[QUOTE=dwc1970]
As I somehow got the song “Operator” by Jim Croce stuck in my head today, it occurred to me that people hardly ever have to speak to an operator to make a call anymore and haven’t for some time. This got me to thinking about other songs that are either techically or historically obsolete. One example is “Back in the U.S.S.R.” by the Beatles. I know there have to be lots of other examples of this. It doesn’t have to necessarily be the title that’s osbsolete, but a lyrical reference.
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Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy – no more draft He was the top man at his craft
But then his number came up and he was gone with the draft
He’s in the army now, a-blowin’ reveille
He’s the boogie woogie bugle boy of Company B
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] Any Ice Today, Lady?, a novelty hit of 1926, is all about the days of block ice delivery by horse and wagon (“giddyup Napoleon”).
Ignore the line about “enriched uranium” - it’s a mondegreen for “no ma’am, not in your geraniums.” Ice men were prone to trample clumsily on one’s property, as they carried 50 lb blocks of the cold stuff on large tongs. They were not, however, known to traffic in radioactive materials.
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I have that CD. I thought it was “lotta red uranium”, which didn’t seem to make much sense, but then the whole song’s kind of silly. The singer of the second verse sounds for all the world like Popeye’s voice in the B&W cartoons.
Once back in the 90s, when Beck’s “Where It’s At” was a new song on the radio, I took my (then very young) niece to a flea market in Seattle. I pointed to some old electronics and said “Look! Two turntables and a microphone!” Her nose went straight up in the air: “Nowadays, people only use CD players.” Never try to out-hip a Seattle pre-teen girl.
On a related note, I’ve often thought it weird that more modern technology gets so few mentions in songs. Back in the 50s and 60s songs were full of drive-in movies, telephones, records etc etc, but how many songs today reference emails, instant messenger, text messages, MP3s, iPods…? Surprisingly few IMHO, considering how pervasive this stuff is in teen culture.
[QUOTE=Colophon]
On a related note, I’ve often thought it weird that more modern technology gets so few mentions in songs. Back in the 50s and 60s songs were full of drive-in movies, telephones, records etc etc, but how many songs today reference emails, instant messenger, text messages, MP3s, iPods…? Surprisingly few IMHO, considering how pervasive this stuff is in teen culture.
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[QUOTE=ivylass]
I was going to mention that one. While payphones still cost a quarter (AFAIK) finding one nowadays can be a bit difficult.
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As someone without a cell who occasionally finds himself attempting to track down a working payphone, it’s been ages since I’ve seen one that was less than fifty cents.
[QUOTE=Colophon]
On a related note, I’ve often thought it weird that more modern technology gets so few mentions in songs. Back in the 50s and 60s songs were full of drive-in movies, telephones, records etc etc, but how many songs today reference emails, instant messenger, text messages, MP3s, iPods…? Surprisingly few IMHO, considering how pervasive this stuff is in teen culture.
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[QUOTE=Green Eyed Stranger]
Since Pluto got demoted, Interplanet Janet. Seems like other school house rock songs should fit, but I can’t remember them all off hand.
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I find it comforting that Interjections will always show excitement or emotion. They’re generally set apart from a sentence by an exclamation point (or by a comma when the feeling’s not as strong.)
Geraldine may or may not still be playing hard to get, though. So it’s possible that this post is not entirely irrelevant.
[QUOTE=Koxinga]
Can anyone identify the other prominently obsolete reference in “Back in the USSR”?
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The British Overseas Airways Corporation (“Oh, flew in from Miami Beach B.O.A.C.”) has been British Airways since 1974.
It’s a political one but it mentions the Birmingham Six and Guildford Four still being in prison and all of them have since been freed.
Also, Stars - “Tonight,” although that one was anachronistic when it was written (2001). “Telephones and old typewriters, words of love along the wire.”