Songs With Historical Errors In Their Lyrics

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by SJB, Aug 12, 2018.

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  1. fogalu

    fogalu There is only one Beethoven

    Location:
    Killarney, Ireland
    The mistake here is in the title only so it might not qualify: Bee Gees "New York Mining Disaster 1941".
    According to Robin Gibb, the song was based on an actual mining disaster that took place in New York in 1939.
    I don't know why they changed the date in the title because it doesn't appear anywhere in the lyrics.
    It should have been called "Beatles Miming Disaster 1967".
    (Though I must say I rather like it.)

     
    Last edited: Aug 13, 2018
  2. Mylene

    Mylene Senior Member

    The Greeks and the Macedonians have been arguing about whether Macedonia was 'in ancient Greece' for hundreds of years.
     
  3. Hey Vinyl Man

    Hey Vinyl Man Another bloody Yank down under...

    I've also heard it was based on the mining disaster in Wales in 1966, and they just moved the location across the Atlantic with an eye towards getting a hit record (it worked). That still doesn't explain why they changed the date, though, or why they mentioned the date at all for that matter.
     
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  4. Mr-Beagle

    Mr-Beagle Ah, but the song carries on, so holy

    Location:
    Kent
    Granted it wasn't history, and no, I don't.
     
  5. TheLazenby

    TheLazenby Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    Pittsburgh
    Okay, but how accurate is the rest of that song? Is the step-by-step layout of his murder correct?
     
  6. Dylancat

    Dylancat Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cincinnati, OH
    Dinosaurs and humankind did not live at the same time.
     
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  7. MikeM

    MikeM Senior Member

    Location:
    Youngstown, Ohio
    I too have always cited this line from James Hendricks's song as a historical impossibility, and I'm quite sure he wrote it under the influence of historic license rather than accuracy.

    However, I could swear that years ago I actually did see a reference online to a Jukebox EP or album of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. In my memory, there was even a photo of it.

    But in some perfunctory searching not long ago, I couldn't turn anything up. I would think it would take some sort of a Capitol catalog, or an actual photo of the physical album itself, to prove this.

    In any case, the number of jukeboxes in 1967 that stocked such jukebox EP/LPs had to be quite small —I can only ever recall seeing one of them myself. And of those, the number that stocked rock LPs (as opposed to "adult" music) had to be even smaller. So this makes this slim chance of the scene from the lyric ever happening in real life even slimmer.
     
    Last edited: Aug 13, 2018
  8. MGSeveral

    MGSeveral Augm

    Well, apart from he was called Danzinger, and he did not strike Hattie with the cane, he yelled at her in a frightening manner. I can imagine he was sprung in a matter of minutes after a night n the cells, mind you.
     
  9. RichC

    RichC Forum Resident

    Location:
    Charlotte, NC
    But it's not "on" May the tenth, it's "by" May the tenth. Richmond had definitely fallen by the time May 10th came around.
    Plus, given the time, it's not unreasonable that it would've taken the news a full month to reach the narrator of the song.

    Advantage: Band.
     
  10. idleracer

    idleracer Forum Resident

    Location:
    California
    :kilroy: At 1:20. I don't think Bob Dylan (or anyone else) ever lived in the Empire State Building (or any other office building):

     
  11. RichC

    RichC Forum Resident

    Location:
    Charlotte, NC
    As per the OP's original post.
    Does anyone read around here, or do they just straight to the "Post Reply" button??
     
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  12. JFS3

    JFS3 Senior Member

    Location:
    Hooterville
    This couplet as well:

    "Back with my wife in Tennessee, when one day she called to me
    Virgil quick come see, there goes Robert E. Lee"

    I'm not a major Civil War scholar, but to the best of my knowledge, Robert E. Lee never set foot outside of the Eastern Theater at any time during the war (Tennessee was in the Western Theater).
     
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  13. bRETT

    bRETT Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA
    Squeeze have admitted that they garbled together two completely different legends in "Pulling Mussels" by mentioning William Tell and Maid Marian together.
     
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  14. Shak Cohen

    Shak Cohen Forum Resident

    Location:
    United Kingdom
  15. fogalu

    fogalu There is only one Beethoven

    Location:
    Killarney, Ireland
    I think the actual line is "there goes the Robert E. Lee" which might be referring to the famous steamboat named after him as described in this song:
     
  16. JFS3

    JFS3 Senior Member

    Location:
    Hooterville
    Joan Baez's cover, as well as later live performances by The Band did add "the" before the name, but the original studio version didn't have it.
     
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  17. Bender Rodriguez

    Bender Rodriguez RIP Exene, best dog ever. 2005-2016

    Maybe he patrolled Lake Michigan in a rowboat?
     
  18. HarborRat

    HarborRat Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cincinnati, Ohio
    As an American, I'm more familiar with Johnny Horton's version of "The Battle Of New Orleans"...
    But I'm fairly certain that, when their cannon melted down, the Americans did not actually fight another round by grabbing an alligator, filling his head with cannon balls, and powdering his behind!
     
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  19. uzn007

    uzn007 Watcher of the Skis

    Location:
    Raleigh, N.C.
    That would be a geographical error, similar to referring to Memphis as "The home of the delta blues".
     
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  20. bRETT

    bRETT Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA
    Which would make it more ridiculous: How is a steamboat gonna get to Tennessee?
     
  21. uzn007

    uzn007 Watcher of the Skis

    Location:
    Raleigh, N.C.
    Take a look at a map of Tennessee. Note that crinkly edge on the western border (that's the left). Zoom in to reveal what that crinkly border represents.

    I don't know if this is more historically accurate, but that verse is seemingly referring to a period after the end of the war, because the narrator is "back with [his] wife".
     
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  22. Station17

    Station17 Time to play B-sides...

    Did some checking on this song which I remember being advertised on TV as part of album comps...Song written by a southern history teacher/principal. The original hit was by Johnny Morton...an American artist. Englishman Donegan put out his own version the same year (1959) in England with some different lyrics. Both were big hits in their countries. The battle was fought on Jan 8th, 1815...but the two sides began skirmishing/artillery exchanges in late December. I believe the trip down the Mississippi would have been in 1814 for the person telling the tale! Also, it’s possible he served with Jackson when he was a colonel and still referred to him that way (perhaps a stretch here). I teach social studies myself and in class we learn that the battle, a decisive American victory, was fought technically after the peace treaty was signed...a good example of irony.
     
  23. guppy270

    guppy270 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Levittown, NY
    It's not a historical inaccuracy, but this reminded me of Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer, in which one minute he says "it doesn't make a difference if we make it or not", and a minute later he says "take my hand, we'll make it I swear". So which is it?! :)
     
  24. ralph7109

    ralph7109 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Franklin, TN
    There's a difference between a true historical inaccuracy (e.g. early morning april 4) and being inspired by a line in an article to write a lyric.
    The lyric doesn't say "Tara Browne blew is mind out in a car", therefore, it isn't a historical inaccuracy.
     
  25. fogalu

    fogalu There is only one Beethoven

    Location:
    Killarney, Ireland
    Good point. Maybe it was the man himself after all. The plot thickens. ;)
     
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