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A great idea from Lesley in Marion!
Paper Lace – The Night Chicago DiedAn English band, who had heard of the St. Valentine’s Day massacre in Chicago, turned a song into a gunfight between Al Capone’s gang and Chicago police, where in reality, it was Al Capone’s men gunning down seven of Bugs Moran’s men.
Paper Lace had a hit in the U.K., “Billy, Don’t Be A Hero” (no, not that one) but it wasn’t really heard here in the states as Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods’ version was the big hit.
The band followed up that with, “The Night Chicago Died”, not intending it to reach across the Atlantic. Well, it did and was a HUGE hit, topping the Hot 100 in 1974, no matter that the story was quite fictional.
