# Songs with historical errors that bug you **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [August 28, 2023, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-historical-errors-that-bug-you/989246 "2023-08-28T21:37:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2023, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-historical-errors-that-bug-you/989246/41 "2023-08-29T16:01:51Z")
Are you sure you’re not a historian? ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2023, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-historical-errors-that-bug-you/989246/42 "2023-08-29T16:02:33Z")
Did you mean Joan Baez? ---
**Author:** ![Jaycat.again](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat.again/32/11525_2.png) [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2023, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-historical-errors-that-bug-you/989246/43 "2023-08-29T16:04:44Z")
People, people… it’s creative writing, not journalism. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2023, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-historical-errors-that-bug-you/989246/44 "2023-08-29T16:06:47Z")
If we can’t trust the skalds, who can we trust? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2023, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-historical-errors-that-bug-you/989246/45 "2023-08-29T16:15:10Z")
> [@Jaycat.again](#): > > it’s creative writing, not journalism. in theory… but “early morning April 4” is just wrong. There’s no artistic reason for changing that. You can’t even say, “well, Bono was in a different timezone when he heard”, because them it would be “early morning April 5”. And “early evening April 4” fits the meter. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2023, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-historical-errors-that-bug-you/989246/46 "2023-08-29T16:27:15Z")
…I feel like the whole “The Eastside of Chicago is Lake Michigan” comes up regularly on here…and it’s just…weird. I get it as a joke… but come on. Is the lower eastside of New York City “the East river?” No. We don’t count water. . ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2023, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-historical-errors-that-bug-you/989246/47 "2023-08-29T16:49:52Z")
When Christopher Columbus said the world was round, [they did not all laugh](https://www.history.com/news/christopher-columbus-never-set-out-to-prove-the-earth-was-round). ---
**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:** [August 29, 2023, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-historical-errors-that-bug-you/989246/48 "2023-08-29T16:52:21Z")
Let’s remember that _The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down_ was written by that eminent Civil War historian, Robbie Robertson, who was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. I give him credit for knowing about Danville. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2023, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-historical-errors-that-bug-you/989246/49 "2023-08-29T17:03:54Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > Did you mean Joan Baez? Yes, sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2023, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-historical-errors-that-bug-you/989246/50 "2023-08-29T17:08:10Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Robbie Robertson, who was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. Was he born and raised in _South_ Toronto? 🙂 Because the song is full of “lost cause” mythos. It an apologist’s song singing the praises of the brave rebels. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2023, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-historical-errors-that-bug-you/989246/51 "2023-08-29T17:10:10Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > Is the lower eastside of New York City “the East river?” No. We don’t count water. Exactly. Prepositions and nouns matter “Eastside of Chicago” — “Eastside” is a noun, meaning it is part of Chicago. “Of” in this case indicates that noun is referring to a part of Chicago. “East of Chicago” — “East” is a noun, indicating a direction, not a part. “Of” indicates the relationship between that direction and Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![Ribeye](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ribeye/32/14677_2.png) [@Ribeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ribeye)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2023, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-historical-errors-that-bug-you/989246/52 "2023-08-30T00:19:06Z")
“In a time when dinosaurs walked the earth When the land was swamp and caves were home In an age when prize possession was fire To search for landscapes men would roam.” This has to be Iron Maiden’s worst groaner. Steve Harris should know better, and someone else in the band should have checked him. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2023, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-historical-errors-that-bug-you/989246/53 "2023-08-30T00:22:40Z")
> [@Kropotkin](#): > > Are you sure you’re not a historian? In my spare time. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2023, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-historical-errors-that-bug-you/989246/54 "2023-08-30T00:27:19Z")
Wish I could address the Supreme Court in my spare time! ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2023, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-historical-errors-that-bug-you/989246/55 "2023-08-30T00:34:20Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > Irish Heart, English Blood Yeah, well, I’ve never been a Morrissey fan, and not heard that song, but it’s from well past the time when he started becoming extremely right wing, dabbling with the National Front (pre runner to the BNP, then UKIP, then Reform, also Britain First), So I’d not pull apart his lyrics too much unless you’re looking to be offended, which he seemed keen on doing. It all seemed to be claimed to be done “ironically” at the time, but then he’s backed some pretty racist f\*\*kers in recent times and repeats the cliches of the extremists in the UK. So I’m guessing he wasn’t really being ironic after all. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2023, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-historical-errors-that-bug-you/989246/56 "2023-08-30T00:43:58Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Was he born and raised in _South_ Toronto? 🙂 Couldn’t have been. By convention, Toronto has a downtown, an east end, a west end, and a north end. No south anything, nor any sides. At least, it didn’t in the 40 years that I lived there. ---
**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:** [August 30, 2023, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-historical-errors-that-bug-you/989246/57 "2023-08-30T00:44:26Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > When would planting begin in that location? April? May? The song makes it clear that they were running out of food, and it was after the Richmond and Danville railway had been cut in April. > > Plus, the song mentions that Robert E. Lee is passing by. Maybe it was a fictional account of Lee travelling by after the war, in early May? I grew up hearing Joan Baez’s cover of _The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down_. She sang the line as “Back with my wife in Tennessee/and one day she said to me/'Virgil, quick come see/there goes the _Robert E. Lee!'_” - the _Robert E. Lee_ was a famous Mississippi riverboat. For that matter, the earlier verse just said “I took a train to Richmond that fell” - no mention of a specific date. I always interpreted the song as being set in late 1865 or 1866 - it’s about the hardships of Reconstruction, and in my head canon, “the night they drove Old Dixie down” was the night Virgil Caine found his brother’s body. ETA - I just listened to her cover on YouTube, and she definitely says “_the_ Robert E. Lee.” That boat had a famous race with another called the _Natchez_, in 1870, so if the song is set then, that could explain the lyric. But that’s a pretty obscure bit of trivia for a Toronto songwriter to know. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2023, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-historical-errors-that-bug-you/989246/58 "2023-08-30T01:05:22Z")
**Kanye West - BLKKK SKKKN HEAD** The 300 he is talking about were neither Romans or Trojans. The song is as insane as the singer, so I almost like the crazy poor history lesson because it’s fitting. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2023, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-historical-errors-that-bug-you/989246/59 "2023-08-30T01:14:40Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > is that just me? It is not just you. ---
**Author:** ![the\_art\_of\_rolling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/59ef9b/32.png) [@the\_art\_of\_rolling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_art_of_rolling)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2023, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-historical-errors-that-bug-you/989246/60 "2023-08-30T08:11:58Z")
The Trojans waited at the gates for weeks (54321) in a wooden horse into the city they sneaked (54321) who let them in, was it the Greeks? Manfred mann 5-4-3-2-1 Oddly, when I googled the lyrics the first entry changes the words to make them more sensible. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-historical-errors-that-bug-you/989246.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-historical-errors-that-bug-you/989246.md?page=4)