# A Calendar of Dates Mentioned in Popular Music Lyrics **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 29, 2013, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-calendar-of-dates-mentioned-in-popular-music-lyrics/648731 "2013-01-29T19:03:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-calendar-of-dates-mentioned-in-popular-music-lyrics/648731/41 "2013-01-30T16:10:06Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > Would this count? > > _All is quiet on New Year’s Day_ - “New Years Day” - U2 If so, then I’m sure a lot of holidays can be accounted for. Examples: “Groundhog Day” (Melanie) “Veterans’ Day Poppy” (Captain Beefheart) ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-calendar-of-dates-mentioned-in-popular-music-lyrics/648731/42 "2013-01-30T16:17:50Z")
The vastly underrated and overlooked [Vulgar Boatmen](http://www.allmusic.com/album/please-panic-mw0000276335) have a song called “The 23rd of September.” ---
**Author:** ![edwards\_beard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@edwards\_beard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwards_beard)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-calendar-of-dates-mentioned-in-popular-music-lyrics/648731/43 "2013-01-30T16:53:33Z")
The Misfits: Who Killed Marilyn 5:25 August 5th 1962 Marilyn lying on the sheets Her face all turnin blue ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-calendar-of-dates-mentioned-in-popular-music-lyrics/648731/44 "2013-01-30T17:05:53Z")
> [@Labdad](#): > > The vastly underrated and overlooked [Vulgar Boatmen](http://www.allmusic.com/album/please-panic-mw0000276335) have a song called “The 23rd of September.” That’s my birthday. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Greenjeans](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.greenjeans/32/551_2.png) [@Mr.Greenjeans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Greenjeans)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-calendar-of-dates-mentioned-in-popular-music-lyrics/648731/45 "2013-01-30T17:39:05Z")
If fictional dates are good: _The Twelfth of Never_ and that’s a long, long time! ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-calendar-of-dates-mentioned-in-popular-music-lyrics/648731/46 "2013-01-30T17:45:32Z")
[November 22 (1963)](http://www.broadjam.com/artists/songs.php?artistID=68897&mediaID=462833). December 7 – [in Pearl Harbor, by Final War](http://www.elyrics.net/read/f/final-war-lyrics/pearl-harbor-lyrics.html). September 22 – [Crying, by M2M](http://www.metrolyrics.com/crying-lyrics-m2m.html). As you can see, I’ve gone after low-lying fruit. The Battle of Flodden on September 9 is an obvious candidate, but the only dated song had Sept. 3 (😕) which we already had. Just to clarify the rules, any song about the Battle of Agincourt is likely to reference [St. Crispin’s Day](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Crispin's_Day) without explicitly mentioning October 25. OK? ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-calendar-of-dates-mentioned-in-popular-music-lyrics/648731/47 "2013-01-30T17:51:35Z")
> [@](#): > > On the first of april, nineteen fifty-four from [Robert Mitchum – The Ballad Of Thunder Road lyrics](http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/r/robert_mitchum/the_ballad_of_thunder_road.html) Hear it at [Robert Mitchum sings The Ballad of Thunder Road](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdwUpxkfSJw) Lame precursor to all the car chase movies like _Bullitt_! ETA: sorry to duplicate #35 by **Don Draper** ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-calendar-of-dates-mentioned-in-popular-music-lyrics/648731/48 "2013-01-30T17:56:07Z")
Because work is quiet (and I’m a dork), here’s what has been posted so far: January 1 - New Year’s Day - U2 January 30 - Cruachan - Irish March 4 - Radar - Morphine March 21 - Town With No Cheer - Tom Waits April 1 - April Fools - Rufus Wainwright April 1 - The Ballad of Thunder Road - Robert Mitchum April 4 - Pride (In The Name of Love) - U2 April 14 - Things In My Life - Men Without Hats April 15 - One More Summer - The Rainmakers April 26 - April 29, 1992 (Miami) - Sublime April 41 - Wet Dreams - Kip Addotta May 1 - May 1, 1990 - Adrian Belew May 1 - First of May - Bee Gees May 5 - Isis - Bob Dylan May 10 - The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down - The Band May 23 - Schticks of One Kind and Half a Dozen of the Other - Allan Sherman May 24 - Bye Bye Pride - Go-Betweens June 3 - Ode to Billie Joe - Bobby Gentry June 3 - Desiree - Neil Diamond June 6 - Convoy - CW McCall June 23 - Spancil Hill - Irish June 30 - The Last Day of June, 1934 - Al Stewart July 4 - Saturday In The Park - Chicago July 4 - Fourth of July - Dave Alvin July 4 - The Cuckoo - Donovan/Bob Dylan July 4 - The Subway Song - Tom Paxton July 7 - The 7th Day of July, 1777 - King Diamond July 12 - The Sash - Irish August 1 - I Live With It Every Day - Barenaked Ladies August 5 - Who Killed Marilyn - The Misfits August 8 - August 8 - NOFX September 3 - Papa Was A Rolling Stone September 21 - September - Earth, Wind and Fire September 22 - Crying - M2M September 23 - The 23rd of September - Vulgar Boatmen October 1 - Schticks of One Kind and Half a Dozen of the Other - Allan Sherman October 31 - The New Style - Beastie Boys November 5 - Remember - John Lennon November 22 - November 22, 1963 - Broken Arrow Music November 23 - Hijack - Jefferson Starship December 1 - Sweet Baby James - James Taylor December 7 - Pearl Harbor - Final War December 24 - White Christmas - The Carpenters December 25 - When Jesus Was Born - Fairfield Four December 25 - Christmas, 1915 - Celtic Thunder December 25 - Stagger Lee - Grateful Dead December 31 - What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve - Ella Fitzgerald > [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > “Do you remember/ The 21st night of September?” - _September_, \*\* Earth, Wind & Fire\*\* Which is _my_ birthday. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-calendar-of-dates-mentioned-in-popular-music-lyrics/648731/49 "2013-01-30T18:37:23Z")
> [@Misnomer](#): > > January 30 - Cruachan - Irish The band is Cruchan, the song is Bloody Sunday. There are many songs by this name, and many Bloody Sundays, but this refers to the 1972 one. > [@](#): > > April 26 - April 29, 1992 (Miami) - Sublime Not sure how to resolve this one, depends on if you’re only counting the sung lyrics, trumping the title. He may have said the correct date on a recorded live song, I wouldn’t know where to find out. > [@](#): > > June 23 - Spancil Hill - Irish By Michael Considine, apparently > [@](#): > > December 25 - Stagger Lee - Grateful Dead Not really a nitpick but to clarify: this is a traditional song, and covered by many. The lyrics are “fluid.” AFAIK, the date is only mentioned in the Dead version. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-calendar-of-dates-mentioned-in-popular-music-lyrics/648731/50 "2013-01-30T18:59:53Z")
> [@Labdad](#): > > The vastly underrated and overlooked [Vulgar Boatmen](http://www.allmusic.com/album/please-panic-mw0000276335) have a song called “The 23rd of September.” Is the date mentioned in the lyrics? I can’t find any posted anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-calendar-of-dates-mentioned-in-popular-music-lyrics/648731/51 "2013-01-30T19:05:33Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Not sure how to resolve this one, depends on if you’re only counting the sung lyrics, trumping the title. I’m not the OP, but since the title of the thread is “dates mentioned in…lyrics” that’s what I went with. > [@](#): > > Not really a nitpick but to clarify: this is a traditional song, and covered by many. The lyrics are “fluid.” AFAIK, the date is only mentioned in the Dead version. Several of the songs in the list have been recorded by more than one artist (like my own addition, “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve”): I figure that if someone mentions a particular artist in their post, that’s who I’ll list. Especially in this case, if you’re right that the date is only mentioned in the Dead’s version. The intent behind including artists wasn’t to have an exhaustive list, it was just to provide some “I’ve never heard of that song…who did it?” info. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SykoSkotty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SykoSkotty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SykoSkotty)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-calendar-of-dates-mentioned-in-popular-music-lyrics/648731/52 "2013-01-30T19:07:16Z")
“Valentines Day” Enuff Z’Nuff. “It’s Valentines Day once again…tho some were bad and some were good…” ---
**Author:** ![HotDogWater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/35a633/32.png) [@HotDogWater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HotDogWater)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-calendar-of-dates-mentioned-in-popular-music-lyrics/648731/53 "2013-01-30T19:08:56Z")
I can see that Independence Day is already well represented, but my favorite is “4th of July, Sandy” by Springsteen “love me tonight, and I swear I’ll love you forever. Oh Sandy girl…” ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-calendar-of-dates-mentioned-in-popular-music-lyrics/648731/54 "2013-01-30T19:20:25Z")
Great King Rat died today,born on the 21st of May.-_Great King Rat-Queen_ ---
**Author:** ![Richey84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Richey84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richey84)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-calendar-of-dates-mentioned-in-popular-music-lyrics/648731/55 "2013-01-30T22:20:00Z")
“When classes start I’ll quit I’ve got until September 6th” -Lifter Puller, “Mission Viejo” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-calendar-of-dates-mentioned-in-popular-music-lyrics/648731/56 "2013-01-30T22:39:46Z")
[ObXKCD link](http://xkcd.com/1140/). Wonder if the song lyric distribution is similar? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-calendar-of-dates-mentioned-in-popular-music-lyrics/648731/57 "2013-01-30T23:27:31Z")
> [@Misnomer](#): > > Because work is quiet (and I’m a dork), here’s what has been posted so far: > > April 14 - Things In My Life - Men Without Hats That one was November 14. ---
**Author:** ![Win\_Place\_Show](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/win_place_show/32/13469_2.png) [@Win\_Place\_Show](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Win_Place_Show)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-calendar-of-dates-mentioned-in-popular-music-lyrics/648731/58 "2013-01-31T01:48:01Z")
[August 7, 4:15](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_7,_4:15) a Jon Bon Jovi song about a little girl who mysteriously died on her street in Austin, TX in 1996 (the girl’s dad was the personal manager of Jon). [link to Unsolved Mysteries segment (including the song)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brPxu7_Ex-o) ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-calendar-of-dates-mentioned-in-popular-music-lyrics/648731/59 "2013-01-31T01:53:24Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > Is the date mentioned in the lyrics? I can’t find any posted anywhere. Yes - several times ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-calendar-of-dates-mentioned-in-popular-music-lyrics/648731/60 "2013-01-31T21:35:46Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Tom Paxton’s “The Subway Song” has “You go in one end in the middle of June and come out on the fourth of July.” Paxton also wrote the amazing “Born on the 4th of July” about Ron Kovic. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-calendar-of-dates-mentioned-in-popular-music-lyrics/648731.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-calendar-of-dates-mentioned-in-popular-music-lyrics/648731.md?page=4)