The Night Chicago Died
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"The Night Chicago Died" is a song by the British group Paper Lace, written by Peter Callander and Mitch Murray. The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for one week in 1974 and also reached number 3 in the UK charts. It is about a fictional shoot-out in Chicago between gangsters tied to Al Capone and the Chicago Police. The narrator retells his mother's anguish while awaiting news of the fate of her husband, a Chicago policeman.
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[edit] History
"The Night Chicago Died" was Paper Lace's follow-up single to "Billy, Don't Be A Hero", a #1 hit in the U.K. but virtually unheard in the U.S. where Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods' cover reached #1. Callander and Murray wrote both songs.
The U.S. single received a Platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America, signifying sales of at least one million copies. Though the song's story is set in America, Paper Lace were unable to perform the song live in the U.S. at the height of its popularity because of contractual issues.[1]
[edit] Accuracy
"The Night Chicago Died" is a work of fiction. Although it references the notorious Chicago mobster Al Capone and his gang by name, no such massive police shootout took place during Capone's reign as the head of the city's organized crime syndicate. In fact, Capone's criminal career ended quietly in 1931 when he was convicted of income-tax evasion and weapons possession.
The song's events supposedly take place "on the East Side of Chicago." Unlike the North, West, and South Sides, which divide the city into three general and commonly-referred regions, East Side is, in reality, a small local neighborhood several miles south of downtown Chicago, not far from where Al Capone lived (at 7244 South Prairie Avenue).
Elements of the story may have been inspired by the famous St. Valentine's Day Massacre of 1929.[citation needed] However, that encounter was between Capone's men and a rival Chicago gang rather than the police, and it took place on the city's North Side in February instead of "in the heat of a summer night."
The songwriters said in interviews—most notably on Beat Club shortly after the song's release—that they had never been to Chicago, and that their knowledge of the city and that period of its history had been based on gangster films.
Paper Lace did send the song to Mayor Richard Daley, who was not impressed with the song and greatly disliked it.[citation needed]
[edit] Covers and popular references
- At many sporting events, the song is commonly played over the public address system to add humor and slight humiliation to visiting Chicago sports teams.[citation needed]
- The song was parodied in the 2000 John Cusack film High Fidelity, in which Jack Black's character Barry alters the lyrics of the song: "The night Laura's daddy died, Sha-na-na-na-na-na-na, brother what a night it really was, brother what a night it...angina's tough. Glory be!"
- A cover was recorded by Banda Toro entitled "La Noche en que Chicago se murió".[citation needed]
- The band The Minus 5 recorded a song in 2004 entitled "The Night Chicago Died Again", about a fictional disastrous show by the band Chicago. It is on the album In Rock.
- A Korean pop boy band, Super Junior K.R.Y, covered the song in Korean entitled "The Night Chicago Died", although the fictional story is omitted entirely. Instead, the lyrics refer to a story of friendship and love.
- Chicago radio DJ John Records Landecker did a parody of this song called "The Day that Dahmer Died" describing the death of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer on a CD of parodies done by his band "Landecker and the Legends"
- The Thai band Pairoj released a version entitled Khor Tan Gor Mee Hua Jai (The Beggar Has a Heart) aka "The Night Chicago Died".
- Finnish pop-star Vicky Rosti made her recording debut with a Finnish-language cover of the song, named Kun Chicago kuoli (When Chicago died). The song remains popular to date.
- Yo La Tengo covered the song on their album, Yo La Tengo Is Murdering the Classics
- Conan O'Brien and Chicago native John C. Reilly covered the song as a duet on the May 13, 2006 episode of Late Night With Conan O'Brien during their week of shows from the Chicago Theatre.
- In the That '70s Show episode, The Keg, Bob sings along to the song while in the car with Red.
[edit] References
| Preceded by "Feel Like Makin' Love" by Roberta Flack |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single August 17, 1974 |
Succeeded by "(You're) Having My Baby" by Paul Anka and Odia Coates |
