# Songs with incorrect basic premises **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 26, 2015, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-incorrect-basic-premises/741371 "2015-12-26T04:35:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2015, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-incorrect-basic-premises/741371/21 "2015-12-26T14:43:11Z")
> [@Ignotus](#): > > Well, not according to [all definitions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter#Astronomical_and_other_calendar-based_reckoning)… Interesting. I had no idea. It’s still early Winter and not mid Winter though. ---
**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:** [December 26, 2015, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-incorrect-basic-premises/741371/22 "2015-12-26T15:22:23Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Interesting. I had no idea. It’s still early Winter and not mid Winter though. Well, speaking as someone who is entirely familiar with June in the southern hemisphere, please forgive me for saying “mid” instead of “early”. It can and does get very cold in June in my particular part of the world, so my actual point remains entirely valid. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2015, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-incorrect-basic-premises/741371/23 "2015-12-26T15:25:15Z")
> [@botsgotme](#): > > “Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry”…um, aren’t levees supposed to be dry? and what is “American Pie”? I have had cherry pie, apple pie, pecan pie…but never American Pie. Miss American Pie. It’s just supposed to be emotional evocative, not literal. It’s not a documentary. 😉 But if we’re going to go for vaguely nonsense lyrics, let’s pull up any one of Dylan’s early works! ---
**Author:** ![Scougs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scougs/32/3158_2.png) [@Scougs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scougs)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2015, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-incorrect-basic-premises/741371/24 "2015-12-26T15:30:41Z")
I know “Ironic” is easy pickings in a thread like this because nothing in it is ironic, but I just wanted to highlight the one verse when there really was the chance for some irony. “Mr play it safe, was afraid to fly…” and goes on to be involved in a horrible plane crash. No, Alanis, it would have been ironic if he’d waved his wife and kids goodbye onto a plane, while he played it safe making the same journey by train. Which derails in a horrible fireball while the flight is fine. Opportunity missed. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2015, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-incorrect-basic-premises/741371/25 "2015-12-26T15:51:35Z")
_Mama, don’t take my Kodachrome away_ Sorry Paul, Kodak did that five years ago. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2015, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-incorrect-basic-premises/741371/26 "2015-12-26T16:21:14Z")
So your best evidence of Warren Beatty’s vanity is that he’s accurate and sensible? ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2015, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-incorrect-basic-premises/741371/27 "2015-12-26T16:22:08Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > This planet has an entire southern hemisphere, and in that hemisphere, June is midwinter. > > I am, in fact, posting from the southern hemisphere, and it is currently summer here. What a coincidence - I’m posting from the northern hemisphere and it’s currently summer here, too. Well, only 56F right now, but it’s been in the 70s F all freaking week. We’re supposed to get back to seasonal temperatures next week, maybe. [/hijack] My contribution to the thread. Springsteen’s [Terry’s Song](http://www.springsteenlyrics.com/lyrics.php?song=terryssong) open’s with the line "Well they built the Titanic to be one of a kind … " Sorry, Boss, the Titanic had two sister ships - the Olympic and the Britannic ([Wiki cite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic-class_ocean_liner?wprov=sfti1)). I remember hearing that the Taj Mahal was planned to have a companion tomb in black marble, so Bruce it wasn’t necessarily “unique, I suppose”. Terry’s Song is still a great eulogy, IMNAAHO, factual errors aside. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2015, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-incorrect-basic-premises/741371/28 "2015-12-26T17:18:22Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > This planet has an entire southern hemisphere, and in that hemisphere, June is midwinter. > > I am, in fact, posting from the southern hemisphere, and it is currently summer here. I’m aware of that. I wasn’t saying that line was wrong. I used that line to contrast with the “sun goes 'round the moon” line. One of the lines is factually true. The other isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2015, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-incorrect-basic-premises/741371/29 "2015-12-26T18:32:29Z")
> [@botsgotme](#): > > “Shake Your Love” by Debby Gibson…how do you “shake” your love? Is it like shaking your bootie? Shake as in “get rid of.” ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2015, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-incorrect-basic-premises/741371/30 "2015-12-26T19:02:56Z")
They Might Be Giants have a song called The Sun which is pretty accurate except in the prominent line “The Sun is a mass of incandescent gas…”. Since having this slight error pointed out to them the band now perform the line “The Sun is a miasma of incandescent plasma…”. Good work TMBG! ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2015, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-incorrect-basic-premises/741371/31 "2015-12-26T19:54:46Z")
Billy Joel’s _The Ballad of Billy the Kid_ is full of them. First, he mentions that Billy was from Wheeling, W. Va., when he really was born in New York, N.Y. Then he says Billy robbed a bank in Colorado. Billy the Kid never robbed a bank. Then finally Joel says: _Well, one cold day a posse captured Billy And the judge said, “String 'im up for what he did!” And the cowboys and their kin Like the sea came pourin’ in To watch the hangin’ of Billy the Kid_ He wasn’t hanged. He was shot by Pat Garrett. That’s what you get for falling asleep in history class. ---
**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:** [December 26, 2015, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-incorrect-basic-premises/741371/32 "2015-12-26T20:30:42Z")
“She Loves You.” Call my cynical. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-incorrect-basic-premises/741371/33 "2015-12-27T08:10:48Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > “The Night Chicago Died” by Paper Lace. > > _Daddy was a cop > On the east side of Chicago_ > > So, um, in the lake, then? [Here you go](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Side,_Chicago). Now, to be fair, it’s not “the east side of Chicago.” It’s “East Side, Chicago.” It’s the name of a neighborhood, not a part of Chicago, which is generally divided into North, South, and West Sides, with Northwest, Southwest, and Southeast subdivisions. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-incorrect-basic-premises/741371/34 "2015-12-27T08:49:19Z")
Starship: “We Built This City (on Rock’n’Roll)” No, you didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-incorrect-basic-premises/741371/35 "2015-12-27T09:24:02Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > No. Winter starts on June 21st there. June is late Fall/early Winter. Summer is when the first drunken louts appear on the streets at night. Winter is when the schools change from Summer Uniform to Winter Uniform. But the North of Australia doesn’t really have seasons like that. ---
**Author:** ![nicky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f0a364/32.png) [@nicky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nicky)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-incorrect-basic-premises/741371/36 "2015-12-27T20:52:53Z")
“And there wont be snow in africa this christmastime” Starving isnt enough - you want them to freeze to death in freak weather? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-incorrect-basic-premises/741371/37 "2015-12-27T21:37:54Z")
I don’t actually believe Mister Five-by-Five was actually five feet tall _and_ five feet wide. A big problem with the otherwise perfectly fine metaphor that “Every Rose has a Thorn” is that usually the florist, insensible of a long tradition of the thorny rose as a metaphor, just cuts them off. Can you even ask them to keep the thorns on? Goddamn it, don’t you people know what the rose stands for? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-incorrect-basic-premises/741371/38 "2015-12-27T21:40:54Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > I don’t actually believe Mister Five-by-Five was actually five feet tall _and_ five feet wide. > > A big problem with the otherwise perfectly fine metaphor that “Every Rose has a Thorn” is that usually the florist, insensible of a long tradition of the thorny rose as a metaphor, just cuts them off. Can you even ask them to keep the thorns on? Goddamn it, don’t you people know what the rose stands for? Morticia Addams does. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-incorrect-basic-premises/741371/39 "2015-12-27T21:44:17Z")
In _Wildfire_, there came a killer Frost. How would this bother a horse?! ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-incorrect-basic-premises/741371/40 "2015-12-27T21:57:27Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > No. Winter starts on June 21st there. June is late Fall/early Winter. Yes, because we all know the day starts at high noon, and night starts at midnight, sharp. (If you don’t get it: What do the days start doing at the solstices? What defines winter and summer?) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-incorrect-basic-premises/741371.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-incorrect-basic-premises/741371.md?page=3)