# Dates in popular songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 18, 2007, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dates-in-popular-songs/412253 "2007-07-18T13:00:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2007, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dates-in-popular-songs/412253/1 "2007-07-18T13:00:30Z")
Over in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=428986), it came to light that [Billie Joe McAllister](http://www.geocities.com/bjaes.geo/lyrics/billyjoe.htm) jumped off the Tallahatchee Bridge on June 3. “It was [also] the third of June” when [Neil Diamond’s character](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/n/neil+diamond/desiree_20098804.html) lost his virginity to Desiree, a woman twice his age. Earth Wind & Fire’s [September](http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/soulfood/september.htm) asks us to remember the 21st day of that month. Others? I’ll settle for months too, or holidays other than Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![Kid\_A\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Kid\_A\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kid_A_1)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2007, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dates-in-popular-songs/412253/2 "2007-07-18T13:08:28Z")
U2’s [Pride (In the Name of Love)](http://www.u2wanderer.org/disco/lyrics.php?id=43) mentions April 4. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2007, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dates-in-popular-songs/412253/3 "2007-07-18T13:10:30Z")
“I Just Called to Say I Love You” by Stevie Wonder mentions the following dates and months: New Year’s Day April June (specifically, Saturday within) July August Libra (the range between 9/24 and 10/23) First of Spring (3/21) Halloween ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2007, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dates-in-popular-songs/412253/4 "2007-07-18T13:11:05Z")
“Now the first of December was covered with snow” – _Sweet Baby James_ by James Taylor. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2007, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dates-in-popular-songs/412253/5 "2007-07-18T13:12:39Z")
_It was the 3rd of September That day I’ll always remember (yes I will) 'Cause that was the day That my daddy died_ [Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papa_Was_a_Rollin'_Stone) - The Temptations ---
**Author:** ![Ichbin\_Dubist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ichbin\_Dubist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichbin_Dubist)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2007, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dates-in-popular-songs/412253/6 "2007-07-18T13:31:16Z")
“December 1963” by the Four Seasons. Oh, what a night. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2007, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dates-in-popular-songs/412253/7 "2007-07-18T13:32:54Z")
Love the thread concept! All I can contribute offhand is the earth-shattering revelation in Robert Mitchum’s [Ballad of Thunder Road](http://www.univie.ac.at/Anglistik/easyrider/data/ballad_of_thunder_road.htm) that: > [@](#): > > On the first of April, 1954 > A federal man sent word he’d better make his run no more I celebrate that date every year along with the Third of June (which I almost always follow with “another sleepy dusty delta day” for emphasis). NB: I have always wondered if Mitchum was just pulling our legs on that date reference, as if that never really took place. April Fool and all that. The truly curious can find an audio link with Mitchum “singing” the song from his movie. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2007, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dates-in-popular-songs/412253/8 "2007-07-18T13:45:09Z")
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead When the skies of November turn gloomy. Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2007, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dates-in-popular-songs/412253/9 "2007-07-18T13:49:30Z")
For purposes of this thread, do months alone count (“it’s hard to hold a candle in the cold November Rain”), month/year (“late september back in '63”), or do we need both month and day (“Guess who cried come First of May”)? ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2007, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dates-in-popular-songs/412253/10 "2007-07-18T13:53:29Z")
[4th of July](http://www.songlyrics.com/song-lyrics/X/Miscellaneous/4th_Of_July/71749.html) - X \*What ever happened I apologize So dry your tears and baby walk outside It’s the Fourth of July \* One of my favorite songs in the history of songs. Shame it never broke out, as it is very radio-friendly. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2007, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dates-in-popular-songs/412253/11 "2007-07-18T13:56:46Z")
[QUOTE=robardin] For purposes of this thread, do months alone count (“it’s hard to hold a candle in the cold November Rain”), month/year (“late september back in '63”), or do we need both month and day (“Guess who cried come First of May”)? [/QUOTE] Free game. I’m not a clock blocker. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2007, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dates-in-popular-songs/412253/12 "2007-07-18T13:57:28Z")
Black day in July Black day in July In the streets of motor city is a deadly silent sound And the body of a dead youth lies stretched upon the ground Upon the filthy pavement No reason can be found Another Gordon Lightfoot gem. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2007, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dates-in-popular-songs/412253/13 "2007-07-18T13:59:27Z")
Not in any song, but Elton John did have an album titled **11/17/70** ( **17/11/70** in the UK). John Lennon’s **Remember** mentions the 5th of November (Guy Fawkes Day). For months, there’s Kurt Weill’s **September Song** , which mentions several other months, too (May, November, and December, it seems). ---
**Author:** ![DudleyGarrett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@DudleyGarrett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DudleyGarrett)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2007, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dates-in-popular-songs/412253/14 "2007-07-18T14:01:07Z")
**Sublime** ’s _April 26, 1992_. It’s about the Rodney King riots. ---
**Author:** ![Kid\_A\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Kid\_A\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kid_A_1)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2007, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dates-in-popular-songs/412253/15 "2007-07-18T14:03:19Z")
If we’re just counting months, I can knock them all off. **Stars** [Calendar Girl](http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/stars/calendargirl.html) ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2007, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dates-in-popular-songs/412253/16 "2007-07-18T14:05:32Z")
“Tear Me Down” from _Hedwig and the Angry Inch_: August 13, 1961 “Prologue” from _Little Shop of Horrors_: September 23 of “an early year of a decade not too long before our own” ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2007, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dates-in-popular-songs/412253/17 "2007-07-18T14:11:53Z")
A not-very-good song by Harry Chapin, “We Were Three”, mentions “March 21st / The first day of Spring.” Don’t look it up. It’s not worth your time. (And I like Harry a lot.) ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2007, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dates-in-popular-songs/412253/18 "2007-07-18T14:15:01Z")
The Band’s The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down mentions a date: > [@](#): > > In the winter of '65, We were hungry, just barely alive. > By May the tenth, Richmond had fell, it’s a time I remember, oh so well ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2007, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dates-in-popular-songs/412253/19 "2007-07-18T14:24:23Z")
Simon and Garfunkel’s [April Come She Will](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/s/simon+and+garfunkel/april+come+she+will_20124678.html) mentions 6 months. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2007, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dates-in-popular-songs/412253/20 "2007-07-18T14:28:27Z")
Don MacLean’s American Pie - “February made me shiver” Billy Joel’s Scenes from an Italian Restaurant - “When they decided the wedding would be at the end of July” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dates-in-popular-songs/412253.md?page=2)