on a fine Arab charger” I doubt an Arabian horse could carry a knight in armor, and if it could it wouldn’t be charging. I don’t know how long someone would last wearing armor in the desert before they dropped over from heatstroke. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/180 "2012-09-20T02:21:28Z")
> [@sahirrnee](#): > > I don’t know how long someone would last wearing armor in the desert before they dropped over from heatstroke. Only if the sun is out. Jagger clearly points out that he’s going to come to you so silent in the _night._ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650.md?page=10)