I'm not talking about songs that have a dated sound (there's more than I could ever list).
I'm referring to songs with a specific date or year in the lyrics, that are mentioned as the present or future.
Like Prince's "1999" (which will not be played as much now that it's date has come and gone). These are songs for which
the present or future they refer to, has come and gone. 1999 was the future in 1982, 1999 has now passed.
What I am NOT looking for, are songs like Bowling for Soup's "1985" which are written after the date
they are talking about. This song is looking back, or written from the point of view of after the date mentioned.
We also accept lyrics that mention prices that are now dated, such as 10 cent pay phone calls. Lyrics that mention a persons age at the time and that person is now past said age, and lyrics that mentioned events that were current at the time of the song but have now passed are also accepted.
Basically anything that definitively dates a song by any means other than the way it "sounds". Words/phrases/singing styles or instruments that were used commonly in a time period but are no longer used that much today are not accepted.
Dated References, Elvis Presley
Check out the index or search for other performers.
Aloha From Hawaii - Via Satellite album at Amazon.com
I got the hi-fi high and the lights down low
If you can remember the 1950s or early 1960s, you might remember a then 'state of the art' record player being referred to as a 'hi-fi'. That was short for 'high fidelity', meaning sound recordings had reached a level of faithful reproduction that much reduced distortion, hiss, etc. But if you're not old enough to remember that, the term 'hi-fi' might not at all compute with you. Even though recordings have become, if anything, progressively more high fidelity, that became an obsolescent name for recordings and the machines for playing them, about the time stereo became normative, and a player of vinyl records was soon more likely to be called a 'stereo' than a 'hi-fi'. In other words, the term 'hi-fi' was symptomatic of the period when such high fidelity was a new-fangled thing, and not something to be used as a name when high fidelity was to be taken for granted as further sound recording refinements (like stereo, digital, etc.), came into being. As vinyl records later gave way to eight track tapes, cassette tapes, and then compact discs, I'm not aware of the term ever being applied to a player of anything but vinyl records. Though we literally have continued to enjoy higher and higher fidelity recordings played on those later devices, the term 'hi-fi' has been strictly passe for decades.
Submitted by: Penelope Beckinsale
Return to sednder, address unknown
Previous posts have noted the dated nature of the phrase "no such zone" in the line following this one, as U. S. postal zones were replaced by zip codes in 1963 (the year after this song came out!). But this line too seems to be dated, as far as I know. I don't now of the U.S. Postal service returning anything to sender anymore. It used to be that one of the reasons for returning a letter to sender was for neglecting to put any postage stamps on it. But the last time I mailed a letter forgetting to put stamps on it (within the last few years) I never saw it again. Incidally I do remember how years ago letters were sometimes returned with a stamp (ink stamp, that is) applied to them with blanks to check the reason for the mail being returned. One possible reason that I saw so indicated was "ADDRESSEE unknown". I don't remember any such category as "ADDRESS unknown". That makes sense, for as long as an address were unknown, how would one be motivated to even try sending the letter?
Submitted by: Connie Brady
No such number, no such zone
The 'zone' referred to is a postal zone (a number written after the city name), which was replaced in 1963 by the ZIP Code
Submitted by: RJSchex
[Return to sender, Address unknown;
No such person,] 'NO SUCH ZONE'
The zone system ['New York 12, NY' versus New York, NY 10112'] hasn't been in use since the EARLY 1960's; in 1963 or so it morphed into the ZIP['Zone Improvement Plan'] code. Come to think of it, though, how WOULD you rewrite the chorus: 'Return to sender,/You postman drip;/No such person,/No such ZIP'?
Submitted by: hec
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