# Songs that are technically/historically obsolete **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 20, 2008, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-technically-historically-obsolete/453626 "2008-06-20T21:39:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-technically-historically-obsolete/453626/61 "2008-06-21T21:45:28Z")
[QUOTE=Gukumatz] Huh, this was weird. Those links popped up in a seperate FoxyTunes player minimized to the side of my screen when I was reading this thread. Never seen that before. How did you do it? Way cool. [/QUOTE] That’s me, real cool, and thanks for noticing. 🆒 But I cannot tell a lie. I didn’t do anything. Your FoxyTunes player probably reads HTML and extracts anything that looks like a song, like an MP3 link. I can pretty much guarantee those links aren’t in a standard database. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-technically-historically-obsolete/453626/62 "2008-06-21T21:45:58Z")
[QUOTE=MrSquishy] How about “We Are The World”, “Do They Know It’s Christmas”, and “Tears Are Not Enough”? [/QUOTE] There’s no more hunger in Africa? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-technically-historically-obsolete/453626/63 "2008-06-21T22:36:17Z")
“She’s so 20th Century She’s so 1970’s … She’s a modern girl, oh yeah” [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Shtt7snuuyc) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2008, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-technically-historically-obsolete/453626/64 "2008-06-22T00:25:26Z")
You spin me right round, baby, right round Like a record, baby… Like a _what_? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2008, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-technically-historically-obsolete/453626/65 "2008-06-22T01:56:03Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] You spin me right round, baby, right round Like a record, baby… Like a _what_? [/QUOTE] “Things that still spin, Alex.” “Like a hard drive, baby…”? ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2008, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-technically-historically-obsolete/453626/66 "2008-06-22T02:18:04Z")
[QUOTE=Scissorjack] You do know that “sheeny” is a disparaging term for a Jew? [/QUOTE] Nope, didn’t know that. I thought it was Irish or something. I don’t think my Mom knows either, it was just an expression as far as we were concerned. It was just the guy who came around to pick up your old washing machine, couch, or lawn mower curbside, regardless of their race. I don’t think any of them were Jewish for that matter- usually caucasian, black, or latino. ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2008, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-technically-historically-obsolete/453626/67 "2008-06-22T02:32:38Z")
"It just so happens I’m free tonight Would you like to have dinner with me. **So take a letter Maria** Address it to my wife Say I won’t be coming home Gotta start a new life" A secretary, these days, would be likely to tell you to email her yourself, explain the psychological reasons why a rebound relationship wouldn’t be a good idea and then slap you with a sexual harassment suit, muttering “_I never really noticed how sweet you are to me?_ Asshole!” as she left. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2008, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-technically-historically-obsolete/453626/68 "2008-06-22T02:34:00Z")
In “Radio Radio”, Elvis Costello mentions “seven inches on the reel-to-reel”. Eight tracks got mentioned on several songs during its heyday, from “The Load-Out” by Jackson Browne (“we’ve got 8-tracks and cassettes in stereo”) to Conway Twitty’s “Red Neckin’ Love Makin’ Night” (“some boogie-woogie on the old 8-track”). ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2008, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-technically-historically-obsolete/453626/69 "2008-06-22T02:43:05Z")
She’s my 20th century fox Big Ten-Inch Decca Back in the USSR Here’s a quarter, call someone who cares. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2008, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-technically-historically-obsolete/453626/70 "2008-06-22T03:24:39Z")
[QUOTE=devilsknew] I don’t think any of them were Jewish for that matter- usually caucasian, black, or latino. [/QUOTE] Not to say that caucausians, blacks, or latinos can’t be Jewish… ---
**Author:** ![ArizonaTeach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2008, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-technically-historically-obsolete/453626/71 "2008-06-22T03:39:40Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] “Misunderstanding” by Genesis: _Since then I’ve been running around trying to find you I went to the places that we always go I rang your HOUSE but got no answer Jumped in my car, I went round there_ Dude, try her on her cell. [/QUOTE] Telephones at the house are certainly not obsolete, and neither are people who don’t own cells… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Punkyova](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@The\_Punkyova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Punkyova)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2008, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-technically-historically-obsolete/453626/72 "2008-06-22T03:42:39Z")
[QUOTE=Drum God] Sheryl Crow’s _Soak Up the Sun_ sings about sitting back with “my 45’s on”. How many kids think she’s talking about some sort of gun, not single records? [/QUOTE] Actually, I always thought it was about sitting out in the sun wearing sunblock SPF 45. (I hear it as “my 45 on”.) I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2008, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-technically-historically-obsolete/453626/73 "2008-06-22T05:57:21Z")
[QUOTE=NDP] I believe the “egg men” were like milkmen except, of course, they delivered eggs door-to-door rather than dairy products. I’m also guessing this was something that was mostly limited to the UK. [/QUOTE] We had ann egg (and chicken) man in suburban Cleveland in the '50s. He came around with a truck full of live chickens. If my mother wanted a chicken, he would kill it and pluck it, and we’d do the rest. We used to play with the heads like puppets. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2008, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-technically-historically-obsolete/453626/74 "2008-06-22T06:10:09Z")
A _ **REAL** _ oldie, [“Music! Music! Music!”](http://www.ziplo.com/music.htm) (warning: plays music) ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2008, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-technically-historically-obsolete/453626/75 "2008-06-22T20:34:51Z")
[QUOTE=ElvisL1ves] Here’s a quarter, call someone who cares. [/QUOTE] I was going to mention that one. While payphones still cost a quarter (AFAIK) finding one nowadays can be a bit difficult. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2008, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-technically-historically-obsolete/453626/76 "2008-06-22T20:57:39Z")
[QUOTE=rowrrbazzle] “It’s A Long Way To Amphioxus” is obsolete because biologists renamed the creature “lancelet” and the song “references now-disputed notions about the place of cephalochordates in the chordate evolutionary timeline”. > **[Lancelet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancelet#In_music)** > > Subphylum or class: > Order: > Family: [/QUOTE] Man, I hate it when phylogeny dicombobulates discography. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2008, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-technically-historically-obsolete/453626/77 "2008-06-22T22:06:28Z")
[QUOTE=maggenpye] "It just so happens I’m free tonight Would you like to have dinner with me. **So take a letter Maria** Address it to my wife Say I won’t be coming home Gotta start a new life" A secretary, these days, would be likely to tell you to email her yourself, explain the psychological reasons why a rebound relationship wouldn’t be a good idea and then slap you with a sexual harassment suit, muttering “_I never really noticed how sweet you are to me?_ Asshole!” as she left. [/QUOTE] Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-technically-historically-obsolete/453626/78 "2008-06-23T00:59:51Z")
If Maria really was acting sweet to her boss, she may well be glad that he’s finally noticed. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-technically-historically-obsolete/453626/79 "2008-06-23T02:30:15Z")
[QUOTE=Attack from the 3rd dimension] Man, I hate it when phylogeny dicombobulates discography. [/QUOTE] Applause! ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-technically-historically-obsolete/453626/80 "2008-06-23T02:34:06Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] If Maria really was acting sweet to her boss, she may well be glad that he’s finally noticed. [/QUOTE] Earlier in the song, Maria’s boss explains how he’s just found his wife in bed with another man. Until that point, he’d never noticed how sweet Maria was. Maria’s only good for revenge sex. Maria should be _pissed_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-technically-historically-obsolete/453626.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-technically-historically-obsolete/453626.md?page=5)